Good Friday is the birth of the Church from the pierced side of Jesus.... On the altar of the Cross, the sharing of the broken bread and the common cup at the table of the Last Supper received its full meaning as Supper of the Lamb slain for our redemption . The cross that marks the place of the Eucharist will always call attention to the awesome mystery of Calvary .
Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven. There are others: innocence, but that is for little children; penance, but we are afraid of it; generous endurance of trials of life, but when they come we weep and ask to be. The surest, easiest, shortest way is the Eucharist.
pope pius xFrom an essentially egalitarian “table-fellowship”, the early Christian Church developed a ritual Holy Meal, the Eucharist or Thanksgiving for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ , in which the food and drink (wine and bread) symbolized flesh and blood, as a rite served only to the faithful from the hands of an exclusive priestly class.