III. The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church

1333
At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the
words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and
Blood. Faithful to the Lord’s command the Church continues to do, in his memory
and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion: “He
took bread….” “He took the cup filled with wine….” the signs
of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood
of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation. Thus in the
Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine,¹⁵² fruit of
the “work of human hands,” but above all as “fruit of the
earth” and “of the vine” – gifts of the Creator. the Church sees
in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who “brought out bread and
wine,” a prefiguring of her own offering.¹⁵³

PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

SECTION TWO THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
- CHAPTER ONE THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
  - Article 3 THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
    - III. The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church – rosary.team