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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, 154 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. 155

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

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SECTION TWO: THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

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CHAPTER ONE: THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

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ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

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III. THE EUCHARIST IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION

Notes for the above paragraph:

154 Cf. Ps 104:13-15.

155 Gen 14:18; cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 95.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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