Catechism of the Catholic Church: Article 3:The Sacrament of the Eucharist
VII. The Eucharist—"pledge of the Glory to Come"
1402In an ancient prayer the Church acclaims the mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly blessing and grace," then the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly glory.
1403At the Last Supper the Lord himself directed his disciples' attention toward the fulfillment of the Passover in the kingdom of God: "I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist she remembers this promise and turns her gaze "to him who is to come." In her prayer she calls for his coming: "Marana tha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!" "May your grace come and this world pass away!"
1404The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ," asking "to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ our Lord."
1405There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells," than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, "the work of our redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."
In Brief
1406Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; . . . he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me, and I in him" (Jn 6:51, 54, 56).
1407The Eucharist is the heart and the 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 once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.
1408The 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 the liturgical banquet by receiving the Lord's body and blood. These elements constitute one single act of worship.
1409The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, that is, of the work of salvation accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical action.
1410It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
1411Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord.
1412The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my body which will be given up for you. . . . This is the cup of my blood. . . ."
1413By 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 (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651).
1414As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.
1415Anyone 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.
1416Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant's union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.
1417The 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.
1418Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. "To visit the Blessed Sacrament is . . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord" (Paul VI, MF 66).
1419Having passed from this world to the Father, Christ gives us in the Eucharist the pledge of glory with him. Participation in the Holy Sacrifice identifies us with his Heart, sustains our strength along the pilgrimage of this life, makes us long for eternal life, and unites us even now to the Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints.
Notes
135 SC 47.
136 LG 11.
137 PO 5.
138 Congregation of Rites, instruction, Eucharisticum mysterium , 6.
139 Cf. 1 Cor 15:28.
140 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,18,5:PG 7/1,1028.
141 Cf. Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24.
142 Cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22.
143 Cf. 1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9.
144 Cf. Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 8:6, 19.
145 Cf. Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24.
146 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
147 Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7,11.
148 Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17.
149 Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34.
150 Heb 13:15; cf. 1 Pet 2:5; Ps 116:13, 17; Mal 1:11.
151 Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17.
152 Apostolic Constitutions 8,13,12:PG 1,1108; Didache 9,5; 10:6:SCh 248,176-178.
153 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20,2:SCh 10,76.
154 Cf. Ps 104:13-15.
155 Gen 14:18; cf. Roman Missal , EP I (Roman Canon) 95.
156 Cf. Deut 8:3.
157 1 Cor 10:16.
158 Cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39.
159 Cf. Jn 2:11; Mk 14:25.
160 Jn 6:60.
161 Jn 6:67.
162 Jn 6:68.
163 Cf. Jn 13:1-17; 34-35.
164 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740.
165 Cf. Jn 6.
166 Lk 22:7-20; Cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26.
167 Cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
168 Acts 2:42,46.
169 Acts 20:7.
170 AG 1; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
171 St. Justin, Apol. 1, 65-67:PG 6,428-429; the text before the asterisk (*) is from chap. 67.
172 SC 56.
173 Cf. DV 21.
174 Cf. Lk 24:13-35.
175 Cf. 1 Thess 2:13.
176 1 Tim 2:1-2.
177 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,18,4:PG 7/1,1027; cf. Mal 1:11.
178 Cf. 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8:9.
179 St. Justin, Apol . 1,67:PG 6,429.
180 Cf. Roman Missal , EP I (Roman Canon) 90.
181 Jn 6:51.
182 St. Justin, Apol . 1,66,1-2:PG 6,428.
183 1 Cor 11:24-25.
184 Cf. Ex 13:3.
185 Cf. Heb 7:25-27.
186 LG 3; cf. 1 Cor 5:7.
187 Lk 22:19-20.
188 Mt 26:28.
189 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf. 1 Cor 11:23; Heb 7:24, 27.
190 Council of Trent (1562) Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2: DS 1743; cf. Heb 9:14,27.
191 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8:1;SCh 10,138.
192 PO 2 § 4.
193 Council of Trent (1562): DS 1743.
194 St. Monica, before her death, to her sons, St. Augustine and his brother; Conf. 9,11,27:PL 32,775.
195 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5,9,10:PG 33,1116-1117.
196 St. Augustine, De civ Dei , 10,6:PL 41,283; cf. Rom 12:5.
197 Rom 8:34; cf. LG 48.
198 Mt 18:20.
199 Cf. Mt 25:31-46.
200 SC 7.
201 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,73,3c.
202 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.
203 Paul VI, MF 39.
204 St. John Chrysostom, prod. Jud. 1:6:PG 49,380.
205 St. Ambrose, De myst. 9,50; 52:PL 16,405-407.
206 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1642; cf. Mt 26:26 ff.; Mk 14:22 ff.; Lk 22:19 ff.; 1 Cor 11:24 ff.
207 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641.
208 Paul VI, MF 56.
209 Jn 13:1.
210 Cf. Gal 2:20.
211 John Paul II, Dominicae cenae , 3.
212 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III,75,1; cf. Paul VI, MF 18; St. Cyril of Alexandria, In Luc. 22,19:PG 72,912; cf. Paul VI, MF 18.
213 St. Thomas Aquinas (attr.), Adoro te devote ; tr. Gerard Manley Hopkins.
214 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5,2,7:PL 16,447C.
215 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4,2,7:PL 16,437D.
216 Roman Missal , EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus: iube hæc perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae: ut, quotquot ex hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione cælesti et gratia repleamur.
217 Jn 6:53.
218 1 Cor 11:27-29.
219 Roman Missal , response to the invitation to communion; cf. Mt 8:8.
220 Cf. CIC, can. 919.
221 Cf. CIC, can. 916.
222 Cf. CIC, can. 917; The faithful may receive the Holy Eucharist only a second time on the same day [CF. Pontificia Commissio Codici Iuris Canonici Authentice Interpretando, Responsa ad proposita dubia , 1:AAS 76 (1984) 746].
223 SC 55.
224 OE 15; CIC, can. 920.
225 GIRM 240.
226 Jn 6:56.
227 Jn 6:57.
228 Fanqith, Syriac Office of Antioch, Vol. I, Commun., 237a-b.
229 PO 5.
230 St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4,6,28:PL 16,446; cf. 1 Cor 11:26.
231 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1638.
232 St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Contra Fab. 28,16-19: CCL 19A,813-814.
233 Cf. 1 Cor 12:13.
234 1 Cor 10:16-17.
235 St. Augustine, Sermo 272:PL 38,1247.
236 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 27,4:PG 61,229-230; cf. Mt 25:40.
237 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 26,13:PL 35,1613; cf. SC 47.
238 UR 15 § 2; cf. CIC, can. 844 § 3.
239 UR 22 § 3.
240 UR 22 § 3.
241 Cf. CIC, can. 844 § 4.
242 Roman Missal , EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus .
243 Mt 26:29; cf. Lk 22:18; Mk 14:25.
244 Rev 1:4; 22:20; 1 Cor 16:22.
245 Didache 10,6:SCh 248,180.
246 Roman Missal 126, embolism after the Our Father: expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi ; cf. Titus 2:13.
247 EP III 116: prayer for the dead.
248 2 Pet 3:13.
249 LG 3; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20,2:SCh 10,76.