In this article we'll consider different names of the Eucharist. Each name expresses something about the inexhaustible richness of this Sacrament. Let's receive and ponder the meaning of this great gift Jesus has left us of his Body and Blood.
The Catechism continues with the next two paragraphs:
#1328 – The inexhaustible richness of this Sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11: 24) and eulogein (Mt 26:26; Mark 14:22) recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.
#1329 – The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem (1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9). The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meal when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread (Mt 14:19; 15:36), above all at the Last Supper (Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24). It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection (Lk 24:13-35), and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies (Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11); by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him (1 Cor 10:16-17). And the Eucharistic assembly, because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church (1 Cor 11:17-34).
Commentary: These paragraphs focus on different names we give the Sacrament. Its richness is so great it can’t be expressed in only one name. Each name brings out different aspects of what’s happening at every Mass.
The first name is ‘Eucharist,’ a Greek word meaning ‘thanksgiving.’ In Jewish practice, every meal is a time to thank God for his good things. At every Mass, we act as priests of creation, giving thanks to God for the gift of life, and for the fruitfulness of the earth. We also join the thanksgiving of Jesus, who thanked the Father at the Last Supper for what he was about to do. Jesus was grateful to reconcile us to the Father through his Cross. And he was grateful to the Father for raising him up victorious over sin and death. We thank the Father at every Mass for reconciling us to himself in Christ, and for sending the Holy Spirit to us as the bond of love. We’re joined to Christ and conformed to him more and more each day by the Spirit.
The next name is the ‘Lord’s Supper.’ This recalls Jesus’ institution of this Sacrament during the Passover supper, as the memorial of his death and resurrection. When we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we’re united with his Passover from death to new life. And we receive a foretaste of eternal life, when we’ll be united with Christ and one another in an eternal exchange of love in the wedding banquet of heaven.
This Sacrament is also called the ‘Breaking of Bread.’ This is the name for the Eucharist we find many times in the Acts of the Apostles. It’s one of the marks of the early Church, along with prayer, the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, and sharing with the needy (Acts 2:42). This name recalls Jesus’ miraculous feedings, when he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to his apostles to give to the crowds. And baskets upon baskets were left over. This foreshadows Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist when he took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave it to his apostles saying, ‘Take, eat, this is my Body.’ The disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus ‘in the breaking of the bread’ when his identity was hidden from them. In the same way, Jesus ‘hides’ himself now in the Eucharist under the appearance of bread. But we his presence as we repeat the actions he commanded us to do ‘in memory of me.’ We affirm it’s really the Lord, broken and given for us to eat. We receive him and are also blessed to be broken and given for others.
Finally, the Sacrament is called the ‘Eucharistic assembly.’ This name brings out the aspect of the Eucharist as a communal event, not just an individual thing. We celebrate the Eucharist together as God’s family in Christ, and through it we make the Church visible. As much as we benefit from livestreaming and virtual participation, the Eucharist can never be just ‘virtual.’ Its celebration is something concrete and tangible. It makes real the Church as a community, the body of Christ on earth, called to live as brothers and sisters united with one another in love.
Each name unlocks great thing to ponder and reflect on to enter the fullness of the Eucharistic mystery!