The most familiar of all the sacraments of the living is doubtless Holy Communion, and in a certain sense it is unique important because of its continual necessity for all true Christians.Almost everyone is familiar with the Gospel story of the Last Supper and knows about the institution of this sacrament (in Matt. 26:26ff., Mark 14:22ff., and Luke 22:19f.). Besides these passages, there is an entirely independent account of the institution given by St. Paul (1 Cor 11:23-29), which agrees with the Gospels throughout.

It is not from the account of the institution, however, that we have our best information about what Christ intended this sacrament to be, and the importance He attached to it. This we find in St. John's Gospel, when the evangelist relates Christ's promise to the sacrament, given a full year before is actual institution.

"I am the bread of life," Jesus told His followers at that time. "Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, and they died. The bread which I speak of, which comes down from heaven, is such that no one who eats of it will ever die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and furthermore, the bread which I shall give is my flesh given for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).

Christ clearly told us, therefore, that what He was going to give mankind was His own flesh and blood, His own body "given for the life of the world" and that this gift would be an instrument of eternal life.

Now there are Christians who claim that Christ never meant His words to be taken literally. They insist that the bread and wine of the sacrament are symbols, nothing more. But this would mean that there would not even be a real sacrament. A sacrament is not merely an empty sign, but a sign that symbolizes a spiritual reality. The bread and wine symbolize Christ's body and blood, it is true, but the body and blood which they symbolize are also actually truly present.

"Resuming, therefore, Jesus said to them: 'What I tell you is the plain truth: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood is in possession of eternal life; and I will raise him up from the dead on the last day; for my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood is united with me, and I am united with him. As the living Father has appointed me his ambassador, and I live because of the Father, so, too, he who eats me will have life because of me. This is the bread that has come down from heaven. It is not what your fathers ate; they ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever'" (John 6:53-58).

In this passage our Lord has clearly told us that this gift of His body and blood is a necessity to us, that the eating of it brings eternal life. It is, therefore, a most important sacrament, one which should truly be the daily bread of Christians.

There are two sacraments of the living which are intended each for only a part of the Body of Christ which is the Church. In the Church, Paul says, "There is a distribution of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There is a distribution of ministrations, but it is the same Lord to whom we minister. There is a distribution of activities, but it is the same God who activates them all in everyone" (1 Cor. 12:4-6). The two fundamental divisions of the faithful for which the Holy Spirit provides grace through the sacramental order are the clergy (Holy Orders) and the laity (Matrimony).