Holy Communion

The Eucharist occupies a unique place as the Sacrament of Sacraments and all the other Sacraments are ordered to it as to their end. At the heart of the Holy Eucharist are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, truly and substantially become the Body and Blood of the risen and glorified Lord Jesus.The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life and completes Christian initiation.

The other sacraments and ecclesiastical ministries are bound up with and oriented to it. In brief, 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 Eucharist, through the actions of the Holy Spirit and the Real Presence of Jesus, His Body and Blood become present under the form of bread and wine. It is through the Eucharist that each of us is nourished by Jesus to seek God’s Will.

In the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest. The whole Christ is truly present — body, blood, soul, and divinity — under the appearances of bread and wine, the glorified Christ who rose from the dead. This is what the Church means when she speaks of the “Real Presence” of Christ in the Eucharist.