The Eucharist is a meal! A paschal banquet.
It was in the context of the Passover meal that the Eucharist was instituted. The elements of the Eucharist are meal elements: bread and wine; food and drink. As a meal, “it expresses the fellowship which God wishes to establish with us and which we ourselves must build with one another.” At the Last Supper Jesus specifically said, "take and eat" and "take and drink".
We can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of us. He enters into friendship with us: “You are my friends” (Jn 15:14). Indeed, it is because of him that we have life: “He who eats me will live because of me”(Jn 6:57). Eucharistic communion brings about in a sublime way the mutual “abiding” of Christ and each of his followers: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4).
         As a meal it anticipates our participation in the eternal, wedding banquet prepared for us with God in glory.