Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060224.cfm
Fr. Ron Rolheiser in his
book of essays on the Eucharist entitled, Our One Great Act of Fidelity, relates
a story about a Jewish farmer:
“There is a story told about
a Jewish farmer who because he was careless, had to spend a Sabbath day in his
fields. Preoccupied with his work, he
had let the sun go down without going home.
Now, being a pious believer, he was not allowed to travel until sunset
the next day. So, he spent the day n the
field, by himself, missing both the Seder meal with his family and the services
at the synagogue. When he finally did
return home the next evening, he was met by an irate wife and an equally upset
rabbi. The rabbi chided him for his carelessness and asked him, ‘What did you
do in the field by yourself all day? Did
you at least pray?’
‘Rabbi,’ the farmer
answered, ‘I’m not a very smart man and I don’t know many prayers. All the prayers I knew, I said in five
minutes. What I did the rest of the day
was simply recite the alphabet. I left
it up to God to make some words out of all those letters.’”
This simple story, I think,
brings home to us the power of God to bring unity out of brokenness; to gather
what is scattered. On this Feast of the
Holy Eucharist, our readings this year seem to imply the same.
In the Gospel of Mark, at
the Last Supper, we hear that Jesus took bread blessed and broke it then passed
it around to his disciples to eat as his body.
One bread was shared. Likewise, he took one cup of wine and passed that
around to his disciples asking them to drink from the one cup for this is his
blood. One cup shared by all.
Not only is the sign of
unity obvious within the diverse gathering of his disciples but it was also even
more unusual since the common practice would have been for each member to have their
own piece of bread and their own individual cup. To share from one would have been strange but
unique. Jesus sharing of himself brings
about a unity, a collection of scattered letters as it were, and makes them one.
Jesus came to gather and not to scatter.
The giving of his body and blood by its nature is a force for unity not
division.
In our first reading from
Exodus, we hear of blood sacrifice. What
was a common occurrence in public worship, to sacrifice animals such as bulls,
cattle and sheep as a sacrifice on behalf of the people in order to appease a
God who is angered by human sin, seems primitive and strange to our ears
today. Such things would repulse present
day sensibilities and, in the end, seem useless and cruel.
However, in ancient Jewish
Temple ritual, such things were ordinary as blood poured out was seen as life
given. For blood, even in ancient times,
was recognized as a source of life.
Today we know that blood is essential as it carries oxygen throughout
the body and is an indicator of both health and illness. So, the life of the
animal sacrificed on behalf of human sin was seen to wash away guilt and
reestablish a right relationship with God.
In our Exodus reading, Moses gathers the people first to hear the
“words and ordinances” of the Lord.
Writing them down, he reads them to the people. And then, offers sacrifice to the Lord. Sound familiar? Word and sacrifice are
brought together in our liturgy. The one act performed on behalf of the people
establishes a communion, a bond among them as God's people and he is the one who offers his
mercy.
As a sign of the Covenant bond, Moses takes the blood of
the slaughtered animal, spreads it on the altar of sacrifice, then seals that covenant
relationship by sprinkling the people with that blood, thereby connecting the
people with sacrifice, life and God's covenant; forever sealing it. What has
this primitive and strange worship have to do with our beautiful feast of the
Eucharist this Sunday?
Each time we encounter the
living Christ in the Holy Eucharist as we eat and drink his body and blood, poured out on the cross, we remember the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass as
our moment of remembrance and renewal each time we celebrate and gather as
God's people. Blood (life) lived, life given, life sacrificed, life offered for
all, life now offered each time as food, the very and true presence of him who
died and rose for us. What more can be
said for what he has done for our salvation?
We are a Eucharistic people
and in fact being the living presence of Christ among us, it is
everything. Yes, the Eucharist is
everything because in God there is nothing lacking. God calls us to extend to one another the
presence we have experienced in this most sacred food that we too become what
we believe and who we consume. It is sacrifice and it is now food for our
journey in this life. Without it, we starve spiritually for it centers us and
joins us to the core without whom we have no life.
If you've ever joined for a
Sunday Mass among a people and culture different from your own at first you're
somewhat disoriented: the language is
not your own, the people appear different from you, the music and the culture
seems unfamiliar. But that momentary
disorientation subsides quickly for the celebration becomes familiar as the
word of God is read and the liturgy of the eucharist continues.
One family in God, united
together regardless of shallow differences, sharing the same common faith. We are one family and no matter where you go
in the world to any Catholic Church, you are at home. The Eucharist is everything and unites
differences as one in Christ Jesus whose blood was poured out for us and whose
life is now consumed within us.
Let us rejoice and remind
ourselves about this awesome gift given to us.
The Bread of Life, Holy Communion, Eucharist, food for the journey, all
is given to us in this central sacrament which calls us to be Church, his
Mystical Body in the world.
How can we live out this
mystery? The Eucharist creates unity and by its nature, calls us out to extend
that same mystery of love and sacrifice.
We receive and then we give to others by extending Jesus' own love in practical
acts of charity and self-sacrifice for others.
The Eucharist is not a private devotion meant for only one. It is life given for all . . .
It is EVERYTHING and we can
share in its fullness until we see God in eternity, no longer hidden under
signs. Such richness, such a treasure . . .
So, if you don’t know what
to say in thanksgiving for this “super bread” of the eucharist, then just
recite the alphabet and God will gather the words!
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O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
have left us a memorial of you Passion,
grant us, we pray,
so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood
that we may always experience in ourselves
the fruits of your redemption.
Who live and reign with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
(Collect of Mass)
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