20180603
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE EUCHARIST, THE
NEW COVENANT
03 JUNE, 2018, Sunday, Corpus Christi
Exodus 24:3–8
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the
people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he
rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and
twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And
he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and
sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And
Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he
threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the
book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said,
“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be
obedient.” 8 And Moses took
the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the
covenant which the Lordhas made
with you in accordance with all these words.”
Psalm 116:12–13
12 What shall I render to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of
salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is
the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, I am thy
servant;
I am
thy servant, the son of thy handmaid.
Thou
hast loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and
call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in
the presence of all his people,
11 But when
Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then
through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of
this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place,
taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons
with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for
the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to
God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15 Therefore he
is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them
from the transgressions under the first covenant.
11 But when
Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,r then through the greater and more perfect
tentp (not made with hands, that
is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the
Holy Place, takings not the blood
of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For
if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with
the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without blemish to God, purify yourt
conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15 Therefore he
is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the
promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them
from the transgressions under the first covenant.u
Mark 14:12–16
12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the
passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and
prepare for you to eat the passover?” 13 And he sent two
of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar
of water will meet you; follow him, 14 and wherever he
enters, say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room,
where I am to eat the passover with my disciples?’ 15 And
he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And
the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them;
and they prepared the passover.
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it,
and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And
he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all
drank of it. 24 And he said to
them, “This is my blood of thec covenant, which is poured out for
many. 25 Truly, I say to
you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I
drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a
hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE EUCHARIST, THE NEW COVENANT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ EX 24:3-8; PS 116:12-13,15-18; HEB 9:11-15; MK 14:12-16,22-26 ]
What is
salvation? It is to live a life of holiness in right relationship with
God, ourselves and with others. When we live a just and charitable life,
we find peace, joy, love and meaning in what we do. Indeed, this is God’s plan
for humanity, that we be His people and He our Lord, so that humanity can be
one in Him and with each other. He created the earth for us all to enjoy
by sharing with each other what we have.
But because
of sin, which is our estrangement from God leading to the fear of death, we become
self-preservative. We put our interests before others’. We are fearful
of rejection by others because we lack the love of God in our lives. When
someone is not in deep relationship with God, he or she seeks the love and
attention of his fellowmen. Not only are we insecure in love and
acceptance of ourselves as persons, we seek physical and material security and
comfort as well. This leads to injustices, discrimination and division
because of selfishness.
It is within
this context that God seeks to restore man to happiness in life by forming us
into a People of God. To achieve this purpose, God chose Abraham to be the Father
of the Chosen People. Through him and his descendants, the Hebrews grew
in number until the Egyptians felt threatened by them. In a bid to
protect their own people, they enslaved the Hebrews until they were set free by
Moses. God’s plan was that the Hebrews would form the People of God
through a covenant that He would make with them. This is the covenant that
the first reading spoke about. It is an agreement made between God and
the people. The Lord instructed Moses to tell the people, “You have seen
what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought
you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole
earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy
nation.” (Ex 19:4-6)
What did the
Old Covenant entail? They must obey the decrees of the Lord as given to Moses,
particularly the Ten Commandments. (cf Ex 20-23)
God on His part would be faithful to them. Moses told the people, “Keep
his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own
well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain
in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
(Dt 4:40)
The commandments were meant to help them to live a harmonious life. (cf Dt 4:6-8)
This covenant was then sealed with the blood of the animals. It was a
symbolic way of cleansing the people of their sins through the sacrifice of the
animals and God’s way of affirming them as His people. It was a
ratification of their decision to be faithful to the laws of the Covenat.
“And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and
they said, We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.”
Unfortunately,
the Old Covenant remained ineffective for two reasons. Firstly, the rituals
were observed externally but their hearts were far from what they
symbolized. It was an animal that was killed in their place. They
were not involved in the real sacrifice. It was only a symbol.
Secondly, the laws of the covenant remained external to them as well.
They did not understand the purpose and the beauty of the laws, especially the
newer generations. They were just obeying the laws slavishly and
blindly. But most of all, the later generations did not see the wonders of
God at work in their lives as their forefathers had. Although they
celebrated the Passover as a memorial annually to recall the events at Exodus,
many did not enter into that experience. It was only ritually celebrated.
They forgot
the advice of Moses to relive the Exodus experience. “But take care and
watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes
have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make
them known to your children and your children’s children.” (Dt 4:9)
The truth is that when we forget the love and mercy of God in our lives, then
we do not appreciate our faith, the rituals which we celebrate because the
context is forgotten. As such the experience of being saved and redeemed
by God was also lost. It became an empty ritual. As a consequence,
without a personal experience of God and understanding of the laws of the covenant,
they lacked the spirit to observe them.
In order to
make efficacious the covenant that was useless and ineffective, Christ “entered
the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull
calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us.” Indeed, the new Covenant
established by Christ is of a more perfect order. Hebrews says, “Now
Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He
has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than one
made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order.” Christ as
the Son of God and the Son of Man has won for us our salvation by His death on
the cross.
Why is
Christ’s blood necessary to effect the new and everlasting covenant God made
with His people? The reason is clear. Hebrews says, “The blood of
goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have
incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how
much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect
sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from
dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.” By His
death on the cross, the sacrifice of His body and blood given up for us, Jesus
reveals to us the unconditional and total love of the Father in giving up His
only Son on the cross for our salvation. By His death, we can be certain
that our sins are forgiven by the Father. By saying ‘Yes’ to the Father as
a man, Christ shows us that it is possible to do God’s will using our human
will. By the giving of His body and blood, Jesus shows us that it is in
the ultimate giving of oneself for the service of God and of others, without
conditions and without reservations, that we can share in the heart of God and
partake of His eternal life.
But more than
just as an example of self-giving to God and our fellowmen, the Lord gives us
the capacity to do what He did. He destroyed the sting of death by His resurrection from
the dead. Man fears death and it is this fear of death that is the source
of many sins that come from self-preservation and fear. Not only
does He take away the sting of death, but He also gives us His Spirit in the
resurrection to enable us to live His life the way He lived. The Holy
Spirit given to us after His resurrection makes it possible for us to share in
His sonship and to partake of the eternal life. So we no longer seek to
achieve perfection by our own strength alone but with the help of His grace by
following His example of self-giving and allow Him to work in and through us.
This capacity
to live and love like Him is possible if we eat His body and drink His blood. This is what today’s
feast is inviting us to do. To celebrate the Eucharist is to offer an act
of thanksgiving and sacrifice, as the psalmist says, “A thanksgiving
sacrifice I make; I will call on the Lord’s name. My vows to the Lord I will
fulfil before all his people.” In offering the Eucharist as a
thanksgiving for the life, passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, which
we celebrate at every Eucharist, we are invited to live out His sacrificial
life and death by doing what He did. This is what we hear at every
Eucharistic celebration, “Do this in memory of me!” Receiving Him in
communion is more than just a superstitious reception of His body and blood,
but it is a real expression of our communion with Him in body and spirit; that
we too want to be like Him, offering our body and soul for the good of our
fellowmen and for the glory of His Father. This is why the
new covenant of Christ is far more superior than that of the Old Covenant
because it is not just an external ritual but a real participation of His
sacrifice.
As we receive
Him in Spirit by listening to the Word of God that is preached at the
Eucharist, praying and worshipping Him in His Spirit, and receiving Him at Holy
Communion, we become more and more united in Him. Living in Him and He
in us, we are transformed, as we say in the Eucharistic prayer, to become His
body the Church. United with Christ as the Head and the Church as His
body, we are no longer alone in our journey but we find strength in and through
each other, especially the Christian community to journey in our faith.
As we experience His presence and love concretely in the Christian community
and when we reach out to others in love and service, we can truly affirm that
the Eucharist, the New Covenant of the Lord is transforming to those who
receive it and is efficacious in changing lives.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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