This Sunday our parish will celebrate the beautiful occasion of First Holy Communion for those second graders who have prepared to receive Christ in the Holy Communion.
Why is this such an important occasion? Because as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us:
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. (1322)
"At the Last Supper, on the night 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 throughout 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 consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'" (1323:135)
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."( 1324: 136 and 137)
We must therefore consider the Eucharist as:
- thanksgiving and praise to the Father;
- the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his Body;
- the presence of Christ by the power of his word and of his Spirit.(1358)
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. (1326 :139)
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." (1327:140)
O Jesus, who has loved us with such exceeding great love
as to give us the ineffable gift of the Holy Eucharist,
inflame us with a burning zeal to promote Your glory
by preparing worthily the little children
who are to approach Your holy table for the first time.
Protect, O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
these young souls from the assaults of evil,
strengthen their faith,
increase their love and endow them
with all the virtues that will make them worthy to receive
You. Amen.
