– Joni Cheng
In the Old Testament, the manna that was given by God to the Sons of Israel in the desert was a prefiguration of the Eucharist (CCC 1094), which “He rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of Heaven” (Ps 78:24). With Jesus Christ being the “true bread from Heaven” (Jn 6:32), not only will those who eat of it not die, unlike the fathers who ate the manna in the wilderness (Jn 6:49), but “he who eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:58). The Eucharist is therefore the food of eternal life (CCC 1212) and “essential nourishment of the feast of the coming Kingdom anticipated” (CCC 2861). As the Lord said, “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54).
The Eucharist is “our daily bread” (CCC 2837), referring to the Bread of Life: The Word of God and the Body of Christ (CCC 2861). Those who receive it are united more closely to Christ (CCC 1396) because “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). It is the food for our spiritual life and a source of spiritual nourishment that is necessary for the growth of our Christian lives (CCC 1392). Those who receive Christ’s Body and Blood are living through the life of Christ and are fed and strengthened (CCC 1436) for transformation in Christ (CCC 1275). Christ’s presence in the Holy Communion makes it possible for us to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace (CCC 1390) and in particular strengthens our living charity, which is necessary to wipe away our venial sins in daily life (CCC 1394). It is the source and nourishment for our daily conversion and penance, which reconcile us with God (CCC 1436) for He “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood” (Rev 1:5). It is only through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we receive our reconciliation (Rom 5:11), hence, the Eucharist is a “remedy to free us from our daily faults and to preserve us from mortal sins” (CCC 1436). Just as St. Ignatius of Antioch said, “it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the ‘medicine of immortality’, without which we have no life within us” (CCC 2837).
As Christ is truly present in the Eucharist (CCC 1374), to receive the Holy Communion is an intimate union to receive Christ Himself (CCC 1382). “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56). By receiving the Holy Communion, the faithful participate with the Church in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist (CCC 1322). Through sharing the Body of the Lord, we become members of Christ’s Body, the Church, “for the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Cor 12:14). We are taken up into communion with Him and with one another (CCC 790) and form “one body” in Christ (CCC 1621). “We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). Through Christ in the Eucharist, it unites the Church and all its faithful, which the Holy Communion “renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church” (CCC 1396). The unity of the Mystical Body, the Eucharist, makes the Church, which St Augustine exclaimed the greatness of this mystery, “O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!” (CCC 1398).
Therefore, when we come into union with Christ through receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist at the Eucharistic celebration, it is “the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s Body and Blood” (CCC 1382) and a loving invitation from the Lord (CCC 1336). “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9).
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