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I H S
+JMJ+
Saint Joan of Arc
Greetings from a BLAST of a session tonight!
'Course this could be just me — Corpus Christi (The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) -- is an absolute FAVORITE day of mine — but gee, I had more fun and joy tonight just savoring the Readings for this Sunday and the commentaries — from the "scholars," yes, but perhaps even more so? The amazing insights of the Blue Collar Bible Study Evangelists!
I mean, the connection between the first covenant, the early Passover Feasts — including the Last Supper of Jesus — and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass makes me want to get down on my hands and knees and pray in a loud voice "For Heaven's sake, God, won't You unite us! Or, forgive me, what I mean is make us REALIZE that we ARE united???"
Ahem. I may have been a tad overexcited tonight. :-)
Why Psalm 116?
"I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the LORD!" Yes, yes! But did you know that Jesus sang this Psalm at the Last Supper, following the eating of the Passover lamb? Well, He did…as a Jew, of course, in thanksgiving (Eucharistic meaning!) for the deliverance to the exodus from Egypt. We sing it in gratitude for the exodus from sin, with much thanksgiving, through the sacrifice of Jesus!
But wait…there's more!
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; -- get this! Jesus sang about His Mother at the Last Supper!!!
"Kelly, for Heaven's sake, calm DOWN!"
You're right, you're right. And I — we — did reflect silently and seriously on this strophe of the beautifully translated Sequence:
Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
Endless death, or endless life.
It certainly gave us pause, and an impetus to pray for, as Sunday's Collect reminds us:
O God, Who is this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of Your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood, that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of Your redemption.
The Passover Preparation — this is TOO COOL!
You know what the ritual preparations for the Passover Feast were? (They aren't now…there's no temple, but there was:
- Choose an Unblemished Male Lamb
- Sacrifice the Lamb
- Spread the Blood of the Lamb
- EAT the Flesh of the Lamb!!
And get this:
For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head, and
For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of a cross.
one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb. (Justin Martyr,
Dialogue with Trypho)
This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, friends!!! Is there a reason NOT to be excited????
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus
gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus’ passing over to his father by his
death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in
the Eucharist… (CCC 1340)
Okay, I'll let you go now. Thanks for bearing with me!
Your humble scribe,
Kelly <---- a="" and="" birthday="" br="" doran="" father="" from="" hahn="" happy="" james="" now="" scott="" word="">~~~~~
Points to Ponder, by Doctor Scott Hahn
Blood of the Covenant
All of today's readings are set in the context of the Passover. The First Reading recalls the old covenant celebrated at Sinai following the first Passover and the exodus.
In sprinkling the blood of the covenant on the Israelites, Moses was symbolizing God's desire in this covenant to make them His family, His "blood" relations.
Quoting Moses' words in today's Gospel, Jesus elevates and transforms this covenant symbol to an extraordinary reality. In the new covenant made in the blood of Christ, we truly become one with His body and blood. The first covenant made with Moses and Israel at Sinai was but a shadow of this new and greater covenant made by Christ with all humankind in that upper room (see Hebrews 10:1).
The Passover that Jesus celebrates with His 12 apostles "actualizes," makes real, what could only be symbolized by Moses' sacrifice at the altar with 12 pillars. What Jesus does today is establish His Church as the new Israel, and His Eucharist as the new worship of the living God.
In offering himself to God through the Spirit, Jesus delivered Israel from the transgressions of the first covenant. And, as we hear in today's Epistle, by His blood He purified us, and made us capable of true worship.
God does not want dead works or animal sacrifices. He wants our own flesh and blood, our own lives, consecrated to Him, offered as a living sacrifice. This is the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving that we sing of in today's Psalm. This is the Eucharist. What we do in memory of Him is to pledge our lives to Him, to renew our promise to live by the words of His covenant and to be His servants.
There is no other return we can offer to Him for the eternal inheritance He has won for us. So let us approach the altar, calling upon His name in thanksgiving, taking up the cup of salvation.
