This reflection was on the Facebook page for the Reformowany Kościół Katolicki w Polsce, our sister Church in Poland with Bishop Tomasz. It is a good follow-up to our series on the liturgy of the mass.
The beating heart of the Church or a few reflections on the Eucharist.
Have you ever wondered why the Eucharist is so important in the Old Catholic tradition, including the Reformed Catholic Church in Poland? Why do we say that the Church is born out of it – and is fully revealed in it what it is?
In the Old Catholic understanding, the Eucharist is not just “one of the sacraments” or “a beautiful symbol of togetherness”. This is the birthplace of the Church Here – in a specific community, around specific people, at one table – the local church is fully the Church of Christ.
1. The Eucharist reveals the Church
When we gather around the altar, something far greater than a gathering of the faithful happens. The Eucharist is the Church’s fullest incarnation—the moment when its unity, diversity, Catholicism and apostolicity are manifested.
This is where we experience koinonia, this deep communion with God and with each other. In one Bread and one Cup, we recognize that we are one Body—not by our feelings or declarations, but by the grace that unites us in Christ.
2. Real presence and real transformation
Old Catholics believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist – not metaphorically, not symbolically, but personally, bodily and spiritually. The bread and wine become His Body and Blood not because we know the exact “mechanism” of this mystery, but because we ourselves find ourselves with God who works in the power of the Holy Spirit.
At the center is not a theory, but a mystery: Christ is given to us as a sacrifice of love, as the Word, which has become bread for the life of the world.
3. The Holy Spirit incarnates Christ here and now
Old Catholic theology strongly emphasizes the epiclesis – the prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit conceived the Son in the womb of Mary, so today he incarnates Christ in the signs of bread and wine, so that the Church can be fed with the life of God. The Holy Spirit makes the Eucharist not only a remembrance, but a presence of Christ’s saving work. The conviction of the importance of the epiclesis will be emphasized during the conduct of the Liturgy of the Eucharist according to the Old Catholic masses in signs such as incense or singing the epiclesislesis prayer. Every Eucharist Liturgy is a Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit descends upon the community of the Church.
4. The Eucharist forms the local Church
The Church in the old Catholic understanding does not exist “abstractly”. It exists in a place where the local community celebrates the Eucharist led by a bishop or his delegated deputy (presbyter or presbyter).
A bishop is not an administrator but an icon of Christ – a sign of His presence, a guarantor of the unity and authenticity of the Liturgy performed. This is why the Eucharist is not a priest’s “private worship”. Church happens when it’s celebrated by God’s people.
5. The source of mission and hospitality
Everything the Church does – its prayers, witness, service, evangelism, and care for the needy – grows from the Eucharist as a source of life and mission. The old Catholic practice of eucharistic hospitality emerges from the same place. In the Ecumenical Catholic Community, we believe that baptism and a sincere desire for God are enough to sit at the Eucharistic table of Jesus and receive His Body and Blood. We don’t require “faith tests” or “moral qualifications” because we are convinced that it is Christ Himself inviting and the Church must not stand in the way of His grace. And the person who abides with Jesus, at His word, in His presence and in His community – over time grows in his faith and gradually learns to live as Christ desires.
The Eucharist – genetic code of the Church
One could say that the Eucharist is the spiritual DNA of the Church.
It contains everything that the Church is and what it is called to:
unity, holiness, catholic, apostolic, mission, togetherness, love.
When we perform the Eucharist, the Church is fully the Church.
As we feed on Christ, we become His body.
When we sit down at the same table, we see that we really are God’s family.
That is why the Eucharist is neither an “addon” nor a “tradition”. He is the heartbeat of the church Where the church beats, there is the church.
Bishop Thomas Jordan Puchalski