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What I Need To Know About the Eucharist

The Eucharist is a Sacrament
A sacrament is a sign of God's love for His Church. The Eucharist as a sacrament
is a sign that God feeds His Church with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, who,
when He was on earth gave many signs to His people that also point to the eventual
institution of the Eucharist. The feeding of the four thousand and the five thousand
in the gospels is a prefigurement of the institution of the Eucharist. Just as
Jesus took the loaves of bread, blessed it, gave thanks, broke it, and distributed
it to the hungry crowd, so does He continue to do so today through the sacrament of
the Eucharist. As regards the actual institution of the Eucharist, it is seen in
the celebration of the Last Supper in the Upper Room. In this supper, Jesus again
took the bread, blessed it, gave thanks, broke the bread, and gave it to His
disciples to eat. He then said, "Do this in remembrance of Me." So it is up to now.
We continue to remember everything that Jesus stood for and everything what He
taught so that we may follow in His footsteps. As we celebrate the sacrament of the
Eucharist on Sunday, we commemorate the whole Paschal mystery, that mystery that
involves the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when
we receive communion in the liturgy of the Eucharist, we receive the Lord Himself,
coming to live in us in the form of bread and wine. We can never fully grasp the
great love that the Lord is showing us by giving us His Body and Blood so that we
may have life and have it to the full. This magnanimity of Spirit, this generosity
of Self, this nobility of Soul, comes to us through the sign of the Eucharist.
We cannot explain it, but we know and experience it. It is indeed a wonderful
reality that we see whenever we are all gathered together as a community and
celebrating together the victory of Christ over death - a victory which He also
wants to share with us. That victory of life over death is also for us to have
if we follow Christ and do the Father's will.

The Eucharist is a Gift to the World
If we look at the world around us, we see disorder and confusion with no clear
vision nor direction. Just a mass of disunity, conflict and no harmony. If we look
at the sacrament of the Eucharist, we can see a clear vision and a clear direction.
There is a highly organized system of proceeding and everybody has a role to play
in the service of the liturgy. And during the celebration of the Eucharist, there
is an atmosphere of solemnity and peace - a peace that cannot be had except
through the Spirit of God. Therefore, we need to witness to the world that our
celebration of the Eucharist is a gift we wish to share with the world. God
gave us such a great gift - the gift of Himself in the form of bread and wine
and which He gives to us Catholics so that we may radiate the spirit of the
Eucharist - the spirit of peace - to everyone we meet and encounter after every
celebration. We are thus called to know well this gift that is given to us. The
Holy Father even calls us to be experts in the celebration, adoration and
contemplation of the Eucharist. This means that the gift of peace that we obtain
through the celebration of the Eucharist is a gift that we also receive when we
practice adoration and contemplation of the Bread in the Eucharist. And the gift
of peace that we receive through much prayer in front of the Bread of the Eucharist
is a gift of peace this world can never produce for itself because it only comes
from the Spirit of Christ Himself, who sacrificed His very life that all of us
may live in the peace of God.

We Are Called To Be Missionaries of the Eucharist
Now that we become more aware of the Eucharist as a gift to the Church and as a
gift to the world, we are all the more called to go forth and make the Eucharist
known to all people we meet and encounter in our daily living: in our own household,
in our workplaces, in our businesses, in our parish neighborhood, and in other
places that we may have the chance to visit. Our way of witnessing need not be
in words but it can be in action. Gestures of kindness and friendship. Offering
our generous help and service in many ways. And sooner or later people may feel
that indeed there is something to our being Catholic. And when they begin to ask
questions, then that is the right time to talk about the Eucharist. Even though
the Catholic Church may seem to be seen in a very bad light these days because of
all the negative events that are happening within and without the Church, we can
still make a positive difference by our very example and personal witness. If we
are faithful in our celebration, adoration and contemplation of the Eucharist, then
for sure, when somebody asks us about it and wants to find what it is all about,
then for certain anything we say in the Spirit's light will give illumination also
to those people who may feel the need for God's light and love. And that is exactly
what we are called to be: missionaries of God's light and love as it is celebrated, adored and contemplated in the Eucharist.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
December 30, 2004