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EUCHARIST
Christ, The Living Bread of Life
 BASIC
DESCRIPTION
 At the last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior
instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This
he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross
throughout the ages until he should come again, and so entrust
to his beloved Spouse, the Church…
a Memorial of his death and
resurrection.
a Sacrament of love, a sign of unity
and bond Charity,
a Paschal banquet in which Christ is
consumed, the mind is filled with

grace, and
a Pledge of future glory is given to us.
 SPECIFIC POINTS

• the Eucharist was Instituted by Christ

• prepared for it
• established it
• confirmed it
• the Eucharist is celebrated with Christ by the Christian
Community, the Church.

• the Eucharist is at once both a sacrifice and sacred meal.

• Christ himself is really present in the Eucharistic celebration

in multiple ways esp. under the signs of bread and wine.

• the Eucharist is the eschatological pledge and foretaste of

our future glory.
4 THEOLOGIES

 THANKSGIVING WORSHIP

 SACRIFICE-SACRAMENT.

 COMMUNION-SACRAMENT.

 PRESENCE-SACRAMENT
which constitutes the pledge of
eternal life hereafter.
EUCHARIST AS THANKSGIVING WORSHIP
EUCHARIST AS THANKSGIVING WORSHIP

 The Mass is first and foremost, a sacrifice of praise

(adoration) and thanksgiving.
– Since the highest form of honor to God is sacrifice, the
Mass is a continuation of Christ's sacrifice of praise and
gratitude to God the Father.

So the Church can now offer her sacrifice to the

Father through Christ.
– The Church, the spouse and minister of Christ, performs
together with him the role of priest and victim, offers him
to the Father and at the same time makes a total offering
of herself together with him for the Lord always associates
the Church to himself in the celebration.
EUCHARIST AS THANKSGIVING WORSHIP

 Since the mass brings us together as a community in

Christ in whom we received the means for giving
worthy worship to God.

 Since we derived our strength and nourishment in

our daily spiritual life from it and bring to its
celebration all our joys and hopes, all our cares and
worries in daily living.

 Since the mass celebrates most perfectly all the

essential goals of prayer; thanksgiving, praise and
adoration of God, contrition for our sins, petition for
his grace, and offering of all we have, do and are.
 THE EUCHARIST
SACRIFICE and SACRAMENT
"As Sacrifice, Christ pours down his blessings of mercy on
the whole human race every time that Mass is offered."
 THE EUCHARIST
SACRIFICE and SACRAMENT

The most serious

challenge to the Catholic
faith in the Eucharist was
the claim that the Mass is
not a real Sacrifice but
merely a symbolic one.
 THE EUCHARIST
SACRIFICE and SACRAMENT

For our purpose,

there are especially
two questions that
need to be briefly
answered:

1) How is the Mass a

true sacrifice?

2) How is the Sacrifice

of the Mass related
to the sacrifice of
the Cross?
 How is the Mass a true sacrifice?
 The mass is always celebrated with
 A PRIEST
 A VICTIM
 A GOAL

 Where in the mass is the “shedding of the victim’s blood or

slaying of the victim” takes place?
 Mystical Slaying: takes place in the separate
consecration of bread and wine.

 Real Slaying: takes place within the process of trans-

substantiation which is during EPICLESIS.
How is this Sacrifice of the Mass
related to the sacrifice of the Cross?
How is the Sacrifice of the Mass
related to the sacrifice of the Cross?
 The Priest is the same Jesus Christ who offers a sacrifice
in Calvary now offers a sacrifice in the mass.
– The ordained priest represents Jesus Christ and in Jesus’
Name he offers the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

 The Victim is the same, namely the Savior in His human

nature, with His true Body and Blood, and His human
free will.
– Whereas on Calvary, this sacrifice was bloody, causing
Christ's physical death by crucifixion, in the Mass the same
Jesus is now sacrificing Himself in an unbloody manner
because he is now glorified, immortal, and incapable of
suffering or dying in His own physical person.
 How is the Sacrifice of the Mass
related to the sacrifice of the Cross?
 The end or purpose is the same:
 to give glory to God,

 to thank Him,

 to obtain His mercy, and

 to ask Him for our needs.

But, as we have seen, whereas on Calvary Christ

merited our salvation, it is mainly through the Mass
that He now dispenses the riches of His saving grace.
 How is the Sacrifice of the Mass
related to the sacrifice of the Cross?
How is this made possible?

THROUGH TRANS-SUBSTANTIATION
 the process by which through the power of the Holy
Spirit, bread and wine is changed into the body and
blood of Christ.
- the change is not in its physical appearances (accidens)
but in its substance (esse) which can be seen only in the
eyes of faith.

THUS, our sacrifice of bread and wine now become the

sacrifice of Christ.
How is the Sacrifice of the Mass
related to the sacrifice of the Cross?
THUS, Since it is the same Jesus, we must say
 He continues in the Mass what He did on
Calvary except that now in the Mass, He is no
longer mortal or capable of suffering in His
physical person.

 On Calvary He was, by His own choice, capable

of suffering and dying. What He did then was
to gain the blessings of our redemption. What
He does now in the Mass is apply these
blessings to the constant spiritual needs of a
sinful, suffering humanity.
SOME CONCLUSIONS

 The Sacrifice of the Mass is in no way separated

from the sacrifice which Christ offered on the
Cross. They are ONE and the SAME SACRIFICE. The key to
this unity is JESUS CHRIST.
 By the words, "Do this in memory of me" (Luke
22:19; I Corinthians 11:24), Christ made the
apostles priests. Moreover, He decreed that they
and other priests should offer His Body and
Blood.
– The Mass therefore makes present the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross which took place 2000 years ago.
SOME CONCLUSIONS
 The Mass is a true and proper sacrifice which
is offered to God.
• The Sacrifice of the Mass is not merely an
offering of praise and thanksgiving, or simply
a memorial of the sacrifice on the Cross.

• It is a propitiatory sacrifice which is offered for

• the living and dead,
• for the remission of sins and punishment due to sin,
• as satisfaction for sin and
• for other necessities.

• To overcome the animosity; to unite.

 THE EUCHARIST
COMMUNION AND SACRAMENT

"Take this all of you and

eat, this is my Body." And
taking the chalice He gave
thanks and gave it to them
saying, “Take this all of
you and drink from this.
For this is my Blood of the
New Testament which
shall be shed for many
unto remission of sins."
(Matthew 26:26-28)
 THE EUCHARIST
COMMUNION AND SACRAMENT
 Eucharist continued Christ's meal ministry that he had
carried on throughout his public life.

Gospel Text: Mt. 9:10-13 with Matthew the tax collector.

Lk. 19:5 with Zaccheus.
Lk. 7:36-50 with a Pharisee called Simon
who invited Jesus.
Lk. 24:30-31 with his 2 disciples on the way
to Emmaus.
Jn 21:12f with his 7 apostles on the
shore
of Tiberias.

– In all these meals, Jesus brought salvation to those who opened

their hearts to him in loving communion.
 THE EUCHARIST
COMMUNION AND SACRAMENT

“ I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat

the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, you will not have life in you.
Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink
my blood has eternal life and I shall raise
him up on the last day. For my flesh is
real food and my blood is real drink. He
who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me and I live in Him. So whoever
eats me will draw life from me. Anyone
who eats this bread will live forever.”
(John 6: 53-58)
 THE EUCHARIST
COMMUNION AND SACRAMENT

 What Christ emphasizes is the

absolute necessity of being nourished
by His Body and Blood if the
supernatural life received at Baptism
is to be sustained.

– No less than material food and drink are

necessary to sustain the natural life of the
body, so Holy Communion must be received to
support and nourish the supernatural life of the
soul.
 THE EUCHARIST
COMMUNION AND SACRAMENT

 It is the celebration of the

liturgy of the Eucharist through
which "grace is poured forth
upon us and the sanctification
of humankind in Christ and the
glorification of God are
achieved with maximum
effectiveness. (SC 10)
– Therefore, the sanctification of
Christians who participate in the
Eucharist is effected by the worthy
partaking of Holy Communion:
Effects of Holy Communion

1. Union with Christ

Holy Communion gives us a spiritual joy in the
service of Christ, in defending His cause, in
performing the duties of our state of life, and in
making the sacrifices required of us in imitating
the life of our Savior.

2. Liberation from Sin

As bodily food restores our physical energies, so
the Eucharist is a "remedy to free us from our
daily faults and to preserve us from mortal sin"
(ND 1515) It strengthens our life of loving
service weakened by our disordered desires, self-
centered attitudes and sins.
Effects of Holy Communion

3. Reconciliation
Without displacing in the least the sacrament
of reconciliation in the Church, the Eucharist
thus constitutes the chief ordinary means of
reconciliation in the Church.

Therefore, Holy communion builds up the

Christian Community, the Church.
the Eucharist builds up those who are in the
Church, making them a holy temple of the
Lord, and a dwelling place for God in the
Spirit." (SC 2)
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

"As Presence, Christ

confers grace on a sinful
world just because he is
in the tabernacle."

“Take; this is my body …“

“This is my blood of the

Covenant which is poured
for many.”
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

• The mass makes the risen

Christ sacramentally present.

a. In the ASSEMBLY
– Christ's presence in the
Eucharist is not physical
presence but interpersonal
presence, i.e., the presence
between two persons actively
interacting (attending to one
another, sharing, caring,
counting for one another).
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

b. In his Word
- since Jesus speaks when the
Holy Scriptures are read.

- Jesus, as proclaimed by John,

is the Word of God, the “Logus”,
who was already with God,
was God since the beginning
of the World.
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

c. In the Person of the Minister

• Priests are ordained to be
sacraments of Christ, “configured
to Christ in such a way that they
are able to act in the person of
Christ the head.”

• Thus, it is Christ himself who is

present and acting thru his
ordained minister.
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

 In the Eucharistic Species

– Jesus’ real presence par
excellence.
– Christ's personal self-giving
presence for our salvation - based
on a radical change in the reality of
the bread and wine, i.e. in their
substance into Christ's Body and
Blood.
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

 Qualities of Christ's Presence

a. Sacramental - seen through the eyes of
faith.
b. Personal - a presence in "spirit".
c. In his glorified Body - not in his
earthly condition but in his resurrected
body "spiritual body.“
d. Dynamic and lasting - His presence in
the consecrated bread and
wine is an effective sign of his
love for us and inviting us to respond
in love.
 THE EUCHARIST
PRESENCE AND SACRAMENT

 THUS, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is

 Not a momentary gift, but enduring;
 Not a one-sided relation, but mutual;
 Not simply physical, but personal and spiritual
 Not just of this world, but even now reaching
beyond death to eternal life.

 The simplest way to express what Christ asks

us to believe about the Real Presence is that
the Eucharist is really He. The Real Presence is
the real Jesus.
SOME CONCLUSIONS

The Mass is therefore a pledge

of our own resurrection and
new life. Food for our journey,
and a foretaste of the heavenly
banquet.
This hope of future glory is expressed in
celebrating the mass “until he comes” and
in the tradition of the Church called
“Viaticum” (the eucharist given to the sick
and dying)
 THE EUCHARIST
A FLEDGE OF OUR FUTURE GLORY

• This pledge of future glory is really a

Spirit-inspired and empowered
life-long process of growing in Christ-
likeness.

• Christ is now at work in the hearts of

men by the power of the holy Spirit
who animates, purifies, and
strengthens both the human yearning
for our heavenly home, and the
generous service to make life here on
earth.
ADORATION OF THE
BLESSED SACRAMENT

 It draws us into deeper sharing in

Christ’s Paschal Mystery by
– enjoying his intimate friendship.
– Pouring out our hearts before him
– Offering all our thoughts and actions with
him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
– Experiencing a deepening of our faith, hope
and love.

 It helps us to “pull things together” so

that we actually live more like how we
pray and worship.
ADORATION OF THE
BLESSED SACRAMENT

 What led to the praiseworthy custom

of adoring the heavenly food
preserved in Churches?

 Viaticum to the dying.

 Holy Communion to the sick
and disabled.
ADORATION OF THE
BLESSED SACRAMENT

 Various forms of Eucharistic

Adoration:
a. Personal prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament.
b. Hours of Adoration
c. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
d. Celebration of the Corpus Christi.
  GOOD BYE
 GOD BLESS YOU!!!

END