Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 2022
So much to preach on, so little time…
or is there…
When we stop to think about everything that led up to the events that we commemorate tonight, we cannot but wonder at how different the lives of the apostles were from when they left everything to follow Jesus;
of all the things they had experienced with him,
the teachings, the miracles, calming of storm, the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000, the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
They have changed much in the last three years, these twelve men, not to mention the women and the rest of his disciples.
That’s really how it seems to work with Jesus.
He is truly human and so he enters fully into our human reality.
He is also truly divine, and so having entered into our human reality, he transforms it.
Whatever Jesus touches, Jesus transforms.
He did it at the waters of the Jordan, transforming the baptism of repentance into the sacrament of our salvation.
He did it at the wedding at Cana, when he transformed marriage into the sacrament that reflects the faithfulness of God in the lives of husband and wife.
He does it twice tonight when he transforms the Passover into the Eucharist, the sacrament which is the source and summit of all that the Church is and does.
And again, when as the Great High Priest, he establishes the Ministerial Priesthood in order to perpetuate his one perfect sacrifice on the Cross.
Let’s look at these last two.
The Eucharist is a true sacrifice and a shared meal.
What do you need for a true sacrifice?
A priest
An offering
An altar
A reason
The priest is the one who offers the sacrifice on your behalf.
The offering depended on the reason for the sacrifice.
Usually, it was the first fruits of your field or an unblemished animal from you flock.
It had to be blemished because it was not right to offer one that had a bad foot or disease that you wanted to get rid of anyway.
You only give God your best.
Mediocrity is no way to serve Our Lord.
The altar was made of stone. This was because on it were placed coals from the fire for the immolation of the offering.
There were four main reasons that sacrifices were offered.
1. to establish covenants – They were always established in blood.
2. to give thanks – Offering the first fruits.
3. for the forgiveness of sins – the Sin Offering
4. to remember – the Passover
The mechanics of the sacrifice varied, but the general pattern was that you brought your sacrifice to the priest, who would lay his hands on the offering. From that moment it could only be used for sacred purposes.
Next, if it were an animal, it was slaughtered in the proscribed manner, the blood was saved, certain parts were removed, such as the kidneys, the fat on the liver and so forth, and placed on the coals on the altar. Sometimes the blood was sprinkled on the corners of the altar.
Then you took the rest of it home and ate it in a raucous sacrificial banquet.
The idea of sacred sacrifice and sacred ritual meal are inseparable.
What do you need for ritual meal? You need
Special environment
Special gifts
Special food, and
Special words and songs.
We are all very familiar with certain ritual meals.
For example, you walk into your friend’s house, there are balloons and streamers everywhere…special environment.
There is a big cake that will be placed on the table with candles on it…special food.
There are gifts that are brought wrapped in pretty packaging.
And there is a special song that must be sung for the ritual to be valid: “Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!”
As we heard tonight, the Last Supper took place in the context of the Passover. But it is the firm belief of the Church that every sacrifice,
whether to establish covenants,
to give thanks,
to forgive sins, or
to remember
were fulfilled and brought to perfection in the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.
We celebrate this in the context of what is rightly called the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
Listen to the words of institution over the cup:
“…when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and once more, giving THANKS, he gave it to his disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal COVENANT, which will be poured out for you and for many for the FORGIVENESS OF SINS. Do this IN MEMORY of me.”
The Eucharist is a true sacrifice, allowing us to participate truly and substantially in the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.
It is also a shared meal. Here we have:
Special environment – this sacred space
Special gifts – bread, wine, our treasure and ourselves.
Special food – the bread and wine which become truly and substantially the Body, Blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.
Special words – “This is my body…This is my blood.”
Thus, the Eucharist is also a shared, ritual meal, rightly called the Supper of the Lord.
It’s important to remember that while the Temple worship ended with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Church retains the inseparable connection between ritual sacrifice and ritual meal, even though modern Judaism does not.
But there was more that happened that night in the Upper Room. To ensure that the Eucharist would always be at the center of the life of the Church, Christ established the Ministerial Priesthood in what we have come to know as the Sacrament of Holy Orders
This differs substantially from the priesthood of all believers in that the priest is configured at the core of this very being to Christ the High priest.
As such, he acts in persona Christi – in the person of Christ, the Head
And in persona ecclesiae – in the person of the Church, the Body
There is no higher calling.
There is no greater challenge.
And today, there is no greater need in the life of the Church.
There is no higher calling
because the priest is configured, changed at the very core of his being to Christ, the Great High Priest.
As the priest acts for the Church and the world in the person of Christ, so to, it is Christ who acts in person on each priest who continues his ministry of teaching, sanctifying and governing.
There is no greater challenge
because in a world obsessed with power, the priest is called to exercise his authority in imitation of Christ, the suffering servant,
Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve.
One cannot understand or comprehend the nature of the priesthood and authority in the Church, unless it is exercised in as service to Christ, to the Church and to the world.
Sadly, throughout history, and especially in the early part of the 20th century, we have seen what scandal can happen when authority in the Church fails to be exercised in spirit of service.
There is no greater need,
because in an increasingly over-secularized and over-sexed world, the priest stands as countercultural witness to the things that are eternal and the one dignity and sanctity of human life and love.
Who else, like Christ, can stand as the bridge between heaven and earth?
Who else can celebrate the mysteries of our salvation?
Who else can forgive the penitent sinner or entrust the dying soul, cleansed from sin and anointed by grace to mercy of Almighty God?
This is the challenge of the joy of the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ in the Church in the world.
This is is why I love being a priest.
Who shall call the next generation of priests
if not you? If not me?
Karl Rahner said it well in his poem entitled, “The Priest”
The priest is not an angel sent from heaven.
He is a man chosen from among men, a member of the Church, a Christian.
Remaining man and Christian he begins to speak to you the Word of God.
This Word is not his own.
No, he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim God’s Word.
Perhaps he has not fully understood it himself.
Perhaps he adulterates it.
But he believes,
and despite his fears
he knows that he must communicate God’s Word to you.
For must not some one of us say something about God, about eternal life
about the majesty of grace in our sanctified being;
must not some one of us speak of sin,
the judgment and mercy of God?
So my dear friends, pray for him.
Carry him so that he might be able to sustain others
by bringing to them the mystery of God’s love
revealed in Christ Jesus.
(Karl Rahner- The Priest)
Acting in the person of Christ, with the heart of Christ and the power of Christ, the priest enters into and transforms the reality of everyone and everything.
That’s why I love being a priest.
I could say more, but that’s enough for now.
For now, it is enough to remember that two great sacraments were initiated that night in the Upper Room by Christ, the Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood
Both are at the heart and soul of all that the Church is and all that she does
from now until the end of the age.