Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

As we continue on our journey of faith, I would like to explore deeper into the meaning of Holy Communion.  In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal we read this about Holy Communion and how it is a “Union with Christ.”

“The Lord himself gave us the Eucharist at the Last Supper.  The Eucharistic sacrifice “is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion.”  It is Christ himself who is received in Holy Communion, who said to his disciples, “Take and eat, this is my body.”  Giving thanks, he then took the chalice and said: “Take and drink, this is the cup of my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me” (Mt 26:26-27; 1 Cor 11:25).

Bread and wine are presented by the faithful and placed upon the altar by the Priest.  These are simple gifts, but they were foreshadowed in the Old Testament and chosen by Christ himself for the Eucharistic sacrifice.  When these gifts of bread and wine are offered by the Priest in the name of the Church to the Father in the great Eucharistic Prayer of thanksgiving, they are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of the only-begotten son of the Father.  Finally, when the one bread is broken, the unity of the faithful is expressed and through Communion they “receive from the one bread the Lord’s Body and from the one chalice the Lord’s Blood in the same way that the Apostles received them from the hands of Christ himself.”  Hence the import of the words of the hymn adapted from the Didache:

“As a grain once scattered on the hillsides was in this broken bread made one so from all lands your church be gathered into your kingdom by your Son.”

“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.  This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church.  In a variety of ways, she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise, “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity.  Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope.  (Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist [Ecclesia de Eucharistia; EE], no.1)”

May the love of God be with you,

Fr. David