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THE SACRAMENT OF THE
EUCHARIST The holy Eucharist completes Christian
initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood
by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate
with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the
Eucharist. “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.” |