Understanding our Faith

“He broke the bread”

The breaking of the bread is something which is hardly noticeable at many celebrations of the Mass.  In part this is because the bread which is broken, even though larger than the small breads which the people receive, is too small to be seen by the congregation.  The underrating of the breaking of the bread is a misshaping of the celebration of the Mass!

The breaking of the bread is one of the actions of Jesus at the Last Supper and so is one of the constitutive actions of the Mass in the course of which we are to do what he did.

The breaking of the bread goes back to the Last Supper which in turn takes its shape from the Jewish ritual meal which was celebrated and transformed by the Lord Jesus. 

The bread was broken into enough pieces for all gathered to share in the one loaf, that is all gathered drew life from the same loaf of bread.  It was the great sign of unity with each other brought about by unity with God.

St Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians says: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a fellowship in the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not a fellowship in the body of Christ?  As there is one bread, so we, though many, are one body, for we all share in the one bread.” (1 Cor 10:16-18).  There is the whole point of the breaking of the bread.

It is for this reason that we have begun to use larger breads which divide into many parts to be received in communion.  We are all sharing the one bread and drawing the gift of the new life of Christ into us all. 

This is a matter which enables us to renew our participation in and understanding of the Eucharist. 

The breaking of the bread is accompanied by our saying or singing “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us / give us peace”. 

So, the breaking of the bread is done in order that we may be drawn into unity and we do it while we recall Jesus, the Lamb of God, who gave his life to reconcile human beings to the Father and to each other.  Our receiving the one broken bread in order to be gathered into union with Christ and each other is only possible because Jesus died in order to overcome the separation between human beings and God and human beings with each other.

We need to understand the breaking of the bread in order to understand the Eucharist itself.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin