The Holy Eucharist is the center of all sacramental life because It unites and strengthens the Church. Baptism is the beginning of our Christian life. It initiates us into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we must grow ever more alive in this divine life by praying, receiving the sacraments, hearing the Word of God, serving …

We owe gratitude, adoration, and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus, reserved in the Blessed Sacrament. Our devotion is expressed in visits to the tabernacle in our churches, at Benediction, and in Eucharistic processions. Benediction is a brief ceremony in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for the people to adore and reverence. After the period of adoration, the …

The Holy Eucharist is reserved in our churches in order to greatly enhance our adoration of Jesus and to increase our love for others. It is also reserved in the churches in order to be taken to the sick. The Jewish Passover of the Old Covenant was a symbol of the Holy Eucharist of the New Covenant. Jesus surpassed and …

Jesus becomes present in the Holy Eucharist to renew the sacrifice of Calvary in an unbloody manner on our altars, to nourish our souls in Holy Communion, and to remain bodily among us by His Real Presence in our tabernacles. Faith teaches us that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, under the veil …

Holy Communion gives us a pledge of future glory because it establishes sacramental contact between Jesus Christ, Who reigns in glory, and ourselves on earth. The glory which is reserved for us in Heaven is twofold—the glory of the soul and the glory of the body. The glory of the soul consists in the Beatific Vision of God. God communicates …

Yes, since Holy Communion increases sanctifying grace in our souls, it also increases our love of neighbor. In Holy Communion, we are united directly to Jesus Christ, and through Him, to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, Who are in Him. We also are united with Him and through Him to all His members, and especially to those who …

Yes, Holy Communion is a source of the Theological Virtue of charity. The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament which most fittingly increases man’s love for God, because it was begun and inspired by God’s love for man. St. John pointed to that love when he wrote: “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world …

Yes, Holy Communion unites our souls to Jesus’ divine and human natures. It is an article of faith that the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood of Christ, together with His soul and divinity. Therefore, when we receive Holy Communion, we receive the real, physical Body and Blood of Christ, together with …

Yes. One of the principal effects received from the Holy Eucharist at Holy Communion is the intensification and strengthening of supernatural life. Being a sign of nourishment, the Holy Eucharist is meant to do for the soul what material food does for the body, and that is to preserve life and to protect it. As material food enables us to …

In the Eucharist, Jesus nourishes properly prepared Catholics with His Body and Blood, the Bread of Life, so that they may become more pleasing to God and may be strengthened in their love of God and neighbor. In the Eucharist we become more pleasing to God. In this great celebration of our faith, we relive the experience of Jesus and …