Sixteen 2nd-Graders receive the Eucharist for the first time
Sixteen of Ms. Marie Hayes’s 2nd-grade students received Holy Communion for the first time last weekend at St. Francis Xavier (SFX) Catholic Church.
Holy Communion (also referred to as The Eucharist) is one of seven sacraments.
During the celebration of Holy Communion, bread and wine are “transubstantiated” into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“The transformed bread and wine are truly the Body and Blood of Christ and are not merely symbols,” explains the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). “When Christ said ‘This is my body’ and ‘This is my blood,’ the bread and wine are transubstantiated. Though the bread and wine appear the same to our human faculties, they are actually the real body and blood of Jesus.”
Catholics taking communion receive Jesus, thereby becoming united to Christ through his humanity.
The USCCB writes:
“Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist as spiritual nourishment because he loves us. By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, we become united to the person of Christ through his humanity … In being united to the humanity of Christ, we are at the same time united to his divinity. Our mortal and corruptible natures are transformed by being joined to the source of life.”
Catholic children in the West typically take the Eucharist for the first time at the “age of reason,” which is around seven or eight.
At SFX Catholic School, 2nd-graders undergo sacramental preparation before receiving their First Communion at some point during the Easter season.
This year, the following students received the Eucharist for the first time: Andrea Caycedo, David Cruz, Oliver Custis, Olivia Echemendia, Gwyneth Hinshaw, Sylvia Goodwin, Imelda Jackson, Tyrion James-Peterson, Olga Kern, Chelsea Lima, Yuleimy Lopez, Nicholas Martinez, Rolan Mitchell, Charlotte Osbun, Pedro Pascual, and Mateo Perez Moreno.
“The Lord said, ‘Let the children come to me,’ said Ms. Hayes. “So in a very simple, beautiful way, the children received their First Eucharist on Saturday or Sunday, May 4 or 5, 2024. The excitement for this special day filled their hearts as they learned about Jesus all through the year. Now they could be so close to Jesus and join in fully at each Mass.”
St. Francis Xavier Catholic School is an accredited classical Catholic PreK-8 school in Birmingham’s Crestline neighborhood that uses the time-tested Catholic Intellectual Tradition to form students in virtue through the pursuit of academic excellence and service toward God and neighbor.
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