What is the Holy Eucharist?

[0:00]Want truth? Welcome to Theo Matters. Who, what, when, where, and why is the Holy Eucharist? Who? The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ. Jesus is fully present, body, blood, soul, and divinity. in every particle of the consecrated host, and in every drop of the consecrated wine. This is why it is recommended that you receive the consecrated host on your tongue rather than in your hand, so as to avoid disrespect. What? The Holy Eucharist is both a sacrament and a sacrifice. It is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice on the cross, because the victim, Jesus, is the same. And the principal priest, Jesus, is the same. However, the Eucharist is an unbloody sacrifice, while the sacrifice on the cross was very bloody. When? When did Christ institute the Holy Eucharist? The Holy Eucharist was instituted at the Last Supper by Christ on Holy Thursday, the day before he died. When does it happen? The change between ordinary bread and wine into Jesus takes place at the consecration during Mass. The consecration is the moment when the priest, in the place of Jesus, lifts up the host and says, "This is my body." The host is no longer bread, but Jesus. The same happens for the wine. The priest, in place of Jesus, lifts up the chalice and says, "This is my blood." The wine is no longer wine, but is now Jesus. This change is called transubstantiation, which basically means across substances. Transubstantiation means that at the moment of the consecration the substance of the bread and wine is changed to Jesus, while retaining the accidents of bread and wine. So Jesus in the Eucharist still looks, tastes, feels, smells, and sounds like bread, but it is truly Jesus. Where? Jesus gives himself to us in the Holy Eucharist at Mass around the world. Why? Jesus gives us the Eucharist as a sacrifice to forever commemorate and renew the sacrifice of the cross, to be received by the faithful in Holy Communion, and to remain with us on our altars as proof of His love for us, and to be worshiped by us.