Catholics have been celebrating Holy Communion together for hundreds of years. It represents the pinnacle of our community’s beliefs, as we join and become ‘one body’ in communion with God. As such, one must have gone through the Church’s initiation process and be Baptised Catholic to receive the Eucharist itself. Unbaptised participants are invited to respectfully receive a blessing.

‘Eucharist’ comes from the Greek word for ‘thanksgiving.’ At Mass the priest invites us to celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist. But, the word ‘celebration’ is derived from the Latin word ‘celebratio’. It’s a solemn occasion, but one with good news and an assembly of people.

We ‘consecrate’ the Communion bread. Once consecrated,  we then call it the ‘Host’,  derived from the Latin word “hostia”. It means a “victim”, representing Jesus and His self sacrifice.

The Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, during which Jesus Christ gave his new People a new Covenant, or agreement between God and man. The apostles received this gift of a “new covenant in my blood” with the command to “do this in memory of me”. To this day we “do this in memory” of Christ.