The Eucharist Sacrament, Sign, and Symbols Essay

A sacrament can be understood as an outward efficacious sign established by Christ to provide grace. It is important to note that Jesus Christ is the sacrament Himself since He gave his life so that the humankind can be saved. Therefore, His humanity is the external sign or symbol of his Divinity. Through his kindness, the life of the Trinity comes to human beings through the sacraments. This means that it is only Jesus Christ who mediates the sacraments to enable grace come to humankind (Limouris 405). Therefore, those who partake the Sacrament receive God's life through the Holy Spirit's work that was sent to the church. Catholics go through a series of events in their spiritual lives commonly known as the seven Sacraments. These seven sacraments in Catholic Church are ceremonies presenting what is sacred and essential to Christians (Nutter 54). As a consequence, the liturgies are termed as God's grace signs and instruments. They are holy events for experiencing God's saving presence. These sacraments are identified as Eucharist, anointing, reconciliation, holy orders, marriage, reconciliation, and confirmation. All the seven formal sacraments entail signs and symbols. However, for simplicity and easy understanding, this work will focus on the communion of the Holy Eucharist.

The study of the sacrament is not a walk in the park, hence the need to point out the meaning of sign and symbol to make learning more comfortable as well as enhancing the ability to differentiate the two terminologies. Symbols are instruments or patterns that are used to show an unseen reality. Every sign and symbol work together to make sure that God's love is present in our lives. On the other hand, a sign can be understood as the representation of something else. In that, sacraments are symbols and signs which carries a deeper meaning.

For a better understanding, the symbol is something that can be seen and invisible reality combined. Thus the wine and bread in visible reality are always understood to be bread and wine although they are consecrated and transformed to become the body and blood respectively. Two main symbols are connected to the Eucharist; wine represents the blood of Christ while the bread symbolizes the body of Christ. Nonetheless, the bread and wine are taken during the holy mass and signifies not only the body and blood of Christ but also it is used to portray the unity of the church (Shisley 30). Through faith, all Christians are united together by God. Believers are united through their belief in faith. This implies that the sacrament is used to depict the acceptance of faith in God irrespective of the diversity of people.

Subsequently, the act of sharing is also believed to represent fellowship, an ideal epitome of showing solidarity among the members of the church who are involved in this act in the sense that it is one body. It is also very essential to understand the basis of what is today known as the Holy Eucharist. During the Last Supper, Jesus brought the bread and broke it into pieces and poured wine on it. This was an act of giving out his own body and blood broken and poured through suffering and death so that He could save the humankind (Nutte 53). As a result, the breaking of the bread came to be referred to as the Eucharist. Therefore, believers view the Eucharist or the communion as a representation of a meal and a sacrifice. In that, it is considered to be the real presence of Jesus who suffered for the sake of our salvation. The communion received during the holy mass is supposed to be a spiritual food.

The roots of the Eucharist are derived from the Jewish Passover meal. This celebration or event is the one that is used to commemorate the delivery of Israelites from the slavery and sufferings that they experienced while they were in Egypt. Therefore, Jesus joined his apostles in the celebrations, and He promised that He will not abandon them hence the need to share wine and bread together as a sign that He will always be with them. In today's current celebrations, the Holy Mass is a symbol of the new Passover (Izbicki 142). That is why Christians receive His own body and blood so that they can be freed. In as much as it also represents the sacred meal as pointed out in this work, the Eucharist is also as a sign of his death. This is evident when Christians participate in the mass by celebrating the shedding of His blood so that we may be freed. The act of dying depicts the sign of freedom that we gain since He died for the sake of all human beings so that they might be saved.

In my view, the Holy Eucharist was instituted by God before his death. It is a sign that God gave us grace, strength and the power to resist the evil hence the reason why we participate in the spiritual or holy meal. The moment that a believer receives the body and blood of Christ, he or she is nourished spiritually and brought closer to God. At the moment when Holy Eucharist is about to be received or taken, the bread and wine are converted to represent Christ. I also agree with the notion that the Holy Eucharist is seen as spiritual food. This is primarily attributed to the concept that the blood and body of Christ nourish the soul of the Christians, same way that the physical food does to our bodies (Shisley 43). For instance when we eat our typical food, it comes part of us, and it brings changes both physically and also mentally. Similarly, the food we each changes the dynamics of our physical body and mind, the same way the Holy Eucharist nourishes our soul and units us with Christ.

Conclusion

To sum up, through the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, God gives us His love deep in our hearts as we receive his body and blood so that we may express the appreciation in our entire lives. In most instances, Christians' faith can be weak hence the need to have visible symbols and signs that will show God's love. Nevertheless, the sacrament of Eucharist is meant to intensify sanctifying grace. Thus, the sign of Eucharist Sacrament represents out complete togetherness in Christ. For instance, the several grains of wheat have been mixed together to bake one bread which has been symbolized as the Body of Christ. Moreover, many grapes have been compounded and pressed together to make wine which is represented by the blood of Christ. Hence, the moment we share that bread and blood is a symbol that we all one family if God. Therefore, the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist has numerous signs and symbols that are used to represent an invisible and visible reality as depicted in this study.

Works Cited

Izbicki, Thomas. "Communion: union with Christ and unity in the sacrament." The Eucharist in Medieval Canon Law, pp. 137-177., doi:10.1017/cbo9781316408148.007.

Limouris, Gennadios. "The Eucharist as the Sacrament of Sharing." The Ecumenical Review, vol. 38, no. 4, 1986, pp. 401-415., doi:10.1111/j.1758-6623.1986.tb01373.x.

Nutter, Jude. "The Last Supper." The Missouri Review, vol. 27, no. 1, 2004, pp. 52-54., doi:10.1353/mis.2004.0029.

Shisley, Steven. "From Supper to Sacrament: How the Last Supper Evolved." Biblical Archaeology Review, vol. 43, no. 2, Mar/Apr2017, pp. 26-65.