The Eucharist is often described as the “source and summit of Christian life”, a phrase which comes from the Second Vatican Council document on the Liturgy. It means that on the one hand every aspect of our lives of faith take their nourishment an, their inspiration, their strength and purpose from the Eucharist as source – prayer, social action, the sacraments themselves – while the Eucharist is also the direction and the goal to which they all lead – our encounter and communion with Jesus Christ himself in the family of the Church, bound together by the Holy Spirit to worship God the Father

The Holy Eucharist is our sharing in the greatest act of love, the Cross of Jesus, who gave his life for us and whose Body broken on the Cross and whose Blood shed for us in sacrifice are shared by us sacramentally in Holy Communion.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it like this: “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’ ” (Catechism 1285)