Without a doubt, the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is the most widely misunderstood and hotly debated teaching in all of Christianity. Whether you're a lifelong Catholic, new to the Church, one of our Christian brothers and sisters, or a parent preparing your child for first communion, a little clarity on the Church's Teaching on the Eucharist would be nice! That's where Eucharist 101 comes in.
In recent decades, teachings on holy communion have fallen out of style in favor of lessons on how to live right, how to help the poor, how to live the Faith in the workplace, and more. All of these are important and necessary, but they miss the core essence of our Faith.
That's why the Catholic Church in America is right now in the midst of a Eucharistic Revival to bring awareness, understanding, and desire to the Sacrament; set hearts on fire with love for Jesus; and bring us, the faithful, into a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior.
What does this mean? Why does this matter? Why now?
In 2019, the Pew Research Institute found that 69% of Catholics do not know or do not believe core-teachings about Holy Communion, such as transubstantiation and the True Presence.
If the Eucharist is misunderstood inside the Catholic Church... How much more in our culture at-large?
RED-C stands for Religious Education for the Domestic Church, so a Eucharistic Revival is right up our alley!
After a lot of prayer and discernment, we realized there is a lot of information out there on the Sacrament of the Eucharist that is very high-level and helpful... if you've been a practicing Catholic (or theologian) for quite some time.
But resources are much more scattered and difficult to find if you are brand-new to the Church or a non-Catholic searching for Church teachings.
That's why we created Eucharist 101: a short, seven-part miniseries that covers the absolute basics of the Eucharist, provides helpful information for new Catholics or those who have never encountered the Eucharist before, unveils some of the deeper theology of the Sacrament, and points you in the direction of where to learn more.
When you sign up for FREE today, you'll receive a confirmation e-mail, followed by a series of seven emails over seven days with brief written and video resources to help you learn more about the incredible Sacrament of the Eucharist.
There is no cost, so what are you waiting for? Sign up now!
Sign Up for Eucharist 101
(It's better to go through this course with a partner! Share this with someone you know and go on this journey together)
"The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life." (CCC 1324)
It was a heavy moment when our Savior spoke up at dinner, catching the attention of the Apostles.
He knew he was about to die.
He knew he would be betrayed by one of his friends.
He knew he would be abandoned by the Apostles and left alone to the judgements and tortures of the Sanhedrin and the Romans.
So what did Jesus do?
He took bread and broke it—and likewise took the chalice—and gave us the Sacrament of his body, blood, soul, and divinity (his being as God), which many have risked life and limb to receive and protect, and of which St. Pope Pius X said, "Holy Communion (Eucharist) is the shortest and safest way to heaven."
If you're a lifelong Catholic, perhaps you understand this on a deep level. But if you're a new Catholic, one of our Christian brothers and sisters, or someone starting to question if God could be real, you may wonder, "What's the big deal?" Isn't it just a piece of bread? Isn't it just a symbol?
We'll dive into these questions and many more throughout this seven-part miniseries, but today we're starting with the basics, answering the questions: "What is the Eucharist?" and "What is a sacrament?", finishing with how the Eucharist and all the sacraments convey God’s grace and love into our lives and how to seek that out on a daily basis.
This is a 101-level course, so we start off with the basics. But don't worry, as we walk this journey together over the next six days, we will dive deeper and deeper into the mystery of the Sacrament and provide you with resources to enhance your journey into Eucharistic teachings.
Already on day two, it's time for the make-or-break question—possibly the greatest dispute between Catholics and all other Christians for the past 500+ years: Is the Eucharist Biblical? Or a false teaching that has been handed down and persists within the Catholic Church?
In today's video, we'll make the case that Biblical figures prior to Jesus, as well as Jesus himself and his Apostles, very clearly point towards the Eucharist as being the "Source and summit of the Christian life." (CCC, 1324)
Starting with the Old Testament, we'll explore how God revealed through the prophets that the Eucharist would become a soul-saving Sacrament and how different traditions within the Jewish faith prefigured how Catholics celebrate and understand the Eucharist today.
Moving into the New Testament, you'll hear the words of Jesus in the four Gospels—perhaps in a new way—as well as those of St. Paul as they both explicitly talk about the Eucharist and the various duties we have as a result of being given the Sacrament.
“They set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread." — Luke 24:33-35
“For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." — 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
“The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist..." — CCC, 1335
The Eucharist IS Biblical and as we'll discover in episode 4, some of the earliest writings we have from the first Christians, outside of the Gospels, have to do with Mass and the Eucharist.
If you watch this video and realize you've heard other people give rebuttals or alternate interpretations of these passages, we hope you hear them in a different way today. But if not, please hold out a little longer! On day 5 we'll go into more detail and answer some of the more common rebuttals to these verses on the Eucharist, as well as tackle other common questions and challenges from our culture in regards to the Sacrament.
How would you feel if someone you really wanted to be friends with said, "Fine, I'll be your friend, but I want you to always be who I think you are now, and I never want to learn anything about who you really are that could change my perspective."
What a ridiculous thing to say!
No, when we love someone, we desire to get to know them—their past, their hopes, their dreams, the things that make them happy, the things that make them feel fulfilled.
Have you ever tried to get to know Jesus in this way?
That's what today's episode is all about! We're diving deep into the theology of the Eucharist, getting to know Jesus more and more through the very Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
You'll hear from the Gospels, the Catechism, and even St. Thomas Aquinas in ways you never have before as your hosts attempt to shine a light on the Church's teachings about the Eucharist and explore how this message fits in perfectly with the Eucharistic Revival taking place in America right now!
If some of the previous episodes of Eucharist 101 haven't been controversial enough, today's discussion is on a topic over which wars have been fought and disputes have raged for centuries!
Throughout this miniseries, we've learned what the Eucharist is, what a Sacrament is, we've seen that it is Biblical, and we've learned some spiritual words used to explain the deeper theology of what Jesus said at the Last Supper.
If you are Christian, but not Catholic, you may recognize some of the definitions and teachings we've discussed, and they might sound familiar—similar to the type of "communion" or "Lord's supper" that you may have experienced in your own church, apart from anything to do with Catholicism.
But today, we're here to explore why it is that Catholics are so adamant that they are the "One, holy, universal, and Apostolic Church," and why they believe a valid Eucharist can only be found inside of Catholicism.
How can Catholics make this claim? Apostolic Succession.
What is Apostolic Succession? It refers to meticulously kept historical records showing that after Jesus died, the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, set about taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. However, when the Apostles started getting martyred one-by-one, they realized the necessity of appointing successors to carry on the work they were doing and serve God's people with the same powers given them by Jesus at the Last Supper.
Apostolic Succession, therefore, is a term referring to the bishops and popes who trace back in an unbroken historical line to the 12 Apostles and the priests they ordain to serve the Body of Christ.
What does this mean? For our purposes, it is just one part of the body of evidence showing that Catholic priests are ordained into the succession of the Apostles and thereby continue to this day to be the only ministers given power by Jesus himself to consecrate the bread and wine into the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
In other words, the Eucharist is uniquely Catholic!
It’s a strange time we live in that most people—even professed Christians—don’t really believe in miracles.
The majority of civilizations throughout history have believed in miracles. But for some reason, people in the 21st century seem to think they’re too advanced—too enlightened—to believe in miracles.
But if miracles do happen… wouldn’t that change everything?
Miracles do happen and we can 100% verifiably prove it to you!
And not just some amazing phenomenon that happened hundreds of years ago that a Bishop in an obscure country looked at and declared was a miracle, either.
Today we'll be discussing Eucharistic Miracles, one of which happened as recently as 2006, another which has been unexplainably preserved for more than 1,000 years, and several of which have undergone extensive scientific testing by organizations as esteemed as the World Health Organization to prove the validity of the miraculous claims!
But before we get too excited, we must ask an important question: Why does God perform miracles?
Some reasons we know, but others we may never know.
One reason God does perform miracles is to spark faith in us, His beloved children. We can often wrestle with the idea of there being an invisible God until we see some sort of proof.
Another reason God may choose to perform a miracle is to show that someone, something, or some message He has sent to us is actually from Him, and not an imposter.
For example: When Jesus was preaching, healing the sick, and casting out demons among the Jews, some of those who observed his miracles accused him of working for the Devil. To that, Jesus said, “No house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:25-26)
In other words: Look at the miracles I am performing and see the good that is evident in them. God would not allow a false prophet to perform good miracles in His name.
And that is why we highlight Eucharistic miracles in today’s video.
Time and again throughout history, with no exception in our own times, people have called the validity of the Eucharist into question.
“Did Jesus really mean “Eat my flesh and drink my blood?” Or was it merely a metaphor?”
“Is Jesus truly present in the Eucharist as the Church teaches, or is it just a symbol?”
The miracles we present in today’s video are just a few out of the hundreds of documented and verified Eucharistic miracles from the archive of Bl. Carlo Acutis, not to mention the countless miracles experienced by the faithful throughout the centuries.
As you watch today's video and begin to research Eucharistic miracles on your own, ask yourself this question: "Why would God perform miracles like these through the Eucharist, if not to show that He is TRULY present in the sacrament as the Church teaches?"
Welcome to the final installment of Eucharist 101! If you’ve made it this far, you’re now part of a small, but growing number of individuals who know the truth about the Sacrament of the Eucharist!
It’s true.
Sadly, as we’ve mentioned throughout the course, some polls estimate that about 69% of Catholics have never been successfully catechized in even the very basic, 101-level facts about the Eucharist.
And that’s what today’s video is about.
We switched it up a little bit, so today you won’t hear from Evan and Deacon Robin. Instead you’ll hear from RED-C Radio host Deacon Mike Bouvais and special guest Deacon Dan Lupo, who is a member of the leadership team for the Eucharistic Revival in the Diocese of Austin, Texas.
Catholics in the United States are in the middle of a Eucharistic Revival effort spearheaded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It started back in 2022 and will conclude in 2024 with a nationwide event in Philadelphia called a Eucharistic Congress.
The goal of this Eucharistic Revival? To do what we’ve attempted to do here: Spark a revival in belief, reverence, and love for Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, especially amongst those Catholics who have never been properly taught what the Eucharist is and what it means, and those Christians and non-believers to whom the Eucharist is a foreign idea.
RED-C had Deacon Dan Lupo on our local Texas radio show back in 2022 at the very beginning of the Revival to discuss what it is, how various dioceses are approaching efforts to raise awareness about the Eucharist, and how we as believers can get involved to spark a new era in the Church in the United States and worldwide.
Listen, learn, get involved, and spread the knowledge you’ve gained in this miniseries with your friends, your family, and anyone God puts in your path.