I had a thought come to me out of nowhere as I was praying the rosary yesterday (especially the Glorious Mystery of the Resurrection). I don’t know if it quite makes sense or is even theologically sound, but please hear me out and gently correct me if it does seem off base. Truth be told, I’m not even sure if it’s original.
At the Eucharist and mass, we stand at the foot of the cross and witness Jesus saving sacrifice. Those who take of the Eucharist are taking in Jesus’ body and blood in memory of his ongoing sacrifice for all for the remission and payment of original sin.
When we go to Reconciliation, it is as if we are standing at the empty tomb of Jesus, witnessing his and our own resurrections in the forgiveness of our personal sins. Just as he was dead coming off the cross and rose again, so were we “dead” internally with our sins before being granted absolution and new life in the confessional or Reconciliation Room.
well, perhaps i am misunderstanding, but are you saying that we take the body and blood of Christ only in memory?
i’m sure i’m just misunderstanding, but if not, then i just need to say that it’s not taken just in memory for His sacrifice, although we do it in memory of Him, but we take it really as spiritual food, it is truly Jesus being united wholly with us, physically and spiritually, communicating the graces He merited on Calvary with us, enlightening and strengthening us by nourishing our souls for eternal life, and forgiving us our sins and cleaning our souls,
and then i just want to be more specific about what aspect of Christs passion made satisfaction for original sin,
first of all, as i understand it from St. Thomas Aquinas, in order to for the passion of Christ to be worked out in us, we need to be made in like form with Christ, and in regards to baptism, which is what wipes away original sin, we are told this by St. Paul - “We are buried together with Him by baptism into death” (Rom. vi. 4). so it is by the specific action of His death that we are baptized and the original sin is completely satisfied for, but, since “Christ died once for our sins” we cannot be made in like form with the death of Christ through baptism again, and so those who sin after baptism have to be made in like form with Christ by His suffering instead of His death, which we do by suffering ourselves, by some form of penance or sacrifice,
but in the mass, we are truly assisting at the sacrifice at Calvary, and when we take part in the Eucharist, we are offering to God the perfect sacrifice, which we are told to do, especially on Sundays, to sacrifice something,
before Our Lords passion they sacrificed things such as lambs, which we no longer do now that we have “the perfect sacrifice”
i can tell though that you are good at contemplation, which in simplest terms, is simply putting 2 and 2 together,
so if you like to meditate and think deeply on things, then i would recommend reading the writings of saints like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Francis de sales, Saint Catherine of Siena, and any other doctors of the church, because if you really love to meditate, you won’t want to put their books down :3
it’s very important to have reliable sources in your beliefs, especially a spiritual director who you can ask questions and talk with when you need to, because even if we have the basics of our religion down, we can still get misguided in the details, which i have done myself from time to time, so i know it’s just important to have good sources.
ok that’s all, tc.
