28
Aug
THE EUCHARIST IS A SACRIFICE. This is part 4 of my series on the US Catholic Bishops’ document, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church, which will guide their three-year National Eucharistic Revival which began last June. To read past articles on this Revival, the whole document, or the free study guide, go to our Parish website: stmaryrutherford.org and click on National Eucharistic Revival Bulletin Articles. We begin this article with the words said at each holy Mass:
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The Institution Narrative in all Eucharistic Prayers “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, |
CHRIST OFFERS HIMSELF TO REDEEM SINNERS. The exact words in the box above, in that exact order, are NOT found in the Bible. The ‘Institution Narrative’ in each Eucharistic Prayer is like a rich broth which the Church created by ‘boiling down’ the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper [Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20] and other references to it by Jesus (The Bread of Life Discourse John 6:22-59) or an Apostle (1 Peter 2:21-24; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26), to cite just a few biblical references. These words encapsulate how the Eucharist is a Memorial, a Remembrance, a Communal Meal – and above all – a Sacrifice.
WE ARE ALL SINNERS. The fallout of our First Parents’ ‘Original Sin’ is like a virus that taints every human action. However, the grace we receive by sharing in Christ’s once-for-all Sacrifice is like a firewall that can protect us from sin. Each time we worthily partake of the Eucharist, we are given a ‘dose’ of the graces Christ won for us by His Passion, Death and Resurrection. No wonder our First Pope, Saint Peter, could boldly and joyfully proclaim, “By his wounds you have been healed.” [1 Peter 2:24]. To understand how by sharing in the Eucharistic Elements we gain such a great Gift, we need to recall salvation history.
SACRIFICE ATONES FOR SIN. Our ancestors in faith offered many sacrifices to express their remorse and devotion; of all sacrificial offerings, the greatest, most important one is the Passover meal. Our Jewish sisters and brothers are still mystically joined to Moses and the Israelites as they were freed from slavery in Egypt by joining each year in a sacrificial meal of unleavened bread, an unblemished lamb, whose roasted flesh was eaten, and whose blood was used to mark the doors of their home so the avenging Angel of Death would ‘pass over’ them. This was probably the meal Jesus and the Apostles celebrated at the Last Supper – which Jesus radically ‘altered.’
THE LAMB OF GOD. Before we consume the Sacred Species in Holy Communion, the presider echoes Saint John the Baptist’s words: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). At the Last Supper, a few hours before His Body was nailed to a Cross and His Blood was poured out when a soldier’s lance pierced His Sacred Heart, Jesus specified that all He was about to do was for love for us, to redeem us from sin, and restore us to eternal life. He did all this, as Preface V for Easter says, by becoming “the Priest, the Altar and the Lamb of sacrifice.”
In John’s Gospel, which is rich in symbolism, it says that when the Crucified Christ was thirsty, “they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.” (John 19:29b). Hyssop is a flimsy, short twig that could never hold a wet sponge so high, but Moses directed the people to use a stick of hyssop to mark their doors with the Passover Lamb’s blood. And it is cited in one of the Bible’s greatest penitential hymns: “Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:9). So, as the Bible notes, the Eucharist, ‘makes present’ for us Christ’s Sacrifice so that we can be joined to it and share in the forgiveness of all our sins and all graces He won for us! How could we ‘pass over’ this weekly dose of grace?
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS
THE EUCHARIST IS A SACRIFICE. This is part 4 of my series on the US Catholic Bishops’ document, The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church, which will guide their three-year National Eucharistic Revival which began last June. To read past articles on this Revival, the whole document, or the free study guide, go to our Parish website: stmaryrutherford.org and click on National Eucharistic Revival Bulletin Articles. We begin this article with the words said at each holy Mass:
|
The Institution Narrative in all Eucharistic Prayers “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, |
CHRIST OFFERS HIMSELF TO REDEEM SINNERS. The exact words in the box above, in that exact order, are NOT found in the Bible. The ‘Institution Narrative’ in each Eucharistic Prayer is like a rich broth which the Church created by ‘boiling down’ the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper [Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20] and other references to it by Jesus (The Bread of Life Discourse John 6:22-59) or an Apostle (1 Peter 2:21-24; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26), to cite just a few biblical references. These words encapsulate how the Eucharist is a Memorial, a Remembrance, a Communal Meal – and above all – a Sacrifice.
WE ARE ALL SINNERS. The fallout of our First Parents’ ‘Original Sin’ is like a virus that taints every human action. However, the grace we receive by sharing in Christ’s once-for-all Sacrifice is like a firewall that can protect us from sin. Each time we worthily partake of the Eucharist, we are given a ‘dose’ of the graces Christ won for us by His Passion, Death and Resurrection. No wonder our First Pope, Saint Peter, could boldly and joyfully proclaim, “By his wounds you have been healed.” [1 Peter 2:24]. To understand how by sharing in the Eucharistic Elements we gain such a great Gift, we need to recall salvation history.
SACRIFICE ATONES FOR SIN. Our ancestors in faith offered many sacrifices to express their remorse and devotion; of all sacrificial offerings, the greatest, most important one is the Passover meal. Our Jewish sisters and brothers are still mystically joined to Moses and the Israelites as they were freed from slavery in Egypt by joining each year in a sacrificial meal of unleavened bread, an unblemished lamb, whose roasted flesh was eaten, and whose blood was used to mark the doors of their home so the avenging Angel of Death would ‘pass over’ them. This was probably the meal Jesus and the Apostles celebrated at the Last Supper – which Jesus radically ‘altered.’
THE LAMB OF GOD. Before we consume the Sacred Species in Holy Communion, the presider echoes Saint John the Baptist’s words: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). At the Last Supper, a few hours before His Body was nailed to a Cross and His Blood was poured out when a soldier’s lance pierced His Sacred Heart, Jesus specified that all He was about to do was for love for us, to redeem us from sin, and restore us to eternal life. He did all this, as Preface V for Easter says, by becoming “the Priest, the Altar and the Lamb of sacrifice.”
In John’s Gospel, which is rich in symbolism, it says that when the Crucified Christ was thirsty, “they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.” (John 19:29b). Hyssop is a flimsy, short twig that could never hold a wet sponge so high, but Moses directed the people to use a stick of hyssop to mark their doors with the Passover Lamb’s blood. And it is cited in one of the Bible’s greatest penitential hymns: “Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:9). So, as the Bible notes, the Eucharist, ‘makes present’ for us Christ’s Sacrifice so that we can be joined to it and share in the forgiveness of all our sins and all graces He won for us! How could we ‘pass over’ this weekly dose of grace?
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS