In ancient times, animal sacrifices were held for a variety of reasons. Sacrifices were made to show honor to gods, for atonement, purification, fertility, bountiful harvests, covenants, oaths, and also for communal bonding. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by offering Himself as the sacrificial lamb for us. He also invites us to enter into His sacrifice by instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist, changing bread and wine into His body and blood. Jesus wants us to partake in the Eucharist and asks us to do this in memory of Him.
Because of original sin, we became banished from God’s kingdom. God desired to give us a path to Him and so called upon Jesus to create a path and show us the way back to Him. Unfortunately, mankind would never completely accept Jesus’s teachings and proclaim Him as the teacher and ruler of all nations. Thus, Jesus chose another path and decided to sacrifice His life to save us.
There were two big realities in effect at the time of Jesus’s death. The first was that no human being could enter into eternal life in Heaven. The second was that God always has access to Heaven. When Jesus, who was fully human and fully God, died, He created another path for humanity to enter into eternal life. Jesus was the first Human to enter Heaven and the path to eternal life now goes through Him.
Jesus not only sacrificed His body for us, but He gives us His body and blood to receive in the Blessed Sacrament. When we consume the Eucharist, we become one body with Him, and this brings spiritual life to us. We also become one body with others who partake in the Eucharist, as we all have Jesus within us.
The priest consecrates the bread and wine by saying, “Take this, all of you, and eat it. This is my body which will be given up for you.” and, “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.” When those words are spoken, we are able to be witnesses of Jesus’ sacrifice and participate in it. We need to understand that Jesus doesn’t re-sacrifice Himself every time the priest consecrates the bread and wine, but He presents the sacrifice that He already made. It’s similar to clicking a hyperlink that takes you to a specific website. That particular time in history is presented to God and to us. With Jesus being outside of space and time, He has access to all moments of time at the same time. There isn’t a past, present, and future per se, but every moment is part of existence.
Let’s try to be more physically, mentally, and spiritually present during Mass. It’s hard to focus at Mass with distractions going on around us along with the many thoughts going through our heads. This weekend, try to be more observant during the Sacrament of the Eucharist and join ourselves more fully with Jesus and each other. Keep following Jesus’s path, and we will enter into Heaven as one body of Christ.
