Article 3. The Sacrament of the Eucharist

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The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

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“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.’”1

Subsections

I. The Eucharist—Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life

II. What is This Sacrament Called?

III. The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation

IV. The Liturgical Celebration of the Eucharist

V. The Sacramental Sacrifice Thanksgiving, Memorial, Presence

VI. The Paschal Banquet

VII. The Eucharist—"Pledge of the Glory to Come"

In Brief

Footnotes

SC 47.