eucharist story
The Catholic Eucharist comes from the story of the Last Supper. This is the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples, his closest friends and followers, before he died. This meal he shared with his disciples was the celebration of the Jewish Passover. This is the central experience of the Jewish faith, which was an accent rite of the people of the land of Egypt.
The Last Supper The night before Jesus was crucified, Jesus asked his disciples to go and prepare the Passover meal. He told his disciples that they will find a man in the city carrying water, who will take them to his home where they are to prepare this celebration. At the Passover meal, Jesus took some bread in his hands, blessed it then broke it. He gave it to his disciples saying, "take this all of you, and eat it, for this is my body". Jesus then pick up a cup of wine, and gave thanks to God. He gave it to his disciples to drink some. Jesus then said " this is my blood, which is poured out for many people, and with it God makes his agreement. From now on I will not drink any wine until I drink new wine in God's kingdom." They then all sang a hymn and left to go to the Mount of Olives. The Last supper was re-enacted as the sacrifice of Jesus, as he requested that his followers repeat this ritual meal in commemoration of him. This is honoured every time we celebrate the Eucharist. (Knox, 1999; National Catholic Education Commission, 2011) |