The Gift of the Eucharist

“How many of you say: I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes? You do see Him…He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him, but also to be your food and nourishment."
-St. John Chrysostom

The heart of our Roman Catholic faith is the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It is the most important of all seven sacraments because in receiving the Eucharist, we are embracing the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ and become one with Him. Through this act of love and unity, we receive innumerable graces, and for this reason, it is important that we understand the significance of what we are doing when we join the Communion line.

The wonderful privilege we have been given as Catholics in receiving the Most Blessed Sacrament is sometimes lost to us. It becomes automatic, or even mechanical, and so it is easy to forget to meditate on the magnificence of receiving the real Body and Blood of Christ, and to show appropriate reverence while receiving this sacrament.

One Sunday at Mass there was a small spill of the Most Precious Blood in front of where I was sitting. I noticed the Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist place his purificator over the spill and move to the side to continue distributing from the Chalice.

When Mass ended, I remained seated in the front pew waiting for my husband, who was the Deacon of the Mass, to come and cleanse the floor where the spill had occurred. I noticed a young man of about 30 walk forward from his pew behind me, holding the hand of his little son. I thought he was going to pick up the purificator, and I started to move toward him to stop him and explain that it needed to be cleansed appropriately. But this young man fell to both knees near the spill and gently pulled his child down next to him. He blessed himself, made his child bless himself, prayed a moment, then stood and walked to the back of the Church to leave.

I was filled with joy when I witnessed this reverence of the spilled Blood of Christ by this young father. He got it...he knows the importance of this precious gift we have been given, and he’s teaching his child about it.

The Church encourages us to receive the Eucharist frequently, daily if possible. But before doing so, there are some things we must bear in mind:

• We should be prepared and worthy of this most precious gift; that is, to be in a state of grace, have made a good confession since our last grave sin, believe in transubstantiation (the real presence of Jesus—body, blood, soul, and divinity—in the Eucharist), and not be under an ecclesiastical censure such as excommunication.

• We should never receive Communion out of habit or embarrassment because everyone else around us is receiving, and if we have committed a grave sin, we should receive the Sacrament of Penance before going to Communion again. If for any reason we are unable to receive Communion, we are encouraged to express in our hearts a prayerful desire for unity with the Lord Jesus and with one another.

• We should observe the Eucharistic fast and not eat or drink anything except water or medicines at least one hour before receiving Holy Communion. And always receive with reverence

St. Cyril of Jerusalem instructed his congregation in the method of receiving the Eucharist by hand as far back as AD 390, and his beautiful words may help us understand what receiving in our hand really means:

“… make thy hand as if a throne for the other, which is on the eve of receiving the King. And having hallowed thy palm, receive the body of Christ saying after it, ‘Amen.’ Then after thou hast with carefulness hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the holy body, partake thereof; … giving heed lest thou lose any of it; for what thou losest is a loss to thee…For tell me, if anyone gave thee gold dust, wouldst thou not with all precaution keep it fast, being on thy guard against losing any of it, and suffering loss?" (Catechetical Lectures 23:22).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, through the extraordinary gift of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist, we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.”

Resources:

CatholicAnswers.com, www.catholic.com/library, “Who Can Receive Communion”

Bishops of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, Questions and Answers on The Eucharist, (Harrisburg, PA, September 2000) www.pacatholic.org