274. What does the Eucharist represent in the life of the Church?

274. What does the Eucharist represent in the life of the Church? 

(Comp 274) It is the source and summit of all Christian life. In the Eucharist, the sanctifying action of God in our regard and our worship of him reach their high point. It contains the whole spiritual good of the Church, Christ himself, our Pasch. Communion with divine life and the unity of the People of God are both expressed and effected by the Eucharist. Through the eucharistic celebration we are united already with the liturgy of heaven and we have a foretaste of eternal life.

“In brief”  

(CCC 1407) The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church's life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church. 

To deepen and explain  

(CCC 1324) The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (LG 11). "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" (PO 5). (CCC 854) By her very mission, "the Church… travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God" (GS 40 § 2). Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ (Cf. RMiss 42-47), continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are "a sign of God's presence in the world" (AG 15 § 1), and leads to the foundation of local churches (Cf. RMiss 48-49). It must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people's culture (Cf. RMiss 52-54). There will be times of defeat. "With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic" (AG 6 § 2).     

On reflection  

(CCC 1325) "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit" (Congregation of Rites, instruction, Eucharisticum mysterium, 6). (CCC 1326) Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all (Cf. 1 Cor 15:28). (CCC 1327) In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 18, 5: PG 7/l, 1028).     

  

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