YOUCAT Question n. 209 - Part II. When did Christ institute the Eucharist?
(Youcat answer - repeated) Christ
instituted the Holy Eucharist on the evening before his death, “on the night
when he was betrayed” (1 Cor 11:23), when he gathered the Apostles around him
in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and celebrated the Last Supper with them.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 1339)
Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum:
giving his disciples his Body and his Blood: Then came the day of Unleavened
Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and
John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover meal for us, that we may eat
it...." They went... and prepared the passover. And when the hour came, he
sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have
earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you
I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."....
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to
them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me." and likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This
cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood" (Lk
22:7-20; cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26).
Reflecting and meditating
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 1340)
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover
meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing
over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is
anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the
Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory
of the kingdom.
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