"The relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation reminds us that sin is never a purely individual affair; it always damages the ecclesial communion that we have entered through Baptism." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"One Communion is to the soul what a breath of wind is to a fire that is dying out, but where there are still many embers. It blows on them and the fire is rekindled. One Communion well made is sufficient to inflame a soul with the love of God and to make him disregard [...]
"Friends on earth find such pleasure in being together, that they lose entire days in each other's company: with Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, those who love Him not get weary. After her death, St. Teresa, who was already in heaven, said to a nun: 'Those who are in heaven and those who are [...]
"In this way our eucharistic worship, both in the celebration of Mass and in our devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, is like a life-giving current that links our ministerial or hierarchical priesthood to the common priesthood of the faithful, and presents it in its vertical dimension and with its central value." Source: Â Pope St. [...]
"Because the sufferings of My Only-Begotten are seen perpetually in the secret places of Heaven; and thus that oblation is united to My Son in My ardent heat in a profoundly miraculous way and becomes most truly His body and blood. And thence the Church is quickened with blessed strength." -St. Hildegard of Bingen relaying [...]
"'Do this in memory of me' The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words 'until he comes' does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, [...]
"On the night before he died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and at the same time established the priesthood of the New Covenant." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"Hilary says (De Trin. viii): 'There is no room for doubt regarding the truth of Christ's body and blood; for now by our Lord's own declaring and by our faith His flesh is truly food, and His blood is truly drink.' And Ambrose says (De Sacram. vi): 'As the Lord Jesus Christ is God's [...]
"The Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ." Source: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
"Our Savior is continually pouring out His gifts of counsel, fortitude, fear and piety, especially on the leading members of His Body, so that the whole Body may grow ever more and more in holiness and integrity of life. When the Sacraments of the Church are administered by external rite, it is He who produces [...]