Eat This Bread, Think of it as Me

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

--John 6:35

We’ve already covered two of the seven Sacraments of the Church in the typical order a person would receive them: Baptism, then Reconciliation.  In this post we’ll look at the next Sacrament a Catholic would typically receive:  The Eucharist.  Since we’ve spent a vast majority of this entire blog so far talking about the Mass, which is the prayerful service that continues to bring the Eucharist into being in the world, this won’t be an incredibly long series.  Hopefully you’ve read the series on the Mass, and if not, now might be a good time to go back to the beginning and start reading those.  For the rest of us, though, we’ll continue…

At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood.  He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his “bride,” the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” (CCC 1322)

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.  The other sacraments, and indeed all Church ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.  For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.  Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking. (CCC 1324, 1327)

Again, since we’ve devoted most of this blog, already, to the Mass, we’ll be more general in our discussion of the Eucharist, here.  The Greek word eucharistein means “to give thanks.”  It finds its roots in the Jewish Festival of Booths (Sukkot) celebrated four days after Yom Kippur.  To celebrate their hard work, the farmers and their families would go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer thanks (eucharistein).  The Greek word eulogein (Barrakah in Hebrew) means “to bless.” It finds its roots in the Jewish Festival of Wheat during which the Hebrews asked El (God) to bless their harvest.  By the time of Jesus, these two festivals had become intertwined, and in a single festival, God was given thanks and asked to bless the harvest/new wheat. 

The Jews also made sure to get rid of all wheat in the house before the feast of Passover (according to custom) as a sign of emptying themselves.  In the same way today, we empty ourselves prior to receiving the Eucharist through the sacrament of Reconciliation and through a fast of one hour prior to receiving the Eucharist.

The primitive Christian Eucharistic celebration consisted of a meal in common.  But already in the Jewish tradition this never lacked a religious dimension, which expressed itself especially in the Kiddush (the solemn prayer of thanksgiving completed with a glass of wine and in the breaking of bread by the father of the house).  The breaking of the bread began the meal, and a solemn prayer of thanksgiving formed the conclusion in which the father of the house spoke three prayers of blessing over a silver blessing cup:  1. thanksgiving for the shared meal, 2. praise for the Promised Land, and 3. a petition for Jerusalem. 

Whether Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover meal or not is hard to know for sure, due to some incongruencies of chronology in the gospels.  Either way, it’s pretty much a definite that it stood in the tradition of the Jewish festive meals, which were dedicated to the covenant between the Jews and the God of Israel.  With the Last Supper, the new covenant is established in the Sacrificed Body and Blood of Christ.

As we’ve seen already, as early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration.  They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families.  The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental structure which has been preserved throughout the centuries down to our own day.  It displays two great parts that form a fundamental unity: 1. the gathering, the liturgy of the Word, with readings, homily, and general intercessions; 2. the liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of the bread and wine, the consecratory thanksgiving, and communion.

If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of times and liturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lord gave on the eve of his Passion:  “Do this in remembrance of me.”  Over time the individual actions of the celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist have been adapted to fit the times, but the basic theological foundations have (for the most part) remained in tact.

Again, this isn’t as in-depth of a review of the Sacrament of the Eucharist as we saw of Baptism and Reconciliation, but if you want more information on the Eucharist, go back and re-read (or just “read”) my posts on the Mass for the whole story.  Next post we’ll talk about Eucharistic Adoration and briefly touch on the ministry of bringing communion to the sick.

“This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

--Luke 22:19