HOLY WEEK - Part Four

    

    The Lord's Supper ....... Passion  of the  Lord ...... The Lord's Resurrection

We enter now the most sacred time in the Church's liturgical worship, the Sacred Paschal Triduum; Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Their voices give us a rich resource for our personal prayer. We begin with The Lord's Supper.

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

It is the second reading, in the description given by St. Paul, that we hear the account, of the institution of the Eucharist. It takes place at the Passover Meal, commemorating the night before the Exodus, when the Lord spared the Israelites who's doorposts were marked with the blood of the Pascal Lamb. 

Through his servant Moses, the Lord was about to free the people from slavery and lead them through the parted waters of the Red Sea into the promised land. Only those who passed through the sea would inherit this promised land. but what of those who would be born after this time, how were they to pass through the sea? By reenacting this ritual of the Passover Meal, those who shared in this meal would be transported, as it were, back in time, to join with those who first passed through the sea.

But now, the Lord Jesus, the "new Moses", is about to bring about the real salvation, by freeing the people from their slavery to sin and eternal death. And how is this to be accomplished?  By his perfect YES to the Father, and his humble surrender to his passion and death on the cross, Jesus breaks the chains of gilt that Satan has used to enslave the people. Now Jesus invites the people to unit their yes with his YES; and by their accepting a sharing in his passion and cross, as he will lead lead them through death into eternal life. 

Once again, it will be by partaking in a sacred meal. consider these words of Jesus recorded in John's gospel.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Mn and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”               

Jesus gives us an instrument of "Communion" with himself. You bring your "yes" and truly lay it on the altar of sacrifice, to be united to Jesus YES. That is why the Mass is both sacrifice and meal. Jesus YES cost him his passion and death. Our "yes" means we too will accept what ever sacrifice we must face because of it. You seal your "yes" by partaking in this sacred meal of the Eucharist.

 Considerations for the next time you come to Mass:

• ... As you enter the church, you are coming to the "place of decision", where you will enter into a covenant, (a contract) with God. 
• ... As the scriptures are read, you hear the terms of this covenant.
• ... As the bread and wine are brought to the altar, they contain your unconditional "yes" to this covenant.
• ... As the words of consecration are pronounced, your "yes" is taken into the presence of God, by the High Priest, Jesus, by nailing it to his Cross.
• ... As you take communion, you seal your "yes" with love.  

.................................... footnotes ....................................

O God,
who have called us
to participate in this most sacred Supper,
in which your Only Begotten Son,
when about to hand himself over to death,
entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity,
the banquet of his love, grant, we pray,
that we may draw from so great a mystery,
the fullness of charity and of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.