Eucharistic Quotes

May you find these quotes from Sacred Scripture, Church Fathers, and Canon Law edifying as you reflect on the Most Holy Eucharist.

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”
St. Paul (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

“The Eucharist is the sun of the feasts of the Church. It sheds light on those feasts and renders them living and joyous.
St. Peter Julian Eymard

“Every day He humbles Himself just as He did when He came from His heavenly throne into the Virgin’s womb; every day He comes to us and lets us see Him in lowliness, when He descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar.”
St. Francis of Assisi

“If you were to put your hand or tongue into molten gold—if that were possible—you would make your hand or tongue golden. In much the same way, the Mystery lying before us here affects the soul.”
St. John Chrysostom

“As in the life of the body, after a man is born and becomes strong, he requires food so that his life may be preserved and sustained, so also in the spiritual life, after being fortified, he requires spiritual food, which is Christ’s Body: Unless you shall eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink of His Blood, you shall not have life in you.”
St. Thomas Aquinas

“Without the Holy Eucharist there would be no happiness in this world, and life wouldn’t be bearable.”
St. John Vianney

“The heavenly sacrifice, instituted by Christ, is the most gracious legacy of his new covenant. On the night he was delivered up to be crucified he left us this gift as a pledge of his abiding presence.” St. Gaudentius of Brescia, bishop

“No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true…we do not consume the Eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Savior became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.”
St. Justin, martyr

“He declared that the chalice, which comes from his creation, was his blood, and he makes it the nourishment of our blood. He affirmed that the bread, which comes from his creation, was his body, and he makes it the nourishment of our body.”
St. Irenaeus, martyr

“A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.” –Canon 916.1

“A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine. The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.”–-Canon 919(1) & (3)