First Holy Communion

The Eucharist

The Eucharist is the heart and summit of the Church’s life. For in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, offered for all on the cross to the Father. By this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.

At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood. This change, the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation. 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”.

The Eucharistic Celebration always includes:

• The proclamation of the Word of God;
• Thanksgiving to God the Father for all his benefits, above all the gift of his Son;
• The consecration of bread and wine;
• And participation in receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood;
• These elements constitute one single act of worship.

The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names given it:

• Eucharist because it is an act of thanksgiving to God, from the Jewish blessings that proclaim God’s works: creation, redemption and sanctification.
• The Lord’s Supper because of its connection to the last supper of the Lord with his disciples.
• Breaking of Bread because Jesus used this rite to bless bread and distributed the bread to his disciples, signifying that all who eat of the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form one body in him.
• The Holy Sacrifice because it is a memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.
• Holy Communion because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.
• Holy Mass because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is associated concludes with the sending forth (In Latin: missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfil God’s will in their daily lives.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1322-1327, 1328-1333, 1373-1375, 1407-1410