Catechism of the Catholic Church — paragraphs 1301

1301 The sign of peace that concludes the rite of the sacrament signifies and demonstrates ecclesial communion with the bishop and with all the…
1302 It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once…
1303 From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace: - it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which…
1304 Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark , the…
1305 This "character" perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and "the confirmed person receives the power to…
1306 Every baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Since Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist…
1307 For centuries, Latin custom has indicated "the age of discretion" as the reference point for receiving Confirmation. But in danger of death…
1308 Although Confirmation is sometimes called the "sacrament of Christian maturity," we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of…
1309 Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union with Christ and a more lively familiarity…
1310 To receive Confirmation one must be in a state of grace. One should receive the sacrament of Penance in order to be cleansed for the gift…
1311 Candidates for Confirmation, as for Baptism, fittingly seek the spiritual help of a sponsor . To emphasize the unity of the two sacraments,…
1312 The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. In the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also immediately confers Confirmation…
1313 In the Latin Rite , the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop. If the need arises, the bishop may grant the faculty of…
1314 If a Christian is in danger of death, any priest can give him Confirmation. Indeed the Church desires that none of her children, even the…
1315 "Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and…
1316 Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine…
1317 Confirmation, like Baptism, imprints a spiritual mark or indelible character on the Christian's soul; for this reason one can receive this…
1318 In the East this sacrament is administered immediately after Baptism and is followed by participation in the Eucharist; this tradition…
1319 A candidate for Confirmation who has attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the state of grace, have the intention of…
1320 The essential rite of Confirmation is anointing the forehead of the baptized with sacred chrism (in the East other sense-organs as well),…
1321 When Confirmation is celebrated separately from Baptism, its connection with Baptism is expressed, among other ways, by the renewal of…
1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and…
1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in…
1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works…
1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which…
1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be…
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn…
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…
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…
1330 The memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection. The Holy Sacrifice , because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior…
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.…
1332 Holy Mass (Missa) , because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth ( missio ) of…
1333 At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit,…
1334 In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to…
1335 The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples…
1336 The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: "This is a hard…
1337 The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the…
1338 The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part,…
1339 Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum: giving his disciples his Body and his Blood: Then came the…
1340 By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning.…
1341 The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is…
1342 From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord's command. Of the Church of Jerusalem it is written: They devoted themselves to…
1343 It was above all on "the first day of the week," Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection, that the Christians met "to break bread." From…
1344 Thus from celebration to celebration, as they proclaim the Paschal mystery of Jesus "until he comes," the pilgrim People of God advances,…
1345 As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration.…
1346 The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental structure which has been preserved throughout the centuries down to our own…
1347 Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking with them he explained the Scriptures to…
1348 All gather together. Christians come together in one place for the Eucharistic assembly. At its head is Christ himself, the principal agent…
1349 The Liturgy of the Word includes "the writings of the prophets," that is, the Old Testament, and "the memoirs of the apostles" (their…
1350 The presentation of the offerings (the Offertory). Then, sometimes in procession, the bread and wine are brought to the altar; they will be…
1351 From the very beginning Christians have brought, along with the bread and wine for the Eucharist, gifts to share with those in need. This…
1352 The anaphora : with the Eucharistic Prayer - the prayer of thanksgiving and consecration - we come to the heart and summit of the…
1353 In the epiclesis , the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit (or the power of his blessing) on the bread and wine, so that by his…
1354 In the anamnesis that follows, the Church calls to mind the Passion, resurrection, and glorious return of Christ Jesus; she presents to the…
1355 In the communion, preceded by the Lord's prayer and the breaking of the bread, the faithful receive "the bread of heaven" and "the cup of…
1356 If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of…
1357 We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of his sacrifice . In so doing, we offer to the Father what he has…
1358 We must therefore consider the Eucharist as: - thanksgiving and praise to the Father ; - the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his Body; -…
1359 The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the…
1360 The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his…
1361 The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the Church sings the glory of God in the name of all creation. This sacrifice of…
1362 The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy…
1363 In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works…
1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and…
1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is…
1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because…
1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice : "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers…
1368 The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church . The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With…
1369 The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ . Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is…
1370 To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven . In communion…
1371 The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified," so that they…
1372 St. Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to an ever more complete participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we…
1373 "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in…
1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection…
1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church…
1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was…
1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ…
1378 Worship of the Eucharist . In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and…
1379 The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those…
1380 It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his…
1381 "That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,' says St.…
1382 The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred…
1383 The altar , around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the two aspects of the same mystery: the…
1384 The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat…
1385 To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience:…
1386 Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the Centurion: "Domine, non sum dignus ut…
1387 To prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful should observe the fast required in their Church. Bodily demeanor…
1388 It is in keeping with the very meaning of the Eucharist that the faithful, if they have the required dispositions, receive communion when…
1389 The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days and, prepared by the sacrament of…
1390 Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive…
1391 Holy Communion augments our union with Christ . The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with…
1392 What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the…
1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin . The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is "given up for us," and the blood we drink "shed…
1394 As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this…
1395 By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins . The more we share the life of Christ and…
1396 The unity of the Mystical Body: the Eucharist makes the Church . Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through…
1397 The Eucharist commits us to the poor . To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the…
1398 The Eucharist and the unity of Christians . Before the greatness of this mystery St. Augustine exclaims, "O sacrament of devotion! O sign…
1399 The Eastern churches that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church celebrate the Eucharist with great love. "These Churches,…
1400 Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the…

Paragraphs 1301–1400