ST. MARY OF THE PINES

Eucharist comes from the Greek eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church—the People of God—began building a church, they were sustained with spiritual food in times of trials and celebrations. Eucharist is that food, the real presence of the risen Lord. The Second Vatican Council, in its Constitution on the Church, rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist we become united to the person of Christ through his humanity,” write the bishops. They remind us of the words of Jesus in John’s Gospel: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56).

The First Eucharist for our children also has meaning for the whole community. We smile at the children in their first Communion finery-not just because they look cute, but because they are joining us at our family table: the table of God’s family.