I. The Second Vatican Council in many of its texts affirms and re-affirms the binding together of the Eucharist and the Church. Lumen Gentium three times at least teaches this (LG 3, 11, 26): "Strengthened through the Body of Christ in the holy celebration of the Eucharist, they then manifest the unity of the People of God, which through this sublime sacrament is powerfully represented [significatur] and wonderfully realized [efficitur] in a visible way" (LG, 11). Almost identical, even verbally, is the teaching of Unitatis redintegratio and Orientalium ecclesiarum. Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us that the Eucharist is the summit of all of the Church’s action, and towards it all apostolic labor is oriented (SC 10, 4); Presbyterorum Ordinis says that all priestly ministry finds its highpoint in the Eucharist (PO, 6, 52). In its turn, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) tells us that the Church lives in eucharistic communities: "she exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all, a eucharistic assembly." (CCC 752). Thus, the Church fulfills itself, "real-izes" itself in the eucharistic celebration.

This great theological theme – or "eucharistic ecclesiology" – is one of the central points of deeper interest in Orthodox (specially Russian) and Roman Catholic as well as Anglican ecclesiology. It has engaged the labors of some of the outstanding theologians of our time: Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Joseph Ratzinger, Jean Marie Tillard, Walter Kasper, Bruno Forte, on the Catholic side; Nicholas Afanassieff, Jean Meyendorff, J. J. von Allmen, and specially in our time, John D, Zizoulas, among the Orthodox; to name just a few authors.

II. From Henri de Lubac we have the saying, "The Eucharist makes the Church, and [in turn] the Church makes the Eucharist." "Eucharistia facit ecclesiam". In simplest terms this tells us that in the Lord’s Supper, we have the memorial (zikkaron) of the Pascha of Jesus – memorial of his passion, death and resurrection; we have the actualization of the Paschal Mystery in the diversity of times and places throughout history. The Eucharist renews in each Christian community and in every Christian life, the reconciliation and at-one-ment worked by God with himself, and the risen life of Christ Jesus, "poured out into our hearts," – all of this per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso, "through Christ Jesus, with him and in him." The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity and the bond of love (St. Augustine). By the power of the Spirit, through the saving realities of the Word and Bread, the Church as the Body of Christ comes to be, and Christian brotherhood is quickened, within every community of faith and sacrament, as well as within the interlocking communities (which are the local sacramental assemblies and the local churches) throughout the world, the communio ecclesarium, always in living oneness with that church which "presides over the communion in love." (SC 41; LG 21, 22)

But the Church also makes the Eucharist, "Ecclesia facit eucharistiam": for if the Word is not proclaimed (cf. Rom. 10:14-15), if there is no one to celebrate the memorial of the Lord’s Pasch in sacrament, in obedience to the Lord’s command, then there is no Eucharist "realized" in time and place. Thus the Eucharist demands for its real-ization, the ministerial service of the Church. It is this ministeriality which "gathers the people, proclaims the Word, and breaks and shares the bread".

III. The Eucharist is the source, the center and the summit, the going-forth of the Church’s trinitarian life, the very core of both its communion and its mission. One of the great gifts of the post-Vatican II era has been the realization of this truth in the living experience of Christians all over the globe, in our time. (Pope John Paul II has done so much, to foster this experience.) We must stress that the Eucharist is all this– i.e. source and summit – also, for the mission of the Church. "The Eucharist constitutes the community and puts it at the service of the people", the Synod of Bishops of 1971 said. "As well as making Jesus present in the host, the Eucharist is given to us to make him present in the world." "The work and achieving of Christ’s love in this world, in all human history, is truly one of the fundamental goals of the Eucharist in the life of the Church."

In one very true sense, the Church and her mission exist to bring the saving Deed, the saving Body of Jesus present throughout all time, and throughout the world. For thus, can all of humanity, all peoples, and all of human history come together as one family and one communion around the Table of the Lord till the end of time.

All Christians then, are tasked to take the living and acting presence of the crucified and risen Lord in their hearts, as they go forth from the Eucharistic table, to carry him in love and service in the totality of their daily lives, so that the ecclesial-sacramental body which is the Church may fulfill its destiny to make of all humanity into the living Body of Christ in the world.