Eucharist - the Source and Summit of Christian Life

You and I are all called to holiness. We become holy not simply by what we do, but by what God does within us.

Jesus, taking bread into His hands, said, “Take this and eat; this is My body, given for you.” Then He took the chalice and said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.”

It is Jesus who makes us holy by giving us His complete self—Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. In the Holy Mass, particularly in Holy Communion, a profound and mysterious exchange takes place. Christ gives Himself to us and draws our wounded humanity into communion with Him. We bring our brokenness to Him, and He gives us His life.

Our old self is crucified with Christ, and we are called to become a new creation. The old passes away and the new begins. Because of this priceless exchange, we can increasingly say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

God the Father, in His immense love and mercy, sent His only-begotten Son to become the perfect sacrifice and liberate humanity from the power of sin. Writhing in pain upon the Cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” He had faithfully accomplished the mission entrusted to Him by the Father.

What He began in the Upper Room, He consummated on the Cross. He gave Himself for us. Through His sacrifice, Christ reconciled us to God and opened for us the way to call God Father.

John the Baptist, the one who came to prepare the way for the Saviour, pointed to Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Jesus not only takes away our sins; He gives Himself to us as food. He tells us, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)

The Eucharist is both sacrifice and meal. Blessed are we who are invited to His supper. This meal nourishes and satisfies the soul. This meal is the life of the Christian. The Eucharist is, as the Church teaches, the source and summit of Christian life.

Jesus wants our Christian life to become Eucharistic.

The Second Vatican Council, in Lumen Gentium, teaches that the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life. Our life as Christians flows from Christ and is drawn toward its fulfilment in Him. We are nourished by the Eucharistic Christ so that we may become like Him—learning to give ourselves in love.

We are called to become like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies so that it may bear much fruit. (John 12:24)

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the sacrament of the New Covenant, offering Himself to us as food and drink. “Do this in remembrance of me.” When we receive His Body and Blood, we are united to Christ and participate in His divine life.

In the Eucharist, we are drawn into communion with the life of the Trinity. We become what we receive—not by changing into Christ in a physical sense, but by being transformed more deeply into His likeness through communion with Him.

Christ, the Head of the Church, unites Himself to His Bride, the Church, in the Eucharist. This communion is real and profound. The Eucharistic union we experience now is a foretaste of the ultimate union for which we were created—the heavenly wedding feast of the Lamb.

I would like to conclude with the passionate words attributed to the Catholic mystic and saint Gemma Galgani:

“Do grant, O my God, that when my lips approach Yours to kiss You, I may taste the bitter wine that was given to You; when my shoulders lean against Yours, make me feel Your scourging; when my flesh is united with Yours, in the Holy Eucharist, make me feel Your Passion; when my head comes near Yours, make me feel Your thorns; when my heart is close to Yours, make me feel Your spear.”

The Eucharist does not merely give us something.

It gives us Someone.

And having received Him, we are sent to become what we have received: a gift of self, offered in love for the life of the world.