|
Jesus is the Lamb of God
The Sacred Scriptures says that the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall
sacrifice the lamb, and that they shall take the blood thereof and put it upon both the
side posts and on the upper doorposts of the houses where they shall eat it. In the
Upper Room where Jesus and His disciples celebrated Passover, and in which He instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood of the New Law, the Eucharistic Sacrifice
was a proclamation of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Today, the Eucharistic Sacrifice is a
sacramental celebration of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Now the blood of a lamb is not
sprinkled or put upon the doorpost. But the Blood of Christ is consumed for our
nourishment and our salvation. This is the perfect sacrifice, the Sacrifice of God. It was announced so perfectly when Abraham took his only son Isaac to the Land of Moriah
to offer him as a burnt offering (Genesis 22), following an instruction by God. God was
testing his fidelity and faith, and found him worthy of being blessed. He orders Abraham not to go through with the offering, but provides a ram, which Abraham took and
offered for a holocaust instead of his son. Abraham was not to sacrifice his son. That
was what God the Father was going to do. He was to send His only Son Jesus Christ
to the world to be the “Lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus was slaughtered like a lamb on the Holy Cross. This Lamb of God we receive in the Holy
Eucharist. But Jesus is not dead in the Eucharist, nor does He die again, for Jesus died
once and for all, as we read in the Holy Scriptures, and He is risen, and being risen, He
is Alive. But nonetheless, we follow His commandment to “do this in remembrance of
Me,” and continue to receive our Eucharistic Jesus, the Bread of Life. He is truly
present in the bread we eat and the wine we drink.
Our Lord Jesus is truly Present in the Blessed Sacrament
The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist contains our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in
the Gospel of Luke 22 “19 and taking bread, he gave thanks and brake and gave to
them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of
me. 20 In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: This is the chalice,
the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.” After pronouncing these
words, the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ. This we call transubstantiation, which means the changing of one substance to
another. Only the accidents of bread and wine remain. The priest, when he pronounces these holy words of Christ, changes the substance of bread and wine, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, to the Body and Blood of Christ, respectively. The Host contains the
Whole Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. The Chalice contains the Whole Christ,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Christ is also wholly present in every particle, no
matter how small the particle is, and Christ is also present in every tiny drop of the
species of wine. Also, when the priest breaks and divides the Host or the Chalice, it is
the accidents of the bread and wine that is broken and divided, but not Christ, for Christ remains Whole. And when we eat the Host we chew the accidents of the bread, but
not Christ. He remains Whole, to fill us wholly and completely.
The Sacrament is
a continuous unbloody Sacrifice offered to God
The Sacrament is an offering, to God the Father, which is offered continuously in
an unbloody manner. In Hebrews 10 we read “5 wherefore, when [Christ] cometh into
the world he saith: ‘Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted
to me. 6 Holocausts for sin did not please thee. 7 Then said I: Behold I come: in the
head of the book it is written of me: that I should do thy will, O God.’ 8 In saying
before, Sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin thou wouldest not, neither are
they pleasing to thee, which are offered according to the law. 9 Then said I: Behold, I
come to do thy will, O God: He taketh away the first, so that he may establish that
which followeth. 10 In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of
Jesus Christ once.” Christ offers Himself as a sacrifice because no other sacrifice was
sufficiently pleasing to God in such a way that it would have obtained for us the
forgiveness of our sins and our salvation. His sacrifice offers a true prayer of adoration,
thanksgiving, propitiation and supplication to God the Father. These four ends of the
sacrifice of Christ, which is so wonderfully preached by St. Peter Julian
Eymard, are sufficient to obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation. Christ is truly our Savior and our Redeemer!
The Eucharist Must be received for Our Salvation
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, desires that we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist. His desire is greater than ours to receive Him. He has made Himself Food
for us and is our hope and salvation. We must receive Him. He says in the Gospel of
John, chapter 6, “35 I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger: and
he that believeth in me shall never thirst…” “54 Amen, amen, I say unto you: except
you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise
him up in the last day. 56 For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 57 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him. 58 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, the same also
shall live by me.” Can it be possible that Jesus was just talking to the people of His time about eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood? No! If that’s the case, then Jesus was
only concern with saving those of His time. That is not the Jesus that the Catholic
Church preaches. Jesus came to save all. For that reason, He gave authority to His
disciples, the first bishops and priests of the Church, and to their successors through
them, to consecrate the bread and wine, and change its substances, into the Body and
Blood of Christ, respectively, by the Power of the Holy Spirit. This He did so that you
and me can eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, so that we can have life in us. Jesus has
loved us to the extreme (John 13,1) and wanted to show us the depth of His love. He
accomplished that goal. The depth of His love Is the Holy Eucharist.
- By Alvin Peña
|
