The Sacrament of the Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life.

The term “Eucharist” originates from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving (USCCB). Within this sacrament Jesus Christ gives His Body and Blood 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 more deeply with our community– the one Body of Christ, the Church.

Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says about the Holy Eucharist

The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life. 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.

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.

Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. 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.” (CCC 1324-1327)