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In the Book of Exodus, God asked the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their door posts. That night, the angel of death struck down all of the first borns in Egypt, those with blood on their door posts, the Hebrews, were spared. They gathered with Moses and began a long journey, carrying with them the remains of the lamb and unleavened bread.
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Jesus broke bread and shared wine to symbolise his body and blood which is has given up for them. Jesus became the new lamb of God. Jesus tells his disciples to perform this new Eucharist in memory of him
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Paul writes to the Corinthians about the current Eucharist situation. Some groups of people were left hungry whilst others feast and drink in celebration of Eucharist. Paul tells them that if they eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord in an unworthy way, they will carry the guilt of the Lord’s body and blood.
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The Eucharist was celebrated with small groups in family homes. Groups would be brought together in unity with the breaking of the bread and sharing of wine. This ceremony began to take place separate from a meal at this time instead of with a meal as it had been done earlier
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Christians adopted the design of basilicas which where used by Romans for law courts. They build long halls to celebrate the Eucharist in. These masses consisted of gathering and preparing. preparation of the gifts of bread and wine, reading and explaining the scriptures, the Eucharistic prayer with the central moment of the consecration of the bread and wine, community prayers of intercession and the distribution of the Body and Blood of Christ.
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Catholics became feared of the eucharist, feeling unworthy of receiving the Eucharist. It is unsure why this began to happen
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In 1215 the eucharist became compulsory for catholics at least once a year, this change was to encourage people to receive the eucharist more often.
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The second Vatican council applied changes to mass to help people participate in the Eucharist. These changes involved moving the altar, changing the language of the mass to the language of the people rather than Latin and changing the order of events of the mass.
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The Eucharist today consists of four parts...
-The introductory rites
-The liturgy of the word
-The liturgy of the Eucharist
-The concluding rites
