“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.” – Pope John Paul II the Great
As stated by the Second Vatican Council, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Eucharist is the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is a profound mystery for which we give profound thanks. It is in receiving the Eucharist that we experience an intimate communion with the Lord.
Pope Paul VI said, “...in objective reality, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration, so that the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus from that moment on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine.” Thus while the appearances of bread and wine remain, we know that the substance has changed – this is no longer simple bread and wine, but has truly become the body and blood of Jesus.
Jesus himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” (John 6: 53-55)
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, said, “With the same maternal concern which [Mary] showed at the wedding feast of Cana, Mary seems to say to us: ‘Do not waver; trust in the words of my Son. If he was able to change water into wine, he can also turn bread and wine into his body and blood, and through this mystery bestow on believers the living memorial of his passover, thus becoming the ‘bread of life’’”.
Yes, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives, because it is truly the sacramental presence of Jesus our Lord. The Eucharist is the source from which we draw our strength for the journey and the summit to which we journey. Why do we gather every Sunday, or even every day, at the Chapel? To receive Jesus in the Eucharist! He is our all in all! He is our ‘strength and food for the journey’ toward heaven! He is the Bread of Life!
"'At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood.This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet' in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.
The Eucharist is the 'source and summit of the Christian life.' 'The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." (CCC 1323-1324)
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