{"id":16988,"date":"2023-01-10T15:11:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T21:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/?page_id=16988"},"modified":"2023-01-10T15:11:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T21:11:10","slug":"first-communion-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/our-diocese\/religious-education-faith-formation\/first-communion-2\/","title":{"rendered":"First Holy Communion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1>\n\t\tFirst Holy Communion\n\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/first-communion-feature-image.jpg\" alt=\"first communion feature image\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"400\" width=\"600\" title=\"first communion feature image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<strong>Office of Religious Education and Faith Formation<br \/>\nContact Information:<\/strong>\nP. O. Box 7417<br \/>\nAlexandria, LA 71303<br \/>\nPhone: (318) 445-2401, Ext. 207<br \/>\nFax: (318) 448-6121\n\t<p><em>Matthew 26:26-29 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, &#8220;Take and eat; this is my body.&#8221; Then he took a cup, gave thanks,\u00a0and gave it to them, saying, &#8220;Drink from it, all of you ,for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.\u00a0I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it.\u00a0 Each name evokes certain aspects of it.<\/p>\n<p>It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words <em>eucharistein <\/em>and <em>eulogein<\/em> recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim-especially during a meal- God&#8217;s works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.&#8221; (CCC #1328).\u00a0 It &#8220;makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior.&#8221; (CCC #1330).\u00a0 The source and summit of the Christian life, the term Eucharist has its roots from the Greek word &#8220;<u>eucharistia<\/u>&#8220;, meaning thanksgiving.\u00a0 The Sacrament of First communion, is truly the third of seven sacraments, after Baptism and First Reconciliation.\u00a0 Typically performed at the age of reason, 7 years old, it is usually aligned with those in the second grade.\u00a0 To prepare children for the reception of the real presence of Christ, one to two years of formation are typical.\u00a0 Catholics should be in a state of grace to receive the Blessed Sacrament so First Reconciliation may occur just prior to children receiving their First Communion.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on First Holy Communion, please contact your parish church office, click on the below link or call the Office of Religious Education and Faith Formation office at the St Joseph Center at (318) 445-6424, ext. 207.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usccb.org\/eucharist#tab--does-the-bread-cease-to-be-bread-and-the-wine-cease-to-be-wine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Eucharist as Source and Summit of the Christian Life<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First Holy Communion Office of Religious Education and Faith Formation Contact Information: P. O. Box 7417 Alexandria, LA 71303 Phone: (318) 445-2401, Ext. 207 Fax: (318) 448-6121 Matthew 26:26-29 While&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":16342,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16988","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16988"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16988\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diocesealex.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}