“The most venerable sacrament is the blessed Eucharist, in which Christ the Lord himself is contained, offered and received, and by which the Church continually lives and grows. The eucharistic sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life.” (Canon 897)
To register your child for First Communion Preparation at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, click (here) to access our 2025 Registration form. Please print the form, fill it out, and submit it to our Parish Office to get the process started. We forward to meeting you and journeying with all our First Holy Communicants and their families!
Any comprehensive understanding of the sacraments must look at the whole of the tradition if the full power of the sacrament is to be brought to bear on the life of the Church. Consequently, a true appreciation of the Eucharist requires that we begin at its roots in the ritual life of the people of Israel.
We know from the Old Testament that the people of Israel celebrated their relationship with God through a variety of different sacrificial rituals, which included sin offerings, shared offerings and gift offerings. The shared offering is of particular importance for an understanding of the Eucharist. It usually was a sacred meal, which affirmed the covenantal bond between God and his people. The annual Passover celebration, commemorating God’s liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery, was such a meal. It was celebrated each spring and includes various prayers of thanksgiving as the story of the first Passover was retold. The meal itself consisted of roast lamb eaten with unleavened bread and wine. Each element in the meal contained rich symbolism rooted in Yahweh’s saving action. This sacred meal soon became one of the principle ways that Israel preserved the story of God’s saving work on its behalf.
It is most significant that all four Gospels in some way connect Jesus’ final meal with the Passover. It is clear, however, that for the Christian community, this thanksgiving called “eucharist” was much more than Passover commemoration. While the Passover recalled God’s past activity, Jesus gave to the meal a radically new meaning. God had indeed acted in the past, but his saving work was now present in a new and definitive way. Jesus and his presence in the elements of bread and wine was first expressed in the eucharistic narratives found in the Synoptic Gospels and I Corinthians. Paul’s story specifically identifies the Last Supper with Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. The Gospel accounts connect the Lord’s Supper with the Passover meal.
Early in the Church’s development, the meal sharing bread and wine by a gathering of believers was a more informal fellowship meal. Just as a family or the larger assembly communally celebrated the Passover meal, so the meal shared by the faith community emphasized the importance of communal worship. However, as the local communities grew in size, the sharing of a communal meal became less practical. The meal became more formal, increasing in dominance. As the communal dimensions slowly subsided, the sacrificial understanding of the sacred meal received greater emphasis. The notion of sacrifice was common in the Roman culture and, as mentioned above, was a familiar form of worship for the Jews. The early Christian community did not merely identify Jesus with the eucharistic elements of bread and wine, but they most especially recognized the presence of Jesus with the ritual action of “breaking” and being “poured out.” The occurrence of the Eucharist was an experience of Christ’s death and resurrection, his redemptive action.
In the second and third centuries, the rise of Gnosticism brought the humanity of Jesus under attack. Such gifted apologists as Justin, Irenaeus and Cyprian quickly came to the defense of the Church’s teaching on the humanity of Jesus, at the same time emphasizing the reality of his body and blood in the Eucharist. If the human Jesus suffered and died on the cross, then this human Jesus must be truly present in the Eucharist. Thus began a slow shift in emphasis from Christ’s presence in the ritual action of the Eucharistic meal to Christ’s specific presence in the bread and wine.
In the fourth century another movement, Arianism, challenged Christology from another direction. Arius maintained that though Jesus was the incarnation of God’s Word and no ordinary man, he was not divine. This movement would continue to grow for several centuries. As St. Jerome put it, the world woke up one morning and found itself Arian. In reaction to Arian teachings the Church began to stress the divinity of Jesus. If the earlier Gnosticism caused the Church to stress the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Arianism caused it to stress the divinity of that real presence. In an effort to preserve an appreciation for the divine presence, the liturgy began to emphasize reverence before the eucharistic elements. Absolutions and washings were required of priests, tabernacles became more ornate, and the people came to be separated from the altar by a railing. Communion was received on the tongue for it was considered irreverent to touch the Host.
The “Mass,” as it came to be called, now was understood as a sacrifice offered for the atonement of sin. Where Christ previously was active in the Eucharist, offering himself for the community, now he was primarily the sacrificial “victim,” being offered to God by the Church.
This change in understanding of Eucharist paved the way for the practice in the Middle Ages of the “votive Mass” – a Mass offered specifically for a certain intention or a petition. With the focus now on the sacrifice of the Mass rather than the sharing of a sacred meal, the presence of a congregation became less important. Because of the growing missionary work of the monasteries, abbots began to demand that their lay monks be ordained. Later these monks began offering votive Masses in the monastery, often without a congregation. Thus arose the practice of “private” Masses – a practice whose abuses would ultimately contribute to the Reformation.
The late Middle Ages were a time of flourishing theological reflection. One common subject concerned the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This presence had long been affirmed by the faithful on an experimental level. But now, these scholastic theologians began speculating on how Christ became present. Earlier, the Fathers of the Church had used such terms as “transmutation,” “transfiguration” and “transelementation” to describe what they thought occurred. But it was one of the greatest theologians in Church history, Thomas Aquinas, who took Hildebert of Tours’ term “transubstantiation” and developed a theology of the Eucharist so comprehensive that it would remain normative for almost 600 years. Simply put, Thomas employed the philosophical categories of Aristotle to describe the Real Presence as a change in the substance or essence of the elements from that of bread and wine to that of Christ. While the substance changed, the accidents or visible form of the bread and wine remained the same. This technical explanation helped account for two very important realities; namely that (1) the faithful clearly encountered the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and (2) that in spite of this encounter, the signs of bread and wine appeared unchanged. This approach represented a dramatic advancement over previous eucharistic theology. Prior to Thomas, most understandings of the real presence were overly physical, and many questioned how Jesus could be unchanged. Thomas described the Eucharist in terms of Christ’s presence both in Heaven and in the Eucharist. He described the Eucharist in terms of Christ’s meta-physical presence.
This development in the Middle Ages was the direct result of both the predominant perception of the Mass as sacrifice and the emphasis on the divine Presence in the Eucharistic elements:
Lay reception of communion dropped off dramatically.
The faithful were so awed by the real presence of Christ that they felt unworthy to receive communion.
The focus on the holy sacrifice of the Mass made reception seem less important.
One could gain the spiritual benefits of the Eucharist through the priest’s offering of the Mass and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century pointed out the dangerous consequences of such an approach.
The Protestant Reformation was a significant event in the history of western civilization. Its effects on Catholic thought and teaching are too numerous to mention. One of the more positive developments was the impetus the Reformation gave to internal Church reform regarding such abuses as the demanding of Mass stipends, multiple abuse of private Masses, lack of reception of communion by lay people and the inappropriate offering of indulgences. The Council of Trent addressed many of these abuses. In order to correct these abuses, Trent developed numerous rubrics with regard to the celebration of the Mass. While this eliminated many of the abuses, it also cast the eucharistic liturgy into one form that remained essentially unchanged until the Second Vatican Council.
The Council of Trent promulgated three documents with regard to the Eucharist that aptly demonstrated the state of Eucharist theology at the time. The first was on Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament, the second on the reception of communion and the third concerned the sacrifice of the Mass. While many abuses were corrected and annual reception of the Eucharist was made mandatory, these three documents reinforced the separation of adoration, Eucharistic communion and sacrifice. What once was a unified sacramental action was now split into three different understandings.
Contrary to the perception of some, Vatican II did not repudiate any of Trent’s doctrines regarding the Eucharist (or any other doctrines). The Church seldom, if ever, repudiates its past; it simply shifts in new directions while holding on to the wisdom of its Tradition. Significantly, the first document promulgated by the Second Vatican Council was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. This document provided an excellent example of the “new” directions that the Council explored. The Constitution consistently used biblical rather than scholastic terminology. By suggesting that the altar be turned so that the priest would face the people. The Laity would share in the prayers of the liturgy, now spoken in the vernacular. In this the Council recovered the biblical notion of a Eucharistic meal. The Mass is now treated as the community’s offering celebrated as a covenantal meal. We are to revere Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, but we are reminded that it is an active presence, one that demands participation, change and conversion. Jesus is not just present; he is present for the Church and its mission.
The Council also reminded us that the Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation. It is an effective symbol of admission and participation in the worship of the community. This initiatory function has its roots in the Jewish practice of having a newly initiated convert offer a sign of full membership in the community.
The restored Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is for the unbaptized adult’s first reception of the Eucharist. This is an integral part of the catechumenate process. The Rite is also to be used for first reception of Eucharist by unbaptized children who have reached catechetical age.
Adequate and meaningful catechesis regarding the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist must precede the first reception of communion. Parents play a significant role in this area. They must be encouraged to demonstrate participation in catechetical preparation specifically designed for celebration of the sacrament. This may take the form of:
OCIA (formerly known as "RCIA")
A parish sacramental preparation program designed for children
A family catechetical program.
Should the catechist/pastor have reason to believe that the preparation is inadequate, an interview to discuss this concern will be arranged with the family.
The pastor has final responsibility for determining the readiness of a child for First Eucharist. (Canon 914)
Because pastors are usually not directly involved in the catechesis, parents in consultation with the catechists, are logically the ones to decide if a child is ready for celebration of the sacrament. Every effort should be made to insure that parents accept this privilege and responsibility. Interviews with parents or children are appropriate if the interview encourages a process of mutual discernment. Consultation between pastor and parent and/or child should be required only in instances where serious doubt exists regarding the readiness of a child.
Parents not only have the right but also have the responsibility to be intimately involved in preparing their children for First Communion. Therefore, they participate in the parish adult pre-sacramental catechesis. The parish likewise has the responsibility to provide suitable opportunities for family involvement.
Since each sacrament deserves distinct preparation, catechesis for First Communion is conducted separately from introductory catechesis for the sacrament of Reconciliation.
The significance of the Eucharist is manifested when children and parents within their faith community celebrate it with faith and devotion. Children normally should receive First Eucharist in the parish in which their parents are members. Taking into account the nature of contemporary society, pastors and directors may make allowances to permit a child to receive First Eucharist in a faith community of which his or her family feels a real part – for example: the parish of grandparents and relatives; the parish in which a child celebrates mass with his or her parents; or a parish with a celebration in another culture (Hispanic, Vietnamese) if that is not available in the parish of residence. (A child is not permitted to prepare for First Eucharist in another parish simply because its preparation requirements are more convenient or less stringent.)
When planning group celebrations of First Eucharist, care will be taken that the number of children to receive the sacrament does not preclude the presence of the parish community and the families of the children, in accord with our traditions and the communal nature of the sacrament.