Holy Eucharist is the SACRAMENT in which Jesus Christ gives his Body and Blood himself for us, so that we too might give ourselves to him in love and be united with him in Holy COMMUNION. In this way we are joined with the one Body of Christ, the  CHURCH. 

After Baptism and  CONFIRMATION, the Eucharist is the third sacrament of initiation of the Catholic Church. The Eucharist is the mysterious center of all these sacraments, because the historic sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is made present during the words of consecration in a hidden, unbloody manner. Thus the celebration of the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium [LG], 11). Everything aims at this; besides this there is nothing greater that one could attain. When we eat the broken Bread, we unite ourselves with the love of Jesus, who gave his body for us on the wood of the Cross; when we drink from the chalice, we unite ourselves with him who even poured out his blood out of love for us. We did not invent this ritual. Jesus himself celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples and therein anticipated his death; he gave himself to his disciples under the signs of bread and wine and commanded them from then on, even after his death, to celebrate the EUCHARIST. “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24). 

When did Christ institute the Eucharist? Christ instituted the Holy EUCHARIST on the evening before his death, “on the night when he was betrayed” (1 Cor 11:23), when he gathered the APOSTLES around him in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and celebrated the Last Supper with them. 

How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood? By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence the Crucifixionfrom within becomes an act of totalself-giving love.

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the chalice, after supper, saying, ‘This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me’ ” (1 Cor 11:23-25).

This, the oldest account of the events in the Upper Room at the Last Supper, is by the →APOSTLE Paul, who was not an eyewitness himself, but rather wrote down what was being preserved as a holy mystery by the young Christian community and was being celebrated in the liturgy. 

The celebration of the EUCHARIST is the heart of the Christian communion. In it the CHURCH becomes Church. 

We are not Church because we get along well, or because we happen to end up in the same parish community, but rather because in the Eucharist we receive the Body of Christ and are increasingly being transformed into the Body of Christ. 

The different names indicate the unfathomable richness of this mystery: the Holy Sacrifice, Holy Mass, the Sacrifice of the Mass the Lord’s Supperthe Breaking of Bread the Eucharistic assembly the memorial of the Lord’s Passion, death, and Resurrectionthe Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Sacred Mysteries Holy COMMUNION.

Holy Sacrifice, Holy Mass, the Sacrifice of the Mass: The one sacrifice of Christ, which completes and surpasses all sacrifices, is made present in the celebration of the Eucharist. The  CHURCH and the faithful, through their self-offering, unite themselves with Christ’s sacrifice. The word Mass comes from the Latin dismissal, Ite, missa est, “Go now, you are sent.” 

The Lord’s Supper : Every celebration of the Eucharist is still the one supper that Christ celebrated with his disciples and, at the same time, the anticipation of the banquet that the Lord will celebrate with the redeemed at the end of time. We men do not make the worship service; the Lord is the one who calls us to worship God and is mysteriously present in the liturgy. 

The breaking of bread: “The breaking of bread” was an old Jewish ritual at meals, which Jesus employed at the Last Supper to express his gift of self “for us” (Rom 8:32). In the “breaking of bread” the disciples recognized him again after the Resurrection. The early Church called their liturgicalfeasts “the breaking of bread”.

Eucharistic assembly: The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is also an assembly of “thanksgiving”, in which the  CHURCH finds her visible expression.

Memorial of the Lord’s Passion, death, and Resurrection : In the celebration of the Eucharist, the congregation does not celebrate itself; rather it discovers and celebrates again and again the presence of Christ’s saving passage through suffering and death to life.

Holy and Divine Liturgy, Sacred Mysteries: In the celebration of the Eucharist, the Church in heaven and on earth unite in one feast. Because the Eucharistic Gifts in which Christ is present are, so to speak, the holiest thing in the world, we also speak about the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Holy Communion: Because we unite ourselves with Christ at Holy Mass, and through him are united with one another, we speak about Holy Communion (communion  fellowship)

Every Holy Mass (celebration of the Eucharist) unfolds in two main parts, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. 

In the Liturgy of the Word, we hear readings from the Old and  NEW TESTAMENT and also the Gospel. Besides that there is an opportunity for preaching and general intercessory prayers. In the subsequent Liturgy of the Eucharist, bread and wine are offered, consecrated, and distributed to the faithful at COMMUNION