THE EUCHARIST

THE HOLY EUCHARIST

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  MEANING OF “EUCHARIST” (Evolution of Names)

  1. Eulogy – “blessing” (Greek)

• ·       Translated into Berakah in Hebrew
• ·       Jesus “blessed” the bread, broke
it and gave it to his disciples
  2. “Lord’s Supper
3. “Agape” - “love feast”
·    unity, sharing and love which
the early Christians
experienced in their weekly
gatherings.
  4. Mass – 8th century (“Missa” – being
sent)

5. Eucharist – means thanksgiving

• ·  Last Supper - He gave thanks to the Father
before distributing the cup to his disciples
· thanksgiving for the marvels of creation
restored in Christ (seas and mountains, suns and
stars, for the gift of life, for the air that we
breathe
• ·   thanksgiving for his Son Jesus who has
rescued creation from sin and corruption
• thanksgiving for the new covenant established
by Jesus
THANKSGIVING (eucharistia)

sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving

• ·  A
for all that God has made good,
beautiful and just in creation and in
humanity.

• · A blessing by which the Church

expresses her gratitude to God for all
his benefits, for all that He has
accomplished through creation,
redemption and sanctification. 
MEAL
• a sign of fellowship among all people
• more than a means of reviving one’s
strength and energy but a sharing of life
• basic elements: a coming together, a
dialogue, and a sharing of food and
drink human hungers: more than
physical but deep hunger for
understanding, love and
companionship, purpose in life
(meaning), justice and peace
• food sustains life, not only physical,
but also on human level – sustain
friendship and our relationship with
others who partake of the same meal
• “meal ministry” of Jesus: with
friends, with public officials, with poor
people
• these meals teaches us something
about Jesus, his mysterious presence
and its effect in the meal of the
Eucharist: Jesus manifests himself as
the bringer of comfort, healing and joy
• Last Supper: Passover Meal - not an
ordinary meal but a solemn feast, a ritual
meal celebrated by the Jews every year
commemorating the covenant between
Yahweh and Israel when he delivered
them out of slavery from Egypt: freedom
and independence
• Jesus gave new meaning to the Passover
Meal and established a new covenant –
for all; he died for all
• “…sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a
bond of charity, a paschal banquet.”
(CFC 1702)
Practical Consequences:
-   conscious communion with God and the
community
-  learn how to drop social and personal
prejudices, and cultural barriers
-   sharing at the Lord’s table means
empathizing the struggles, hopes and
aspirations of the poor
-    we become one body, one spirit in Christ
just as the body of Christ is broken and shared
at the Eucharist, so must be willing to let
ourselves be broken and shared with all who
are in need.
SACRIFICE
• an act directed towards expressing our total
submission to God
• the external ceremony is the sign, the thing
signified is the interior dedication of oneself
to God
• any action done to unite man with God
• an act of worship by which an offerer
(priest) offers something (gift or victim) to
God in order to attain communion with him.
In Genesis, Abel offered the first-born of
his flock to God.
• important in a sacrifice is our interior
spirit, our feelings of gratitude, of love,
of repentance
• otherwise our action is hypocrisy
• sacrifice implies a renunciation of sin –
the greatest obstacle to our friendship
with God
• if no repentance, our sacrifice is not
acceptable to God; God accepted the
sacrifice of Abel but not of Cain because
Cain was not prepared to give up his
sinful life.
• Christ’s death on Calvary was a sacrifice.
He was not simply killed but voluntarily laid
down his life in obedience to the will of the
Father (John 10:15-18)
• Sacrificial Nature of the Last Supper:
understood by Christ as an anticipated
symbolic memorial of his sacrifice on the
Calvary. The climax of his self-offering took
place at Calvary.
• The Eucharist is a sacrifice because Christ
is present precisely as “offering himself for
us as a sacrifice to the Father” (CFC 1690).
• New kind of sacrifice: total self-surrender
MEMORIAL
• “Do this in memory of me.”
-         clearly points to an institution – the
foundation of a custom that was to remain
• Memorial means ANAMNESIS (in Greek but
not necessarily Hellinistic in origin)
-         also found in the Semitic thoughts
-         to make present, to make it alive
-         it involves you now
• biblical tradition: “remembrance” is
not primarily a looking backward to
recall a past event, but rather a making
present the great acts of the past
which God had worked (cf. Ex. 13:3;
Ex. 12:14)
• Anamnesis in the Semitic thoughts:
BUHI PA SA AKONG PANUMDUMAN
-         they remember their deliverance
from Egypt
-         they remember this in the anamnesis
-         “tandang-tanda ko pa”
-         you can feel the event
-         effects
-         making present the force and
meaning to the Passover Celebration
• Philippine Situation: Edsa People Power
Revolution in February 1986
-         is only part of history but not living
history because it has no effect on us
- we do not change as a nation – graft
and corruption and social injustice remain
• But for the Jews the effect of the
Passover remains and is present to the
new generation even of the event
happened thousand of years ago. The
new generation is part of the covenant.
What happened thousand years ago is
made present in the celebration and
made effective now. This is the meaning
of anamnesis: to make present what had
happened in the past. It is not only a
passive recalling but making present it
now.
• This concept of Jewish anamnesis is
transferred to the Eucharist. The effect
of Jesus’ death thousand years ago is
made present now in the Eucharist. Not
that he died again, but the effect of
salvation, love, forgiveness is felt, made
present and active now.
• EFFECT: to make present – “kabahin
ako sa kaluwasan”
• The Eucharist is a memorial of Christ’s
death and resurrection to save mankind
PRESENCE
• Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist, chapter 1:
“Within the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist,
after the consecration of the bread and wine,
our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, is
really, truly and substantially contained under
the appearance of those perceptible realities.”
 What is there is the real Body and Blood of the
Lord invisible to our eyes but present under the
appearances of bread and wine.
 EPICLESIS – prayer of consecration – through the
power of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine are
transformed into the body of and blood of Christ.
• St. John Chrysostom: “It is not man that
causes the things offered to become Body
and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified
for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role
of Christ, pronounces these words, but their
power and grace come from God. ‘This is my
body,’ he says. This word transforms the
things offered.”
•   Council of Trent: “… by the consecration of
the bread and wine there takes place a
change of the whole substance of bread and
wine into the substance of his body and
blood. This change the holy Catholic Church
has fittingly and properly called
• Biblical Texts:
-         Mark 14: 22-24 “This is my body…
This is my blood…”
-         John 6:53 “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.”
Miracles of the Eucharist
The year was 1330. A priest in Cassia, Italy
was summoned to give holy communion to a
sick person. Being in a hurry, he improperly
put the sacred host between the pages of his
prayer book. Arriving at the house of the sick
person, the priest was shocked to see the
sacred host full of blood. It was later found
out that it was a miracle within a miracle: the
profile of the face of Jesus could be seen
imprinted in the sacred host. Up to this day,
the sacred host is still preserved despite its
exposure to natural elements.
 About 500 years before this event – in the
eighth century – a priest from Lanciano, Italy
doubted the real presence of Jesus in the holy
Eucharist. He was shown a miracle when
during the consecration of the Mass, the bread
became flesh; the wine turned into real blood.
In 1970, a scientific investigation was
conducted by an illustrious scientist named
Odoardo Linoli, an eminent professor in
Anatomy, Pathological Histology, Chemistry
and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by
Prof. Ruggero Bertilli of the University of
Siena.
 Their analyses sustained the following
conclusions: the Flesh is real flesh and the
Blood is real blood. The blood contained
proteins in the same proportions as are found
in the sero-proteic make-up of fresh normal
blood; the preservation of the Flesh and Blood –
without any chemical preservatives and
exposed to the action of atmospheric and
biological agents – remains an extraordinary
phenomenon.
What is very interesting in the findings is
that the Flesh was found out to come from the
muscular tissue of the heart: the myocardium.
PREPARATION FOR A WORTHY RECEPTION

• One hour Eucharistic fast (Canon 919)

• Bodily deameanor – gestures, clothing:
ought to convey respect, reverence and
solemnity
In the state of grace: Anyone conscious of
a grave sin must receive the sacrament of
reconciliation before coming to
communion
• Canon 915: persists in a manifestly
grave sin - no admission to
communion
-         abortion
-         apostasy, heresy and schism
-         forbidden societies
-         physical attack on the pope
-         others
• Read 1 Cor 11: 27-29
• Communion for late arrivals at mass?
“Mass begins with the entrance procession
and ends after the final dismissal and we
should be there from beginning to end…
Arriving on time is not just a question of
obligation but of love and respect for Our
Lord who has gathered us together to share
his gifts… If people arrive late due to
culpable negligence, and especially if done
habitually, then they need to seriously
reflect on their attitudes, amend their
ways…”
Main Pastoral Problem of the Eucharist
• Vatican II: “Eucharistic sacrifice is the
source and summit of the Christian life.”
(Lumen Gentium 11)
• Without base, there cannot be a summit
• Problem: we see only the summit, but
not the groundings; no foundation
• Eucharist has been divorced, isolated
from the rest of life.
• Cut-off from daily life, devotion to the
Eucharist is empty.
• How can we appreciate the Eucharist, if
we do not see him in the poor
• Fr. J. Bulatao, SJ: Split-Level
Christianity
-  two faces, one step outside the Church
we are a different person
-    hypocrite, like Pharisees
- meaningless celebration, not a real
sacrifice
CHALLENGE
• PCP II #36: “Move forward we must.
Because that is at the root of our Christian
identity. We are followers of Christ, his
disciples. Tracing his footsteps in our times –
to utter his words to others. To love with his
love. To live with his life. This is why we
must move forward. To cease following him is
to betray our very identity.”
• Fellowship must begin in the family as the
domestic church, where the father, mother
and children are nourished by their
attendance together at the Sunday Eucharist.
(Story of Family attending Sunday Mass)
• John’s account of Last Supper (John
13:1-17; 34-35): Washing of the Feet
-         “If I, the master and teacher, have
washed your feet, you ought to wash one’s
another feet. I have given you a model to
follow, so that as I have done for you, you
should also do.”
-         service in love and humility
• The Eucharist can only be at the center
of the life of the Church if our community
radiates service to those who are in need.
SEVEN CONCLUSIONS OF THE 48TH
INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
(Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico / 14 October
2004)
1.  It is urgent to emphasize the importance of
Sunday Mass, a central part of the congress.
2.  The feast and procession of Corpus Christi
(the Body and Blood of Christ) must be
emphasized again.
3.  Eucharistic adoration in all its forms must be
revalued including nocturnal adoration.
1. Emphasize the importance of frequent
and worthy communion, coupled with
the sacrament of reconciliation.
2. Encourage the spirit of mission, which
stems from the Eucharist.
3. Share one’s table and Mass with the
Poor, in the service of charity. Combine
spiritual commitment with the need of
the Poor.
4. Renew faith, sacrifice, communion and
service in the Eucharist, as a sign for the
Catholic Church and the world.