– Joni Cheng
The Eucharist – Jesus Christ has offered Himself as our “Paschal Lamb” (1 Cor 5:7) and “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” who sacrificed Himself on the Cross for man as the sacrament of our salvation (CCC 1359). Through His death and the Resurrection, the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father (CCC 1361). The Church celebrates the Eucharist in memory of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation and thanksgiving to the creator of the world at every Mass. Through the offering and intercession of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offered “through Christ and with Him, to be accepted in Him” (CCC 1361).
Eucharist, is from the Greek word eucharistian, which means to give thanks and it is also an action of thanksgiving that explains the “inexhaustible richness of this sacrament” (CCC 1328). At the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, our Savior “took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it” (1 Cor 11:23) and “He took the chalice, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank of it” (Mk 14:23). The Eucharist is offered as “the sacrifice of praise” (CCC 1361) and “sacrifice of thanksgiving” (CCC 1360) to the Father, “for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity” (CCC 1359).
Therefore, the Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church’s life (CCC 1407) by which Christ unites the faithful “to His person, to His praise, and to His intercession” (CCC 1361) so with His sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once and for all on the Cross to His Father (Heb 7:27), His Body, which is the Church, can receive the graces of salvation from His sacrifice (CCC 1407). “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” (Heb 13:15).
Conclusion – A Pledge of Glory
The Eucharist is the “sum and summary of our Faith” (CCC 1327). It is an anticipation of the heavenly glory (CCC 1402) and a “pledge of future glory” (CCC 1323). “For I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Lk 22:18). Every time when we celebrate the Eucharist, it is the “fulfilment of the Passover in the kingdom of God” (CCC 1403) where we are “awaiting the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit 2:13). Therefore, the Eucharist is the “pledge of future glory” that is promised to us by God (CCC 1323), that “there is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth ‘in which righteousness dwells’, than the Eucharist” (CCC 1405) because with Christ in us, it is “the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
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