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Holy Father's Encyclical on the Eucharist

"I would like to rekindle the Eucharistic "amazement" by the present Encyclical Letter." John Paul II

Following are a few excerpts from the Encyclical

The Eucharistic sacrifice is "the source and summit of the Christian life"

"The Church was born of the paschal mystery. For this very reason the Eucharist, which is in an outstanding way the sacrament of the paschal mystery, stands at the centre of the Chruch's life."

"In this gift Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church the perennial making present of the paschal mystery"

"The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist."

"The Eucharist ..... is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history."

"The devout participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which yearly brings joy to those who take part in it."

"The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation."

"The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as a gift.... but as a gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself.."

"the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration."

"Those who fee on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to recieve eternal life: they already possess it on earth..."

"The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth."

"The Apostle Paul, for his part, says that it is "unworthy" of a Christian community to partake of the Lord's Supper amid division and indifference towrds the poor (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-22, 27-34)"

"The Eucharist Builds the Church"

"The worship of the Eucharist outside of the mass is of inestimable value fo the life of the Church."

"The Eucharist creates communion and fosters communion"

"Liturgy is never anyone's private property."