1328 The inexhaustible
richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each
name evokes certain aspects of it.
It is called:
Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God.
The Greek words eucharistein141 and eulogein142 recall the
Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works:
creation, redemption, and sanctification.
1329 The Lord's Supper,
because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his
disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding
feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.143
The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite,
part of a Jewish meal when as master of the table he blessed and distributed
the bread,144 above all at the Last Supper.145 It is by this action
that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection,146 and it is
this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their
Eucharistic assemblies;147 by doing so they signified that all who eat the
one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body
in him.148
The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the
Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible
expression of the Church.149
The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one
sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering. The terms holy
sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice,
pure and holy sacrifice are also used,150 since it completes and
surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church's whole
liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this
sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the Sacred
Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the
Sacrament of sacraments. The Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are
designated by this same name.
1331 Holy Communion,
because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in
his Body and Blood to form a single body.151 We also call it: the
holy things (ta hagia; sancta)152 - the first meaning of the phrase
"communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed - the bread of
angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality,153 viaticum.
. . .
1332 Holy Mass (Missa),
because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes
with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God's
will in their daily lives.
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