Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 211.

YOUCAT Question n. 211 - How important is the Eucharist for the Church?

(Youcat answer) The celebration of the Eucharist is the heart of the Christian communion. In it the Church becomes Church.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1325) "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit" (Congregation of Rites, instruction, Eucharisticum mysterium, 6).  

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) We are not Church because we get along well, or because we happen to end up in the same parish community, but rather because in the Eucharist we receive the Body of Christ and are increasingly being transformed into the Body of Christ.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 775) "The Church, in Christ, is like a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men" (LG 1). The Church's first purpose is to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God. Because men's communion with one another is rooted in that union with God, the Church is also the sacrament of the unity of the human race. In her, this unity is already begun, since she gathers men "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev 7:9); at the same time, the Church is the "sign and instrument" of the full realization of the unity yet to come.

(The next question is: What names are there for Jesus’ meal with us, and what do they mean?)