Sacraments: First Eucharist

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." (L 611) "The other sacraments, and indeed all ministries and works of the church, 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. (catholic catechism 1324).

Following this analogy, the first chapter will expound the three sacraments of Christian initiation; the second, the sacraments of healing; and the third, the sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful. This order, while not the only one possible, does allow one to see that the sacraments form an organic whole in which each particular sacrament has its own vital place. In this organic whole, the Eucharist occupies a unique place as the "Sacrament of sacraments". (Catholic Catechism 1211).