Over the years, church buildings have received numerous titles: domus ecclesiae, domus Dei, Temple of the Most High, Image of the Eternal, Holy Place, and Body of Christ. John Cardinal Newman called churches ‘gospel palaces.’ However, it is also appropriate to reflect on the church as domus Eucharistica, the church as a Eucharistic house. Our churches are the places we gather to ‘eucharist,’ to thank God for His marvelous gifts. The psalmist exhorts us to ‘enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with joy.’ A church building which is eucharistic should foster our thanks by bringing to our eyes those things in salvation history for which we have to be thankful.
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