Jesus takes a loaf of bread and breaks it. Jesus takes a single cup and shares it. It is the singularity and particularity of Jesus Christ that are important here. It is Jesus’ body that is broken; it is Jesus’ blood that is poured out. And as the Church celebrates Holy Communion in remembrance of our Lord and at his command, we too speak of the one Body, as we are knit together into one living, breathing body: the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
As one who presides at Holy Communion, the most familiar and yet haunting words are the ones that begin the Words of Institution in the Eucharistic Prayer: In the night in which He was betrayed…
Every single time we lift the cup and break the bread, we participate in the event in which Jesus gives himself for the salvation of the world. And this self-giving happens not just on any night, but on the night in which he was betrayed (cf. Romans 5:8).