Eucharist

The Sacrament of The Eucharist

The celebration of First Eucharist (also known as First Communion) is a significant part of our faith journey that began with our baptism. It is a sacrament of initiation, the crowing point of initiation. It is the real sacrament of commitment which is renewed Sunday after Sunday in the celebration of the Eucharist. Our First Communion should not be our last communion.

First Communion - May 2, 2010

The celebration of the Eucharist, where we hear God’s Word and eat and drink the body and blood of Christ, is the way we nurture and celebrate out our relationship with Jesus Christ in order to able to live out that relationship in our daily lives. It is the fullest expression of our baptismal commitment. We are a Eucharistic people.

During our sacramental catechesis for First Communion, we must instill these realities into the lives of our children, families and the entire parish community. The preparation period for First Communion is much more than just showing children “how” to receive communion. The reception of communion for the first time is about their full, active and conscious participation in the Eucharistic liturgy from the moment Mass begins to the culminating point where we share the Lord’s Supper. First Communion preparation is about preparing children (and youth and adults) to fully, consciously and actively participate in every aspect of the Eucharistic liturgy. It is about genuinely rooting them in the liturgical life of the Church.

Sacramental preparation for First Communion is also a time of transformation. What we do should change their lives. When we catechize about receiving communion and talk about eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ, we need to show them how this changes their lives. Saint Augustine said “For you hear ‘the body of Christ’ and you reply ‘amen’. You become that which you eat.”

The reception of First Communion should mark a difference in how we live our faith. In the document Dies Domini, Pope John Paul II states that the Eucharist both “feeds and forms the Church”. Just as we are fed on the body and blood of Christ so, too, are we dismissed from Mass as the Body of Christ to go out and feed and nourish others. Through our eating and drinking, we are formed into a Eucharistic people.

Policies & Procedures on the Sacrament of First Eucharist at OLPH

Since no child is eligible to register for this sacrament without having first participated in the preparation for First Reconciliation, the registration for both sacraments is done at the same time in September. The registration package for 1st Reconciliation is also the registration package for First Eucharist.

While the children are registered for preparation for 1st Eucharist in September when they sign up for the preparation for 1st Reconciliation, the actual preparation for 1st Eucharist does not begin until January. At this point all of the children will have had the opportunity to celebrate their 1st confession in December.

The preparation process for 1st Eucharist is exactly the same as it is for 1st Reconciliation. There is both initial and immediate preparation. OLPH School offers the initial preparation for the students who attend the school and the parish offers several sessions of initial preparation for those who go to other schools. There are also joint sessions for all students related to the immediate preparation phase of the program.

The celebration of first communion is celebrated in early May of each year at the 11:00 a.m. mass. The children receiving first communion are asked to wear their “Sunday best” (special outfits are not required) and they sit with their family for the mass and the family come up together with their child for communion.

NORMS FOR DETERMINING THE PARISH IN WHICH YOUR CHILD IS TO RECEIVE BOTH HIS/HER INSTRUCTION AND RECEPTION OF THE SACRAMENTS

Children who are regularly attending Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish are to receive both their instruction and their Sacrament at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Children who live within the boundaries of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish but are in the regular habit of attending and participating in another parish are to receive their instruction and their Sacrament in the parish they regularly attend.
Children who are not in the habit of attending church regularly and who live within the boundaries of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish are to receive both their instruction and Sacrament at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. If you live within the boundaries of some other parish then it is to this other parish that you must go for instruction and the celebration of the Sacrament.
If you are not in the habit of attending Church regularly and you live in the boundaries of a parish other than Our Lady of Perpetual Help, but you would like your child to receive their instruction and Sacraments at Our Lady of Perpetual Help because your child attends OLPH School, you will need to get a letter of permission from the pastor of the parish within whose boundaries you live.