276. Where does the Eucharist fit in the divine plan of salvation? (part 1)
(Comp
276) The Eucharist was foreshadowed in the Old Covenant above all in the annual
Passover meal celebrated every year by the Jews with unleavened bread to
commemorate their hasty, liberating departure from Egypt. Jesus foretold it in
his teaching and he instituted it when he celebrated the Last Supper with his
apostles in a Passover meal. The Church, faithful to the command of her Lord,
“Do this in memory of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24), has always celebrated the
Eucharist, especially on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of Jesus.
“In
brief”
(CCC 1417)
The Church warmly recommends that the faithful receive Holy Communion each time
they participate in the celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so
at least once a year.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 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 (Cf. Ps 104:13-15),
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 (Gen 14:18; cf. Roman Missal, EP I, Roman Canon, 95).
(CCC 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 (Cf. Deut 8:3); their daily bread is the
fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises.
The "cup of blessing" (1 Cor 10:16) 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.
On
reflection
(CCC 1335)
The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the
blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the
multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist
(Cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39). The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already
announces the Hour of Jesus' glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment
of the wedding feast in the Father's kingdom, where the faithful will drink the
new wine that has become the Blood of Christ (Cf. Jn 2:11; Mk 14:25). (CCC
1336) The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as
the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: "This is a hard saying;
who can listen to it?" (Jn 6:60). The Eucharist and the Cross are
stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion
of division. "Will you also go away?" (Jn 6:67): The Lord's question
echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has
"the words of eternal life" (In 6:68) and that to receive in faith
the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself. [IT CONTINUES]
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