First Communion
The First Eucharist
The reception of First Eucharist (also known as First Communion) is a significant point on 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.
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. Together with Christ we offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice of praise. We know that without a deep union with Christ through the Sacrament of Eucharist we cannot fulfill this vocation. To be able to meet Christ in the sacraments and be nourished by his grace, one has to be introduced into the deep sacramental mystery. This happens first by the living example of Christian parents, the parish community gathered at the Eucharist and also at catechetical lessons, which children receive before their First Communion.
During our sacramental catechesis for First Communion we must help our children, their families and the entire parish community to discover the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. 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 children about participating with Christ in his holy sacrifice of the Mass and teach about receiving him in the Holy Communion, 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 being one with Christ in his self-giving sacrifice and through our partaking in his body and blood, we are formed into a Eucharistic people, living members of his Mystical Body, the Church.
Policies & Procedures on the Sacrament of First Eucharist
Children who are regularly participating in the Sunday Mass and in the Catholic catechetical teaching at school or in the parish before the First Communion must receive special, additional teaching, which prepares them to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist. This teaching takes place in the church building on Sundays, at 11.45, immediately after the Sunday morning mass. It begins on autumn of the year proceeding the First Communion. The parents are informed about the dates on which the teaching takes place. During that special sacramental teaching the children are also taught about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. One day before the First Communion there is a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the children and their parents.
The reception of First Eucharist (also known as First Communion) is a significant point on 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.
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. Together with Christ we offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice of praise. We know that without a deep union with Christ through the Sacrament of Eucharist we cannot fulfill this vocation. To be able to meet Christ in the sacraments and be nourished by his grace, one has to be introduced into the deep sacramental mystery. This happens first by the living example of Christian parents, the parish community gathered at the Eucharist and also at catechetical lessons, which children receive before their First Communion.
During our sacramental catechesis for First Communion we must help our children, their families and the entire parish community to discover the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. 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 children about participating with Christ in his holy sacrifice of the Mass and teach about receiving him in the Holy Communion, 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 being one with Christ in his self-giving sacrifice and through our partaking in his body and blood, we are formed into a Eucharistic people, living members of his Mystical Body, the Church.
Policies & Procedures on the Sacrament of First Eucharist
Children who are regularly participating in the Sunday Mass and in the Catholic catechetical teaching at school or in the parish before the First Communion must receive special, additional teaching, which prepares them to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist. This teaching takes place in the church building on Sundays, at 11.45, immediately after the Sunday morning mass. It begins on autumn of the year proceeding the First Communion. The parents are informed about the dates on which the teaching takes place. During that special sacramental teaching the children are also taught about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. One day before the First Communion there is a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the children and their parents.