Having explored the liturgy of the Word, we will now penetrate the liturgy of the Eucharist. We begin with the Offertory, when the priest offers the bread and wine for the sacrifice. This is the time that we join with the priest in offering to God all that we are – our strengths and weaknesses, our joys and struggles; all we have done – our successes and failures; who we are and who we hope to be. We ask that God will take us and transform us by the power of His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are now entering into the most sacred time of Mass, when Christ the High Priest will offer Himself to God the Father, in an unbloody sacrifice as remission for our sins. As the people of God, we have lost the idea of Mass being a sacrifice. We see it more as a celebration – a gathering of God’s people – and this is it – but it’s much more than that.
One of the documents from the Second Vatican Council states: “When we worship God at Mass, we Baptized Catholics, as sharers in Christ’s priesthood, are privileged to participate in His eternal sacrifice of Himself to the Father, on our behalf. As members of the priesthood of the faithful, we offer not only ourselves to the Father, along with our intentions, but especially that which is most precious and acceptable to Him, namely His Divine Son, the perfect Victim Who takes away the sins of the world.”
Jesus takes away the sins of the world. At each Mass we pray three times: “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” The priest also proclaims to us: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.” Where did this title for Jesus, “Lamb of God,” originate?
When John the Baptist saw Christ, he said to his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” The Jews would have been very familiar with the phrase, “Lamb of God,” because during the Feast of Passover, it was mandatory for every male Israelite to appear before the sanctuary of the Temple at Jerusalem. Before sunset, an unblemished lamb was slaughtered in the court of the Temple and after sunset, this lamb, which was roasted, was eaten with unleavened bread, bitter herbs and wine. During this meal, various psalms were recited or sung. The Passover was a memorial commanded by God, in memory of, and in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Israelite people from the slavery of the Egyptians.
The Passover lamb was a real sacrifice, a combination of the sin and peace offering; similarly Our Lord died for us as a sin offering on the Cross, and gives Himself to us as a peace offering in the Blessed Sacrament.
It was during the Passover Meal, which Jesus ate with His apostles, that He instituted the Holy Eucharist. He is the true Lamb of God, sacrificed on the Cross and His sacrifice is made present in an unbloody manner at Mass. Just as the Passover lamb that was sacrificed had to be eaten, Jesus, the Lamb of God, becomes the food for our souls in Holy Communion.
“At the Last Supper, on the night He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. This He did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (CCC 1323).
At the Last Supper, Jesus commissioned His Apostles to be priests, to continue His work in the world. He gave His apostles the power to change bread and wine into His Body and Blood. This power has been passed down in the Catholic Church, by the apostles and bishops, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Jesus gave us His word that the Eucharist is His Body and Blood. “At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ, and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and blood. Faithful to the Lord’s command the Church continues to do, in His memory and until His glorious return, what He did on the eve of His Passion: ‘Then He took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them saying, “This is My body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of Me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you” (CCC 1333).
From the time of the apostles, the Church has believed and taught that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. In 57 A.D., St. Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, which is believed to be the oldest account of the Last Supper. The text recalls that Jesus, “on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He also took the cup at the end of the meal, 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 this blood, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
As early as the first century, the Father’s of the Church have witnessed to us, in their writings, the belief of the Church in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
St. Justin Martyr – 100 - 165 A.D.: “This food we call Eucharist, which no one is allowed to share except the one who believes that our teaching is true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and so lives as Christ has handed down. For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we learned that the food over which thanks has been given by the prayers of the word which comes from Him, and by which our blood and flesh are nourished through a change is, the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus. For the Apostles in the memoirs composed by them, that are called Gospels, have thus handed on what was commanded them; namely, that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said “Do this in remembrance of Me; this is My Body” and that in like manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, ‘This is My Blood.”
St. Ephrem – 306 – 373 A.D.: “In Your sacrament (Eucharist) we daily embrace You and receive You into our bodies; make us worthy to experience the resurrection for which we hope. We have had Your treasure hidden within us ever since we received baptismal grace; it grows ever richer at your sacramental table. Teach us to find our joy in your favor! Lord, we have within us Your memorial, received at Your spiritual table; let us possess it in its full reality when all things shall be made new.”
St. John Chrysostom – 340 – 407 A.D.: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but He who was crucified for us, Christ Himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace is God’s. ‘This is my body,’ he says. This word transforms the things offered.”
It is clear, that from the words of Christ Himself, as well as the teachings of the Church from the beginning, that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Our Lord.
In our next segment, we will explore what we must do in preparation to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and our response to Him.
Wow! And yet another great piece. Thank you for being so open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit Avia Joy! I have never heard the quotes from Sts. Justin, Ephrem and John Chrysostom before. They are so eye opening!!!!
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