The Holy Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Mass, stands at the very centre of our life. At every Mass the one sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross is made sacramentally present, and bread and wine become truly his Body and Blood. In Holy Communion we therefore receive not merely a symbol or reminder of Christ, but Christ himself: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
This Catholic understanding of the Eucharist shapes the reverence with which the Ordinariate celebrates the sacred liturgy. Divine Worship: The Missal brings into Catholic worship elements of the Anglican patrimony which express particularly beautifully our humility before the Eucharistic Lord. The Prayer of Humble Access, for example, prepares us to approach the altar conscious both of our unworthiness and of the inexhaustible mercy of God.
The Eucharist is both sacrifice and sacred banquet, the source and summit of the Christian life. Our Sunday Mass is therefore not simply one devotion among many, but the centre around which the life of the Christian community is ordered. Here Christ gathers his people, feeds us with his own Body and Blood and sends us out to live what we have received.
Explore other sacraments
