Coffee Talk Redux is a reflection on things God is teaching me. In some cases the ideas for these topics come from the Coffee Talk group that I meet with weekly at the Vintage Coffee Bistro located in Lambertville, Michigan. At other times the Redux topic may arise from some conversation I may have had with someone, or a thought that crossed my mind, or perhaps something I read somewhere, or maybe a combination of all of these. In any case think of this as a discussion on what God is teaching us to help us grow in our understanding of His will.
The Eucharist is one of the seven sacraments of the Church and is perhaps the ultimate expression of one’s faith. For this reason it is also known as the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharist is also one of the sacraments of Christian initiation along with Baptism and Confirmation. The sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation prepare and orient the Christian to the Eucharist which is the essence of the Christian life. As Eucharist the meaning implies an offering of thanksgiving to God and it also reflects the works of God in terms of His creation, Christ’s redemption of man, and man’s sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Unlike the other sacraments, the Eucharist is also described by a variety of other names that are suggestive of its nature and action.
The Eucharist is also called the Lord’s Supper commemorating the dinner Christ had with his disciples on the night that He was betrayed. At that dinner Christ established the Eucharist as a means to remember and to celebrate His death and resurrection until His return. While Jesus and His disciples were eating their dinner He took some bread and broke it and gave it to each of His disciples saying, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ … In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ The bread and wine offered by Christ at the Last Supper are therefore the visible Eucharistic signs of the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ. Breaking of Bread is therefore another term that is used to describe the Eucharist. At the Last Supper this breaking of bread by Christ symbolized that those who eat the broken bread, which represents Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross, will be in Communion with Him and be one body in Him. Because of this uniting of ourselves with Christ the Eucharist is also known as Holy Communion. In recognizing Christ’s sacrifice for man the Eucharist is also known as the memorial, the Holy Sacrifice, the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the sacrifice of praise, the spiritual sacrifice, and the pure and holy sacrifice. Since the liturgy of the Church is focused around the Eucharist its celebration is also called the Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Holy Mass, and the Sacred Mysteries. In terms of the Eucharistic Assembly it represents the celebration of the faithful as represented by the Church.
The visible signs of the bread and wine become Christ’s blood and body by virtue of the Eucharistic Celebration and the invocation of the Holy Spirit. Not only do these signs become in a mysterious way the real presence of the body and blood of Christ, but they also symbolize the goodness of God’s creation. Bread and wine represent the goodness of creation in that they are the work of hands, the fruit of the earth, and the fruits of the vine.
The gifts of bread and wine were also recognized in the Old Covenant as a sacrifice in honor of the Creator. For example, in celebration of Abram’s successful return of his nephew Lot, the priest of God Most High known as Melchizedek brought out bread and wine as a celebration to God. This bread and wine offered by the king-priest Melchizedek is seen as a prophecy of the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s Passion. Bread also has roots in the unleavened bread that the Jews eat during the Passover celebration of their exodus from Egypt. Recalling their time in the desert, bread symbolizes the manna that sustained them and made them know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. The Jewish Passover is also celebrated with a cup of blessing at the end of the Passover meal that represents the hope for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and now Christ through the Eucharist represents the new Passover wherein, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
During His public life Christ also performed several miracles that foreshadowed the power and mystery that is associated with the Eucharist. For example, in the multiplication of the loaves of bread He and His disciples fed a multitude of people and this act also symbolizes the multitude of future generations of people whose faith will be fueled by the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. At the wedding in Cana Jesus performs His first miracle by turning water into wine. This miracle announces that the new Kingdom of God through Christ has arrived and that the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.
The Christian worship of God is through the Eucharist and includes the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. The liturgy of the Word begins with readings from the Sacred Scriptures followed by a homily on the Word of God. Following the homily are general intercessions which are prayers offered to God through Christ on behalf of others. Next the bread and wine as the Offertory are brought to the altar. During the anaphora, which is also called the Eucharistic Prayer; the Church through its celebrant offers its thanksgiving to God and consecrates the bread and the wine. In the preface of the anaphora the Church gives thanks to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, for all His works: creation, redemption, and sanctification. During the epiclesis the Church petitions the Father to send His Holy Spirit so that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ thus uniting in one body and one spirit those who take part in the Eucharist. This change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ is known as transubstantiation. This is followed by the anamnesis wherein the Church remembers Christ’s Passion, resurrection, and the hope for the glorious return of Jesus Christ. Through Christ the Church is then reconciled with God. Through the intercessions which follow the anamnesis the Church indicates that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the whole Church in heaven and on earth, the living and the dead, and in communion with the pastors of the Church, the Pope, the diocesan bishop, his presbyterium and his deacons, and all the bishops of the whole world together with their Churches. Following the Lord’s Prayer, the faithful receive the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of Christ who offered himself for the life of the world.
The Eucharist offers the Christian many benefits and unites one in an intimate fashion with Christ as stated by Jesus in John 6:56, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. The Eucharist therefore feeds our faith and preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. The Eucharist also protects us from sin and cleanses past venial sins since His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Holy Communion also strengthens our charity allowing us to meet the challenges of daily life while keeping our focus on God so as not to fall into mortal sin. Since those that partake in the Eucharist are united more closely with Christ, and the Church was established by Christ, it follows that the Eucharist is the center of the Church and it strengthens the faithful that are one body in the Church. This is taught by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 where he says, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Being one body the Eucharist also calls us to become more merciful and caring for all of those that are in need. Through its participation in the Eucharist the Church and its faithful also recall the hope and the promise that Christ left at the Last Supper when He said in Matthew 26:29, I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. The Eucharist is therefore the medicine of immortality … the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.
© Ronald L. Fournier – 2008
