CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS GUIDE 101
SECTION V Holy Eucharist The word εὐχαριστία (eukharistia, Greek) means thanksgiving. "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, CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH) NB: בית לחםBethlehem, the city our Lord Jesus Christ was born means House of Bread The Incarnation, for example, is not understood by any mortal intelligence. The Incarnation means that God became man. How this was accomplished we do not know. But revelation states that God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, became man. We believe it, and if necessary would die for our belief, not because we understand this mystery, but because God has revealed it to us. (7) It is the same with the Blessed Eucharist. No one understands how, by the words of consecration, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. There is no evidence of this change, and moreover it is entirely beyond our comprehension, yet we believe it on the word of God. That is faith, believing not on the testimony of the senses, not on evidence, not on understanding, but on the veracity of God. It is the highest honor we can pay God, for by our belief we sacrifice our highest faculty, our judgment, on the altar of His veracity. (8) "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, CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH) The Sacred Scripture on the Last Supper: "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28; also Mark 14:22, 24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:24-25, RSV)
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