Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation
that provides spiritual nourishment to
Catholics for their Christian life. It
is a celebration attended to by Catholics
all over the world every Sunday in the
parish in which they are resident of.
Sacrament of initiation in the Catholic
Church: First communion
There are three sacraments of initiation in the
Catholic Church: baptism, eucharist and confirmation.
The tradition for Catholics for receiving the
sacrament of Eucharist is when the child reaches
the age of reason, which is often seven years
and above. This occasion is called First
Communion. And usually, when a child receives
first communion, he also receives the sacrament
of penance or reconciliation. This is also
called First Confession. When a child is
being educated in a Catholic school or college,
often, the teachers prepare the children for
the reception of these two sacraments.
The Eucharist received also through the RCIA program
For those who wish to be Catholics as adults,
they receive the sacrament of baptism first
through the RCIA or Rite for Christian
Initiation of Adults and then receive also
the sacrament of Eucharist. Those who are
considering committing themselves to the
Catholic way of living the Christian life,
will find in the Eucharist a very excellent
source of growth and maturity in the Christian
life as he soon will be able to attend the
weekly Sunday gathering of fellow Catholics.
He will grow through both Word and Sacrament
as he hears the Word of God and explained to
the congregation by the priest-presider and
receives the consecrated bread during the
communion part of the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is a meal that nourishes a community of disciples
Before, the Eucharist was considered mainly
as a sacrifice: the sacrifice of Jesus on the
Cross. Now, with the new perspectives taught
by Vatican II, it is also considered as a
meal that nourishes the whole Church and
helps nurture and instills growth in the
parish community. This notion of meal is
taken from the Gospels themselves which
shows Jesus always preaching and teaching
within the context of a meal. And the last
meal that He taught and celebrated with His
disciples was the Last Supper. It was here
that He instituted the Eucharist: giving
His Body and Blood in the form of bread and
wine to His apostles. It was also presented
in a special way in the gospel of John in
which there was no specific Last Supper
account but rather more focused on the
washing of the feet. In this way, the
element of service in leadership is also
incorporated in the meaning of Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the highest prayer of the Church
Although Catholics have many prayers and
devotions which they practice and have
received from traditions that are rooted
in the early Christian communities and
in the apostolic communities founded by
the apostles, it is not as important as
the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the most
important prayer of the Church because
it commemorates the Paschal mystery of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This paschal mystery
is the suffering, death and resurrection
of Jesus. Every time the Eucharist is
celebrated, Catholics commemorate the
self-donation of Jesus that saved man
from the direction of sin, destruction
and death. He obeyed the will of the
Father, underwent the pain and suffering
of the Passion, died on the Cross, and
was raised from the dead through the
power of the Spirit. The Eucharist is
a salvific sacramental mystery that
Catholics hold dear to their hearts and
treasure as a source of their very life.