We Celebrate Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist

The Eucharist is the highest form of worship whereby the Christian

community offers thanks to the Father for the gift of salvation
accomplished in Jesus.
Objectives
At the end of the lesson you should be able to:
1.Establish Christ’s presence In and through the Eucharist
2.Show enthusiasm in helping make the Eucharist a vibrant
celebration of Christ’s presence.
3.Pray that one may always receive Holy Communion with
the right disposition and intention.
HUMAN EXPERINCE
❖ Two Kinds of Hunger
There are two kinds of hunger portrayed by two groups of
people. The first type of hunger is exhibited by those who are in
the margins of society-the poor. In our money-driven society, the
poor are left with no choice but to resort to sleep in order to
escape from hunger. They have no money to buy food and no
matter how much noise their hungry stomachs make, they simply
have no means to satisfy their hunger. In the hope that they can
appease their hunger, they forage for food in garbage dumps or
beg for alms. If they are lucky, a leftover leg of a chicken meal or
a half-eaten burger sandwich will help them see through the day.
 The second type of hunger is exhibited by those who have all
the material blessings they could ever wish for. These people are
surrounded by luxuries in life, those around them would think they
are happy. But they are not. Despite their fortune, they are hungry.
These people hunger for affection. We see them around us- the
rich, lonely child who, despite all the toys and pampering's he or
she enjoys, still longs for the attention of his or her parents who are
too busy making more money. These people do not go to sleep
hungry, they go to sleep lonely. Their hearts are crying out for that
one important thing that would make them truly happy- affection.
Sadly, these people look for affection in things and activities that
will give them resemblance of happiness- hi- tech gadgets, parties,
food, drinking- but at the end of the day they find themselves more
lonely, more broken, more alone.
 Happily, there is a cure both hungers. This cure is 100%
effective, yet it does not cost anything. LOVE is the cure. If we love
the poor, we will help them find the solution to their poverty. If we
love the poor, we will generously share with them what we have. If
we love the “lost” and lonely people around us, we will find time to
listen to and spend time with them. The attention and care we give
them will appease their hunger for affection.
Are there people around you who are hungry? Go ahead,
give them love, it won’t cost you anything but it will give them
everything.

“So then, whenever you eat of this Bread and drink from this Cup, you are
proclaiming the death of the Lord until He comes”
ACTIVITIES:

A. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the first type of hunger described in the essay?
What do you think is the cause of his type of hunger?
2. Do you agree with what the essay claims, that rich people
are also hungry? Why or why not?
3. Which of two types of hunger do you think is more difficult to
cure? Explain your answer.

“The Eucharist responds to the deepest hungers of our lives, such as the
human hunger for the love and acceptance, understanding, purpose in life
and justice and peace.”
READING THE MESSAGE

Jesus, the bread of life, answer all our hunger. He gives us

the Bread we need to have everlasting life.

❖ The Body of Christ, Bread of life

“I am the Bread of Life. Through your ancestors ate the
manna in the desert, they died. But here you have the bread
which comes from heaven so that you may eat of it and not die.
I am the Living Bread which has come from heaven; whoever
eats of this bread will live forever. The Bread I shall give is My
flesh and I will give it for the life of the world.”
 The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this man
gives us flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly I say to you, if you
do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you
have no life in you. The one who eats My flesh and drink My blood
live with eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
My flesh is really food and My blood is drink. Those who eat
My flesh and drink My blood, live in Me and I in them. Just as the
Father who is life, sent Me and I have life from the Father, so
whoever eats Me will have life from Me. This is the Bread which
came down heaven; unlike that of your ancestors, who ate and
later died. Those who eat this Bread will live forever.”
LEARNING THE MESSAGE
❖ Jesus, the Bread of Life
All of us may have experienced hunger at one point in our
lives. For many Filipinos nowadays, hunger has become a way of
life, that is, it is something they cannot others, it may be hunger of
another kind. There are those who are victims of oppression and
are thus hungry for justice. There are also those who may have
everything in life but would still experience hunger for love,
affection, and attention. In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus refers to
Himself as the Bread of Life. As Bread of Life, Jesus satisfies our
hunger, but not of the physical kind.
 Jesus satisfies our spiritual hunger. What does this mean?
Jesus becomes our Bread when we eat His body in the Eucharist,
nourishing our faith, hope, and love. Thus, when we partake of the
Body of Christ in the Eucharist, we receive food for our eternal life
and this food strengthens and renews us so that we can be
sustained in our journey towards God’s kingdom.
The Bread that we eat sustains us, but not for long. When we
eat bread and any food for that matter, it is assimilated into our
body, enters our blood stream and energizes us for a few hours,
then we have to eat again so that we will have the energy we
need to accomplish all our activities for the day. Jesus, the Bread
of Life becomes foe us a living bread when we receive Him in
Communion.
 Jesus changes us, makes us new and unites us with Himself so
that we may be transformed from within. In the Eucharist, what we
receive is really the Body of Christ, although what we partake of,
the host, is something natural. But just like in the others
sacraments, this sensible sign, the host, brings about the spiritual
reality it symbolizes. Thus, the host does not only symbolize
nourishment, it actually brings about our spiritual nourishment by
bringing about our intimate union with Christ who gives us life.
But Jesus as Bread of Life does not automatically transform us.
If we are hungry and then we eat, our hunger will be gone almost
immediately. It does not matter whether we believe or not that
eating will satisfy our hunger.
Jesus, as the Bread that communities eternal life to us when we
receive Him in the Eucharist, it is necessary for us to believe in
Him and to commit ourselves to Him for the Eucharist to bear fruit
in us. To worthily receive the body of Christ in the Eucharist then,
we must prepare ourselves by thoroughly examining our
conscience . St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians reminds us,
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and
blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks
without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon
himself”
 Jesus as the Living Bread that we partake in the Eucharist nourishes our
spirit by preserving, increasing the life of grace we received in Baptism.

❖ The Eucharist: God’s Gift of Love

“Going to Mass” has always been a major activity of the typical
Filipino family every Sunday. We see parishes overflowing with
the people on Sundays and holy days of obligation. While this
practice of hearing Mass on the appointed days speaks well of our
own religiosity, still keen observers of the way we participate in the
Mass, would surely conclude that mush still has to be done for as
to have a genuine appreciation of the Eucharistic liturgy.
 To help us gain a better understanding of the Eucharist, there
is a need for us to go back to its biblical root, that event at the Last
Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ when He instituted the
Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood: “Then the apostles
passed Jesus a cup and when He had given thanks He said,
‘Take this and share it among yourselves: for I tell You that from
now om I will not drink of the grape of the vine until the Kingdom
of God comes.’ Jesus also took bread, and after giving 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 He did the
same with the cup after eating, ‘This is the New Covenant, sealed
in the My Blood which is poured out for you.’”
 From this biblical account of the institution of the Eucharist, we
learn that the Eucharist is a:

a. Sacrifice: The Eucharist was instituted by Christ so that the

salvation He wrought by dying on the Cross could continue
throughout the ages. This means that every time we celebrate
the Eucharist, we recall, reenact, and effect the saving power
of the Cross. Through the Eucharist then Christ’s offering of
His Body and Blood in Calvary becomes real for us. In the
Eucharist, Christ makes an offering of Himself to the Father for
the atonement of our sins. These points make the Eucharist
truly a sacrifice.
b. Sacrament: The Eucharist fulfills all the requirements for a
sacrament-instituted by Christ, a sensible sign that not only
symbolizes but affects the grace symbolized. The Eucharist
was instituted by Christ to signify and thus bring about the
unity of the Church. Each time we partake then of the host in
Holy Communion, we receive Christ Himself, and Christ draws
us into communion with Him and with one another, so that we
form one, single body: the Body of Christ, the Church.
c. Thanksgiving: In the Last Supper, after breaking the bread,
Jesus gave thank, and then He gave the bread to His
disciples. The word “Eucharist” comes from the words of
Jesus at the Last Supper for it means “thanksgiving.” The
Eucharist is essentially an act of thanksgiving to the Father,
His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
In the Eucharist we thank the Father for all His blessings,
but most especially for sending His Son to save us from sin.

“The Eucharist is a sacrifice whereby Christ’s offering of Himself on the Cross

becomes real again. It is a sacrament because it signifies and brings about
the unity of the Church. It is a thanksgiving worship because through it we
give thanks to the Father for saving us through Christ.”
 ❖ The Eucharist: the Summit of Christian Worship
To worship God is to adore, glorify, praise, and thank Him. The
Church as a community gives the highest worship to God through
the Eucharist. The word Eucharist itself comes the word
eucharistein which recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim
God’s works: creation, redemption, and sanctification. As the
whole community gathers together to proclaim God’s wonderful
blessings during the celebration of the Holy Mass, it at the same
time thanks God for all that He has made good beautiful and just
in creation and in humankind.
 As the summit and center of Christian life, all the other
sacraments flow from and lead to the Eucharist. Baptism
incorporates us into the worshipping Eucharistic community; the
Eucharist in turn enables us to remain true to our baptismal
promises as it strengthens our bond with the Eucharistic
community. Confirmation gives us the Holy Spirit who moves us to
worship the Father through Moses; the Eucharist in turn sustains
us as we accomplish the mission given to us during our
Confirmation, to be witnesses to Christian in word and deed. The
Sacrament of Reconciliation reunites us with the community of
love; the Eucharist in turn draws us into the “compelling love of
Christ to become one heart in love.”
 The Sacrament of Matrimony builds up the Eucharistic
community, for through it, the married couple procreate and raise
new members of the Church; in turn, the Eucharist gives the
nourishment they need in becoming an effective sign of God’s
love. The Sacrament of Holy Orders ensures that the sacrifice of
Christ on the Cross will continue to be repeated and celebrated for
the forgiveness of sins. The ordained minister stands between
God and the community as the mediator of Jesus in the Eucharist;
the Eucharist in turn gives the priest the sustenance he needs to
be a faithful minister. The Anointing of the Sick prepares those
who are ill for the heavenly Eucharist enables the sick to offer their
sufferings as participation in Christ’s Paschal Mystery.
 Christ is the Supreme Worshipper of the Father in the
Eucharist. The Eucharist illustrates Christ’s total offering of
Himself to the Father and to us. By offering His life, Christ gives
the ultimate worship to the Father and in the Eucharist, He makes
it possible for us to share in His own thanksgiving to the Father.
Only in Christ can we offer fitting worship to the Father, thus at the
conclusion of all the Eucharistic Prayers, the priest celebrant
raises the gifts and proclaims, “Through Him (Christ), with Him
(Christ), and Him (Christ) in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory
and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever.” To this
Great Doxology, we respond, “Amen!”
 “Christ enables us to give the highest to the Father
through the Eucharist.”

❖ The Fruits of Receiving Holy Communion.

The nourishment that we get from food keeps us strong,
healthy, alert, and vibrant. The health and vibrance of our spiritual
life in turn are ensured by our reception of Holy Communion.
These fruits of receiving Holy Communion can come only if we
receive it worthily, that is, if we free from mortal sin.
A healthy and vibrant spiritual life is made possible by the
Eucharist because it unites us with Christ.
 The first effect is receiving Holy Communion worthily is to unite
us with Christ. In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus tells His audience,
“the one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in Me
and I in Him.” If we partake of the body of Christ in Holy
Communion, we are drawn to communion with Him.
Just as food strengthens our body and restores our energy, the
body of Christ in the Eucharist strengthens the grace we receive
in Baptism so that we are preserved from mortal sin. Another
effect of receiving Holy Communion, therefore, is that we are freed
from the small sins we may have committed besides giving us the
strength to avoid committing mortal sin. When we are freed from
our daily faults caused by our selfishness, we become more open
to loving service of others.
 Just as a meal brings a family together, the Eucharist “bring us
around the table of the Lord, uniting us in sharing food and drink
in a sacred meal hosted by Christ Himself.” Not to undermine the
role of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in restoring our union
with Christ and with one another, the Eucharist is the ordinary
means by which the members of the Church are welded into one
community. The Eucharist as a “sacrament of love, a sign of unity,
and a bond of charity”, reconciles us with one another and with
Christ.