The Eucharist

 

For I received from the Lord what I handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes".     1 Corinthians 11:23-26

 

We, as Catholics, believe the Eucharist, or the Mass, is both a sacrifice and a meal. We believe in the real presence of Jesus when the bread and wine become consecrated by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the Eucharistic bread and cup which become the real Body and Blood of Christ are then shared in our worshipping assembly, the Holy Spirit draws us all into ever deeper unity, making us one body in Christ. We are made into "living sacrifice," participants in Christ's sacrificial death and rising, a new creation. Eucharist is at the center of God's loving embrace of our world and is at the core of who we are as Catholics. “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:54-57, 51)

 

We welcome and encourage all Catholics, especially those who have not attended the Eucharist in a long while, to join your Catholic community and experience the profound love and presence of God in the Eucharist at St. Paul the Apostle Parish.