Engage - Eucharist & Canon Law ( March 2026 )

Title: The Eucharist: A Mystery of Love and of the Law

Intro

Canon laws are meant to safeguard sacred mystery and what is truly precious to the Church, writes Fr Bertrand Herbert O.P., as he takes the Eucharist as his point of reference.

Highlight

Every law is meant to bring about justice in a society. In the context of the Church, canon law is meant to bring about what is just in the life of the Church. Canon law is meant to ensure that we render to God what is owed to Him and that the members of the Church render what is owed to each other. Justice for the Church is something sacred because the Church is sacred. The life of the Church and her members is derived from and oriented to the very life of God. The laws of the Church, therefore, are the means by which she visibly manifests and perpetuates her sacred and invisible life.

Article

As a student of canon law – the body of law that governs the Catholic Church – I often hear about people’s frustration with the Church’s laws. They can feel overburdened by the rules that are imposed on them. As a result, many dismiss these laws. They may justify their complaints by thinking, ‘After all, how can the Church and the profound mysteries of our faith be governed by man-made laws?’

A significant mystery of our faith governed by canon law is the Most Holy Eucharist (see CIC cann. 897–958). So, if we want to better understand canon law’s role in the Church, the Eucharist can be a helpful point of reference. But perhaps we should first try to understand more about the Eucharistic mystery. I take this cue from a wise priest. When I asked him why he loves the Church he simply responded, ‘Because I love Christ.’ If we can appreciate the mystery of love in the Eucharist, we can appreciate why the Church’s laws want to safeguard this precious mystery.

Mystery of Love

The Most Holy Eucharist is the fontem et culmen, the source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium 11). It is at the heart of all we do as followers of Christ because it is Christ Himself. The mystery of the Eucharist, then, has as its foundation the mystery of Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity.

The inner life of the Trinity was, is, and always will be the most perfect reality imaginable. The three persons of the Trinity give of themselves and receive each other in an eternal bond of love. Out of sheer goodness on His part, God wanted to share this inner life with humanity. This life was bestowed upon us through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We share in the life of God through our union with Christ who possesses this life most fully. Our union with Christ begins with the sacrament of Baptism when we are made members of His Mystical Body. But this union is made stronger and more perfect when we are united to Him in the Eucharist. As Christ descends into our mouths and our souls at Holy Communion, we ascend with Him to that eternal bond of love He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Before we were born, God ordered all things that we might be with Him. The Eucharist leads us to this goal because it unites us with God Himself. Being fed by the Eucharist, we will one day be united with all the saints and angels who dwell in perfect happiness with the God who loves us beyond our wildest dreams, and we will forever glorify Him for this gift.

Mystery of the Law

From what we have just said, the Eucharist is clearly a mystery that is precious to the Church. But how do the Church’s laws relate to this mystery? The language we used above to describe the Eucharist can seem so different from stale, legal language. But canon law has a role in safeguarding this precious gift because canon law is different from other laws. 

Every law is meant to bring about justice in a society. In the context of the Church, canon law is meant to bring about what is just in the life of the Church. Canon law is meant to ensure that we render to God what is owed to Him and that the members of the Church render what is owed to each other. Justice for the Church is something sacred because the Church is sacred. The life of the Church and her members is derived from and oriented to the very life of God. The laws of the Church, therefore, are the means by which she visibly manifests and perpetuates her sacred and invisible life.

Canon law, therefore, is far more than an arbitrary system of rules. It protects and promotes the life and holiness of the Church. The laws governing the Most Holy Eucharist are no exception. Perhaps these laws seem like a burden, especially when we consider the tangled web of details within them: What kind of bread and wine are to be used? Who is considered a minister of the Most Holy Eucharist? When and where can a priest celebrate Mass? What are the rules for receiving Holy Communion? But the dense laws that answer these questions are not meant to be a burden. They are dense because they are meant to be a secure foundation on which the Church can uphold this precious mystery.

To conclude, the laws of the Church do not disregard mystery. No, canon law acknowledges and preserves the profound mystery of love in the Eucharist. To this end, I will let the law speak for itself and conclude with the very first canon in the Code of Canon Law’s section on the Most Holy Eucharist: ‘The most venerable sacrament is the blessed Eucharist, in which Christ the Lord Himself is contained, offered and received, and by which the Church continually lives and grows. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life. By means of it, the unity of God’s people is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected. The other sacraments and all the apostolic works of Christ are bound up with, and directed to, the blessed Eucharist’ (CIC can. 897).

Author Profile

Rev Br Bertrand Hebert, O.P.