Eucharist
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in Him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me."
The Eucharist is the most important thing in the entire Christian life because it is Jesus himself. Many Christians today speak of “having a relationship” with Jesus, and we couldn’t agree more; Jesus loves us so much he actually desires to live physically inside us through this sacrament. As our Lord says himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.” (John 6:53-56)
The New Testament abounds with references to the Eucharist; indeed the body of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine has been the center of Christianity from the earliest days of the nascent church.
The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself…The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.” CCC 1323-1327
Holy Communion at St. Mary Magdalene
Mass Schedule
Monday - Saturday: 8:00am
Saturday: 4:30pm Sunday Vigil
Sunday: 7:00am, 9:00am, 11:30am, 4:30pm
Preparing Children for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion
In the Diocese of Phoenix, children who are already BAPTIZED normally prepare for 1st Reconciliation in 2nd grade and 1st Communion and Confirmation in the 3rd grade. This is known as RESTORED ORDER and is different from most other dioceses where children are confirmed when they are older.
Preparation for the sacrament of First Communion based on age of the child:
- Child is younger than 7 years of age and not baptized, CLICK HERE.
- Child is in 3rd-5th grade, CLICK HERE.
- Child is in Middle School, CLICK HERE.
- Child is in High School, CLICK HERE.