The Centrality of the Holy Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist occupies a central place in the public worship of the Church, in the life of the Church as a whole, and, therefore, in the life of every Christian.  We shall consider the Holy Eucharist as the supreme act of worship and as the centre of the liturgical life of the Church. ​ Sunday Mass then emerges in clearer light, as does the parish as a Eucharistic community.  We also ask ourselves what place the Holy Eucharist has in the day and week for each of us and how we learn from Christ to offer ourselves.  The Holy Eucharist supplies us with the spiritual energy for the apostolate.  It punctuates the major milestones in our personal and community life, and is with us at the evening of our earthly pilgrimage. Our aims of Religion, Mass It is clear that the Eucharistic sacrifice fulfils splendidly the four major aims of religion.  What is religion all about?  (The very same reasons for the Mass.) You will get them from the word ACTS:  A – adoration, C – contrition, T – thanksgiving, and S – supplication.  To adore God, to thank Him, to make reparation for our sins and to ask for what we need. Please note that asking for what we need is the number four intention for Mass, not the number one.  So if you come to Mass only to get things from God but not primarily to praise Him and adore Him, it means you are still in the kindergarten of the spiritual life.  You are still a spiritual baby. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the summit and the center of liturgical life, the whole public worship of the Church, the whole prayer life of the Church.  It is consequently no surprise that the Eucharistic sacrifice is the supreme act of the prayer life of the Church.  Nothing that the Church does in her liturgical worship is as solemn and elevated as this sacramental representation of the Paschal mystery of Christ.  The Second Vatican Council calls the Holy Eucharist "the fount and apex of the whole Christian life".  The liturgy as a whole is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed.  When we say "liturgy" we mean the whole public worship of the Church.