Update during Holy Week The Eucharist
What is the Eucharist?
The Eucharist is the very sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus which He instituted to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until his return in glory. Thus, He entrusted to His Church this memorial of His death and resurrection.
When did Jesus institute the Eucharist?
Jesus instituted the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the night when He was betrayed. 1 Corinth 11:23.
How did He institute the Eucharist?
Jesus took bread in his hands. He broke it and gave it to them saying, “Take this and eat it, all of you; this is my Body which will be given up for you. Do this in remembrance of me”. And likewise the cup, saying, “Take this and drink, all of you. This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”
Refer to Luke 22:7-20, Mt. 26:17-29, Mk. 14:12-25, 1 Corinth 11:23-26.
What does the Eucharist represent in the life of the Church?
It is the source and summit of all Christian life. Through the Eucharist we are united with the liturgy of Heaven and we have a foretaste of eternal life.
Where does the Eucharist fit in the divine plan of salvation?
The Eucharist is foreshadowed in the Old Testament primarily in the annual Passover meal. Jesus instituted the Eucharist on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper, a Passover meal.
In what way is the Eucharist a memorial of the sacrifice of Christ?
The Eucharist makes present and actual the sacrifice which Christ offered the Father on the cross, once and for all on behalf of mankind. The sacrifice of the cross and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one and the same sacrifice.
How is Christ present in the Eucharist?
He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with His Body and Blood, with His Soul and His Divinity. Present is Christ whole and entire, God and Man.
The above “q & a” format is taken from the Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church; see questions 271-294 on pgs 81-86.
The Catechism addresses all things Eucharist in paragraphs 1322-1419 on pgs 334-356; including all Scriptural references and footnotes.
Since Holy Thursday is almost upon us, the night Christ gave us the Eucharist, consider the following from Dr. Scott Hahn in is book The Lambs Supper:
“The great day of sacrifice remained the feast of Passover. The priests sacrificed lambs, as many as 250,000 per each Passover. A burnt offering, by itself, was not enough. God demanded an interior sacrifice as well. Jesus observed the Jewish laws regarding sacrifice. He celebrated the Passover every year in Jerusalem; and presumably He ate the sacrificed lamb. After all, it wasn’t optional. Consuming the lamb was the only way a faithful Jew could renew his covenant with God, and Jesus was a faithful Jew.
But Passover had more than an ordinary importance in Jesus’ life; it was central to His mission, a definitive moment. Jesus is the Lamb. When Jesus stood before Pilate, John notes that ‘it was the day of preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour’. John 19:14. John knew that the sixth hour was when the priests were beginning the slaughter of the Passover lambs.
Next, John recounts that none of Jesus’ bones were broken on the cross, that ‘Scripture might be fulfilled’. John 19:36. He is referring to Exodus 12:46, which stipulates that the Passover lambs must have no broken bones.
In the same passage, John relates that the onlookers served Jesus sour wine from a sponge on a hyssop branch. See John 19:29 and Exodus 12:22. Hyssop was the branch prescribed by the Law for the Passover sprinkling of the lamb’s blood. Thus, this simple action marked the fulfillment of the new and perfect redemption. And Jesus cried out, ‘It is finished.’
It is not enough that Christ bled and died for our sake. Now we have to play our part. As with the Old Covenant, so with the New. If you want to mark your covenant with god, to seal your covenant with God, to renew your covenant with God, you have to eat the Lamb. ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’ John 6:54.”
Finally, in John 6:53-57, Jesus clearly teaches, without any hint of symbolism, that we are to eat (literally translated chew) His flesh and drink His blood. Then many of His followers say this is hard, who can accept it. And finally, those who cannot accept the command to eat His flesh and drink His blood, “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” In other words, they turned away, they reject His teaching. Oh yea, the verse, John 6:66; the only place in the New Testament that chapter and verse are 666.
So with Holy Week upon us and Holy Thursday here, rejoice in the gift of the Eucharist. He is truly present!! Thanks be to God.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever,
Deacon Mike
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