The Catechism of the Catholic Church uses various names for the Eucharist. Each name evokes certain aspects. It is called:
- Eucharist– because it is an act of thanksgiving to God.
- The Lord’s Supper– because it is connected to the supper which Jesus took with his disciples the night before he died…and it anticipates the wedding feast of the lamb in the heavenly kingdom.
- The Breaking of Bread– because Jesus used this rite when he blessed and broke the bread and gave it to his disciples at the Last Supper, signifying that all who eat this bread, his body, enter into communion with him and form one body in him.
- The Eucharistic assembly– because it is celebrated among the assembly of the faithful.
- The Holy Sacrifice– because it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
- The Holy and Divine Liturgy or Most Blessed Sacrament– because the Church’s liturgy finds its center in the celebration of this sacrament. This is the Sacrament of sacraments.
- Holy Communion– because through this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.