CollegeKid:
Psalm (or anyone),
I need further clarification: when the priest offers up the bread and wine to be consecrated and we then eat it, God is conferring onto us the salvific effects of Christ’s crucifixion? One of the things I was struggling with is that it seemed a little incongruous as to how Christ dying for us on the cross translated to the need to partake of his body and blood, or how his earlier commandments to eat his body and blood had anything to do with the crucifixion. Is it simply because Christ told us to do it this way, to receive the saving effects of the crucifixion by participating in the eucharist?
Great questions, and welcome to the forum.
I has similar doubts at one time, and still take care to make a conscious oath of faith in the Eucharist before receiving.
One thing that
really helped me was understanding the Eucharist in relation to the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood, and how His sacrifice on Calvary is re-presented to us in the Mass. On the site linked below, choose “The Fourth Cup” to read a transcription of a speech by Scott Hahn, a well-respected theologian, on the Mass in relation to the Passover. It’s great!
netfiles.uiuc.edu/tomashek/www
Feel free to look at some of the other articles I’ve linked to, and PM me what you think.
The short of it (although you should still read it
) is that we look at the Mass as the New Passover, by which not only the Jewish people are saved, but all of humanity. If you look back to the Passover, not only were the Jews to sacrifice a pure, unblemished lamb (foreshadoing Christ) and spread it’s blood on the post and lintel of their doorway (aka, the cross), they were also required to
partake, or
eat of the sacrificial lamb. This ritual, performed in faithful obedience to God, is what bound them to the covenant which was their salvation. If they did not eat the passover meal following the sacrifice, they did not enter into the covenant and were not saved from the tenth plague.
The Mass is the New Passover (why do you think Jesus instituted the Mass on Passover?), where the truly perfect Lamb of God offered Himself as the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which He asked us to partake of regularly when He commanded “Do this in rememberance of Me”. It is through our reception of the Eucharistic Lord that we bind ourselves to the New Covenant and the family of God, and it is through that covenantal relationship with our Creator that we are saved. Every time we receive the Lord, we pledge ourselves anew to following the commands of the New Covenant, and subject ourselves to the sovereignty of God by the means He gave us to do that, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
Hope this helps – God’s plan is truly more beautiful and wonderous than we can comprehend! I pray for your faith – please pray for mine.
Peace,
javelin
