The Eucharist (Greek for “thanksgiving”) is a sacramental celebration of the Paschal Mystery (i.e., Christ’s dying and rising for humankind) in a context of praise and thanks for all that God has done and continues to do.
During the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit is called down on the assembly that it might become the Body of Christ, the People of God.
Following Jesus’ example, the first Christians continued to imitate Jesus actions at the Last Supper in their gatherings by celebrating the Eucharist at the end of a meal shared together.
In the fourth century after Christ, ancient teachings about the Eucharist began to be written down by St. Augustine and St. Cyril, among others. They emphasize Christ’s death for humankind and its practical moral applications to our lives as well as repeating Paul’s teaching that the one bread of the Eucharist makes Christians the one Body of Christ.
When Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD) writes about our coming to the Table, he brilliantly employs the insights of Aristotle to discuss how bread and wine can be changed substantially into the Real Presence of Christ while the ‘accidents’ (e.g., color, taste, shape) of bread and wine remain, otherwise known as transubstantiation. Ultimately, Thomas insisted, the Eucharist is a mystery that no theological explanation can hope to master.
[The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism]
+ The Eucharist is celebrated at 6:45am and 9am, Monday through Saturdays, in our parish.
Our Sunday celebration begins on its eve, Saturday at 5pm, and continue on Sunday at 9am, 10:30am, 12noon and 5pm in the evening.
+ Our parish second graders will be receiving First Eucharist in the spring.