32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

ORATIONS: EUCHARISTIC ADORATION. In part 13 of my series on The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church US Bishops’ document, I’m reflecting on the 7th of the 7 prayers used to end Benediction. The 7 ‘themes’ are: Memorial; True God/True Man; Paschal Lamb of God; Heavenly Bread of Angels; Spirit and Truth; Life-Giving Bread/Viaticum; and Paschal Mystery Renewed. Past articles on this Revival, the whole document, and a free study guide, are on our Parish website: stmaryrutherford.org; click on National Eucharistic Revival Bulletin Articles.

WHAT IS THE PASCHAL MYSTERY? Soon after we fell into the sickness of sin, God promised a remedy for Original Sin, for all sins, and even for death! In the ‘Proto-Evangelium’ or ‘First Gospel’ God told the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Since God spoke in the plural, Catholicism believes this promise was fulfilled in Jesus and Mary, who conquered Satan through the Incarnation: God becoming man, and the Paschal Mystery: the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. This reality is depicted in statues of our Blessed Mother, sometimes with the Child Jesus, crushing the head of a snake or serpent – and in the Mel Gibson movie, ‘The Passion of the Christ.’

EUCHARIST ‘RE-PRESENTS’ THE PASCHAL MYSTERY. A common misunderstanding among Protestants – and even some Catholics – is that the holy Mass is merely a memorial and NOT a sacrifice – or that to call it a sacrifice means that Christ is executed repeatedly. That is why we use the term ‘re-presents’ or ‘makes present again’ the ‘once for all’ Sacrifice offered by Christ on the Cross AND at the Last Supper’s Table. Here is how the Bible explains it: “(We) have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God … For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.” (Hebrews 10:10-12, 14)

If we ‘misread’ or ‘misinterpret’ this quote, as some do, we could ‘read into’ the line “once for all” to mean that all are saved … whether they want to be or not! Catholicism insists that we must actively accept for ourselves, individually, what was collectively offered for us, in order to be saved. The Church attaches conditions to this that could help secure one’s salvation, such as one’s ability to understand, cultural and societal pressures, the sins and faults of Christians that make the Gospel unacceptable, etc. So how is this “once for all” Sacrifice ‘made present’ for us?

While ALL Christians share in the One Eternal Priesthood of Jesus Christ through Baptism, those who are Ordained have a unique share in it. Both Ordained Priests or Bishops have a share in the MINISTERIAL Priesthood of Jesus Christ, which enables them to ‘feed the flock’ with the Body and Blood of Christ, which they confect in the Eucharist. (Bishops are further ‘reconfigured’ to Christ the Head, which empowers them to lead God’s Church.) Through the mystery of what we call ‘Transubstantiation,’ the bread and wine are consecrated or changed into Christ’s Real Presence, thereby ‘making present’ the “once for all” Sacrifice offered on the Cross – in an unbloody manner. And since Christ’s ‘Real Presence’ does not cease after the holy Mass ends, our coming into His presence – reserved in the Tabernacle – or exposed in Eucharistic Adoration, enables us to bask in the blessings He won for us!

Which brings us to the question Jesus asked His Apostles – and us – in the Garden, in the time between which He offered Himself at the Last Supper Table and then on the Cross: “Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark 14:37b)

With God’s love and my prayers,

Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS