The Eucharist is the heart and center of our Catholic faith. It is a celebration of our unity with each other and with the risen Christ. The Eucharist, also called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is more than just a meal. The Catholic community gathers around the Lord's Table to remember and make present again the sacrifice of Jesus, who gave his life for us on the cross.The celebration of the Eucharist, or Mass, has two main parts. The first part is the Liturgy of the Word, in which God speaks to us through the Scriptures. The second part is the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the bread and wine, consecrated by the Priest, become the body and blood of Christ. We eat and drink the consecrated bread and wine, which are Christ's body and blood, his very life shared with us, as commanded by Jesus on the night before he died. As Catholics, we believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.