The Eucharist is the summit of our Faith. The Eucharist is the most special sacrament, in which Christ himself is contained, offered and received, and by which the Church constantly lives and grows. The Eucharistic sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated over the centuries, is the summit and source of all Christian life and worship; it signifies and affects the unity of the people of God and achieves the building up of the Body of Christ.  In receiving the Eucharist, we are nourished by the Lord. The bread and wine used in the Mass are transformed in all but appearance into the Body and Blood of Christ.The Body and Blood of Christ may be received at all of our Masses.

The Eucharist is also referred to as the Breaking of the Bread; the Lord's Supper;  the Eucharistic Assembly;   the Memorial of  Christ’s  Passion, Death, and Resurrection; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy and Divine Liturgy; the Eucharistic Liturgy; Holy Communion; and Holy Mass.

The Eucharist is the celebration through which God draws us into communion with Himself and with others, forming and transforming us to live as the Body of Christ in the world. It is the “sign” and “cause” of our communion with God and our unity as the People of God. In the Eucharist, we “unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy” and with one another. Together transformed, we are then sent forth to fulfill God’s will in our daily lives (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1325-26, 1332). In this way, the Eucharistic liturgy is social in nature.

The use of bread and wine in worship is found in the early history of God's people. In the Old Testament, bread and wine are seen as gifts from God, to whom praise and thanks are given in return for these blessings and for other manifestations of his care and grace. The story of the priest Melchizedek's offering a sacrifice of bread and wine for Abraham's victory is an example of this (Gn 14:18). The harvest of new lambs was also a time for the sacrifice of a lamb to show gratitude to God for the new flock and its contribution to the well-being of the family and tribe. These ancient rituals were given historical meaning at the Exodus of God's people. They were united into the Passover Meal as a sign of God's delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, a pledge of his fidelity to his promises and eventually a sign of the coming of the Messiah and messianic times. Each family shared the lamb that had been sacrificed and the bread over which a blessing had been proclaimed. They also drank from a cup of wine over which a similar blessing had been proclaimed.

When Jesus instituted the Eucharist he gave a final meaning to the blessing of the bread and the wine and the sacrifice of the lamb. The Gospels narrate events that anticipated the Eucharist. The miracle of the loaves and fish, reported in all four Gospels, prefigured the unique abundance of the Eucharist. The miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (that we heard in last week’s Gospel) manifested the divine glory of Jesus and the heavenly wedding feast in which we share at every Eucharist. In his dialogue with the people at Capernaum, Christ used his miracle of multiplying the loaves of bread as the occasion to describe himself as the Bread of Life: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. . . Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you" (Jn 6:51, 53).

During the consecration, the Holy Spirit transforms the bread and wine on the altar into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Christ’s sacrifice does not remain at the altar, but also enters into our hearts as we participate in it and eat His Body and Blood, that we might come to know and model the love that is present in the sacrifice. This memorial (which he said to do “in memory of me”) recalls Christ’s words at the Last Supper. His sacrificial act strengthens our faith and it also draws us to “enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving” (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est #13).

The Eucharist prepares us for mission challenging us to live “Eucharistic” lives and affirming our role as citizens and as men and women in various professions at different levels of society in “contributing with the light of the Gospel to the building of a more human world, a world fully in harmony with God's plan” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia #20).