New creation New Covenant

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary for the The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ connect the Ratification of the Covenant, the Sacrifice of Jesus and the Lord’s Supper.

Corpus Christi Rome 2015

The Book of Exodus describes the action of Moses to seal with blood the Covenant established by God with Israel.

* [24:4] Sacred stones: stone shafts or slabs, erected as symbols of the fact that each of the twelve tribes had entered into this covenant with God; see 23:24; Gn 28:18.

The nature of Jesus Sacrifice offering His Blood in a New Covenant of eternal redemption is proclaimed in the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews.

* [9:11–14] Christ, the high priest of the spiritual blessings foreshadowed in the Old Testament sanctuary, has actually entered the true sanctuary of heaven that is not of human making (Heb 9:11). His place there is permanent, and his offering is his own blood that won eternal redemption (Heb 9:12). If the sacrifice of animals could bestow legal purification (Heb 9:13), how much more effective is the blood of the sinless, divine Christ who spontaneously offered himself to purge the human race of sin and render it fit for the service of God (Heb 9:14).

The Institution narrative from the Gospel of Mark describes the actions of Jesus at the Last Supper to bring into being a new community in His Body.

* [14:22–24] The actions and words of Jesus express within the framework of the Passover meal and the transition to a new covenant the sacrifice of himself through the offering of his body and blood in anticipation of his passion and death. His blood of the covenant both alludes to the ancient rite of Ex 24:4–8 and indicates the new community that the sacrifice of Jesus will bring into being (Mt 26:26–28; Lk 22:19–20; 1 Cor 11:23–25).

Tom Shanahan, S.J comments that we are invited to enter into these very actions of Jesus: to give up and to pour out our love and compassion for others; all in imitation of Jesus' words and actions at the Last Supper.

What an incredible challenge that is.  We do the "giving" and the "pouring" of ourselves primarily in response to God's gift in the person of Jesus who accomplishes these actions by his death and resurrection.  As we are nourished by Our Lord's actions of giving himself over for the salvation of all, we are challenged to respond similarly to others: that we be nourishment for them as Jesus nourishes us with his life, death and resurrection.

Shawn Woo of Trinity Cambridge notes that because it depicts and dispenses the promise of the eternal gospel (Rev. 14:6) itself, the Lord’s Supper is inexhaustible in its spiritual value and theological meaning, and hardly the monotonous ritual void of power and meaning it is too often made out to be.

This is the meaning behind Paul’s teaching that the Lord’s Supper is a “participation” or “communion.” In partaking in the Lord’s Supper, we commune with the body and blood of Christ, we are united with Him, and through Him with the rest of His body, the church. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16-17). In the Lord’s Supper, we acknowledge our new kinship in the family of God, united not by the blood of our fathers, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 offers that when we eat the Body of Christ, we become the Body of Christ. We are joined with him and with each other. This marvelous truth has many effects.

Friar Jude Winkler connects the cutting of the Covenant in Exodus with the spilling of Christ’s blood in the Letter to the Hebrews. We are invited to celebrate entering into the mystery present at the Supper, Cross and Resurrection. Friar Jude explores the change in language from Aramaic in Mark and Matthew to Greek by Luke and Paul in describing the Body and Blood of Christ. He notes the deep symbolic connection of the Last Supper to the Passover.

David Brickner cites an ancient rabbinic source, the Mishnah, that instructs those celebrating to drink from the cup four times during the Passover seder (Pesahim 10:1). That tradition remains to this day.

Both Jesus and Paul draw on something from Jewish tradition to provide insights not previously understood. By calling the cup “the new covenant in my blood,” Jesus makes a direct reference to the promise of Jeremiah 31. God had declared that He would make a new covenant because the previous covenant had become “broken” (Jeremiah 31:32). To violate a covenant agreement with God would surely incur His wrath and judgment—a terrible cup! But instead, God promised a new covenant of grace and salvation.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that fidelity to contemplative practice over months, years, and even a lifetime opens our hearts, minds, and bodies to the ongoing creative flow of Spirit.  He notes that from our experiences of contemplation—union with Love—we can then live and work in ways that are more compassionate and healing.

In contemplative practice, we refuse to identify with any one side (while still maintaining our intelligence and ability to think critically). We hold the tension of seeming conflicts and paradoxes, going beyond words to pure, open-ended experience, which has the potential to unify contradictions. This is a creative tension because when held with loving intention, something utterly new and creative can emerge.

From our Baptism, death and rebirth in Christ, we are led to the source and summit of our relationship with Jesus through communion with His Body and Blood.

References

(n.d.). CHAPTER 24 Ratification of the Covenant. 1Moses himself was told .... Retrieved June 3, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/exodus/exodus24.htm

(n.d.). Hebrews, chapter 9 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/hebrews9:37

(n.d.). Mark, chapter 14 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/14

(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/

(2002, March 1). The Mystery of the Passover Cup – Jews for Jesus. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/newsletter/newsletter-mar-2002/the-mystery-of-the-passover-cup/

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/