Last week, in Lesson Twenty-Second of the Baltimore Catechism No. 2, we began a discussion of the Holy Eucharist. This week, we continue to learn about this central sacrament of Christianity by looking at the ends for which the Eucharist was instituted.
Mankind was made in the image and likeness of God. Through our worthy reception of the Eucharist, we continue to grow in the image and likeness of Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, and our reception of the true Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion draws us into the Church, closer to Christ in both body and soul.
This isn't simply a metaphor. Just as the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, so too our participation in the sacrament works a change in us. Frequent reception of the Eucharist lessens our tendency to sin, increases sanctifying grace in our soul, strengthens our virtues, and begins to prepare our bodies for the resurrection.
Moreover, the Eucharist makes the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross continually present to the Church. At Mass, we stand on Calvary with the Blessed Virgin Mary. The remembrance of Christ's sacrifice is not a simple calling to mind but an actual participation in the events of Good Friday, so that we may experience as well the Resurrection of Easter Sunday.
Understanding the magnitude of the sacrament, we should realize that we should not approach it lightly. We must be free from mortal sin in order to receive Communion, but we should also be free of any attachment to venial sin. The penitential rite at the beginning of Mass ("I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters . . . ") signifies our rejection of sin, so that we may receive the Body and Blood of Christ worthily.
Lesson Twenty-Third from the Confirmation Catechism has 11 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 251, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Twenty-Second.
The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Nineteenth. It includes 4 questions drawn from Lesson Twenty-Third of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance
- On Contrition
- On Confession
- On the Manner of Making a Good Confession
- On Indulgences
- On the Holy Eucharist