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THEOLOGICAL INSIGHTS ON THE  
EUCHARIST AS A STRENGTH OF FAITH 

 

 

 

 

Abstract 

This paper attempts a theological reflection on the 

Eucharist, with the aim of reawakening interest in daily 

participation at Eucharistic celebrations. With the gruesome 

attack on persons during the Eucharistic celebrations, a lot 

of fear and questions have gradually led to a decline in mass 

attendance. Despite the challenges, it must be noted that the 

Eucharist gives meaning and purpose to our everyday 

existence, putting us in constant communion with God, so the 

fear and terror, pain and sorrow cannot be compared to the 

union we have with Christ at each Eucharistic celebration. 

Using the analytical and expository method, this work tries 

to delineate basic truths as it pertains to daily participation 

at Eucharist celebrations and its consequent effects upon the 

lives of individuals. This piece concludes that the Eucharist 

is the remedy for terror as well as the source for the reign of 

peace and tranquillity. We must all come to an appreciation 

of this august sacrament with the eyes of faith. 

 

Keywords: Eucharist, the Last Supper, Sacrificial Banquet, The 

Word, Communion. 
 

Introduction 

The Church in Nigeria, in recent times, has been at the receiving end 

of many uncoordinated attacks against religion by radical elements 

of society either to intimidate Christians or to diminish their 

activities. Particularly glaring and disturbing was the gruesome  

murder of Reverend Father Joseph Gor,  Reverend Father Felix 

Tyolaha, their Catechist and sixteen (16) other Christ’s faithful, 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      69 
 

including little children, during the celebration of the Holy Mass in 

the morning of Tuesday, 24th April, 2018 in Mbalom, Markurdi 

Diocese. The rippling effect of this singular event on the faith of the 

local Church in Markurdi has surely gone beyond the locality. Ever 

since this gruesome attack, many persons have been scared to go for 

morning Mass. Others may even have questioned the efficacy of the 

Eucharist and the actual presence of Christ. Regardless of the 

emotional background of these questions, one cannot but recognize 

an urgent need to recall and proclaim once again, the truth of the 

Eucharist as handed down by Christ himself. That is why this paper, 

which, for the most part, consists of a series of short theological 

reflections on the Eucharist, is vitally important. It is an attempt to 

remind ourselves that the Eucharist is unquestionably the self-

offering of Christ to the Father; it is his sacrifice. It is the true body 

and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Admittedly, it can be 

very hard to see the Eucharist as described above, especially in 

difficult times like our own. Nonetheless, what we need right now 

is the peace, the joy, and the power of the Holy Spirit as well as the 

medicine and healing of faith, not ruling out  what the government 

should be doing to promptly and responsibly protect all her citizens, 

especially the most vulnerable. In the meantime, let us ask our 

Father in heaven to send us afresh the Holy Spirit to console us, 

defend us, protect us, deliver us from evil. In addition, let us implore 

our heavenly Father to rekindle in us the fire of his divine love, and 

to reopen our eyes to see the beauty and the wonders of his goodness 

and faithfulness everywhere, in the Church, and especially in the 

Eucharist.  

Clearly, right now, our faith is being tested, and our deep 

conviction about the Eucharist is under heavy pressure, given the 

present circumstances. But we cannot afford not to longer believe 

firmly in the Eucharist, which is central to all the teachings of the 

Church. Faith, which has always done great things in the lives of the 

saints (cf. Hebrews 11), is as important as the air we breathe. That 

is why, even in very difficult times, “if faith does not take on new 

life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus 

Christ, [everything we do and hope to accomplish may yield little or 

no fruit at all]”1. 



70      |    Ekpoma Review, Volume. 5 No. 1., 2019     

 

We need the Holy Spirit today more than ever to help us to 

pray in these most difficult times. We cannot forget that whenever 

we pray as Christians, we do not pray alone. The Holy Spirit does 

come to our aid, particularly in our weakness (Romans 8:26-27), in 

these senseless and very depressing times, because the Lord our God 

is always faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).  

The Eucharist is a mandate, an obligation that one has to 

understand correctly. When Jesus Christ said, at the Last Supper, 

“Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19), he empowered his disciples 

and subsequent generations of followers to do what he did that night. 

Thenceforth, the Eucharist became their responsibility and a very 

special privilege. The Eucharist is not a mere human invention. In 

fact, it is doing what Jesus Christ did, and has commanded his 

disciples to do, in his memory: namely,  

1) to offer to the Father the sacrifice that he made of his life for 

us sinners, and for the whole world;  

2) to take bread and wine for the sacrifice, not an animal:  

3) to say over the gifts of bread and wine a prayer of thanksgiving 

and praise to the Father; then, 4) to break the bread, rip it, and  

4) to give it, share it, and have it eaten by his disciples (by those 

who believe in it). 

 

But the Eucharist is not only something that Jesus Christ has 

commanded his disciples to do in his memory. He himself is present 

in his Church in all liturgical celebrations, totally and continuously 

offering himself to the Father in thanksgiving and praise, and is 

particularly present in the Eucharistic species, as a unique 

expression of the very special love of God for mankind. 

The Holy Eucharist is fundamentally about sharing in the 

immortal life of God who gives his people hope that nothing can 

take away from them. It lifts the eyes and hearts of God’s people 

beyond the veil; the stronghold of sin and death, the scourge of 

division and hatred. The uplifting of the eyes and hearts of the 

people of God enables them to journey enthusiastically and 

confidently towards their Fatherland in heaven in spite of all the 

disturbing and terrorizing activities of some violent men, women 

and children. The unchanging light of the Gospel message 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      71 
 

contributes greatly in combating the existing problems of our own 

country and of the world at large such as greed, gross disrespect for 

human life, violence and destruction. The Eucharist equips his 

people to do this battle effectively.  

This is why for some people the celebration of the Holy 

Eucharist gives life and meaning to their day. It is not therefore 

uncommon to find many Catholics who begin their day, regardless 

of their occupation, with attending Holy Mass. They are right. We 

should never intend to miss the Mass, nor should we allow anything 

to stop us from going to Mass. 

 

1. The Celebration of the Holy Eucharist: The Reenactment of 

the event of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday and the 

sacrifice of Good Friday. 

The Eucharist is a unique celebration in that it is a reenactment of 

what Christ did at the Last Supper and of his sacrifice on the Cross 

on Good Friday. Even though they are distinct, they are nonetheless 

the same sacrifice of Christ.  

What the Church does when the validly ordained priest and 

the people of God are celebrating the Holy Eucharist is truly a 

continuation and commemoration of the Last Supper. The 

celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the means by which Christ and 

his Body the Church continues to perform the rite of the Last 

Supper; prepare the Last Supper, and  eat the Last Supper, the unique 

event through which Christ wanted to be remembered. Christ 

wanted to be remembered as one who had a Passover meal with his 

apostles and gave them his own body to eat, and his own blood to 

drink under the appearances of bread and wine, for the forgiveness 

of sins.2 

In the water and blood that came out of his pierced side on 

the Cross, we the new people of God are generated. The water 

symbolizes Baptism, while the blood symbolizes the Eucharist. This 

is why, far from being like grass, or as deserving to be wasted, which 

is how some people have erroneously come to perceive us, we 

Christians are the most precious of all of God’s creation, precisely 

because we are the body of Christ. “Behold my Son, in whom I am 



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well pleased”. The blood of Christ washes away our sins. And God 

has forgiven us in Christ. 

The celebration of the Holy Eucharist commemorates Christ 

the most loving person the world ever knew, and it reminds us that 

deep seated sins are paid for. Actually, our sins are paid for by no 

other than Christ himself, with his own precious life. Thus, in the 

celebration of the Eucharist we remember Christ who has 

established a new and eternal covenant, who has given his own 

blood for our sins, once and for all. 

 

2. Christ is the food eaten, the victim (the lamb) of the sacrifice 

Another attentive look at the Eucharistic celebration shows that  it  

consists of the actions of Christ which are  identical with his actions 

at the Last Supper in the Upper Room: at the Last Supper, Christ 

presides;  He  takes bread and gives thanks, gives it to his disciples, 

saying, “Take this, all of you and eat of it; this is my body”. The 

bread truly became the body of Christ, and the wine truly became 

the blood of Christ, while the appearances of bread and wine 

remained unchanged.  This is what is called transubstantiation3. 

 

3. Christ Himself is the Priest 

Christ the Priest continues in every age to give the faithful his true 

body and blood for eternal life through the  Holy Eucharist.  The 

Eucharistic celebration is “an action of Christ the priest and of His 

Body which is the Church, [and] is a sacred action surpassing all 

others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the 

same title and to the same degree”.4 This is because Christ himself 

is the “High Priest of the New Covenant; it is he himself who 

presides invisibly over every Eucharistic celebration”5 ensuring a 

perfect and unparalleled celebration.  In the Eucharistic celebration 

the bishop or priest represents Christ.  He acts “in the person of 

Christ the head (in persona Christi capitis) [,] presides over the 

assembly, speaks after the reading, receives the offering, says the 

Eucharistic prayer”.6 He does all of these in the name of Christ, and 

he is ordained to carry-out these functions over which Christ himself 

presides.  

 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      73 
 

4. Two Great Moments: The Word and the Eucharist. 

The Eucharistic celebration is divided into two major parts, namely, 

the liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  These two 

major parts are related and are “so closely connected with each other 

that they form but one single act of worship”,7 for  Jesus Christ is 

the Word proclaimed and the Eucharist received in the Eucharistic 

celebration.  The Second Vatican Council teaches that Christ is both 

present in the Eucharistic species and through the Word.8 The 

Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist are one and 

unbroken action of Christ who came into the world not to be served 

but to serve and offer himself for the salvation of  the world. 

In the Liturgy of the Word, it is Christ himself that is 

proclaimed, and he it is who speaks. “[W]hen God speaks through 

the many inspired words of the Bible, he communicates to us his one 

Word, his Son”.9 

 

5. Eucharistic Mission and Unity 

In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, Christ, the food of eternal life, effects 

an ongoing transformation in the faithful and draws them together 

in the one sacrament of love and unity by giving to them one bread 

and one cup, his own body and blood. Then he sends forth his 

Church into the world to preach and celebrate this mystery of 

salvation,10 so that “[f]rom listening to the word of God, faith [will 

be] born [and] strengthened (Rom. 10:17); in the Eucharist the word 

made flesh [will continue to give] himself to us as our spiritual 

food”.11The Word of God that is read, proclaimed, listened to and 

accepted in the heart is not separate from the Liturgy of the Eucharist 

since it is the same Christ who speaks in the Liturgy of the Word, 

gives himself as the word of eternal life, and who, in the Liturgy of 

the Eucharist offers himself as the Bread of eternal life: “Indeed, the 

word which we proclaim and accept is Word made flesh (John. 

1:14); it is inseparably linked to Christ’s person and the sacramental 

mode of his continued presence in our midst”.12 

The Second Vatican Council teaches: “In his Church he 

[Christ] instituted the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist by 

which the unity of the Church is both signified and brought about”13.  

The bishop, priest and the entire faithful are united in the Eucharistic 



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celebration. There is one shepherd, one cup, one bread, one 

sacrifice, one truth, one way, one purpose, one savior of the world, 

one redeemer of mankind, namely, Jesus of Nazareth who draws all 

men and women and children to himself. One can see here vividly 

why Christ commanded that this sacrament of his body and blood 

be celebrated in memory of him, and in memory of the Church too, 

for the Church is His Body. In this celebration, one can see clearly 

the real nature and definition of the Church. 

 

6. The Holy Eucharist as a Memorial 

We get to understand better the Eucharist and appreciate it more as 

a memorial when we realize that in the Jewish custom “all memorial 

is done in obedience to God’s command”14. For instance, the feast 

of the unleavened bread (the Pesach/Passover: Exodus 12, Leviticus 

23, Numbers 9, Deuteronomy 16, Ezekiel 45, Joshua 5, 2 Kings 23, 

2 Chronicles 30 & 35, and Ezra 6), the feast of weeks, also known 

as feast of Ingathering, a convocation of and call at Sinai to holiness: 

Exodus 19: 1-6, 34:22, Numbers 28:26, Deuteronomy 16:10,16), 

and the feast of Booths (Sukkoth) and the day of Assembly (Azaret) 

(Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16, Numbers 29:35, Nehemiah 8:18, 2 

Chronicles 7:9, and Ezekiel 43:27). They were all observed in 

obedience to God’s command. 

The Eucharist is an order to do this in memory of Jesus 

Christ. But the Eucharist goes deeper than that, for whenever the 

Church celebrates the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as a 

memorial, she does not only fulfill Christ’s command, namely, “Do 

this in memory of me”, but also Christ himself is present, doing what 

he did on the night he was betrayed – i.e., the rite and prayers are 

his.  This means, among other things, that the Holy Eucharist is not 

just a remembrance or anamnesis of past event of the Lord’s 

passion, death and resurrection, and his glorious return, but rather is 

“the sacramental re-presentation”15 reenactment of the saving event 

of Christ.16 He took bread (as now he takes bread), said the prayer 

of thanksgiving (as he does now), broke the bread (and he breaks it 

now), and gave it to his disciples (as now he gives it to his disciples), 

and said, Take this all of you, and eat of it. This is my body … This 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      75 
 

is my blood. It is all happening right now, thanks to ritusetpreces, 

i.e., the rite and prayers (SC 48). 

The Holy Eucharist as a memorial is not just the recollection 

of an event but really a reenactment of what happened about two 

thousand years ago. “ It joins together the past and the present: What 

happened in the past is happening now”.17 A reenactment is a 

privileged moment in this perpetuity of his death, the forgiveness of 

sins, the redemption, the reconciliation and restoration of the world 

to the Father. The people of God re-live that very moment of 

salvation in the course of the celebration of the Eucharist when they 

participate in the rite and prayers, actively, consciously, and fully 

(SC 47 & 48). 

Furthermore, the Eucharist reminds the faithful of their 

liberation from slavery to sin and death, and the peace and love Jesus 

brings to the world.  Bouyer makes the comprehension of Liturgical 

«memorial» even clearer, saying: 
 

It [i.e., the memorial] in no way means a subjective, 

human psychological act of returning to the past, but an 

objective reality destined to make something or someone 

perpetually present before God and for God himself… it 

is an institution, we may say, established by God, given 

to his people and imposed on them by him, in order to 

perpetuate forever his salvific interventions. Not only will 

the memorial assure the faithful subjectively of its 

permanent effectiveness, but above all it will assure this 

very effectiveness through a pledge which they can and 

must represent to him, a pledge of his own fidelity.18 

 

The people of God are expected to celebrate and respect this 

memorial, because it will not only shape their lives but it will guide 

and guard them.  

 

7. The Holy Eucharist as a Sacrificial Banquet 

The Eucharist is also a banquet that has the nature of a sacrifice. G. 

Dalman observes that in the Jewish practice, “Every meal, 

especially when bread was used, was looked upon as sacrificial…”19 

Always or for the most part, the time of meals for the Jews was time 

of thanksgiving, praise, worship of God, for he gives bread to the 



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hungry, and protects the widow and the orphan. The Eucharist is 

sacrificial banquet not only because of the bread that is offered in 

the celebration, but also because it is an offering of Christ’s own 

body and blood on the sacred altar.20 It is a sacrifice of Christ’s body 

and blood in an un-bloody manner. It is a celebration of the one and 

supreme sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It celebrates the anamnesis 

of his death on the Cross21 and of his resurrection from the dead and 

of his ascension into heaven. 
 

There is no new sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist.  

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is unique.  In the 

Eucharist what is celebrated is the sacramental 

memorial (anamnesis) of Christ’s sacrifice… It is 

neither the mental recollection of a past event nor a 

repetition of the sacrifice of Christ offered once for 

all for our salvation.  It is the sacramental or liturgical 

celebration of that which took place once for all in 

the past in order that the present community of 

believers can participate in its redemptive reality.22 

 

None of this would make sense without faith, by means of which, 

like eyes, Christians perceive very profound and great things. Faith, 

like a heart of flesh, makes them able penetrate and understand 

things of divine nature, including the mind of God. Let us go back 

to talking about the Eucharist as a unique sacrifice. 

The Eucharistic celebration paints for us, as it were, a 

vividpicture of the passion of Christ. It plays out for every 

generation of believers the unique drama of our salvation, is “the 

sacramental sign of Christ’s sacrifice [on the Cross]”,23 and is “… 

the perfect sacrifice that imparts definitive reconciliation on the altar 

of the Cross on Golgotha. No one partakes of its fruit of salvation 

who still clings directly or indirectly to the old order of salvation, 

fraught with shadows, which is henceforth wholly useless”.24  The 

sacrifice of Christ is not only in and of itself perfect but also it 

demands that those who appreciate it and celebrate it live a new way 

of life, a sacrificial life, a reconciling life of selfless love. 

Among the ancient Greeks there existed a nexus between 

sacrifice and banquet as two important aspects of the same event. D. 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      77 
 

E. Smith, writes: “Indeed, the two were so closely connected that a 

sacrifice without a feast had to be specifically defined as a 

“banquetless sacrifice”.25“Similarly among the Esan people of Edo 

State almost every sacrifice to the gods was made in the context of 

a meal. The gods were offered some of the meal and wine 

symbolically, while the people ate and drank merrily…. It was like 

dinning with the gods”.26 

Our Lord talked about the coming of the kingdom as a great 

banquet, as a wedding feast (Matthew 22). His Last Supper with his 

disciples points to that final banquet.27 The celebration of the 

Eucharist brings the faithful here and now to that promised banquet 

feast of the lamb, in which the goal of salvation history will be 

definitively perfected. 

To sum up, in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the 

Church celebrates (in the context of a sacrificial banquet and in an 

un-bloody manner) the death of Christ on the Cross and his victory 

over sin and death, once and for all.  In it, Christ the priest, the altar, 

and the victim offers thanksgiving and praise to God his Father, our 

Father for the salvation of the world. Understanding the Holy 

Eucharist this way, that is, as a perfect indication and full expression 

of the love of God in Christ for the whole of humanity,the Eucharist 

in fact gives Christians power that nothing in this world can take 

away from them. It gives them immortality. And it gives them the 

grace and power of the Holy Spirit to desire heaven and eternal life. 

The Eucharist shapes them into living witnesses of the Gospel of 

Christ, and of the world to come, that is, the kingdom of God, which 

is already among us (Luke 17:21). 

 

8. The Eucharist as an Offering 

The Eucharist as a sacrificial banquet already connotes the idea an 

offering.  Christ offers himself freely and completely to God the 

Father through the ministry of the ordained priest.28 “No one takes 

my life from me. I lay it down, of my own accord. No one takes it 

from me” (John 10:18). Besides, Christ is always present wherever 

the Eucharist is celebrated not only in the person of the ordained 

minister, but also in the proclaimed Word, and in the praying 

assembly, but especially in the Eucharistic species.29 In the 



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Eucharistic celebration, Christ offers himself to his heavenly Father 

as a sacrifice of praise, for the forgiveness of sins. And he gives his 

own life, his body and blood to his people as food of eternal life.30  

When Christ took bread, said the blessing and said: “This is my 

body”, and then took wine and said the blessing and said “This is 

my blood”. He transformed ordinary bread and wine into his own 

body and blood, keeping intact the appearances of the bread and 

wine, so that his disciples would be able to eat of it and drink of it.   

This change of the substance (i.e., the transubstantiation) of 

the bread and wine is continued and sustained in the Church through 

the action of the ordained priest, during the Eucharistic celebration, 

when the ordained priest invokes the Holy Spirit to infuse the bread 

and wine. He appeals to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit upon 

the bread and wine and change them into the true body and blood of 

Christ31. And that is what really happens. The bread and wine 

change into the true body and blood of Christ, respectively., the 

presentation of gifts in the Eucharistic celebration is incomplete 

without the giving of self, without the submission of one’s entire life 

to the will of the Father who so loved the world that he gave to the 

world his only Begotten Son. And his Son, in turn, gave himself, 

that is, laid down his life for the salvation of the world. There is no 

greater love than that. 

 

9. The Eucharist as Communion 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has it that “the celebration of 

the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate 

union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive 

communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for 

us”.32 This communion, (which is Jesus) that the faithful receive, 

effects a transformation because he, the lamb of God, takes away the 

sins of the world and at the same time gives to the faithful the grace 

to live a good and holy life.33 

Paul uses the world koinonia for the Lord’s Supper to signify 

communion that connotes a close relationship, a unity, and harmony 

among the people of God.  He writes: “The cup of blessing which 

we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ?  The bread 

which we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ?”34 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      79 
 

These questions are rhetorical. Paul firmly believes that the 

Eucharist unites and forms the new people of God into Christ’s 

body, into communion, wherein the full mystery of Christ finds 

expression. In other words, the Eucharist forms Christians, the new 

people of God into one body, one spirit in Christ. 

The Eucharist enables and encourages peoples of different 

cultures and different backgrounds to profess one faith in the one 

and same Lord Jesus Christ, who feeds his sheep with the Word of 

God and with his own body and blood, without any discrimination 

whatsoever. Recall the men that he chose to be his disciples, the men 

with whom he celebrated the Last Supper. They were from many 

different backgrounds.Therefore, in that single act of thanksgiving 

Jesus the one great Mediator united what is earthly with what is 

heavenly, that is to say, the sheer goodness of the Father with the 

needs of his people. 

 

A Brief Theological Evaluation 

There are other salient points about the Eucharist to pay attention to. 

But one may deem particularly interesting the following: In the 

Eucharistic celebration, the Church continues to remember the 

marvels of God, and continues to celebrate his great love for 

mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord, and she continues to ask to be 

sanctified and to be “brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.”35 

It is right and fitting not only to give thanks to God for his goodness 

and love, but also to live appropriately, fittingly and consistently as 

children of God in this world that appears ever hostile to the Gospel 

of Christ.  The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, supplies 

the grace needed for the new life in Christ, and at the same time the 

Holy Spirit binds the faithful together as one in Christ.36 

 

A. The Holy Eucharist as a Sacrament 

The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament that “actually brings about the 

intimate bonds of communion among all the faithful in the Body of 

Christ which is the Church (1 Cor. 10:16).”37 It is through the Spirit 

that the Eucharist becomes communion with God38 and with the 

faithful.  It is through the power of the Spirit that “[t]he Eucharistic 

sacrifice is intrinsically directed to the inward union of the faithful 



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with Christ through Communion”.39 Through the working of the 

Holy Spirit, the Eucharist draws all the faithful who receive it into a 

dialogue of love and service.  When the Eucharist is being celebrated 

one can see that, there is “a reflection of this eternal dialogue of love 

between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit”40, and one can 

appreciate how it is, in the Holy Eucharist, that we enter into divine 

intimacy with Jesus.   

By active, full and conscious participation in the Eucharist 

the faithful become a holy people, and they grow in holiness, in faith 

and in unity, and are being knitted into one body of Christ, one spirit 

in Christ, into a people who make the mind of Christ their own (cf. 

Philippians 2:5). This is why it is particularly fitting to call the 

Eucharista communion, the sacrament of unity. 

 

B. Passover Meal of the New Covenant People of God. 

The Eucharist is also the new Passover meal. It brings Christ’s 

faithful together in faith and in practice, in every age and in every 

continent, and makes them the new people of God, the new people 

of the new covenant by the sacramental signs and by the work of the 

Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic celebration.  The visible structure and 

perennial nature of the celebration of the Eucharist, easily 

recognizable in and of themselves, form a strong and profound bond 

among peoples, whose delight has always been the Lord, his new 

law of love and his mighty but gentle work in their midst – local 

language and customs, time and place notwithstanding.  Hence, 

whether one goes to the Far East, or to faraway India or to China, to 

Australia or to Russia or to Ireland, or to Nigeria or Senegal, one 

would recognize the Eucharistic celebration there, sooner or later, 

because it has the same structure. The vastly different socio-cultural 

experiences and backgrounds, the different traditions and local 

customs of the ordained priests and of the worshipping communities 

of peoples do not render the Eucharistic celebration 

incomprehensible.  Regardless of time and place, the celebration 

always begins with “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 

of the Holy Spirit”, followed by the penitential rite, the gloria and/or 

the collect, the readings, and homily. Then follows the presentation 

of gifts or offertory, the prayer over the gifts, the Preface, the 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      81 
 

Eucharistic Prayer, the great Amen, the our Father, exchange of sign 

of peace, Agnus Dei, Communion, and Post Communion prayer, 

and almost always ends like this, “Go forth, the Mass is ended”Or: 

“Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord by the conduct of your 

life”. And the people respond, “Thanks be to God”.   

Other invariable elements are the materials used, namely, 

bread and wine.  In addition and above all, the words and gestures 

of the ordained priest, during the blessing and consecration of the 

bread and wine, are always constant and invariable. The ordained 

priest appeals to God the Father to send the power of the Holy Spirit 

on the bread and wine and change them into the body and blood of 

Christ.  And the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of 

Christ, even though the appearances of the bread and wine remain 

unchanged. 

 

C. The Transformation of the People of God 

The bread and wine are not only change into the body and blood of 

Christ in the course of the Eucharistic celebration, but also the 

transformation of the faithful, the disciples of Christ is prayed for: 

“Grant that we, who are nourished by the body and blood of Christ, 

filled with the Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in 

Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer III). It starts with the conversion of the 

heart. «When the heart is transformed [,] love (koinonia, 

communion) is established».41 The heart is the garden where virtues 

can be cultivated, by the help of the Holy Spirit, so that vices may 

wither and die.  When the heart is transformed by the Holy Spirit, it 

bears fruits of righteousness, holiness, goodness, faithfulness, 

gentleness, self-control and the fear of the Lord.  

 

D. The Actions of the Holy Spirit in the Faithful 

The Holy Spirit is the author of true conversion. It turns the hearts 

and minds of the faithful toward the Father the Creator of all in 

heaven and on earth, and to his only begotten Son Jesus Christ,42 

who takes away the sins of the world. By the power of the Holy 

Spirit, Christians are innocent and serene, all the time, like gentle 

lambs in the midst of wolves. They are a profoundly happy people, 

who radiate happiness and joy, all the time. Daily they dedicate 



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themselves to good works among their fellow men and women. The 

change, the conversion of heart and of morals, may not be 

immediately evident, but it surely does occur. Take Paul for 

example: he became a changed man on the road to Damascus (Acts 

9). Unfortunately, Ananias and others were still afraid of him and of 

his name because they thought that he was the same Saul that they 

knew. Saul viciously attacked the Church and persecuted the 

disciples of Jesus the Way. The Lord brought him to his knees. He 

became one of the greatest champions of the same cause that he 

sought to eliminate. 

The sacrament of penance and reconciliation offers us 

another example of how the change of heart can occur, without 

necessarily showing on the surface. When the priest absolves 

penitents from their sins, their sins are forgiven.  Every so often, 

however, some penitents still remember their sins, and the scars of 

their sins still remain, that is, long after the prayer of absolution is 

said over them.  But the truth is that the penitent is indeed a new 

creation, after the confession, after a good contrition, after the 

absolution and satisfaction of penance.  

 

E. The Real Presence 

The real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is absolutely true, 

even though nearly always it takes faith to see it. The Eucharist is 

the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.  

In the Eucharistic celebration, Jesus Christ, in union with the 

Holy Spirit (who helps his disciples to remember and to implement 

his teachings), speaks and instructs Christians with the Word of God 

and feeds them with his own body and blood, while always or for 

the most part he keeps intact the appearances of bread and wine. 

In this consists in part the immortality of Christians, namely, 

the fact that Jesus Christ who was crucified, died, and rose again, 

and who dies no more, feeds his disciples daily with his 

incorruptible body and blood. He and his disciples become one 

body, one spirit, through the rite and prayers. The other constitutive 

part of the immortality of Christians is the knowledge, the revelation 

of the power of God. “To know your power is the root of 

immortality” (Wisdom 15). Those who know the power of the true 



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      83 
 

God humble themselves. They do not dare to take a human life, 

made in the image and likeness of God. They do not play with the 

name of God, the unquenchable fire. Every day and night, they beg 

the Almighty, the Immortal to give them of the Spirit to drink, in 

order to become compassionate as their heavenly Father. As long as 

they accept Jesus as Lord, they are becoming children of God. They 

are becoming like Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the true 

friend of God, who was and is the face of God, the visible presence 

of God in the world.“I call you friends”, said he, “because I have 

made known to you everything that I have learned from the Father” 

(John 15.15). 

One can see now how it is that the Church not only offers a 

Eucharistic prayer, that is, a thanksgiving prayer with Jesus to the 

Father, she is in fact always a thanksgiving prayer with Jesus to the 

Father.  

 

Conclusion 

Jesus Christ is the common element of all that we have said about 

the Eucharist as memorial, as offering, as sacrificial banquet and as 

communion. In short, Jesus Christ is the Eucharist. He is the Son of 

God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is true God and 

true man. He is the one Mediator between God and man, and 

between man and man. Therefore, to believe in the Eucharist is to 

have complete confidence in Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate 

revelation of the mind of God. He is the absolute truth about God 

the loving Father. He always acted in complete obedience to the will 

of God His Father, whom he has also revealed to us as our Father as 

well (John 20:17). 

We have seen that whenever the Church celebrates the 

sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Christ is truly present with his 

Church, and she fulfils the command given to her by Christ: “Do 

this in memory of me”43. Paul elucidates this command when he 

writes, “whenever you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you 

are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes again”.44In carrying 

out this divine injunction, the Church is in constant communion with 

Christ, and is receiving eternal life, the fullness of life. 



84      |    Ekpoma Review, Volume. 5 No. 1., 2019     

 

From all that we have seen above, and from all that the 

Eucharist teaches us daily, it becomes imperative to embrace Jesus 

Christ and learn from him, who is our Eucharist, the bread of life. 

We learn from him to live no longer for ourselves, but rather for God 

alone. Consequently, missing the Holy Mass feels like and is indeed 

like missing the very source of life itself. 

Let us go forward, relying on the help of the Holy Spirit, 

consolatory optime, lumen cordium, lux beatissima, the giver of 

wisdom and knowledge to draw us nearer to Jesus Christ the only 

begotten Son of God.  Furthermore, we have a very deep joy that 

nothing can take away from us, because alive or dead we belong to 

the Lord. 

 
ENDNOTES 

1 Benedict XVI, Christmas Address to the Roman Curia, 22 December, 2011. 
2 J. Okojie,  The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization, Floreat 

Systens Publications, Benin City 2014,96 
3 J. Okojie,  The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization…. 98. 
4 SC 7. 
5 CCC 1348. 
6 CCC 1348. 
7 SC 56. 
8 SC 7 
9 C. E. Miller, The Celebration of the Eucharist, Alba House, New York 2oo1, 

115. 
10 SC 6. 
11 Benedict XVI, SacramentumCaritatis… 44 
12 Benedict XVI, SacramentumCaritatis… 45 
13 SC 7. 
14 D. N. Power, «Theology of Eucharistic Celebration» in A. J. Chupungco, 

Handbook for liturgical Studies.  Vol. III, Eucharist A Pueblo Book. The 

Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1999, 332. 
15EdEII. 
16 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of evangelization…,77 
17 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization….,77 
18 L. Bouyer, Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer, 

trans. Charles Underhill Quinn, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 

Indiana 1968, 104. 
19 W.R. Crockett, Eucharist: Symbol of Transformation…, 63. 
20 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic  Celebration as an act of Evangelization….,80. 
21 W.R. Crockett, Eucharist: Symbol of Transformation…, 120. 

                                                           



Theological insights on the Eucharist as a Strength of Faith     |      85 
 
                                                                                                                                  
22 W.R. Crockett, Eucharist: Symbol of Transformation…, 95. 
23 W.R. Crockett, Eucharist: Symbol of Transformation…, 121 
24 J. Auer; J. Ratzinger, Dogmatic Theology:A General Doctrine of the 

Sacraments and the Mystery of the Eucharist…, 186. 
25 D.E. Smith, From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early 

Christian World, Fortress Press. Minneapolis 2003, 69. 
26 J. Okojie, The Eucharisti Celebration as an act of Evangelization….,82 
27 R. Moloney, Problems in Theology: The Eucharist…, 196. 
28 The Code of Canon Law, A Text and Commentary. Edited by James A. 

Coriden et al, Theological Publications in India Bangalore 1995, 899. 
29 SC 7. 
30 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization…., 86 
31 CCC 1375. 
32 CCC 1382. 
33 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization….,88 
341Cor. 10: 16. 
35 Eucharistic Prayer II. 
36 Gal. 3:28. 
37 CL 19. 
38«Abide in me, and I in you».  Jn:15:4 
39 Ede 16. 
40 F. Stoekcl, John Paul II and the mystery of Eucharist, Pauline’s Publishing, 

Pasay Philippines 2006, 129. 
41 P. E. Fink, «Theology of Eucharist» in The New Dictionary of Sacramental 

Worship, Ed. P. E. Fink, A Michael Glazier Book, The Liturgical Press, 

Collegeville MN, 1990, 439. 
42 J. Okojie, The Eucharistic Celebration as an act of Evangelization….,93 
43 Lk. 22:19. 
441 Cor. 11:26. 


