Holy Communion is one of the many sacraments celebrated by Catholics around the world and one of the few sacraments that can be received multiple times. When people are age seven or eight, they often receive their First Communion. To do so, they go through a process that prepares them spiritually and mentally, so that they may receive Christ’s bread and body for the first time in a proper state of understanding and grace. A priest or another eucharistic minister will say the words, “the body of Christ” as they offer the communicant the sacred body, and the body is given to the first communicant in what appears to the eye to be a small, round host (bread). The same is done with the blood of Christ. When people receive the body and blood, they first respond with “Amen” (so be it). After they respond, they consume the communion, do the sign of the cross and walk back to their pew. At one’s First Holy Communion, boys and girls have special clothes too. Girls often wear a white dress and sometimes a veil is worn with the dress. Boys usually wear a suit.

Holy Communion is offered to congregants at every single Mass, a celebration that takes place daily and often multiple times a day. Before the distribution of communion starts, the priest starts the process of transubstantiation, where God changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The celebrant recites specific prayers and words from scripture, such as “this is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Once the Eucharistic prayers are done, people rise from their pews to receive communion. At St. Robert Parish, people file up in lines to the front of the church. 

Eucharistic ministers are people who go up to the altar before communion and help the priest distribute communion to the people. At St. Robert many teachers are eucharistic ministers, but some perform this role more often than others. Ms. Masshardt, one of the teachers at St. Robert, says that, “I like handing out communion because it makes me an active participant in the greatest part of the Mass. It really makes me think about the great mystery of Jesus becoming the body of Christ that we receive.” The best thing about handing out communion is sharing in the sacrifice of Christ and helping to bring that to others because everyone benefits from taking Communion as they are drawn closer to their savior in that moment. When somebody takes communion, they eat a piece of God, becoming one with Him. 

Not all kids receive their First Communion when everybody else does in second grade. Addison from 7th grade explains that she has only been having communion for three years, but it’s one of the best parts of church. When people receive communion, they always get filled with new grace. Ms. Masshardt states that she “loves getting communion and then being able to live out the rest of my day as a walking tabernacle.  It is such an honor to receive Jesus each week and then carry Him in my body for the rest of the day.” Everyone gets filled with the love of God when they eat the Eucharist or drink His blood.