Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 212 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 212 - Part I. What names are there for Jesus’ meal with us, and what do they mean?

(Youcat answer) The different names indicate the unfathomable richness of this mystery: the Holy Sacrifice, Holy Mass, the Sacrifice of the Mass—the Lord’s Supper—the Breaking of Bread—the Eucharistic assembly—the memorial of the Lord’s Passion, death, and Resurrection—the Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Sacred Mysteries—Holy Communion.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1328) The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein (Cf. Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24) and eulogein (Cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22) recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment a) Holy Sacrifice, Holy Mass, the Sacrifice of the Mass: The one sacrifice of Christ, which completes and surpasses all sacrifices, is made present in the celebration of the Eucharist. The Church and the faithful, through their self-offering, unite themselves with Christ’s sacrifice. The word Mass comes from the Latin dismissal, Ite, missa est, “Go now, you are sent.” The Lord’s Supper: Every celebration of the Eucharist is still the one supper that Christ celebrated with his disciples and, at the same time, the anticipation of the banquet that the Lord will celebrate with the redeemed at the end of time. We men do not make the worship service; the Lord is the one who calls us to worship God and is mysteriously present in the liturgy. The breaking of bread: “The breaking of bread” was an old Jewish ritual at meals, which Jesus employed at the Last Supper to express his gift of self “for us” (Rom 8:32). In the “breaking of bread” the disciples recognized him again after the Resurrection.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1329) The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem (Cf. 1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9). The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread (Cf. Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 8:6, 19), above all at the Last Supper (Cf. Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24). It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection (Cf. Lk 24:13-35), and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies (Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11); by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him (Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17). The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church (Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34).  

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