“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”
JOHN 6: 55-57
Holy Communion
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. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.” 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. 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. Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.” CCC 1323-1327
Preparing Children for the Sacrament of Holy Communion
St. John the Baptist parish practices the Restored Order of the Sacraments of Initiation. This means that children prepare for and experiences their First Penance in the second grade. Following that, children prepare to receive both Confirmation and First Holy Communion in the third grade.
Restored Order
The Archdiocese of Denver uses the restored order of the Sacraments of Initiation. These three sacraments are originally intended to be received in this order: Baptism, Confirmation, then Holy Eucharist. The sacrament that fully initiates a person into the Catholic Church is Holy Eucharist (First Communion).
To watch a video about the Restored Order and to read the Pastoral Letter “Saints Among Us” from Archbishop Aquila please visit www.Archden.org/Saints.
Received First Holy Communion at St. John’s but lost your certificate? You can request a new one here.
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“The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.” CCC 1322