Saturday, August 4, 2012
287. Why is the Holy Eucharist the paschal banquet? (part 1)
(Comp 287) The Holy Eucharist is the
paschal banquet in as much as Christ sacramentally makes present his Passover
and gives us his Body and Blood, offered as food and drink, uniting us to
himself and to one another in his sacrifice.
“In
brief”
(CCC 1406)
Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one
eats of this bread, he will live for ever;… he who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life and… abides in
me, and I in him" Jn 6:51, 54, 56). (CCC 1409) The Eucharist is the memorial
of Christ's Passover, that is, of the work of salvation accomplished by the
life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical
action.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1382)
The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in
which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of
communion with the Lord's body and blood. But the celebration of the
Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the
faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive
Christ himself who has offered himself for us. (CCC 1384) The Lord addresses an
invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist:
"Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink
his blood, you have no life in you" (Jn 6:53).
On
reflection
(CCC 1383) The altar, around which the Church is
gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the two aspects of the
same mystery: the altar of the sacrifice and the table of the Lord. This is all
the more so since the Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present
in the midst of the assembly of his faithful, both as the victim offered for
our reconciliation and as food from heaven who is giving himself to us.
"For what is the altar of Christ if not the image of the Body of
Christ?" (St. Ambrose, De Sacr.
5, 2, 7: PL 16, 447C) asks St. Ambrose. He says elsewhere, "The altar
represents the body [of Christ] and the Body of Christ is on the altar"
(St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 4, 2, 7: PL
16, 437D). The liturgy expresses this unity of sacrifice and communion in many
prayers. Thus the Roman Church prays in its anaphora: We entreat you, almighty
God, that by the hands of your holy Angel this offering may be borne to your
altar in heaven in the sight of your divine majesty, so that as we receive in
communion at this altar the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, we may be
filled with every heavenly blessing and grace (Roman Missal, EP I (Roman Canon) 96: Supplices te rogamus,
omnipotens Deus: iube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime
altare tuum, in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae: ut, quotquot ex hac altaris
participatione sacrosanctum Filii Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione
caelesti et gratia repleamur). [IT CONTINUES]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment