Origin of the Eucharist Origin of the Eucharist Church teaching places the origin of the Eucharist in the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, at which he is believed to have taken bread and given it to his disciples, telling them to eat of it, because it was his body, and to have taken a cup and given it to his disciples, telling them to drink of it because it was the cup of the covenant in his blood. The earliest extant written account of a Christian "eucharistia" (Greek: thanksgiving) is that in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (around AD 55), in
Eucharist in the Catholic Church worship of Christ, who is believed to be truly present. The host is generally reserved in the tabernacle after Mass and displayed in a monstrance during adoration. As a Catholic devotion, Eucharistic adoration and meditation are more than merely looking at the host, but a continuation of what was celebrated in the Eucharist. From a theological perspective, the adoration is a form of latria, based on the tenet of the presence of Christ in the Blessed Host. Christian meditation performed in the presence of the Eucharist outside Mass is called "Eucharistic meditation". It has been practiced by saints such as