Peter Leithart, on the Eucharist and the way things really ought to be:

The Eucharist is one aspect of the church’s paideia, the formation of the church into the body of Christ that she is. Though the Eucharist does not bypass the mind and conscious reflection, the effect it has is more in the realm of acquiring a skill than in the realm of learning a new set of facts; the effect is more a matter of “training” than “teaching.” At the Supper, we eat bread and drink wine together with thanksgiving not merely to show the way things really ought to be but to practice the way things really ought to be. […]

The Eucharist does not shape the church and its members by ceremonial manipulation, as if repetition of the rite, by putting words in our mouths and making us go through the motions of ecclesiastical unity, performs a kind of sacred brainwashing. The Eucharist shapes the church because Christ is present at the meal by his Spirit, and therefore she is, like the apostles (Acts 4:13), changed by communion with her husband. The Supper makes the church the church because the communion that takes place at the Supper makes the church like Christ. It would be foolish to presume we can explain this communion in anything close to a comprehensive way but the fact that the encounter takes the specific form of a feast offers hints and clues about the specific ways we are remade into the image of Christ. […]

The Eucharist is not merely a “sign” to be examined, dissected, and analyzed but a rite whose enactment disciplines the church in the virtues of Christian living and forms the church and thereby the world into something more like the kingdom it signifies. As with music or drama, the interpretation of the Eucharist lies chiefly in its performance, and its performance should fill not only the few minutes of worship but all of life. The operative command in connection with the Supper is not “Reflect on this” but “Do this.”