On Holy Thursday, April 17, 2003, our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, issued the encyclical letter “Ecclesia De Eucharistia,” “On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church.” In the introduction, he tells us why he chose this particular moment and how it is part of a much larger tradition going back to the very beginning of his pontificate.

“From the time I began my ministry as the successor of Peter, I have always marked Holy Thursday, the day of the Eucharist and of the priesthood, by sending a letter to all of the priests of the world. This year, the 25th of my pontificate, I wish to involve the whole church more fully in this eucharistic reflection also in a way of thanking the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood: ‘gift and mystery’” (7).

As he begins the encyclical, the Holy Father articulates concisely the theme he will develop throughout the whole text. “The church draws her life from the Eucharist” (1). Here he is speaking not just about the regular experience of faith that all of us know from our own participation in daily and particularly Sunday eucharistic liturgy, but more importantly about the very heart of the mystery of the church.

The mystery of faith

In Chapter 1, “The Mystery of Faith,” the pope reminds us that it was Jesus who instituted the Eucharist, which is the memorial of the Lord’s death and resurrection, and that each time the church celebrates the eucharistic liturgy the central event of our salvation becomes sacramentally but really present (cf. 11, 15).

In meditating on the mystery of faith the pope reminds us that it is Christ who is at the very core of the sacraments and particularly the Eucharist. Jesus continues to act through the sacraments. It is the Lord who is present in every one of the seven sacraments, thus producing the spiritual effect that the outward sign demonstrates.

The pope recalls for us that “the sacramental re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice, crowned by the resurrection, in the Mass involves a most special presence which — in the words of Paul VI — ‘is called real not as a way of excluding all other types of presence as if they were not real, but because it is a presence in the fullest sense: a substantial presence whereby Christ, the God-man, is holy and entirely present’” (15).

The Last Supper

The origins of the Eucharist are found in the Last Supper. In order to leave us a pledge of his love and never depart from us but rather to make us sharers in his Passover, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and resurrection and commanded the apostles to celebrate it until he returned.

In the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the new memorial sacrifice. The true Lamb of God (Jn 1:29) was about to be slain. By his cross and resurrection he was to free not just one nation from the bondage of human slavery but all humanity from the more bitter slavery of sin.

There is only one sacrifice — the self-giving of Christ on the cross at Calvary. Again, our Holy Father highlights this reality. Once and for all, Jesus, who was the victim for our sins, offered himself up for our salvation. As the Letter to the Hebrews affirms: “For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from the transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15).

The one great sacrifice was accomplished by Jesus, the priest and victim, who offered himself on the altar of the cross for our redemption. This sacrifice cannot be repeated. However, it can be re-presented so that we today in our moment in history are able sacramentally and spiritually to enter the paschal mystery and draw spiritual nourishment from it. Our Holy Father returns over and over again to this theme throughout each chapter of “Ecclesia De Eucharistia.”

Rooted in the sacrifice of the cross

In the second chapter, titled “The Eucharist Builds the Church,” our Holy Father recalls for us that the Eucharist is at the center of the process of the church’s growth. The church’s life and development are rooted in the sacrifice of the cross, which is re-presented on the altar (cf. 21).

In beginning the section “The Eucharist Builds the Church,” the pope turns to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching. Here, we are reminded that the celebration of the Eucharist is at the center of the process of the church’s growth. Quoting the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “Lumen Gentium,” the pope points out that “the church, as the kingdom of God already present in mystery, grows visibly in the world through the power of God.”

Then the pope tells us, as if in answer to the question “How does the church grow?” that the council adds: “As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which ‘Christ our pasch is sacrificed’ (1 Cor 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out. At the same time in the sacrament of the eucharistic bread, the unity of the faithful, who form one body in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), is both expressed and brought about” (21).

The Holy Father reminds us that in the earliest chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, which describe the life of the ancient, fledgling church, we find the description of the faithful coming together in order that they might devote “themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). The breaking of the bread refers to the Eucharist. Two thousand years later, the pope teaches that we continue to relive that primordial image of the church.