Eucharist

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35

Please contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for your child's First Communion.

The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion and by several other names, is the source and summit of the Christian life and a participation here and now in the life of Heaven. Not a mere symbol: The Eucharist is Jesus Christ Himself, truly present in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, under the appearance of ordinary bread and wine.

For many today, as in Jesus’ own time, this is indeed a “hard saying” (Jn 6:60), but Jesus was explicit in emphasizing this reality, as the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John makes particularly clear. From the very beginning, Christians have followed Christ’s command to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood” (Jn 6:53-56) that we might have His life. As God humbled Himself and took on human flesh in order to walk among us and save us, so He humbles Himself through His Presence in the Eucharist from the moment it is consecrated by the priest. We literally receive Christ Himself into our very bodies.

Reception of the Eucharist completes Christian initiation and unites us with Jesus Christ in the most intimate and physical way possible in this life. The Eucharist is our spiritual food, without which we cannot live. It is a staggering mystery, and the greatest of gifts!