n.
Celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic church.
It is considered a sacramental reenactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus as well as a true sacrifice in which the body and blood of Jesus (the bread and wine) are offered to God. It is also seen as a sacred meal that unifies and nourishes the community of believers. The mass includes readings from Scripture, a sermon, an offertory, a eucharistic prayer, and communion. The rite was greatly changed after the Second Vatican Council , notably in the adoption of vernacular languages in place of Latin. See also sacrament , transubstantiation .