Dear friends,
This week, we continue our communal reading of “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.” Our sections this week remind us about the role of the Mass and Christ’s sacrifice for us. As we celebrate Cor- pus Christi and Father’s Day this Sunday, let us remember the connection we have to God the Father through our celebration of the Eucharist.
Be blessed!
With love, Fr. John
The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church (The Gift: Part I)
At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrated on Holy Thursday, the priest prays these words: For he is the true and eternal Priest, who instituted the pattern of an everlasting sacrifice and was the first to offer himself as the saving Victim, commanding us to make this offering as his memorial. As we eat his flesh that was sacrificed for us, we are made strong, and, as we drink his Blood that was poured out for us, we are washed clean.
The words of the liturgy on the night the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist speak to us of the Mass as the re-presentation of Christ’s unique sacrifice on the Cross, the reception of Christ truly present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and the marvelous effects of communion in those who receive this gift.
The mission of the Lord’s entire life on earth was to glorify the Father by bringing us salvation. In the Nicene Creed recited at Mass, we profess “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” The salvation offered in the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ is nothing less than sharing in the very life of God, in the communion of love among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no greater gift that God could possibly give us. “In Christ, we are sharers in the divine nature.” (2 Pt 1:4) The Church Fathers referred to this participation in the divine life as “divinization.” The eternal Son of God made this possible by becoming man and uniting humanity to his divine Person. St. Augustine explained, “the maker of man was made man, so that man might be a receiver of God.” In fact, Pope Francis reminds us that “in the bread of the Eucharist, ‘creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself.’”
The Sacrifice of Christ
To begin to comprehend the tremendous gift offered by Christ through his Incarnation, Death, and Resurrec- tion, that gift that is made present to us in the Eucharist, we must first realize how truly profound is our aliena- tion from the Source of all life as a result of sin. We have abundant experience of evil, yet so many of us deny the cause of much of that evil—our own selfishness, our own sins. As St. John wrote in his first letter, “If we say, “we are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1:8)
Sin is an offense against God, a failure to love God and our neighbor that wounds our nature and injures human solidarity. The capabilities, talents, and gifts we have received from God are meant to be used for good—not the false and illusory good that we in our self-centered desire create for ourselves, but the true good that glori- fies the Father of goodness and is directed for the good of others and, in the end, is also good for us. When we misuse the gifts of creation, when we selfishly focus on ourselves, we choose the path of vice rather than the way of virtue. This self-centeredness is an inheritance of the Fall of our first parents. Without the grace of Christ received at Baptism, strengthened in Confirmation, and nourished by the Eucharist, this selfishness dominates us.
In Christ, however, what was lost by sin has been restored and renewed even more wondrously by grace. Jesus, the new Adam, “was crucified under Pontius Pilate,” offering himself up as a sacrifice so that we may receive the inheritance that was lost by sin. “By freely offering his life on the cross, Christ allows us to become the children of God” (Jn 1:12) and to inherit the Kingdom of God. St. Peter reminds us, Christ himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. “By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Pt 2:24)
At the Last Supper, celebrating the Passover, Jesus makes explicit that his impending death, freely embraced out of love, is sacrificial: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, say- ing, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27-28) In the words and gestures of the Last Supper, Jesus makes it clear that out of love for us he is freely offering his life for the forgiveness of our sins. In doing so, he is both the priest offering a sacrifice and the victim being offered. As priest, Jesus is offering a sacrifice to God the Father, an offering prefigured by the offering of bread and wine by Melchizedek, Priest of God Most High (Gen 14:18; see Ps 110:4; Heb 5-7 passim). Anticipating his Passion in the institution of the Eucharist, Christ has indicated the forms under which his self-offering would be sacramentally present to us until the end of time.
Reflection Questions
- What is the Mass according to the prayers of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper? (3-part answer)
- What is sin?