The significance of bread and wine

The bread which we use is unleavened, that is, made without yeast, because Jesus used unleavened bread at the Last Supper.  It is made in the form of a wafer from the finest flour.  The first reason why Jesus chose bread and wine as the offerings for the Eucharist is that they were the ordinary everyday food of those days.  Wine was the commonest drink at that time because tea was unknown.  As for bread, everyone had that, just as today we all have it in our houses.  As bread and wine could be found everywhere, so the Eucharist could be held in every place where there was a bishop or priest.

And the second reason for Jesus’ choice of bread and wine is this: in a very natural way they represent our life and work, what we are and what we do.  It is food and drink which keep us alive, and so at the Eucharist the bread and wine stand for our lives.  And as food and drink are the chief things we work for, so they also stand for our work.  That is why we offer bread and wine, not corn and grapes.  Corn and grapes grow wild, but bread and wine are the work of human hands. 

At the Offertory, therefore, when we offer the bread and wine to God, we also offer to him ourselves, what we are and what we do, and all our life of the week that is to come.

Wine mixed with water

The priest pours the wine into the chalice – the silver cup – and adds a little water.  This is because Jesus, following the custom of the time, mixed water and wine at the Last Supper.  But it also has a meaning and shows that, when we offer ourselves to God, we desire to be united with him as the water is mixed with the wine.