 |
Words on the
Holy Eucharist
from Popes
&
Catechism of the Catholic
Church |
Pope Leo XIII (1902)
Pope Paul VI (1968)
Pope John Paul II (1979)
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Pope Leo XIII (1902)
Mirae caritatis Paragraph 6
(Official Catholic Teachings: Worship and Liturgy page 3)
To know with full and perfect faith what is the virtue of the Most
Holy Eucharist is to know what God, made Man, accomplished for the salvation
of the human race in His infinite mercy. For as it is a duty of true faith
to proclaim our belief in Christ and worship the Supreme Author of our
salvation, who by His wisdom, laws, example and the shedding of His blood
renewed all things, it is a duty of equal obligation to worship Him who
is really present in the Eucharist, that so He may abide among men to the
end of the world, and by the perennial communication of Himself make them
sharers in the blessing of His redemption.
Pope Paul VI (1968)
Solemn Profession of Faith Paragraph 30
(Official Catholic Teachings: Christ our Lord page 411)
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the
person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament
of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of
His Mystical Body, is the Sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present
on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the
Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His Body and His Blood which
were to be offered for us on the cross, so the bread and wine consecrated
by the priest are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ enthroned gloriously
in heaven, and We believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under
the appearance of those elements which seem to our senses the same after
as before the Consecration, is a true, real and substantial presence.
Pope John Paul II (1979)
Redemptor hominis Number 20 Paragraph 4a
(Documents on the Liturgy (1963-1979) pages 438f)
The Church lives on the eucharist, lives on the fullness of this sacrament,
whose sublime essence and meaning have often been explained by the Church's
magisterium from the earliest times down to our own. Even so, we can say
with certainty that this teaching supported by the profound minds of theologians,
by people of deep faith and prayer, by ascetics and mystics in their complete
fidelity toward the eucharistic mystery still is as it were only at its
beginnings: their teaching cannot encompass in thought nor express in word
what the eucharist is in its fullness, what it signifies, and what it brings
to pass. The eucharist is literally the ineffable sacrament. The inescapable
duty and the visible grace and origin of all the resources of the Church
as the people of God are specifically these: to remain faithful and to
go forward continuously in eucharistic life and devotion and to bring about
spiritual progress centered around the eucharist. Consequently, it is completely
impermissible for us, whether in thought, life, or deed, to take away from
this blessed sacrament anything of its full nature and proper meaning.
The eucharist is at once sacrament and sacrifice, sacrament and communion,
sacrament and presence. No matter how clearly the eucharist has always
been and must always remain the expression and celebration of the human
community of Christ's disciples and followers, it still cannot be treated
only as just another opportunity for professing this community. For in
the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, the integral
meaning of the divine mystery and the full force of this sacramental sign
must be respected; in it Christ's presence is real, the heart is filled
with grace and a pledge of future glory given to us.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
(1994) ## 1406-1419
Jesus 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).
The 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.
The 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.
The 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.
It 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.
Only 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.
The 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...."
By 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.
As 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.
Anyone 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.
Communion 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.
The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion
each time they participate in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges
them to do so at least once a year.
Because 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).
Having 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.