“The celebration of Mass, as the action of Christ and of the People of God…
 is the center of the whole of Christian life for the Church
 both universal and local, as well as for each of the faithful individually.”

 – General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 16

 The Sacrament of the Eucharist
The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
 
At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection:  a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.            

                             -Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322 & 1323

Communion is often called the greatest sacrament because 
 Christ himself is present in the consecrated bread and wine.

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