Tit 1, 2 In the hope of eternal life that God promised

(Tit 1, 2) In the hope of eternal life that God promised

[2] in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,

(CCC 2657) The Holy Spirit, who instructs us to celebrate the liturgy in expectation of Christ's return, teaches us - to pray in hope. Conversely, the prayer of the Church and personal prayer nourish hope in us. The psalms especially, with their concrete and varied language, teach us to fix our hope in God: "I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry" (Ps 40:2). As St. Paul prayed: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Rom 15:13). (CCC 1404) The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ" (Roman Missal 126, embolism after the Our Father: expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi; cf. Titus 2:13), asking "to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ our Lord" (EP III 116: prayer for the dead). (CCC 1402) In an ancient prayer the Church acclaims the mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly blessing and grace" (Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus), then the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly glory. (CCC 1405) There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet 3:13), than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, "the work of our redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ" (LG 3; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2: SCh 10, 76).