272. When did Jesus Christ institute the Eucharist?
(Comp
272) Jesus instituted the Eucharist on Holy Thursday “the night on which he was
betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23), as he celebrated the Last Supper with his
apostles.
“In
brief”
(CCC 1323)
"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’" (SC 47).
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1337)
The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing
that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the
course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love
(Cf. Jn 13:1-17; 34-35). In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order
never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he
instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and
commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; "thereby he
constituted them priests of the New Testament" (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740). (CCC
1338) The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account
of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words
of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the
Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven (Cf.
Jn 6).
On
reflection
(CCC 1339)
Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum:
giving his disciples his Body and his Blood: Then came the day of Unleavened
Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and
John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover meal for us, that we may eat
it...." They went... and prepared the passover. And when the hour came, he
sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have
earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you
I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."....
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to
them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me." and likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This
cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood" (Lk
22:7-20; cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26). (CCC 1340) By
celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover
meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing
over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is
anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the
Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory
of the kingdom.
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