Catechism of the Catholic Church

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1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." 201 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." 202 "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." 203

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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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V. THE SACRAMENTAL SACRIFICE THANKSGIVING, MEMORIAL, PRESENCE

Notes for the above paragraph:

201 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 73, 3c.

202 Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651.

203 Paul VI, MF 39.

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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