In Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical of the Eucharist, he
states “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.
This truth does not simply express a daily experience of
faith, but sums up the heart of the mystery of the Church.
He goes on to say that the Second Vatican Council rightly
proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source
and summit of the Christian life.” For the most Holy
Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth:
Christ himself, our Passover and living bread. Through
his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the
Holy Spirit, He offer life to men. Consequently, the gaze
of the church is constantly turned to her Lord present in
the Sacrament of the Altar in which we discover the full
manifestation of His boundless love.
Pope John Paul II also states that the worship of the
Eucharist outside of the Mass is of immeasurable value
for practice of Eucharistic adoration, and exposition of
the Blessed Sacrament in particular, as well as prayer of
adoration before Christ present under the Eucharistic
species. (Species is the visible form of bread or of wine
retained after consecration)