20210606 THE MASS AS A REAL SACRIFICE OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS
06 June, 2021, Sunday, Corpus Christi
First reading | Exodus 24:3-8 © |
This is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you
Moses went and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that the Lord has decreed.’ Moses put all the commands of the Lord into writing, and early next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifices. Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the altar. 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.’ Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people. This’ he said ‘is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you, containing all these rules.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18 © |
The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.
How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.
O precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithful.
Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;
you have loosened my bonds.
The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.
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.
The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.
Second reading | Hebrews 9:11-15 © |
The blood of Christ can purify our inner self
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 the one made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has 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. 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.
He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant.
Sequence |
Lauda, Sion
The Sequence may be said or sung in full, or using the shorter form indicated by the asterisked verses.
Sing forth, O Zion, sweetly sing
The praises of thy Shepherd-King,
In hymns and canticles divine;
Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song
Worthy his praises to prolong,
So far surpassing powers like thine.
Today no theme of common praise
Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –
The living, life-dispensing food –
That food which at the sacred board
Unto the brethren twelve our Lord
His parting legacy bestowed.
Then be the anthem clear and strong,
Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,
The very music of the breast:
For now shines forth the day sublime
That brings remembrance of the time
When Jesus first his table blessed.
Within our new King’s banquet-hall
They meet to keep the festival
That closed the ancient paschal rite:
The old is by the new replaced;
The substance hath the shadow chased;
And rising day dispels the night.
Christ willed what he himself had done
Should be renewed while time should run,
In memory of his parting hour:
Thus, tutored in his school divine,
We consecrate the bread and wine;
And lo – a Host of saving power.
This faith to Christian men is given –
Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:
Into his blood the wine is turned:
What though it baffles nature’s powers
Of sense and sight? This faith of ours
Proves more than nature e’er discerned.
Concealed beneath the two-fold sign,
Meet symbols of the gifts divine,
There lie the mysteries adored:
The living body is our food;
Our drink the ever-precious blood;
In each, one undivided Lord.
Not he that eateth it divides
The sacred food, which whole abides
Unbroken still, nor knows decay;
Be one, or be a thousand fed,
They eat alike that living bread
Which, still received, ne’er wastes away.
The good, the guilty share therein,
With sure increase of grace or sin,
The ghostly life, or ghostly death:
Death to the guilty; to the good
Immortal life. See how one food
Man’s joy or woe accomplisheth.
We break the Sacrament, but bold
And firm thy faith shall keep its hold,
Deem not the whole doth more enfold
Than in the fractured part resides
Deem not that Christ doth broken lie,
’Tis but the sign that meets the eye,
The hidden deep reality
In all its fullness still abides.
– – – – – –
*Behold the bread of angels, sent
For pilgrims in their banishment,
The bread for God’s true children meant,
That may not unto dogs be given:
Oft in the olden types foreshowed;
In Isaac on the altar bowed,
And in the ancient paschal food,
And in the manna sent from heaven.
*Come then, good shepherd, bread divine,
Still show to us thy mercy sign;
Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;
So may we see thy glories shine
In fields of immortality;
*O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,
Our present food, our future rest,
Come, make us each thy chosen guest,
Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest
With saints whose dwelling is with thee.
Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn6:51 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Mark 14:12-16,22-26 © |
This is my body; this is my blood
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.’ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.
And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’
After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.
THE MASS AS A REAL SACRIFICE OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ EX 24:3-8; PS 116:12-13,15-18; HEB 9:11-15; MK 14:12-16,22-26]
The focus of the liturgy for this year’s feast of the Body and Blood is on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our redemption. The symbol of this sacrifice is the shedding of His blood on the cross for the expiation of our sins. Hence, the readings are taken from the book of the Exodus, underscoring the Blood of the Covenant from the holocausts offered that was sprinkled towards the people and the altar as a symbolic way sealing the Covenant. However, this Covenant we know was not effective because it was merely symbolic. It was merely ceremonial rather than a real cleansing of their sins. The sacrifice had to be repeated again and again every year. The victim for the sacrifice however was an animal. But this victim did not sacrifice itself willingly and knowingly. The people were merely observers rather than participants of the sacrifice of the animals. Hence, the effects were limited.
However, as the letter to the Hebrews suggests, the sacrifice of Christ is far more superior for He is the Eternal High Priest of the New Covenant. Christ’s sacrifice is perfect because Christ was not just the priest but the victim of the sacrifice. As the victim, He was worthy because He was unblemished. As the High Priest who offered Himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He could intercede for the whole of humanity. His sacrifice was perfect because it was voluntary. He was not compelled to die for us. His sacrifice was also given with full understanding of what was ahead of Him. He did not die, as some would say, by accident and circumstances. On the contrary, Jesus offered His life in full obedience to the will of His Father. He gave His life for humanity purely out of love for us all, not forced.
This is also reiterated in today’s gospel when the death of Jesus was presented as Jesus fulfilling the plan of God. Jesus had just predicted His betrayal. (cf Mk 14:21) He knew His death was part of God’s plan to fulfill the scriptures. (Isa 53; Zech 12:10; Ps 22, Ps 118:28f) The preparations for the Passover meal took place through divine providence. He died in our place and not just for our sake. The blood of the Covenant and Himself as the Passover Lamb meant that He was to be the substitute for our death. (Isa 53:12, Mk 10:45)
God demonstrated His love for us and His fidelity to us by the sacrifice of His only Son. This covenant is eternal because all our other sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins were but pale shadows of the ultimate sacrifice of His only Son. His death was God’s total forgiveness of our sins and His eternal commitment to us. Indeed, this sacrifice of Christ would bring us all to share in His glory. “I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.” In the eternal Jerusalem, we will share the messianic banquet of the Lord which the New Testament calls the Supper of the Lamb. (Rev 19:6-9) So every time when we celebrate the Eucharist, we have a foretaste of the glory ahead of us and the fullness of life and communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.
For this reason, the author concluded by declaring the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. “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.” Indeed, the sacrifice of Christ not only is the cause of our redemption but it also effectively purifies our conscience, our soul internally and makes us at peace with God. As a consequence, our good works are sanctified because it will not be done out of pride and ego, but devoid of false motives, it will result in us doing good for the love of our Lord and His people. In other words, our lives will be transformed like His because we become the servants of the living God and not allow the deeds of death to have control over us.
Indeed, so great and efficacious was the sacrifice of Christ, that the Church continues to make the effects of this sacrifice available to us through the celebration of the Eucharist, which for us is a true sacrifice, the source and summit of the Christian life. Indeed, at every Eucharistic Sacrifice, we celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. At every Eucharist, Christ sheds His blood for us sacramentally. This was why Jesus left the Eucharist to the Church to be celebrated in memory of Him.
But there is objection as to how the Mass could be a real sacrifice of Christ since we have read that the sacrifice at Golgotha was offered once and for all. (Heb 7:27; 9:25f) The truth is that Jesus is not sacrificed anew at every Eucharist we celebrate. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross took place once and for all, historically. But the institution of the Memorial of the Eucharistic sacrifice by Jesus at the Last Supper is to enable us to continue to experience the saving effects of this sacrifice by us enacting this memorial, not merely in the sense of recalling what Jesus had done but entering into the same sacrifice of our Lord on Mount Calvary in an un-bloody manner. The word “memorial” means that whenever we enact the sacrifice, we enter into the same event that happened historically in time 2000 years ago but made present in our day. This is why the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is eternal, that is, to say, it remains effective and for us, when we celebrate the Eucharist, we enter into the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord.
It is for this reason; the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist is one single sacrifice. This sacrifice is not merely some faith-filled remembrance but a real encounter, since this sacrifice is made present anew at every Mass we celebrate. We must underscore that the Mass makes present the sacrifice of the cross. It does not add to that sacrifice or multiply it but it is a representation of the one sacrifice made present for us in time. At the same time, the Eucharistic Sacrifice makes present the mystery of the resurrection which we proclaim at every Eucharistic prayer. It is because of His living presence that Christ could become present in the Eucharist the bread of life. (Jn 6:35,48, 51)
However, the sacrifice of Christ is a means to an end, which is our communion with Him. Consequently, the saving efficacy of the sacrifice is fully realized only when the Lord’s body and blood are received in communion. It is only when we receive the Lord Himself that Jesus can live in us. But faith in the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist which we receive presumes the sacrifice of Christ at Mass is real, otherwise, the Lord’s presence in the Eucharistic species would just be symbols of His presence. Clearly the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist is very much intrinsically linked to the Sacrifice of the Mass.
If that were the case, what could be one of the underlying reasons for the rejection of the sacrifice of the Mass when some Christians accept the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist even if not in the Catholic manner of understanding it as a Transubstantiation? It is linked to the Ordained Catholic Priesthood. The Sacrificial sacrifice of the Mass is possible only when the ministerial priest, acting in the person of Christ, brings about the Eucharistic Sacrifice. A priest through the sacrament of Holy Orders is chosen by Christ to act in His person in offering the sacrifice of the Mass. This means that without a ministerial priest, the community would be without the Eucharist. The community is by itself incapable of providing an ordained minister. “Without a priest, there will be no celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice. Of course, the community still could gather together to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word but it is inadequate and insufficient. This must be only seen as a temporary situation. (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 30) This should impress upon the entire community the need to pray with greater fervor that the Lord will send His labourers into His harvest. (Mt 9:38) Because of the centrality of the Eucharist in the life and ministry of priests, in the promotion of priestly vocation, we must inculcate in our young people a love for the Eucharist; otherwise the priesthood is reduced to a social service. Truly, the Eucharist is the summit of our worship, an inexhaustible gift from the Lord.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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