First Holy Communion

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.” These profound and inspiring words from the Second Vatican Council emphasise for us the most important place this sacrament enjoys in the life of the church and all her members. At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and wine and they became His Body and Blood which he gave to his Apostles so that He might live within them and they might always be with Him. Sometimes people talk about ‘special Masses’ as though one were different from another. This idea can be misleading. Any Mass, wherever it is celebrate, whoever the priest is and however many or few are present is ‘special’. In the Mass we are taken back to the night before Jesus died for us, to the Upper Room there in the company of Jesus and His Apostles. This as we say in the church is a great mystery but also an unbelievable blessing.

For adults enquiring about the sacraments please see the page on Baptism.

For children, having been Baptised, the time comes when they are invited to share more deeply in the life of the Church and to begin preparations for receiving God and the Church’s most precious gift; the Eucharist or as it is also called Holy Communion. There is not a fixed aged for this as it is primarily dependant upon the child’s ability to understand what they are about to do. However as a guide, children are usually first considered when they reach the age of seven years. The two main considerations here are the child’s ability to distinguish right from wrong (hence preparation for First Confession is included in the First Holy Communion classes) and to be able to recognise the difference between an ordinary piece of bread and the Blessed Eucharist.

The child should now be used to coming to church on a weekend, meeting with their friends and other members of the community, attending children’s liturgy which helps them to pray, worship and learn together with the other children and approaching the altar for a blessing while others are receiving the Eucharist. Looking forward to and ultimately receiving Holy Communion then becomes a natural next step in their development as Catholics.

If you have a child that you consider is ready for this next step, then look out for announcements in the Parish Newsletter for the next preparation program.