Sacrament of the Eucharist
Benedict XVI on the Eucharist
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum CaritatisCatechism of the Catholic Church
1322
The Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
1323
"At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed,
our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and
blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the
cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so
to entrust to his beloved spouse, the church, a memorial of his
death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity,
a bond of charity, a paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed,
the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is
given to us.'" [133]
The Eucharist ― Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life
1324
The Eucharist is "the source
and summit of the Christian life." [134] "The other sacraments,
and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate,
are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For
in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good
of the church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." [135]
1325
"The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime
cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of
the people of God by which the church is kept in being. It is
the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in
Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him
to the Father in the Holy Spirit." [136]
1326
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration, we already unite
ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life,
when God will be all in all. [137]
1327
In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith:
"Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the
Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking." [138]
What is this Sacrament called?
1328
The inexhaustible richness of this
sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each
name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because
it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein [139]
and eulogein [140] recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim ― especially during a meal
― God's works: creation, redemption,
and sanctification.
1329
The Lord's supper, because of its connection with the supper
which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his passion
and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the
heavenly Jerusalem. [141]
The breaking of bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, [142] above all at the Last Supper. [143] It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his resurrection, [144] and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; [145] by doing so, they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him. [146]
The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the church. [147]
1330
The memorial of the Lord's passion and resurrection.
The holy sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice
of Christ the Savior and includes the church's offering. The
terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise,"
spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, [148]
since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old
Covenant.
The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the church's whole liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the sacred mysteries. We speak of the most Blessed Sacrament because it is the sacrament of sacraments. The Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.
1331
Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves
to Christ, who makes us sharers in his body and blood to form
a single body. [149] We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia;
sancta) [150] ― the first meaning of the phrase "communion
of saints" in the Apostles' Creed ― the bread of angels,
bread from heaven, medicine of immortality, [151] viaticum. . . .
1332
Holy Mass (Missa), because the liturgy in which the mystery
of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth
(missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God's will
in their daily lives.
The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation
The Signs of Bread and Wine
1333
At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration
are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation
of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's body and blood. Faithful
to the Lord's command, the church continues to do, in his memory
and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his
passion: "He took bread. . . ." "He took the cup
filled with wine. . . ." The signs of bread and wine become,
in a way surpassing understanding, the body and blood of Christ;
they continue also to signify the goodness of creation. Thus,
in the offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and
wine, [152] fruit of the "work of human hands," but
above all as "fruit of the earth" and "of the
vine" ― gifts of the Creator. The church sees in the gesture
of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and
wine," a prefiguring of her own offering. [153]
1334
In the Old Covenant. bread and wine were offered in sacrifice
among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment
to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in
the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats
every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure
that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna
in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the
bread of the Word of God; [154] their daily bread is the fruit
of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his
promises.
The "cup of blessing" [155] at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.
1335
The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the
Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through
his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance
of this unique bread of his Eucharist. [156] The sign of water
turned into wine at Cana already announces the hour of Jesus'
glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding
feast in the Father's kingdom, where the faithful will drink
the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ. [157]
1336
The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples,
just as the announcement of the passion scandalized them: "This
is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" [158] The Eucharist
and the cross are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and
it never ceases to be an occasion of division. "Will you
also go away?": [159] the Lord's question echoes through
the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has
"the words of eternal life" [160] and that to receive
in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.
The Institution of the Eucharist
1337
The Lord, having loved those who were
his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come
to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of
a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of
love. [161] In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order
never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his
Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his
death and resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate
it until his return; "thereby he constituted them priests
of the New Testament." [162]
1338
The three synoptic Gospels and Saint Paul have handed on to
us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; Saint John,
for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of
Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the Eucharist:
Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven. [163]
1339
Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had
announced at Capernaum: giving his disciples his body and his
blood:
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover
lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying,
"Go and prepare the Passover meal for us, that we may eat
it. . . ." They went . . . and prepared the Passover. And when
the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And
he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it again
until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." . . . And he
took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave
it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for
you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup
after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for
you is the New Covenant in my blood." [164]
1340
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the
course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its
definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his
death and resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the
supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish
Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the church in
the glory of the kingdom.
"Do This in Memory of Me"
1341
The command of Jesus to repeat his
actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask
us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical
celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the memorial
of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his resurrection, and
of his intercession in the presence of the Father. [165]
1342
From the beginning, the church has been faithful to the Lord's
command. Of the church of Jerusalem, it is written:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . . Day by day, attending
the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook
of food with glad and generous hearts. [166]
1343
It was above all on "the first day of the week,"
Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection, that the Christians met
"to break bread." [167] From that time on down to our
own day, the celebration of the Eucharist has been continued so
that today we encounter it everywhere in the church with the
same fundamental structure. It remains the center of the church's
life.
1344
Thus from celebration to celebration, as they proclaim the
paschal mystery of Jesus "until he comes," the pilgrim
people of God advances, "following the narrow way of the
cross," [168] toward the heavenly banquet, when all the elect
will be seated at the table of the kingdom.
The Liturgical Celebration of the Eucharist
The Mass of All Ages
1345
As early as the second century, we
have the witness of Saint Justin Martyr for the basic lines of
the order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the
same until our own day for all the great liturgical families. Saint Justin wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161)
around the year 155, explaining what Christians did:
On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city
or country gather in the same place.
The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets
are read, as much as time permits.
When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered
admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things.
Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves .
. . and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be
found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the
commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.
When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together
to him who presides over the brethren.
He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the
universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek:
eucharistein) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present
give voice to an acclamation by saying: "Amen."
When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded,
those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted"
bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent. [169]
1346
The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental
structure which has been preserved throughout the centuries down
to our own day. It displays two great parts that form a fundamental
unity: the gathering, the Liturgy of the Word, with readings, homily
and general intercessions; the Liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of the
bread and wine, the consecratory thanksgiving, and Communion.
The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist together form "one single act of worship"; [170] the Eucharistic table set for us is the table both of the word of God and of the body of the Lord. [171]
1347
Is this not the same movement as the paschal meal of the
risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking with them he explained
the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table "he took
bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." [172]
The Movement of the Celebration
1348
All gather together. Christians come
together in one place for the Eucharistic assembly. At its head
is Christ himself, the principal agent of the Eucharist. He is
high priest of the New Covenant; it is he himself who presides
invisibly over every Eucharistic celebration. It is in representing
him that the bishop or priest acting in the person of Christ
the head (in persona Christi capitis) presides over the assembly,
speaks after the readings, receives the offerings, and says the
Eucharistic Prayer. All have their own active parts to play in
the celebration, each in his own way: readers, those who bring
up the offerings, those who give communion, and the whole people
whose "Amen" manifests their participation.
1349
The Liturgy of the Word includes "the writings of the
prophets," that is, the Old Testament, and "the memoirs
of the apostles" (their letters and the Gospels). After
the homily, which is an exhortation to accept this word as what
it truly is, the word of God, [173] and to put it into practice,
come the intercessions for all men, according to the apostle's
words: "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and all who
are in high positions." [174]
1350
The presentation of the offerings (the offertory). Then,
sometimes in procession, the bread and wine are brought to the
altar; they will be offered by the priest in the name of Christ
in the Eucharistic sacrifice in which they will become his body
and blood. It is the very action of Christ at the Last Supper
― "taking the bread and a cup." "The church alone
offers this pure oblation to the Creator, when she offers what
comes forth from his creation with thanksgiving." [175] The
presentation of the offerings at the altar takes up the gesture
of Melchizedek and commits the creator's gifts into the hands
of Christ who, in his sacrifice, brings to perfection all human
attempts to offer sacrifices.
1351
From the very beginning, Christians have brought, along with
the bread and wine for the Eucharist, gifts to share with those
in need. This custom of the collection, ever appropriate, is
inspired by the example of Christ who became poor to make us
rich: [176]
Those who are well off, and who are also willing, give as each
chooses. What is gathered is given to him who presides to assist
orphans and widows, those whom illness or any other cause has
deprived of resources, prisoners, immigrants and, in a word,
all who are in need. [177]
1352
The anaphora: with the Eucharistic Prayer ― the prayer of
thanksgiving and consecration ― we come to the heart and summit
of the celebration: in the preface, the church gives thanks to the Father, through
Christ, in the Holy Spirit, for all his works: creation, redemption,
and sanctification. The whole community thus joins in the unending
praise that the Church in heaven, the angels and all the saints, sing to the
thrice-holy God.
1353
In the epiclesis, the church asks the Father to send his
Holy Spirit (or the power of his blessing [178]) on the bread
and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood
of Jesus Christ and so that those who take part in the Eucharist
may be one body and one spirit (some liturgical traditions put
the epiclesis after the anamnesis).
In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the
action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally
present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and
blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.
1354
In the anamnesis that follows, the church calls to mind
the passion, resurrection, and glorious return of Christ Jesus;
it presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles
us with him.
In the intercessions, the church indicates that the Eucharist
is celebrated in communion with the whole Church in heaven and
on earth, the living and the dead, and in communion with the
pastors of the church, the pope, the Diocesan bishop, his presbyterium,
and his deacons, and all the bishops of the whole world together
with their churches.
1355
In the communion, preceded by the Lord's Prayer and the
breaking of the bread, the faithful receive "the bread of
heaven" and "the cup of salvation," the body and
blood of Christ who offered himself "for the life of the
world": [179] because this bread and wine have been made Eucharist ("eucharisted,"
according to an ancient expression), "we call this food
Eucharist, and no one may take part in it unless he believes
that what we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness
of sins and new birth, and lives in keeping with what Christ
taught." [180]
The Sacramental Sacrafice ― Thanksgiving, Memorial, Presence
1356
If from the beginning Christians have
celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has not
changed despite the great diversity of times and liturgies, it
is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lord
gave on the eve of his passion: "Do this in remembrance
of me." [181]
1357
We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the
memorial of his sacrifice. In so doing, we offer to the Father
what he has himself given us: the gifts of his creation, bread
and wine which, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words
of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ. Christ is
thus really and mysteriously made present.
1358
We must therefore consider the Eucharist as: thanksgiving
and praise to the Father; the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his body; the presence of Christ by the power of his word and of his
Spirit.
Thanksgiving and Praise to the Father
1359
The Eucharist, the sacrament of our
salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice
of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic
sacrifice, the whole of creation loved by God is presented to
the Father through the death and the resurrection of Christ. Through Christ, the
church can offer the sacrifice of praise in
thanksgiving for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just
in creation and in humanity.
1360
The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father,
a blessing by which the church expresses its gratitude to God
for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through
creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means first
of all "thanksgiving."
1361
The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the
church sings the glory of God in the name of all creation. This
sacrifice of praise is possible only through Christ: he unites
the faithful to his person, to his praise, and to his intercession,
so that the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offered through
Christ and with him, to be accepted in him.
The Sacrificial Memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church
1362
The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's
Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of
his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the church which is his
body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers, we find after the words
of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.
1363
In the sense of Sacred Scripture, the memorial is not merely
the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty
works wrought by God for men. [182] In the liturgical celebration
of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every
time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present
to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives
to them.
1364
In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the church celebrates the Eucharist,
it commemorates Christ's
Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered
once for all on the cross remains ever present. [183] "As
often as the sacrifice of the cross by which 'Christ our Pasch
has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of
our redemption is carried out." [184]
1365
Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist
is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist
is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is
my body which is given for you" and "This cup which
is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood." [185] In the Eucharist, Christ gives us the very body which he gave
up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins." [186]
1366
The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents
(makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its
memorial and because it applies its fruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself
to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to
accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood
was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the
night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his
beloved spouse the church a visible sacrifice (as the nature
of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to
accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its
memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary
power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit. [187]
1367
The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist
are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same:
the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then
offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is
different." "In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated
in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody
manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered
in an unbloody manner." [188]
1368
The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the church. The church
which is the body of Christ participates in the offering of its head. With him,
the church itself is offered whole and entire. It is united to his intercession with the Father for all men. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice
of the members of his body. The lives of the faithful, their
praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of
Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for
all generations of Christians to be united with his offering.
In the catacombs, the church is often represented as a woman in prayer, arms outstretched in the praying position. Like Christ, who stretched out his arms on the cross, through him, with him, and in him, the church offers itself and intercedes for all men.
1369
The whole church is united with the offering and intercession
of Christ. Since he has the ministry of Peter in the church,
the pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist,
wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the
universal church. The bishop of the place is always responsible
for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's
name is mentioned to signify his presidency over the particular
church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance
of deacons. The community intercedes also for all ministers who,
for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:
Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated
under [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted
it. [189]
Through the ministry of priests, the spiritual sacrifice of the
faithful is completed in union with the sacrifice of Christ the
only mediator, which in the Eucharist is offered through the
priests' hands in the name of the whole church in an unbloody
and sacramental manner until the Lord himself comes. [190]
1370
To the offering of Christ are united not only the members
still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and
all the saints, the church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist, the
church is as it were at the foot of the
cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of
Christ.
1371
The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful
departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly
purified," [191] so that they may be able to enter into the
light and peace of Christ:
Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I
simply ask you to remember me at the Lord's altar wherever you
are. [192]
Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep, and in general for all who have fallen asleep before us, in the belief that it is a great benefit to the souls on whose behalf the supplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is present. . . . By offering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if they have sinned, we . . . offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and so render favorable, for them and for us, the God who loves man. [193]
1372
Saint Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves
us to an ever more complete participation in our redeemer's sacrifice
which we celebrate in the Eucharist:
This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints,
is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest
who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for
us in his passion, to make us the body of so great a head. . . . Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we who are many are
one body in Christ." The Church continues to reproduce this
sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers
wherein it is evident to them that in what it offers the church is offered. [194]
