Jesus said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will
live forever; whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in them.”
(John 6:53-56).

The following terms reflect the layers of meaning of the Eucharist to Catholics (CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church):

• An action of thanksgiving to God (CCC, 1328)
• The Lord’s Supper (CCC, 1329)
• The Breaking of bread (CCC, 1329)
• The memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection (CCC, 1330)
• The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (CCC, 1330)
• Holy Communion (CCC, 1331)
• Holy Mass (CCC, 1332)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a celebration and memorial of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross in which Jesus becomes truly present under the form of bread and wine.

There are three parts to the Liturgy of the Eucharist: the Preparation of the Gifts, the Eucharistic Prayer and the Communion Rite. When we celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist (within Mass) we ‘make present again’ what Jesus did at the last supper.

Jesus commands: “Do this in memory of me”. So from early times, Christian communities celebrated the Meal of the Lord’s Supper, the breaking of the bread, saying: “Take and eat, take and drink, it is the body and the blood of the Lord.”

This Sunday we are initiating another group of children into this full participation of the life of the Church. We believe that Jesus is truly present to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. At every Mass Jesus is present in the community of the baptised gathered, the Word, the priest (‘in persona Christi’), and the consecrated bread and wine.

We come to be fed and nourished at the altar of the Lord, in order that we may receive the Lord, and be strengthened to live more deeply for Christ – “to go to love and serve the Lord.”