The Catechism and The Eucharist

Part 5

Throughout December, we will continue be on a spiritual journey sharing what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches each of us about the Eucharist.

The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation

1333: At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord's command the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion: "He took bread. . . ." "He took the cup filled with wine. . . ." The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation. Thus, in the Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine, fruit of the "work of human hands," but above all as "fruit of the earth" and "of the vine" - gifts of the Creator. The Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering.

1334: In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises. The "cup of blessing" at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.

Deacon George’s take:

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states on #276: “The Eucharist was foreshadowed in the Old Covenant above all by the Passover meal celebrated each year by the Jews with unleavened bread to commemorate their hasty, liberating departure from Egypt.”

In my experience, liberation from the evil one has each of us leaving our own Egypt (our sinful past) behind. We all need to come to a Red Sea moment: “should I stay, or should I go?” That metanoia of change requires us to turn 180 degrees in our understanding of our relationship with God the Father. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the cup of blessing of His love. Then we must question ourselves as to how we return that love? As we begin Advent in anticipation of the coming of the Lord, maybe we should pray a bit on this very question. 😊