In Baptism for instance, the water cleanses and is a natural image of cleansing and purifying. The sacraments make present what they signify. They are efficacious signs, which means they make present what they point to. What it means is the sacraments are not merely signs that point us toward something. The next paragraph says “the Eucharist is the efficacious sign.” This is very basic sacramental theological language. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1325 “The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. Everything about the Church is oriented toward the Eucharist. The Eucharist is in fact the summit of Christian life. But in a mystical and theological way the Eucharist lays the foundation for us and helps us reach the summit. It doesn’t make sense in a geographical way. It’s sort of like when parents say that they walked uphill to school in both directions.

It’s where you start and it’s where you end.

It’s the high point and it’s the low point. If we don’t have the Eucharist, we don’t have what we need to live the Christian life.īut it is at the same time the summit. This means the Eucharist is where everything comes from. This first line, “the source and summit of the Christian life” is a paradox. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. We thought it would be a great opportunity to take the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist and break them open. This year in the diocese of Tyler we are celebrating the year of Mary and the Eucharist. You can view the full podcast episode here. Below is a brief excerpt from this episode. Philip Institute Podcast Luke Arredondo discussed the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 1322-1327 on the Eucharist.

Catechism teaching