Expert: Sal - 10/23/2006

Question
Dear Sir,

I have a question regarding our most Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist.  I have been doing a lot of reading to deepen my understanding and devotion to my precious Lord.  I wanted to know where would the Church be without the Eucharist?  If Jesus had not given us this sacrament, would we even have a church?  Is the Eucharist our real, prinicipal form of worship, and without it would we have no worship at all?  I was a Jehovah's Witness as a child and and am now 32 years old.  I received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Pentacost of 2005, being converted to the Faith by the Eucharist.  As you can see, He is very precious to me.  In the meantime, thanks for your time and any help you can give with these questions is greatly appreciated.

P. S.  One more question.  I know from the Old testament that the Isrealites were commanded to offer animal sacrifice to God for atonement of sin.  If I'm not mistaken, the blood was offered to God, and the flesh of the animal was eaten.  Am I correct on this?  My understanding, then, of the Eucharist is that it fulfills the old testament way of sacrifice because Jesus is the One sacrifice.  The Eucharist mirrors the old testament sacrifice because His Blood was offered to God and it is His Flesh that we eat, thus fulfilling the old testament.  Am I correct?  I also ask this question because of the protestant view that Holy Communion is only a symbol of Jesus, not the Real Presence.
Thanks again for your time, and God bless.

Answer
Dear Danny:

The Eucharist is the most important sacrament. The Catholic Church without the Eucharist would be lacking what God wants for her. We would be like the Protestant churches, not what we should be, not what Jesus died for. He gave us his body and blood to strengthen us on the way to salvation. There still would be worship without the Eucharist, but it would be much less then we now have. Everything would be lessened with it.

The Old Testament animal sacrifices were usually burnt. However, the priests sometimes would get to consume some of the flesh. So your analogy still does hold to a certain degree. The people did not consume the flesh as we do in the New Covenant. One other point is that we do not only consume his flesh but also his blood. The Eucharist whether the bread or the wine contains both the body and blood of our Lord. The host, once consecrated, is not only the flesh of our Lord, but also the blood. It is his body not his flesh alone.

Congratulations on entering the true church of God. The only church that he ever wanted man to have.

God Bless You,
Sal