The Eucharist and the Gospels

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I am a fairly new Catholic. I was confirmed last August 2018. From what I’ve learned so far it seems like everything about Catholic life revolves around the Eucharist. It is the highlight of Mass and is probably the most important sacrament. I have been studying the Gospels in the past year and I am having sort of a problem with the emphasis we Catholics put on the Eucharist. The only thing I can find in the Gospels regarding what Jesus says about it is what he says at the Last Supper. He said the reason we do it is “in remembrance of Me”. Jesus never says “make this the source and summit of Christian life”. Can anyone explain why it is so important a sacrament in our Church?
 
The Eucharist goes far beyond the Last Supper. It was part of Gods plan from the beginning. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the tree we most remember from the story of the fall, but another tree is mentioned when Adam and Eve are banished, “See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever ” (Genesis 3:22). In Revelation 2:7, Saint John writes, “To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.” Ten verses later we read: “To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna”—a clear reference to the Eucharist. The early fathers commented on this many times.

ZP
 
Thank you for the response. I read the catechism via the link you provided. It helped answer my question, thank you. However, I’m still having trouble with something. When one of the pharisees (can’t remember which, or if it even names him) asked Jesus what the greatest of God’s commandments is, Jesus replied “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and two, love your neighbor as yourself”. He didn’t even include partaking in the Eucharist in His reply. I’m not sayin the Eucharist isn’t important. If course we should partake in it as often as we can. I’m just having trouble with the idea with it being the source and summit of our lives. I’m not going to leave the Church or anything drastic like that. It’s just that I have yet to find anything in Biblical scripture that agrees with the catechism.
 
I never made the connection of the Eucharist and Genesis and Revelation 2:7. Very enlightening. Thank you.
 
J_Ignatius said:
He didn’t even include partaking in the Eucharist in His reply
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Yes, he said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind… this is to love the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus also said in John 14:23
Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
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and in John 6:53-58
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
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J_Ignatius said:
“Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and two, love your neighbor as yourself”.
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That is because the meeting between Jesus and the man (Luke 10:27) was way before the night when Jesus ate the last supper with his apostles and instituted the Eucharist. Remember that the two apostles walking to Emmaus (Luke 24:13) after the Jewish Easter didn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them on the road until He broke the bread when they ate in the evening. The narrative about the walk to Emmaus is a perfect example to explain the Mass. On the road Jesus explained the story of salvation starting from Moses and profets and the apostles eyes weren’t opened until He broke the bread, the Eucharist. So we have the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist all in one great narrative.
 
Another important passage, outside of the Last Supper, where Jesus talks about the importance of eating his flesh and drinking his blood is the Bread of Life discourse (Jn 6:22-59).
 
Thanks for the responses. I would like everyone to know that I am not trying to condemn the Church’s teachings or lessen the significance of the Eucharist. I am only confused and seeking clarification, that’s all. I am a fairly new Catholic and I have a lot to learn. Peace and God Bless you all.
 
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J_Ignatius said:
I have yet to find anything in Biblical scripture that agrees with the catechism.
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Scripture isn’t for taking verses in isolation. We include the whole of Scripture to understand God and how he wants us to worship him. The catechism has references with its chapters… they’re at the bottom of the page. Scripture tells us that it’s not for self interpreting… it tells us that Christ established a church and he would be with us to the end… he told us that the Spirit of Truth would guide us into all truths.

I don’t have much time at the moment but if you persevere you’ll find the answers. Just stick with it, and keep an open heart. Pray to the Holy Spirit to guide you into understanding. 🙂
 
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J_Ignatius said:
He said the reason we do it is “in remembrance of Me”.
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That’s not all he said, and it goes a bit deeper than that. For instance, in John 6, the Bread of Life discourse, he speaks of his body and blood…
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
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In John 17, Jesus’ prayer to the Father after the Last Supper, he speaks of his desire for our communion and oneness…
“Father, … I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, … that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, … that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
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I don’t have it all figured out, but these passages (among others) point to the deep significance of the incarnation of Jesus, his true humanity and true divinity, his sacrifice for us, his death and resurrection, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and our communion and ultimate oneness with him and with each other.

So I think the emphasis on the Eucharist is quite appropriate.
 
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Check out the Institute of Catholic Culture. It’s a free online resource with over 800 hours of archived video along with monthly webinars. Search for The Bread of Life by Father Hezekias (founder and executive director).

ZP
 
I think you may be looking it as though it is a “more important” sacrament than other sacraments as opposes to a completeness of sacraments.

The most important sacrament is baptism. Without baptism no other sacraments come to be.

As “source and summit” i think we can grasp the understanding the “source” is Jesus Himself. The “summit” is possibly where the confusion comes in. If you view the “summit” as a mountain summit when you receive the Eucharist and that you have reached the top of the mountain “the summit” your accomplishment has been fulfilled and there is no greater accomplishment in this world. In this analogy the summit being the Eucharist should not diminish the base of the mountain being baptism.

Hope this helps-

Peace!!!
 
J_Ignatius said:
Jesus never says “make this the source and summit of Christian life”.
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Well, that’s not recorded in the Gospels. But the Gospels are pretty slim books, and they do not even pretend to be complete and thorough accounts of all that Jesus said and did (see John 21:25). Think of the time we are in now: the 50 days of Easter, during which we commemorate and celebrate the time the Lord spent with His disciples between the Resurrection and Ascension before the Pentecost. He spent every day with them, talking with them, teaching them — and we have but a handful of brief narrative accounts about those days.

That’s why the Lord founded the Catholic Church: to help us grow into a fuller, more complete understanding of everything He taught us and what it means to live a Christian life.
 
J_Ignatius said:
Jesus never says “make this the source and summit of Christian life”. Can anyone explain why it is so important a sacrament in our Church?
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“Source and summit” strikes me as something of an overstatement. The Eucharist is one of the seven sacraments, and is the most prominent among them because it is repeated at frequent intervals. Baptism and Confirmation: literally only once in a lifetime. Holy Orders, not even that often, for most people. Marriage, notionally also once in a lifetime, and for many people it still is. Reconciliation, as often as is needed, but being conducted in private it’s less noticeable. Anointing the sick, again as often as is needed, though hopefully only once. Which leaves the Eucharist as the one frequent sacrament in plain view.
 
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OP, I am a bit sad that somehow you received First Communion, and also got confirmed, without anybody explaining to you why the Eucharist is important, as well as the fact that Catholics don’t go picking through the Bible for isolated Scripture verses to show this or that. It seems there was a giant failure to communicate between you and whoever instructed you when you were being received into the Church. I know these things happen and I’m not blaming you for it; it’s more a failure of the catechist. Anyway, a few things:
  1. The Eucharist is NOT a “commandment”. Catholics are required to receive Eucharist at least once a year, but that’s canon law, not one of Jesus’ commandments. However, as somoene pointed out, receiving Eucharist frequently, and going to Adoration also, would be an extremely important way of fulfilling Jesus’ commandment that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind.
  2. The Eucharist is extremely important to us because it ALLOWS US TO BE ONE WITH GOD. Not in a symbolic sense, not in a “God is present in the room when we pray” sense, but actually ONE WITH GOD. We take God into our grubby physical body. For the short amount of time the Eucharist is present in our system, we’re as close to God as we can possibly get on this earth because he’s actually physically part of us.
    Some theologians have also expressed this as us here on earth being directly, physically connected to Heaven for that short amount of time. When I receive Jesus so intimately, and I’m connected to Heaven, I’m not only connected with God and Jesus whom I love, but also with my deceased loved ones who are there.
    If you had a chance to experience union with God, a direct connection to God’s love and Heaven, wouldn’t you think that was really great and super important? Would you need to pick through the Bible looking for a verse to tell you it was important?
  3. As I said, Catholics don’t go picking through the Bible for a verse out of context, but Jesus says right in John 6,
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
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So, Jesus Christ is telling us to receive Eucharist.
He’s telling us this is really important and will give us eternal life.
Why would we even question its importance after Jesus personally and explicitly says this?
 
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What kind of studying did you do before becoming Catholic last August? I would have thought these questions might have arisen during your preparation on becoming Catholic. Did you meet with a priest or RCIA
person? @J_Ignatius
 
7_Sorrows, I was a protestant (Baptist) for 35 years before I felt God was calling me to Holy Mother Church.
 
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