The Eucharist originated at the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. It is based on the prayer of thanksgiving that Jesus pronounced over the bread and wine at that meal. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”, “praise”, and “blessing”. The Church celebrates the Eucharist as a memorial of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is more than a remembrance of the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of our redemption becomes present sacramentally. In the past, dogmatic theology has treated the meaning of the Eucharist while disregarding the form of its liturgical celebration, whereas liturgical studies have been content with only the latter. Yet the two cannot be separated, any more than liturgy and dogma or pastoral practice and doctrine can be understood without the other. The Church’s liturgy is not something external to Christian revelation, but rather, as Joseph Ratzinger said, “revelation accepted in faith and prayer”. In this work Helmut Hoping combines the approaches of dogmatic theology and liturgy while examining the Eucharist from a historical and systematic perspective. This new English translation of the second German edition of this major work, revised and expanded, includes a comparative analysis of the Second Eucharistic Prayer and a chapter on the theology of the words of institution.

"Sacrifice and presence are central aspects of the Church's faith in the eucharist. Both questions are complex in theology and have, over centuries, especially since the sixteenth century, been the occasion of much dispute. What is the Christian meaning of sacrifice? How is the eucharistic sacrifice related to the unique sacrifice of Christ? ..... [from back cover]

A beautiful explanation of the basic truths of Eucharistic Adoration and the tradition promoting its practice ranging from apostolic times to the present, with John Paul II's expressed desire for Eucharistic Adoration in every parish.