“As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.” - 1Corinthians 11, 26

This sacrament (also called Holy Communion) was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper and is one of the three ‘sacraments of initiation’ (the others being Baptism and Confirmation). Recalling Our Lord’s words at the Last Supper (“Take and eat, this is my body”; “Take and drink, this is my blood”), the Catholic Church professes that whenever Mass is celebrated, the Church fulfills the mandate of the Lord to “do this in memory of me.” At the most solemn point of the Mass (‘the Consecration’) bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus—just as at the Last Supper (“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day” - John 6, 54).

This sacrament is also commonly referred to as “Communion,” because when Catholics receive Christ’s Body and Blood at Mass, they are joined in a special way to Our Lord and all the Holy Ones (the “communion of saints’) who have “washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” - Rev. 7, 14

First Eucharist

Children in our school and Religious Education Program are prepared for this sacrament in the winter and spring of Third Grade (after First Penance). They usually receive their "First Holy Communion" in early May.