Every Sunday, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click HERE for the readings.
In the first reading there is a rather graphic description of an animal sacrifice in the Book of Exodus. It might not be appealing to our modern sensibility, but it is still important to understand.
Blood has always been seen as essential for life. But the blood, as described in the Old Testament, was shared between the altar and the people by sprinkling it on both. In a sense, then, God (represented by the altar) and the people, sharing the same blood, became as blood relatives.
The sacrificial bull represents the people’s desire to give God a final “yes” to the covenant made between God and God’s people. It is a sacrifice that cannot be undone. It is also a symbolic way for the people to say, “If I do not keep this covenant, may I become like this slaughtered animal.” They took their covenant-making seriously!
But it was an imperfect sacrifice, for how can the blood of a young bull, as representative as it is, give God’s life to us? This was the insight of the Letter to the Hebrews, our second reading for today. It is not by the blood of goats and bulls that we are inwardly and completely sanctified. No. Only the blood of Jesus, sacrificed once for all of us and given over to his Heavenly Father, can satisfy us, when it is poured out for us.
After offering his blood on the altar of the cross, it flowed out to his believers. This is treated in the account of the Passion in the Gospel of John, when the side of Jesus was lanced and blood, along with water, flowed from his side onto the ground below.
Now, we turn to the Gospel for today. For us, as Catholics, we believe that Jesus meant what he said of the bread, “Take it; this is my body.” And later over the cup of wine, “This is my blood of the covenant.” And, even if we only receive the consecrated bread, it is his body and blood, whole and entire, soul and divinity.
We proclaim that every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, it is an unbloody, but real, re-presentation of the Holy Sacrifice of Christ on the cross, for Christ continually gives himself over to the Father.
He gives his blood (his life source) to his Father and then he gives his blood to us. And we eat his body and drink his blood — his sacrifice, mingled with ours — so that we too can make a new pact with God, a new covenant, where God is our God and we are his people — with the promise of everlasting life for all who eat his body and drink his blood. Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6:54).
This is why the Holy Mass is so central to us who say that we have given our lives to God — who has given his life to us. The Mass itself is the New Covenant between us and God, a kinship bond sealed in the sacrificial Blood of Christ himself. The sacrificial flesh we eat — his Resurrected Flesh — is our family meal that recognizes and perpetuates our unity both with God and with one another.
We take our covenant-making seriously too!