The Eucharist

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A watercolor of six lambs gathered under a cross before an altar set with bread and a cup, one of them holding out a loaf to a small lamb

What does it mean to call the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life”?
1. It means that if you receive the Eucharist well, you need not bother with the other sacraments
2. It means that the other sacraments and all the work of the Church are directed toward the Eucharist and flow from it
3. It means that only the moment of receiving Communion at Mass is the true liturgy, and the rest is preparation for it
4. It means that of all the prayers of the Church, the Mass is the oldest
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Answer ② It means that the other sacraments and all the work of the Church are directed toward the Eucharist and flow from it
The Eucharist is not a place that pushes the other sacraments aside; it is the place they flow from and return to. The first swallows every sacrament into this one, and the third shrinks the Mass down to the moment of Communion.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324, 1327
When was the Eucharist instituted?
1. At the wedding feast of Cana, when Christ changed the water into wine
2. When he fed five thousand people with five loaves
3. At the Last Supper, on the night before he suffered
4. At Emmaus after the resurrection, when he broke the bread
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Answer ③ At the Last Supper, on the night before he suffered
“This is my body, which is given for you,” he said, and with those words he instituted it at the Last Supper. Cana, the miracle of the loaves and the evening at Emmaus announce the Eucharist beforehand or throw light on it, but none of them is where it was instituted.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1323, 1337-1340
How is the Mass related to the sacrifice of the cross?
1. At every Mass Christ is offered up as a victim once again, so that a new sacrifice is made
2. It is simply a memorial service in which we call the events of the cross to mind
3. It is a service of thanksgiving the Church drew up for herself, with no bearing on the sacrifice of the cross
4. The one sacrifice offered on the cross once for all is made sacramentally present in the Mass
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Answer ④ The one sacrifice offered on the cross once for all is made sacramentally present in the Mass
The victim and the one who offers are the same Christ; only the manner of offering is different. The first makes it look as though Christ were being put to death again and again, and the second shrinks the memorial that Scripture speaks of into mere recollection.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1366-1367
What does the Church teach happens to the bread and wine at the consecration?
1. The whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ
2. The substance of the bread stays as it is, and the body of Christ comes to be present along with it
3. Nothing is changed at all; they simply become a symbol that carries a meaning
4. The bread and wine become holy objects that have been given a share of Christ's power
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Answer ① The whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ
The Church calls this change transubstantiation. The second is consubstantiation and the third is a merely symbolic account; and treating the Eucharist as a “blessed object,” as the fourth does, also lowers it from Christ himself to a thing.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1375-1376, 1413
After the consecration the taste, the color and the shape of the bread and wine change as well.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ② No
What the senses reach stays exactly as it was; what changes is the substance. That is why before the Eucharist it is faith and not the eye that sees, and the fact that the appearances stay unchanged does nothing to cloud that presence.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1376, 1381
How is Christ present in the Eucharist?
1. He is present only as a symbol, in the heart of the person receiving him
2. Christ is present truly, really and substantially, body and blood, soul and divinity
3. The greater the faith of the person receiving, the more of him is present
4. Only what is divine in him is present; what is human stays in heaven
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Answer ② Christ is present truly, really and substantially, body and blood, soul and divinity
Christ is present whole and entire, and really. The first is the symbolic account, the third hangs the presence on the state of a person's heart, and the fourth splits the one Christ in two.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1374, 1413
Christ is present whole and entire in the smallest fragment of a broken host and in a single drop of the precious blood.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ① Yes
Yes. Breaking the host does not break Christ, so someone who receives the host alone does not receive half of him. We receive under both kinds because the sign of the banquet is shown more fully that way.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1377, 1390
How long does the presence of Christ in the Eucharist last?
1. It lasts only for the moment of receiving Communion
2. It comes to an end once the Mass is over
3. It lasts as long as the appearances of bread and wine remain
4. It lasts until the priest says another prayer to take it back
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Answer ③ It lasts as long as the appearances of bread and wine remain
That is why the hosts that remain are reserved in the tabernacle, carried to the sick and knelt before. If the presence ended when the Mass ended, neither the tabernacle nor eucharistic adoration would have anywhere to stand.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1377
Where does the custom of reserving the Eucharist in the tabernacle come from?
1. It began so that the Eucharist could be shown to those who had not managed to come to Mass
2. It was a practical way of using up hosts left over from one Mass at the next
3. It was arranged for eucharistic adoration, a prayer higher than the Mass
4. It grew out of keeping the Eucharist back to carry to the sick and to those who were absent
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Answer ④ It grew out of keeping the Eucharist back to carry to the sick and to those who were absent
The tabernacle was for the sick to begin with, and the worship and adoration of the Eucharist grew out of it. Adoration flows from the Mass and leads back to it, so it cannot be called a prayer higher than the Mass.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1378-1380
The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are two separate rites, so it is enough to take part in only one of them.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ② No
The two parts together make one single act of worship. One meal is laid out from the table of the word and the table of the Eucharist, so treating the Liturgy of the Word as a side dish you may arrive late for cuts the Mass in half.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1346-1347
Who may preside at the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass and consecrate the bread and wine?
1. Only a validly ordained bishop or priest
2. Any member of the faithful who has been baptized
3. A lay person may do it too, if the Church has appointed them as a minister
4. A deacon may stand in when no priest is available
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Answer ① Only a validly ordained bishop or priest
Presiding at the Eucharist in the person of Christ belongs to an ordained priest. In an emergency anyone may baptize, but the Eucharist is not like that, and a deacon may distribute Holy Communion without being able to consecrate.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1411
What must someone who is conscious of grave (mortal) sin do before receiving Communion?
1. Go to Communion just as they are — receiving forgives that sin along with the rest
2. Receive forgiveness in confession first, and go to Communion after that
3. Nothing more — they repented at the penitential act at the beginning of Mass, and that is enough
4. Stay away from Communion for a year as a punishment they set themselves
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Answer ② Receive forgiveness in confession first, and go to Communion after that
The Eucharist wipes away venial sins and keeps us from falling into mortal sin, but the forgiveness of mortal sin belongs to the sacrament of Penance. The penitential act in the third answer also reaches only as far as venial sin, and setting your own punishment and staying away from the table, as in the fourth, is no answer either.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1385, 1395
Why does someone who receives the Eucharist come to care about the poor?
1. Because the collection taken up at Mass is passed on to the poor
2. Because only those who have given generously to charity are allowed to receive Communion
3. Because those who share the one bread become one body in Christ
4. Because the Eucharist and love of neighbor are separate areas that have nothing to do with each other
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Answer ③ Because those who share the one bread become one body in Christ
You cannot look away while a limb of your own body goes hungry, and so the Eucharist teaches us to recognize Christ in the least of his brothers and sisters. The second turns the sacrament into a reward for good people, and the fourth pulls the altar apart from life.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1396-1397
Why is the Eucharist called “the pledge of future glory”?
1. Because this sacrament gives us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet and draws us toward it
2. Because salvation is guaranteed in advance to anyone who receives Communion often
3. Because the Eucharist works like a charm that keeps illness and disaster away
4. Because anyone who dies after receiving Communion is not judged
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Answer ① Because this sacrament gives us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet and draws us toward it
The Mass is offered “until the Lord comes,” and it is the foretaste of the everlasting banquet. The second and the fourth turn the sacrament into an automatic guarantee of salvation, and the third makes it a charm.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1402-1405