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The holy Eucharist
completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of
the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by
Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own
sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
(CCC, 1322)
"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."
(CCC, #1407)
The Eucharist is "the
source and summit of the Christian life." "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." CCC, 1324
"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."
CCC,
1325
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the
heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.
CCC, 1326
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." CCC, 1327
In order to be eligible to
receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist we need to learn what it is we are
about to receive and to be in a state of grace (without grave sin which
severs our relationship with the Church and God.) We are restored to a state
of grace after participating in the Sacrament of Penance.
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