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V. The Sacramental Sacrifice Thanksgiving,Memorial, Presence
1356If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a formwhose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of times andliturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lordgave on the eve of his Passion: "Do this in remembrance ofme."
1357We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of hissacrifice. In so doing, we offer to the Father what he has himself given us:the gifts of his creation, bread and wine which, by the power of the HolySpirit and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ.Christ is thus really and mysteriously made present.
1358We must therefore consider the Eucharist as: - thanksgiving and praise to theFather;
- the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his Body;
- the presence of Christ by the power of his word and of his Spirit.
Thanksgivingand praise to the Father
1359The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on thecross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation.In the Eucharistic sacrifice the whole of creation loved by God is presented tothe Father through the death and the Resurrection of Christ. Through Christ theChurch can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God hasmade good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity.
1360The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by whichthe Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that hehas accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharistmeans first of all "thanksgiving."
1361The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the Church sings theglory of God in the name of all creation. This sacrifice of praise is possibleonly through Christ: he unites the faithful to his person, to his praise, andto his intercession, so that the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offeredthrough Christ and with him, to be accepted in him.
Thesacrificial memorial of Christ and of his Body, the Church
1362The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and thesacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Churchwhich is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find after the words ofinstitution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.
1363In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection ofpast events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God formen. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in acertain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberationfrom Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are madepresent to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives tothem.
1364In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Churchcelebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is madepresent the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains everpresent. "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work ofour redemption is carried out."
1365Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also asacrifice. the sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the verywords of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and"This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in myblood." In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which hegave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for manyfor the forgiveness of sins."
1366The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) thesacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies itsfruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to Godthe Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there aneverlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with hisdeath, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [hewanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as thenature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplishonce for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated untilthe end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness ofthe sins we daily commit.
1367The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one singlesacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers throughthe ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the mannerof offering is different." "In this divine sacrifice which iscelebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloodymanner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloodymanner."
1368The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. the Church which is the Bodyof Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself isoffered whole and entire. She unites herself to his intercession with theFather for all men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also thesacrifice of the members of his Body. the lives of the faithful, their praise,sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with histotal offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on thealtar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with hisoffering.
In the catacombs the Church is often represented as a woman in prayer,arms outstretched in the praying position. Like Christ who stretched out hisarms on the cross, through him, with him, and in him, she offers herself andintercedes for all men.
1369The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Sincehe has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with everycelebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of theunity of the universal Church. the bishop of the place is always responsiblefor the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentionedto signify his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of hispresbyterium and with the assistance of deacons. the community intercedes alsofor all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:
Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebratedunder [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrustedit.
Through the ministry of priests the spiritual sacrifice of the faithfulis completed in union with the sacrifice of Christ the only Mediator, which inthe Eucharist is offered through the priests' hands in the name of the wholeChurch in an unbloody and sacramental manner until the Lord himselfcomes.
1370To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth,but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with andcommemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers theEucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot ofthe cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.
1371The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who"have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified," sothat they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ:
Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I simply askyou to remember me at the Lord's altar wherever you are.
Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops whohave fallen asleep, and in general for all who have fallen asleep before us, inthe belief that it is a great benefit to the souls on whose behalf thesupplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is present.... Byoffering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if theyhave sinned, we . . . offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and sorender favorable, for them and for us, the God who loves man.
1372St. Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to an ever morecomplete participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we celebrate in theEucharist:
This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, isoffered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of aslave went so far as to offer himself for us in his Passion, to make us theBody of so great a head.... Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we whoare many are one Body in Christ" the Church continues to reproduce thissacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein itis evident to them that in what she offers she herself is offered.
Thepresence of Christ by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit
1373"Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at theright hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many waysto his Church: in his word, in his Church's prayer, "where twoor three are gathered in my name," in the poor, the sick, andthe imprisoned, in the sacraments of which he is the author, in thesacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "he ispresent . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species."
1374The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. Itraises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of thespiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend."In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood,together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore,the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantiallycontained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which isnot intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, itis a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself whollyand entirely present."
1375It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood thatChrist becomes present in this sacrament. the Church Fathers strongly affirmedthe faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the actionof the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostomdeclares:
It is not man that causes thethings offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucifiedfor us, Christ himself. the priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces thesewords, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This wordtransforms the things offered.
and St.Ambrose says about this conversion:
Be convinced that this is notwhat nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. the power of theblessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself ischanged.... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did notexist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less afeat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.
1376The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "BecauseChrist our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering underthe species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God,and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the breadand wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread intothe substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of thewine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church hasfittingly and properly called transubstantiation."
1377The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration andendures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole andentire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, insuch a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.
1378Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith inthe real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among otherways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord."The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacramentof the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outsideof it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them tothe solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."
1379Thetabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthyplace so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass.As faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Churchbecame conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present underthe Eucharistic species. It is for this reason that the tabernacle should belocated in an especially worthy place in the church and should be constructedin such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presenceof Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
1380It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to hisChurch in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure fromhis own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence;since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us tohave the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end,"even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remainsmysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up forus, and he remains under signs that express and communicate thislove:
The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship.Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go tomeet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to makingamends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adorationnever cease.
1381"That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood issomething that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,' says St. Thomas, 'but onlyby faith, which relies on divine authority.' For this reason, in a commentaryon Luke 22:19 ('This is my body which is given for you.'), St. Cyril says: 'Donot doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior infaith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie.'"
Godhead here in hiding, whom Ido adore
Masked by these bare shadows,shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service lowlies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder atthe God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.