The Eucharist as a Meeting of Past, Present, Future, and Eternity

Austin M. Leduc

About the Author: Austin Leduc (b. 2001, Cornwall, Ontario) is Roman Catholic and an aspiring canonist. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Theology and a Minor in Human Relations and Spirituality from Saint Paul University, Ottawa (2024), graduating summa cum laude. His primary interest in Theology is Scriptural Theology and Church History. Currently, he is pursuing both a Master of Canon Law and a Licentiate in Canon Law (Juris Canonici Licentiatus) and is working towards completing a Microprogram in Safeguarding Minors and Vulnerable Adults. Austin is married and deeply committed to the life and mission of the Church.

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The Holy Eucharist stands at the heart of Catholic life and worship, it is not merely a ritual, but it is also a profound mystery that transcends time. Through the Holy Eucharist, the past, present, future, and eternity converge in a single sacred moment.

The Past

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist, commanding His disciples in Luke 22:19 to “do this in remembrance of me.” The memory mentioned in Luke’s Gospel can be understood in Catholic theology as anamnesis. This Greek term, used in the liturgy, means more than just remembering; it refers to the sacramental re-presentation of the past events in such a way that we are made to participate in them here and now.

The Church, therefore, understands the Eucharist as the memorial (memoriale) of Christ’s sacrifice, in fulfilment of His command. As the Second Vatican Council affirms in Sacrosanctum Concilium 47, “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again ….” In each celebration of the Mass, the one and eternal sacrifice of Christ is made present for the Church in her pilgrimage through history.

Through the Eucharist, the Church is continually brought back to her origins⸺not in nostalgia, but in a transformative encounter. In this re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice, the faithful are made participants in the very mystery that constitutes the heart of salvation history. The past is not left behind; it is drawn into the present moment, made accessible to each generation of believers through the sacred liturgy.

The Present

The Church also presently enters the anamnesis of Christ’s Paschal mystery⸺his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. His eternal sacrifice is made present to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist. A bridging of time and space occurs in which the Paschal Lamb sacrificed on Calvary appears before our very eyes.

This sacramental presence is not symbolic alone; it is real and substantial. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1374, teaches, “the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” in the Eucharist. Christ is present⸺Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This real presence invites the faithful into an intimate encounter with the living God.

In this present moment of communion, the faithful are drawn into deeper union not only with Christ but also with one another. The Eucharist builds up the Church as the Body of Christ. As Saint Paul reminds us in First Corinthians 10:17, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Thus, the Eucharist is both a personal encounter and a profoundly ecclesial act.

The Future

The Eucharist also orients us towards the future; it is a sign of what is to come. As defined in the Catechism, paragraph 1402, it is the “pledge of future glory,” a sacrament that points beyond itself to the ultimate consummation of all things in Christ. The celebration of the Eucharist is an anticipation of the eternal banquet prepared for the saints in heaven. As Christ Himself declared in Matthew 26:29, “I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

The Eucharist is a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb—described in Revelation 19:9—where all of creation will be united in perfect communion with God. It sustains us on our own pilgrimage through this world, nourishing the faithful with the Bread of Life and filling us with hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. As we await this final fulfilment, the Eucharist strengthens us, deepens our longing, and aligns our hearts with the coming Kingdom.

Eternity

Above and beyond time, the Eucharist touches eternity. In the sacramental mystery, we are drawn into the eternal liturgy of heaven. Through the Eucharist, we are given a glimpse of eternity⸺not as a distant reality, but as a present encounter with the eternal God. The Eucharist thus reveals the timeless nature of divine love, a love that was, that is, and that is to come (cf. Rev 4:8). Each Mass unites the Church on earth with the Church in heaven, lifting our hearts in worship with angels and saints, transcending the limits of earthly time, and entering into the everlasting praise of God.

The Eucharist is truly a participation in the heavenly liturgy described in the Book of Revelation, where the angels and saints ceaselessly worship before the throne of God, crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev 4:8). When we gather at the altar, we are united in this unending praise. The Mass is not an isolated earthly event; it is the earthly participation in the eternal liturgy of heaven.

Every Mass is therefore a threshold of heaven, where the Church Militant on earth communes with the Church Triumphant in heaven. In receiving the Eucharist, we touch the eternal, we are embraced by the infinite love of God, and we are—while on this earth—caught up into the eternal mystery of divine life.

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Authors Note: All Biblical citations are from the NRSV-CE unless stated otherwise.