Eucharist
The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. (CCC 1324)
The New Covenant
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever;…
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and…remains in me and I in him. (John 6:51, 54, 56)
Receiving the Eucharist changes us. It signifies and effects the unity of the community and serves to strengthen the Body of Christ.
The Eucharist was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, when He gave His disciples His Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine. It fulfills God's covenant with His people, establishing the New Covenant through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. In the Eucharist, Catholics are united with Jesus and one another. Catholics who have received First Holy Communion may receive the Eucharist at Mass, provided they are in a state of grace. Those who are conscious of committing a mortal sin must first receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Holy Communion, restoring their friendship with God.
Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance. (CCC 1415)
The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion when they participate in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so at least once a year. (CCC 1417)
Understanding the Mass
The Mass is the central act of worship in the Catholic Church, where Jesus' saving death and Resurrection are made present through the Eucharist. It has two main parts: the Liturgy of the Word, where we hear Scripture, the homily, profess our faith, and offer prayers, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of Christ. Nourished by the Eucharist, we renew our commitment to Christ and are sent forth to live and proclaim the Gospel.
The liturgical life of the Church revolves around the sacraments, with the Eucharist at the center (National Directory for Catechesis, #35). At Mass, we are fed by the Word and nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ. We believe that the Risen Jesus is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not a sign or symbol of Jesus; rather we receive Jesus himself in and through the Eucharistic species. The priest, through the power of his ordination and the action of the Holy Spirit, transforms the bread and wine into
the Body and Blood of Jesus. This is call transubstantiation.
By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity. (CCC 1413)
