Covenantal Companions
Lord Jesus, strengthen us through the Eucharist to give our own life’s blood in loving service to others. |
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Mass is both sacrifice and meal. On this solemnity of body and blood of Christ we remember those two aspects in festive mode. The sacrifice is the broken body of Jesus given in death on the cross. The meal is the blessed, broken and shared Eucharist of the body and blood of the Lord. It is through this sacrifice and meal that new and eternal covenant between God and humankind was sealed and ratified. The covenant is the everlasting bond of the love by which all are united to God in Jesus Christ.
Though we can see various types of covenantal agreements throughout the Jewish and Christian scriptures, most were structured on the same basic pattern, i.e., two or more parties would bind themselves to a ritual agreement, the terms of which would be spoken or written. Oaths were sworn and curses were agreed upon and accepted. Then the covenant was sealed, often with the sacrifice of an animal that was cut or split in two (hence the expression, to cut a covenant). Both of the contractual parties then walked between the animal halves, each agreeing that a similar consequence should befall the one who would breach the covenant. A meal would be shared, for our ancestral brothers and sisters in the faith believed that those who ate together were bound as partners and protectors of one another for life.
Covenant also serves as an apt vehicle for expressing the relationship. Through the covenant of Sinai, referred in today’s 1st reading from Exodus (24:3-8), God initiated a relationship with the chosen people: “I will take you as my own people and you shall have me as your God!” (Ex.6:7). As part of ratification, the blood of the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on both the altar (which represented God) and people.
In today’s second reading, the Hebrews author compares the Sinai Covenant, sealed with the blood of goats and bulls with the new and everlasting covenant forged by Jesus, who, as both high priest and perfect sacrifice, has sealed it with His own blood. That this covenant was being initiated for us is clearly enunciated in today’s gospel (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26). Each time we gather to remember and to celebrate Jesus’ saving sacrifice we become, once again, true companions of the Lord. From the Latin words cum and panis, companions are those who share bread together.
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