Christian worship focuses on one central point - the Eucharist, which contains the totality of the Christian mystery. This book explains what the Eucharist is and what it means in the structure of Christian faith and worship. Beginning with a discussion ot Christ's institution of the Eucharist described in the Gospels and St Paul's letters, it goes on to discuss the views of Protestant and rationalist scholars and shows that, contrary to their views, the Church has from its very beginnings interpreted our Lord's words as meaning literally what he said. A survey of the Church's statements on eucharistic doctrine from the Fathers to the Council of Trent is
followed by a series of chapters that clarify the often complex analysis of theologians when they discuss, in relation to the Eucharist, such questions as the nature of a sacrament, the mode of Christ's existence in the consecrated host, the Eucharist as a sacrifice and the sacrifice of the Cross, the nature of eucharistic communion and such technical terms as "substance", “accident", and "transubstantiation." Final chapters discuss the eucharistic practice of the Church, and the worship of the real presence.