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  The Eucharist is essential for us: it is Christ who wishes to enter our lives
   and fill us with his grace.

  POPE FRANCIS

• The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The term “Eucharist” originates from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving.  In the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest. The whole Christ is truly present -- body, blood, soul, and divinity -- under the appearances of bread and wine, the glorified Christ who rose from the dead. This is what the Church means when she speaks of the "Real Presence" of Christ in the Eucharist. (USCCB)
  
  "The Eucharist is Jesus who gives himself entirely to us. To nourish ourselves with him and abide in him through Holy Communion, if we do it with faith, transforms our life into a gift to God and to our brothers. To let ourselves be nourished by the "Bread of Life," he said, "means to be in tune with the heart of Christ, to assimilate his choices, thoughts, behaviors." (Pope Francis)