Go baptize in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
In advance of the National Eucharistic Congress this July, I’m continuing to look at some of the Scriptural precursors of the Eucharist. There are so many which show God’s Plan from the beginning included the Eucharist.\
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord! But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. Exodus 12:5-13
In the Exodus Passover, we once again see the importance of offering an unblemished lamb. This echoes what was said a few weeks ago about the sacrifice of Abel. What is to be given to God is not the left over but the best. Since all comes from God, we return to God our best, our first fruits, our best yearlings. It is an act of trust in God’s future providence to provide then by giving to Him now our best. The year-old male is one in whom the shepherd has invested 12 months’ work, care, protection. As Passover stands at the head of the calendar, a one-year-old male symbolizes the last 12 month’s labor.
Unblemished in the natural sense ensured that only a healthy lamb be offered. But in its supernatural sense, it prepared the way for the Son who was without spot or stain of sin. Who was truly unblemished by this world. Who was like us – human persons – in all things but without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The Exodus lamb was to take the place of the firstborn sons who would be struck down by the Angel of Death passing over. As such, they had to be worth more than the actual sons – unblemished, healthy, the best. Of course even the best lamb is not worth a human life, but the best human – Jesus – became the best, most unblemished Lamb upon the Cross.
Apart from the wisdom of sacrificing a ram as opposed to an ewe for future flock health, the requirement of a male foreshadowed the Son of God, the heir, Jesus Christ. Male and female is not merely biology, it is theology. God intended the equal but different sexes both for the sacrifice and for our communal life. And being acceptable from either the ‘sheep or the goats’ portends the truth that Jesus comes from the Jews and the Gentiles – for all. The culmination of the Passover in Christ’s Cross is truly the lamb offered for the whole of God’s family where the descendants of Abraham is not by birth but baptism, not genealogy but grace.
Having slaughtered the lamb in the evening twilight – the start of the new day by Jewish reckoning – Sabbath starts as sundown even still and the reason Catholics are permitted to attend “Sunday Masses” in anticipation on Saturday evening, the blood was applied to the doorpost of the home. This blood marked the home and kept the Angel of Death away. In the reception of the Eucharist – whether from paten or chalice – we receive the full Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus. When the Host or chalice touch your lips, you are marking the entry to your body, which is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, with the Blood of the Lamb. Thus you protect yourself by Christ’s Body and Blood.
Thanks for your patience while we celebrate Mass together in the Gym while work is completed in the church. I realize Mass in a gym is not ideal but I would encourage you to keep coming to Mass and Mass at Holy Family so we can maintain our family connections during this needed and necessary work.
Celebrating 70 years in our church together as the Holy Family of God
Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.
Holy Family, Gathered around the Lamb of God, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries