"The Lord opened the gates of heaven and rained down manna for them to eat. He gave them bread from heaven." Ps.77:23-25

This sacrament of the holy Eucharist completes the sacraments of initiation. Having been baptised into Christ, raised to the dignity of being called his children and been give the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the individual is now enabled to take part and participate, with the whole community, in the Lord's own sacrifice which we call the Eucharist or the Mass. (Current practice does not necessarily follow the same order as outlined, since it is now common place for children to be admitted to receiving the Eucharist before the sacrament of Confirmation).

In the Vatican Document on the ministry and life of priests, the Council Fathers said that all the other sacraments and indeed, all the ministries in the Church and the works of the Church are "Bound up with the Eucharist and orientated towards it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (The Ministry and Life of Priests. Art. 5). The Eucharist, then, is the sum and summary of our faith.

The Eucharist has been given many names which indicates the inexhaustible richness of this sacrament. Eucharist means thanksgiving and its celebration is an act of thanksgiving to God. The Lord's Supper, as a title, is a reminder of what happened in the upper room, the night before Jesus died when he had supper for the last time with his disciples. It also serves as a reminder of the eternal banquet in the heavenly Jerusalem spoken of in the Old Testament and recalled by Jesus in the New. The Breaking of Bread recalls the action that Jesus performed at the Last Supper which was in accordance with the practice performed at a Jewish meal. When Jesus blessed, broke and gave the bread to his disciples, he signified that all who partook of that one bread entered into communion with him and one another. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a title by which the celebration of the Eucharist was most popularly known until the time of the Second Vatican Council. It signified to those who participated that here, in this solemn act of worship, the one sacrifice of Christ was made present to all. It was through the offering and sharing in this sacrifice that the unity of the Church was strengthened and the participants were sent out empowered to fulfil God's will in their daily lives. The Divine Liturgy is also a title used to describe the Eucharist and is one that has been more frequently used by the Easter Churches. By its adoption into the Catholic church of the West it reflects the understanding that the entire liturgy of the Church finds its centre and most intense expression in the celebration of the Eucharist.

The elements of the eucharistic celebration are bread and wine which, during the course of the Liturgy, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become the Body and Blood of Christ. Whilst the external signs remain the same, the Catholic church teaches that what one receives at the time of Holy Communion is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. When the celebration of the Eucharist (Mass) is over, the Eucharistic bread is reserved in the tabernacles of our churches for the communion of the sick and for a focus of prayer and praise for those who enter our churches during the day. This Eucharistic species is termed the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharistic wine is rarely if ever reserved in tabernacles and should there be any remaining after the celebration of the Mass, it is always consumed so that none remains.

For further reading see: The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Articles 1322 - 1419.

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