The Eucharist: The Breaking Of Bread

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The Eucharist is the consecrated element of bread and wine received in Holy Communion, where through transubstantiation, becomes the body and blood of Christ, nourishing and healing Catholics upon consumption through Jesus’ sacrifice. This originates from the Jewish Passover meal which was celebrated with the apostles, where this was “established when God rescued His children of Israel from Egyptian slavery” and is now one of the most significant times in the Jewish calendar as it commemorates the Exodus where the children were liberated. Jesus shared the last meal with the apostles at the Last Supper before crucifixion, where the bread and wine was transubstantiated into His Body and Blood through His command, then being shared with the disciples as a form of thanksgiving. It is proposed that “the Acts of the Apostles also shows that the Eucharist (at first called ‘the Breaking of Bread’) was one of the cornerstones of Christian life where this is established as the mystery of Life, Death and Resurrection. The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians is a key document which recounts the early Christian life, where the “basic shape of the Eucharist is established in these early texts: bread and wine are taken, thanks and praise are offered to God over them, the bread is broken and the bread …show more content…

For Catholics, it is put forth by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy, that "the gift of Christ and his Spirit, which we receive in Eucharistic communion superabundantly fulfills the yearning for fraternal unity deeply rooted in the human heart” (McNamara, 2004), where this connects people with Christ and provides the opportunity to engage in personal healing. Through the sacred transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the congregation can acknowledge the sacrifices made, eternally connecting Catholics to their

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