Fr George AdimikeThe Eucharist, as the capsule of the mystery of Christ and the ensemble of Christian life, embodies the grandeur and uniqueness of our existence and vocation, deeply connected to God’s love. The mystery of the human person and his Christian vocation finds its purpose and mission in divine love. As John states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The entire Incarnation and the subsequent Paschal mystery are profound expressions of this divine love, culminating in the reuniting of humanity with the Trinitarian communion. This divine love is therapeutic, liberating, and saving, encapsulated in the Eucharist, which continues Christ’s presence and fosters Trinitarian communion. Therefore, the Eucharist is both presence and communion—it assures Christ’s presence among his people and facilitates the communion of the faithful with the triune God.
As the ultimate gift of love, the Eucharist symbolises the mystery of salvation that Christ accomplished for the world. He expresses his love by offering the Church the gift of himself. This self-gift illustrates that love transcends death, defining Christ’s identity and value to the Church. It demonstrates his unwavering commitment to the well-being of his body, the Church. He gave himself unreservedly for the good of his bride, reaching a definitive moment on the Cross, where he willingly offered himself to the Father in total obedience and filial devotion. In doing so, he gave everything for the sake of his bride, whom he loves immeasurably. This self-gift was foreshadowed in the Last Supper, where he ritualised what was to follow the next day. His death on the Cross illuminated the significance of the Last Supper, providing a hermeneutic for understanding it. His Resurrection affirms not only that love is greater than death but also that it signifies the victory of love over death for the life of the world.
Christ’s Resurrection imbued the Paschal bread with salvific significance, endowing it with soteriological and metaphysical qualities; thus, the Eucharist (thanksgiving) defines the entirety of the Paschal mystery. The Eucharist encapsulates the whole of salvation history and mystery, as it allows the Church to celebrate the saving events from the Incarnation to the Resurrection in glory. It offers a framework for the Christian life, serving as a pedagogy of divine love. In and through the Eucharist, God convokes a people who, by offering the sacrifice of praise, live in thankfulness and celebrate God’s providence.
The Eucharist represents the essence of the Church, as the Church is convoked to hear the Word, which takes flesh and becomes bread for the life of humanity. The faithful gather to listen to the Word—the Word made flesh who becomes the Eucharist. The Eucharist calls forth a people who, by hearing the Word, embody its essence in their lives. They become Eucharist, symbolising gratitude for God’s goodness. In reality, the recipients of the Eucharist become what they consume; they transform into thanksgiving, which marks the beginning of worship and religion. Thanksgiving evolves into a relationship — thanksliving — transforming into a religion. This relationship glorifies God and progressively draws believers into His glory until the end of time. Consequently, the Eucharist serves as a microcosm of the mystery of Christ, a continual point of encounter with the Holy Spirit, who remains active throughout Christ’s life and ministry. The Holy Spirit continues to bring about in every Eucharist what was accomplished in the Incarnation and throughout Christ’s ministry to his Resurrection. Because the Eucharist is at the core of Christ’s mystery, it also encompasses the entirety of Christian life.
The Eucharist is ecclesial; the Church makes the Eucharist, while the Eucharist builds the Church. Neither exists without the other; they are complementary. The Eucharist makes the Church, and the Church enables the Eucharist. They coexist in a harmonious relationship. The Eucharist is realised through the action of Christ, the chief protagonist. In the era of the Church, Jesus Christ remains the chief celebrant, but now sacramentally through the Church’s instrumentality. The Church celebrates the Eucharist through her ordained ministers. Validly ordained priests are configured to Christ the head, and by this ontological configuration, they possess the sacramental power (sacra potestas) necessary for the spiritual good of the Church.
The Church is eucharistia; she lives by giving thanks and is constituted in the Eucharist, which contains the fullness of the Godhead. The Eucharist is of the esse and not merely beneessere of the Church―the being of the Church and not merely at the fulcrum of her well-being. It is foundational to the Church’s identity and essential for her very existence. Without the Eucharist, the Church would lose its essential content and become empty, devoid of meaning. Wherever the Eucharist is celebrated, the Church is present; without the Eucharist, there is no Church. Every other sacrament is oriented toward the Eucharist, which sits at the centre of the sacramental economy, making it the sacrament of the sacraments of faith.
The love of Christ is so profound that he makes his presence permanent through the most ordinary elements—bread and wine—which resonate with the daily lives of people, especially in the context of the world in which he lived. In contrast to the Gnostic view of material elements as evil, Christ, following the tradition established in Genesis, recognised that everything God created is good and used these material elements for spiritual purposes. The Eucharist measures Christ’s love for his Church, making salvation accessible to anyone who sincerely seeks him.
Every divine encounter involves a presence that fosters communion. To achieve communion, there must be a form of sacrifice. The interplay of sacrifice, meal, and communion represents a profound supernatural reality at an anthropological level. Even in everyday life, family meals that promote communion require a sacrifice—often the shedding of blood. At a basic level, a family meal typically involves the sacrifice of an animal, such as a fowl, goat, or cow, and this shed blood becomes the food that nurtures and unites the family in a communal bond of love. At a supernatural level, Christ is both the sacrificial lamb and the food, embodying the presence that brings us into communion with God and with one another. He is the representative victim who took on our misfortunes. His love led him to the Cross, the greatest expression of love. Therefore, the Eucharist invites us to an encounter that transforms us as beneficiaries and missionaries of God’s salvation in Christ.
Fr George Adimike
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