The Mass, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord-in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated over the centuries-is the summit and source of all Christian worship and life; it signifies and effects the unity of the people of God and achieves the building up of the body of Christ. It is an action of Christ himself and the Church; in it Christ the Lord, by the ministry of a priest, offers himself, substantially present under the forms of bread and wine, to God the Father and gives himself as spiritual food to the faithful who are associated with his offering.1
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1. Cf. Codex Iuris Canonici (=CIC), 897-898.
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