The New Covenant Sealed by Jesus' Total Gift of Self on the Cross

In today's first reading, Exodus 24:3-8, after Moses gave the people the ten commandments, the people promised that they would "do everything that the Lord told us."  Moses ratified the people's covenant by sprinkling them with the blood of young bulls that were sacrificed to the Lord. As he sprinkled the blood upon the people, Moses said:  "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."

At every Catholic Mass, the priest says, at the consecration,  may "..the Holy Spirit graciously sanctify these offerings (bread and wine) that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the celebration of this great mystery, which he left us as an eternal covenant."   Each of us, then, in Holy Communion, consume the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus' blood mingles with our blood in our body. We are not simply sprinkled with Jesus' blood. No, we consume it and say, in the Memorial Acclamation:  "When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come."  We acknowledge the New Covenant sealed for us in Jesus' death and resurrection and, ultimately, ours as well!  God offers us the free gift of salvation--He held nothing back that we would come to know our union and God and embrace being disciples of the Lord according to His Word. In Holy Communion, we gratefully accept God's total gift of Himself for our salvation. Likewise, we promise to "do everything that the Lord told us" in the sacred reading of the Liturgy of the Word, which precedes the Liturgy of the Eucharist at every Catholic Mass.

Let us, with Mary, Jesus' Mother, pray, as she did in the Magnificat: 

"My being proclaims your greatness,
and my spirit finds joy in you, God my Savior.

For you have looked upon me, your servant, in my lowliness;
all ages to come shall call me blessed.

God, you who are mighty, have done great things for me," in sharing your Body and Blood with me as the New Covenant. "Holy is your name."

In this holy sacrament of the Eucharist, you have "raised the lowly to high places."

Thank you, Lord, for having handed down this faith to me from my parents! I pray that my faith in the Eucharist grows ever more stronger!  Thank you!

Confidence in God through Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor. 3: 4-11, St. Paul shares the confidence he has through Christ toward God—a confidence each of us has as well.  God has given us the qualities needed to be ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of the spirit.  Moses was qualified by God as a minister of the letter of the law, the old covenant given on Mount Sinai and written in stone.    The “letter brings death,” Paul tells us. The spirit “gives life.”   The law condemns us. The spirit does not.  We have an example of the latter—the law bringing death—in the Pharisees, whom Jesus confronted many times. Paul himself was practicing a law that brought death to people until his conversion on the way to Damascus.

 

Each of us has a choice to be involved in “the ministry of righteousness,”  or of being a minister of the old covenant,  adhering to the  letter of the law, as did the Pharisees, as did Paul until his conversion, using the law to condemn others. In other words, like the Pharisees and like Paul before his conversion, we can choose to stand on a pedestal of self-righteousness, depleting life instead of giving life.   Or, we can acknowledge the Righteous One as our Savior, who alone justifies and glorifies those who walk humbly with their God (cf Micah 6:8) doing what is right in God's eyes, following the law of the Spirit. That is the confidence of which Paul speaks .

What choice are we making?