287. Why is the Holy Eucharist the paschal banquet? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 287 repetition) The Holy Eucharist
is the paschal banquet in as much as Christ sacramentally makes present his
Passover and gives us his Body and Blood, offered as food and drink, uniting us
to himself and to one another in his sacrifice.
“In
brief”
(CCC 1406)
Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one
eats of this bread, he will live for ever;… he who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life and… abides in
me, and I in him" Jn 6:51, 54, 56).
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1391) Holy Communion augments pur union with
Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is
an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: "He who eats
my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (Jn 6:56). Life
in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: "As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live
because of me" (Jn 6:57). On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful
receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that
the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to Mary
Magdalene, "Christ is risen!" Now too are life and resurrection
conferred on whoever receives Christ (Fanqîth, Syriac Office of Antioch, Vol.
1, Commun., 237 a-b). (CCC 1392) What material food produces in our bodily
life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with
the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh "given life and giving life through
the Holy Spirit" (PO 5), preserves, increases, and renews the life of
grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment
of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of
death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.
On
reflection
(CCC 1393) Holy Communion separates us from sin.
The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us,"
and the blood we drink "shed for the many for the forgiveness of
sins." For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at
the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins:
For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of
the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord's death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins.
If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of
sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins.
Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy (St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4, 6, 28: PL 16, 446; cf. 1 Cor
11:26). [IT CONTINUES]
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