The Eucharist

On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his friends, saying that it was his body. Catholics take him at his word. The Eucharist is Christ himself, really present under the appearances of bread and wine, given to us as food. The Church calls it "the source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC 1324): everything else she does flows from it and leads back to it.

Many names for one gift

Eucharist comes from a Greek word for thanksgiving, because at its heart is Jesus' own thanksgiving to the Father (CCC 1328). It is also called the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, the Holy Sacrifice, Holy Communion, and the Mass, from the Latin words of dismissal that send the faithful out on mission (CCC 1328–1332).

The Last Supper and the bread of life

In Luke's account of the Last Supper, Jesus says:

This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

— Luke 22:19

Paul, writing within about twenty-five years, hands on the same words as a tradition he received from the Lord, and adds that whenever we eat this bread and drink the cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:23–26). By the middle of the second century St Justin Martyr could describe a Sunday celebration any Catholic today would recognise (CCC 1345).

After feeding five thousand people, Jesus called himself the living bread come down from heaven, and insisted that his flesh is true food and his blood true drink (John 6:51–58). Many found this too hard and walked away, and he let them go without softening his words. Peter answered for the Twelve: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68; cf. CCC 1336).

Really present: what transubstantiation means

Christ is present to his Church in many ways: in his word, in her prayer, in the poor, in the sacraments. But he is present in the Eucharist in a unique way, truly, really and substantially, whole and entire, body and blood, soul and divinity (CCC 1373–1374). The Eucharist is not only a symbol of him. It is him.

How can bread become Christ's body? The Church uses the word transubstantiation (CCC 1376). Everything our senses can detect about the bread and wine, their look, taste and chemistry, remains. What changes is what they are, their deepest reality, which philosophers call substance. By the consecration at Mass, through the power of Christ's word and of the Holy Spirit, the whole substance of the bread becomes his body and the whole substance of the wine becomes his blood (CCC 1375–1376). The word does not explain the mystery away; it guards it from being explained away.

Christ's presence lasts as long as the appearances of bread and wine remain, and he is wholly present in each of them and in every part, so that breaking the host does not divide him (CCC 1377). Someone who receives only the host receives the whole Christ (CCC 1390).

A sacrifice made present, not repeated

The Mass is also a sacrifice. Christ does not die again: he offered himself once for all on the Cross (Hebrews 7:27; 10:10). The Eucharist is a memorial in the biblical sense, not a mere act of remembering but a celebration in which a past saving event becomes present (CCC 1362–1363). At Mass the one sacrifice of the Cross is made present, so that its fruit is applied to us here and now (CCC 1366). The sacrifice of the Cross and the sacrifice of the Mass are one single sacrifice, with the same victim and the same priest; only the manner of offering differs, bloody on Calvary and unbloody on the altar (CCC 1367). For how this unfolds in the liturgy, see The Mass as biblical prayer and The Mass as prayer.

Receiving Communion

Because Communion is a meeting with Christ himself, the Church asks us to prepare (CCC 1385–1389):

• Be in a state of grace. Anyone aware of having committed a grave sin should go to Reconciliation before receiving (CCC 1385; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27–29).
• Keep the fast. In the Latin Church this means no food or drink, except water and medicine, for one hour before Communion (CCC 1387; Code of Canon Law, can. 919). The elderly, the sick and their carers are excused.
• Show reverence. Our gestures and clothing should express respect and joy (CCC 1387). When the minister says "The Body of Christ", we answer "Amen" and receive on the tongue or, where permitted, in the hand.
• Receive often. The Church encourages frequent, even daily, Communion, and asks Catholics to receive at least once a year, if possible in the Easter season (CCC 1389).

Visitors are warmly welcome at Mass. Because Communion expresses a full unity of faith and Church, those who are not Catholic are generally asked not to receive, apart from particular cases the Church provides for (CCC 1398–1401). This is not a judgement on anyone's sincerity; it is honesty about a unity the Church longs to see completed.

Adoration

Since Christ remains present, the Church worships him in the Eucharist outside Mass as well. Consecrated hosts are kept in the tabernacle, first so that Communion can be brought to the sick, and Catholics genuflect or bow towards it (CCC 1378–1379). A lamp burning nearby signals that he is there. The Eucharist may also be placed in a monstrance, a stand that displays the host, for adoration and blessing. Quiet minutes before the tabernacle make a simple, rich prayer (CCC 1380). St Carlo Acutis loved this prayer of adoration and made time for it alongside his daily Mass.

Going deeper

• The Mass as biblical prayer and The Mass as prayer walk through the celebration.
• The Mass as spirituality is about what to offer at Sunday Mass.
• In the Catechism: CCC 1322–1419, especially 1356–1381 on the sacrifice and the real presence.