Eucharist: Sacrifice and Sacrament

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322-1419

“At the last supper, on the night when he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross through the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse, the church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, ‘a paschal banquet in which Christ is received, the mind filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, 47).

This mystery is the very center and culmination of Christian life. It is the “source and the summit of all preaching of the Gospel…the center of the assembly of the faithful” (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 5).

In every Mass, Christ is present, both in the person of his priest and especially under the form of bread and wine. In every mass, his death becomes a present reality, offered as our sacrifice to God in an unbloody and sacramental manner. As often as the sacrifice of the cross is celebrated on an altar, the work of our redemption is carried on.

At Mass we offer the Christ, our Passover sacrifice, to God, and we offer ourselves along with him. We then receive the risen Lord, our bread of life, in holy Communion. In doing so, we enter the very core of the paschal mystery of our salvation – the death and resurrection of Christ.

Eating the supper of the Lord, we span all time and “proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Sharing this banquet of love, we totally become one body in him. At that moment our future with God becomes a present reality. The oneness for which we are destined is both symbolized and made real in the meal we share. In the Mass, both past and future become really present in mystery.

If we prepare for it with care and enter it with living faith, the Eucharist can draw us into the compelling love of Christ and set us afire. When we go out from the sacred mystery, we know we were caught up in it if we “grasp by deed what we hold by creed.” And if we return to the place where the Blessed Sacrament is kept, Christ present in the tabernacle, we can regain our sense of the fathomless love his presence there silently speaks.

Schedule of Masses

Monday thru Saturday.………. 9 AM

Saturday Evening Mass………. 5:30 PM
Sunday……………………………… 8 AM, 10 AM, and 12 PM