The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice in the Church’s liturgy. It is not merely a recollection of past events: when the Church celebrates the Eucharist, Christ’s Passover is commemorated and his once-for-all sacrifice on the cross remains present. The Eucharist is therefore a sacrifice, for it makes present the sacrifice of the cross, remembers it, and applies its fruit. Christ’s sacrifice and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice, though the manner of offering is different. In the Mass, the Church joins herself to Christ’s offering and intercession for all people. As the faithful bring their praise, sufferings, prayers, and work, these are united with Christ’s total offering and acquire a new value. This is a beautiful invitation for our daily prayer: to place all that fills our lives before the Lord and unite it with his sacrifice.
In the Eucharist, the whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. The Pope is associated with every celebration as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church, and the local bishop’s name is mentioned as a sign of his presidency over the particular Church. The Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice in communion with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, standing as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united to Christ’s offering and intercession. The sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified, that they may enter into the light and peace of Christ. As a family, we can receive these words with gratitude, praying in communion with the whole Church, the saints, and the faithful departed.
The Catechism teaches that the Church celebrates the one Paschal mystery of Christ in every place, from the first community in Jerusalem until Christ’s return. Although this mystery is one, its liturgical celebration takes diverse forms. These traditions developed as the Church carried out her mission among different peoples and cultures, expressing the same faith through distinctive symbols, forms of communion, theological understanding, and ways of holiness. In the communion of the same faith and sacraments, the Churches can enrich one another and grow in fidelity to Tradition and the Church’s common mission. The Church recognizes the Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean rites, holding all lawfully recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity and seeking to preserve and foster them.