1. The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life of the Church

   The Eucharist is the heart of the Church; to highlight it, the II Vatican Council uses that phrase –which is not emphatic but just –saying that there is the source and summit of the Christian Life” and he also says that “the Holy Eucharist contains the whole spiritual good of the Church, it means, Christ himself. That is the reason why “the other sacraments as well as all ecclesiastical ministries and works of apostolate are joined to the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. (Presbyterorum ordinis, 5).

2. Different names of this sacrament

  The inexhaustible richness of the Eucharist is expressed by various names given. Each evokes some aspect of its content or circumstance of the moment of the institution. It is called:

    - Eucharist means thanksgiving to God;

    - Banquet of the Lord, because Christ instituted the Holy Thursday at the Last Supper.

    - Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the only sacrifice of Christ to receive His Body and Blood;

    - Holy Mass, because when the faithful are said goodbye at the end of the Eucharist liturgy, are sent (“ a mission”) to fulfill the will of God in their daily life.

3. The institution of the Eucharist

   Jesús instituted the Eucharist on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper. He had already announced to the disciples at Capernaum (cfr. John, 6) he would give them to eat his Body and Blood, as well as he had been preparing the faith of his disciples with unanswerable arguments: the miracle of Caná – turn water into wine- and the multiplication of the loaves, which showed the power of Jesus. So, hearing at the Last Supper: This is my Body (Luke 22:19), it would have the firm persuasion as saying; as the water had become wine by his all-powerful word and rolls grew to satisfy a large crowd.

4. The liturgical celebration of the Eucharist

   The Apostles were commissioned by the Lord: “Do this in memory of mine” (Luke 22:19) to carry on and the Church has not stopped to carry it out in the liturgical celebration, which is not a mere reminder but a real update of the memorial of Christ: of his life, his death, his resurrection and his intercession with the Father, held in the Eucharist. Since the mid-second century and according to the story of Martyr Justin, we have witnessed the great lines of development of the Eucharistic celebration, which have remained unchanged until this day.

  B. Choose one of these words: signal, summit, Banquet of the Lord, Eucharist, Holy Sacrifice, Communion Holy Mass, Holy, weekly, yours or mine.

 5. The Eucharist, unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of the cross

    Jesus Christ offered to the Father the sacrifice of his own life by dying on the cross. It was a real sacrifice which redeemed us from our sins, overcoming all the offenses have been done and the ones may make men, because it has an infinite value.

     But, although the value of the sacrifice of Chris on the cross was infinite and unique, the Lord wanted perpetuation –it makes present- to apply the merits of redemption; so before he died, he consecrated the bread and the wine and commanded the Apostles: “Do this in memory of mine”. So, He made priests of the New Testament and with his power and his person, they continually offer to God the visible sacrifice of the Church.

">     Jesus Christ instituted the Mass not to perpetuate the Supper but the sacrifice of the cross. Thus, the Mass renews bloodlessly (bloodless) the sacrifice of Calvary same; and the Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church, because, being the Church, Body of Christ, participates in the offering of his head.

"> 6. The sacrifice of the mass and the cross are essentially one and the same

   Between the Mass and the sacrifice of the cross there is an essential identity and accidental differences:

    - The Priest is the same: Christ who offered himself on Calvary, while at Mass is done through the priest.

    - Victim is the same: Christ, who in the sacrifice of the cross, sacrificed in a bloody manner (bloodshed), while he does it at Mass in a bloodless way. The presence of Christ under the consecrated species of bread and wine, which contain his Body and Blood separately as different species, mystically manifest separation of the Body and Blood occurred on the cross.

    - At the cross, Christ redeemed us from sin and he won the merits of salvation for us; at Mass, we are applied the merits of Christ who won then.

7. The goals of the Holy Mass

   The goals of the Holy Mass are four: worship God, give thanks, ask benefits and satisfy for our sins. We can join all our day to the Holy Mass and live along with him with those same feelings that Christ had on the cross.

Catechesis Course. Don Jaime Pujol Balcells and Don Jesús Sancho Bielsa. EUNSA. Navarra. 1982. With permission of the authors.

C. Answer with one of these words: cross, mountain, things, offenses, church, earth, bush, calvary, Christ, Santiago, different, same, four or five.

  Catechisms questions

1. ¿What is the sacrament of the Eucharist?  The sacrament of the Eucharist is, which is under the appearances of bread and wine, invisible but it really contains the Body and Blood of Christ.

2. ¿Does the Eucharist receive other names?  For the inexhaustible richness of this sacrament, the Eucharist also receives the names of Banquet of the Lord, Holy Sacrifice, Communion, Holy Mass….

3. ¿What is the Holy Mass?  The Holy Mass is the sacramental sacrifice of the Body and the Blood of Christ, which is offered to God by the ministry of priest in recognition of the supreme dominion of God, renewed of a bloodless way the sacrifice of the cross, that is presented under the veils of bread and wine, as at the Last Supper.

4. So ¿The sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice of the cross?  The sacrifice of the Mass is the same of the cross, because the priest and victim is the same: although Christ distinguish them accidental differences.

5. ¿Why do we say that the Holy Mass is a sacrifice?  We say that the Mass is a sacrifice because Christ offers in it as victim of reconciliation of the supreme majesty of God and in compensation of our sins.

6. ¿What are the goals of the Eucharistic sacrifice?  The goals of the Eucharistic sacrifice are four: worship God, give thanks, ask benefits and satisfy for our sins.

D. Choose the letter for the correct answer. Below are the possible answers: A, B, C, D, E, F.