Eucharist in the Catholic Church Eucharist in the Catholic Church The Eucharist in the Catholic Church is celebrated as "the source and summit" of the Christian life. The Eucharist is consecrated daily (except on Good Friday, when consecration takes place on Maundy Thursday, but is distributed during the Mass of the Presanctified) during the celebration of Mass, the eucharistic liturgy. The term "Eucharist" is also used for the bread and wine when transubstantiated (their substance having been changed), according to Catholic teaching, into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic
Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a term used in Christian theology to express the doctrine that Jesus is "really" or "substantially" present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically. There are a number of different views in the understanding of the meaning of the term "reality" in this context among contemporary Christian confessions which accept it, including the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Methodism. These differences correspond to literal or figurative interpretations of Christ's Words of Institution,