“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in Him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”
John 6:55-57
Preparing for Holy Communion
In Holy Communion, prepare to meet the Lord Jesus in this special sacrament. The Rite of Holy Communion celebrates the second step toward full initiation into the Church. First Holy Communion is most often celebrated around the age of seven or eight, when the children are of the age of reason and are capable of participating in the sacramental life of the Catholic Church. For First Holy Communion, you must go to the sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Holy Communion. The Eucharist is a gift that takes a whole life time to understand; it is a gift that requires a response from us, that is why we must take care that our children are well prepared.
At your child’s Baptism you, the parents, were told that you “would be the first and best teachers of your children in the way of faith”. Parental involvement in the preparation of your child for First Holy Communion is paramount. The parish ‘helps’, but does not replace your part in the process of leading your children in the development of their faith, through the development and example of your own life. The best preparation for the Eucharist is taking your child to Mass regularly and helping your child understand what it is all about.
For More Information Please Contact: The Parish office if you need to request Eucharist for the homebound
First Communion for Children
As part of the Restored Order process in the Archdiocese of Denver, First Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confirmation are received in the 3rd grade. To receive preparation for these Sacraments, the child will need to be enrolled in our Religious Education program which begins September 17, 2023. The Sacraments are received at a special Mass in late spring or early summer. Please contact Toni Armstead, our RE Coordinator, at [email protected]
First Communion for Adults
Please see our information on RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults).
For first communion requirements and questions, call the parish office. If you’d like to learn more about the Eucharist and why Catholics believe what they do, please check out our RCIA class which runs from September through April, and is open to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Please contact Margaret Wright, RCIA Coordinator, at 720-863-8420 for more information.
The Restored Order
The Archdiocese of Denver is in the process of restoring the order of the Sacraments of Initiation. These three sacraments are originally intended to be received in this order: Baptism, Confirmation then Holy Eucharist. The sacrament that fully initiates a person into the Catholic Church is Holy Eucharist (First Communion).
To watch a video about the Restored Order and to read the Pastoral Letter “Saints Among Us” from Archbishop Aquila please visit www.Archden.org/Saints.
Learn More
The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.” The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.” CCC 1323-1327
The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist. – CCC 1322
