The Joy of the Mass, Part 2: Holy Communion

Catholic and my daughter took first communion. A year and half later, the other children that I had shared the experience of re-reading the Gospel of St. John and their parents were, also, brought into the Catholic Church. Jesus, the bread of life, is now available to us via transubstantiation in Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. Truly, the only better thing for us will be heaven itself.

A few notes from the Catechism

The Catholic Church has a number of words for essentially the same thing. I am going to share a section from the Catechism which beautifully lists all these words and defines them in rich traditional language.

From the "Cathechism of the Catholic Church," Part Two: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery, Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church, Article 3: The Sacrament of the Eucharist

II. What is This Sacrament Called?

1328 The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called:

Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein and eulogein recall he Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and santification.

1329 The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and becasue it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meal, when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, and above all at the Last Supper. It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; and by doing so they signified that all who eat the broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.

The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis) because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of he Church.

1330 The memorial of the Lord's Passion and Ressurection.

The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Chirst he Savior and includes the Church's offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.

The copyright of the article The Joy of the Mass, Part 2: Holy Communion in Roman Catholics is owned by Kathryn Morse. Permission to republish The Joy of the Mass, Part 2: Holy Communion in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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