[On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church pp.39-40.]

At our baptism ceremony we were all baptised into the new life with Christ, the new life with the Eucharist. [We are people of the Eucharist.] Through baptism we were all reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. At our baptism our sins were forgiven. This is our first experience of the salvific and personal activity of God's mercy and forgiveness of our sins. This is why converts who are preparing to be Catholic/Christian do not receive the sacrament of Penance [also known as the Sacrament of Conversion, Confession, Forgiveness or Reconciliation.

The sacrament of Penance is only received after baptism since baptism does not remove one's free will through which the baptised can sin. The sacrament of Penance is a supportive sacrament that assists the baptised to live the new life of Christ, the life of the Eucharist.

According to St Thomas Aquinas the Eucharist is “the summit of the spiritual life and the goal of all the sacraments.”

Although the sacrament of Penance occasions a call to conversion, a call away from one's sinful life and living, it is not the first call to conversion. Our baptism in Christ is our first and fundamental call to conversion. But there is only one baptism. The act of being baptised cannot be repeated.

So this begs the question, “What must we do to show that we are responding to the call to ongoing conversion to Christ whenever we have sinned?” For baptism does not abolish one's inclination to sin. Baptism does not negate one's free will nor does it reverse human frailty and weakness. The newly baptised has now entered the struggle of Christian life, the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord

[Eucharist] never ceases to call us.

The ongoing call to conversion to the ways of Christ is occasioned in the daily celebration of the Eucharist and, by extension, the personal devotional adoration of the Eucharist [the real presence of the Corpus Christi] reserved in the Tabernacle. “Daily conversion and penance find their source and nourishment in the Eucharist, for in it is made present the sacrifice of Christ which has reconciled us with God. Through the Eucharist those who live from the life of Christ are fed and strengthened. ‘It is a remedy to free us from our daily faults and to preserve us from mortal sin.'” [Catechism of the Catholic Church pg 323.]

The Eucharist is the instituted sacrifice of the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing hebroke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat’; he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them. ‘Drink all of you from this,’ he said ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” [Mt 26:26-28.]

The call to conversion anticipates the forgiveness of sins. In order for us to continue the Christian struggle of conversion we are to continuously seek God's forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ.

Although the sins of the world has been taken away we cannot be presumptuous that since God knows my sinful state he has already forgiven me and there is no need for me to respond to God's initiative for the forgiveness of my sins and the sins of world.

At the end of the Communion Rite when the priest says “This is the Lamb of God who

takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.” all respond with the words “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

It is important to note that we are free to receive the forgiveness of our sins. God's forgiveness is continuously being poured out for many and it is we who are to personally decide whether we want God’s forgiveness or whether we do not what it. When Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, appeared to his disciples he commissioned them to forgive sins.

“As the Father sent me, so am I sending you. After saying this he breathed on them and

said: Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” [John 20:21-23.]

The forgiveness of sins is God's reserve and it is through the Sacrament of Penance that God personally absolves our individual sins. Therefore we can see how the Sacrament of Penance serves the sacrament of the Eucharist, the source and summit of our lives and living.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the interior conversion of our lives and living inevitably prompts us to visible expressions and signs of conversion. And the Sacrament of Penance is a visible sign and gesture of our God ward conversion, Eucharistic conversion.

Is the Sacrament of Penance the same as the Penitential Rite celebrated at the beginning of the Mass? They are not the same. The penitential rite in the celebration of the Mass is merely to dispose the worshipper and the general congregation for the celebration of Christ [Eucharist], our preordained reconciliation.

The penitential rite assists the worshipper towards acknowledging the need for reconciliation [Eucharist] with God through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. However, this rite does not replace the Sacrament of Penance since it does not merely dispose the worshipper but brings the penitent worshipper to recommitment for the need to personally receiving God's forgiveness and accepting God's bountiful graces to avoid sinning.

But one's personal response to the Sacrament of Penance begins in God's revelation of love, Jesus Christ [Eucharist]. The love of God through Christ [Eucharist] is the call to have a contrite heart and spiritual disposition toward a new heart that gives rise to a continuous need for personal conversion to be reconciled with God.