The central image in
this window is the Holy Eucharist under both species of bread and wind. The Eucharist is the very sacrifice of
the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he instituted at the last
supper
( Luke: 22,
19-20 and Corinthians 11: 24-25)
to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he returns
in glory. It is a perpetual memorial of his death and Resurrection in which
Christ is consumed, the soul is filled with grace and a pledge of future glory
is given to us.
The Eucharist is a
memorial in the sense that it makes present and actual the sacrifice which
Christ offered to the Father on
the cross, once and for all on behalf of mankind. The sacrifice of the cross,
and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one and the same sacrifice. The priest
and the victim are the same; only the manner of offering is different: in a bloody manner on the cross, in an
unbloody manner in the Eucharist.
In the Eucharist the
sacrifice of Christ becomes the sacrifice of the members of his body. The lives
of the faithful, their praises, their sufferings, their prayers, their work are
united to those of Christ. The Eucharist is offered for all the faithful,
living and dead, in reparation for the sins of all and to obtain spiritual and
temporal benefit from God.
In the Eucharist
Christ makes himself present and
gives us his Body and Blood as food and drink, uniting us to himself and to one
another.
On top of the main
image is a Dove that represents the Holy Spirit, through whose power the
transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and
divinity of Christ occurs. On either side of the main image are the Greek
letters Alpha and Omega, which Jesus used to describe himself as the beginning
and end of all things. Just below them are two circles that each contain the
six pointed star of the old testament and the eight pointed star of the new
testament, which together speak of and point to the one word of God Ð Jesus. In
the lower left of the window is a circle that contains the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, which is a symbol of his consuming and sacrificial love for us. In the lower right of the window is an
ancient symbol that represents the unity of the sacrifice of the cross and the
sacrifice of the Eucharist.