Category Archives: Catholicism

On the Holy Eucharist – Pt.3 – Jesus the Paschal Mystery

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In part 1 of our Eucharist study, we concluded with the premise that some sort of mechanism is required that would allow for our unification with Christ's sacrifice and thus gain a sharing in his everlasting reward. That mechanism is the holy Eucharist, but in order to understand why, we must first examine the Eucharist's roots in the history of Israel. In particular, since the Lord's Supper which instituted the Eucharistic celebration was a Passover meal, we must understand the significance of the Passover in the liturgy of the Old Covenant people.

Moses and the Passover (~1500 BC)

The first Passover: salvation from the Angel of Death

Exodus 12:1-13; “Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you [Abib: around April]. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Passover celebration will be an ongoing, permanent Memorial [Hb. Zikkaron] for Israel:
Exodus 12:14-16; “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a
feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent
ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall
remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day
until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall
have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall
be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person...”
The Jewish concept of Zikkaron: The memorial celebration unites its participants with
the actual event it recalls. Through the ongoing memorial celebration, the Passover in
Exodus is not an event reminisced; Passover is an event truly re-presented, experienced,
and applied to the memorial participants. In a memorial, we do not invoke our memory
of an event, we invoke God’s memory of the event. And because God’s memory is
eternal (unbound by time), the past event being celebrated is brought into the present
by God for the memorial celebrants to be true participants.
The Mishnah (a sort of Jewish gloss or “catechism” from ~AD 200 that served as a compilation of
Judaism’s ancient traditions) affirms the idea that God brings the past into the present through
Memorial celebrations:
Mishnah Pesachim 10.5; “In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he
himself came out of Egypt, for it is written, 'And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying,
it is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’”
After the Exodus, while wandering in the desert, God reiterates his commandment to the Israelites
to continually celebrate Passover:
Numbers 9:1-13; “Thus the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first
month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ‘Now, let
the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of
this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it
according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.’ So Moses told the sons of
Israel to observe the Passover. They observed the Passover in the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that
the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did... Then the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying... ‘the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the
Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the
offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.’”

5

Leviticus 23:5; “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the
Lord’s Passover.”
Deuteronomy 16:1-7; “Observe the month of Abib2 and celebrate the Passover to the
Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by
night. You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd,
in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. You shall not eat leavened
bread with it... You shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses.”

On the Holy Eucharist – Pt.2 – Primer on the Old Covenant Passover

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In part 1 of our Eucharist study, we concluded with the premise that some sort of mechanism is required that would allow for our unification with Christ's sacrifice and thus gain a sharing in his everlasting reward. That mechanism is the holy Eucharist, but in order to understand why, we must first examine the Eucharist's roots in the history of Israel. In particular, since the Lord's Supper which instituted the Eucharistic celebration was a Passover meal, we must understand the significance of the Passover in the liturgy of the Old Covenant people.

Moses and the Passover (~1500 BC)

The first Passover: salvation from the Angel of Death

Exodus 12:1-13; “Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you [Abib: around April]. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Passover Requirements given in Exodus

Acceptable lamb “Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old...”
Kill “...the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight...”
Spill “...they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”
Eat your fill “They shall eat the flesh that same night... with unleavened bread and bitter herbs... roasted with fire... you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire...”
Eat as if departing on a mission “Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.”

Passover celebration will be an ongoing, permanent Memorial [Hb. Zikkaron] for Israel:

Exodus 12:14-16; “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person...”

The Jewish concept of Zikkaron: The memorial celebration unites its participants with the actual event it recalls. Through the ongoing memorial celebration, the Passover in Exodus is not an event reminisced; Passover is an event truly re-presented, experienced, and applied to the memorial participants. In a memorial, we do not invoke our memory of an event, we invoke God’s memory of the event. And because God’s memory is eternal (unbound by time), the past event being celebrated is brought into the present by God for the memorial celebrants to be true participants.

The Mishnah (a sort of Jewish gloss or “catechism” from ~AD 200 that served as a compilation of Judaism’s ancient traditions) affirms the idea that God brings the past into the present through Memorial celebrations:

Mishnah Pesachim 10.5; “In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he himself came out of Egypt, for it is written, 'And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying, it is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’”

After the Exodus, while wandering in the desert, God reiterates his commandment to the Israelites to continually celebrate Passover:

Numbers 9:1-13; “Thus the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ‘Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.’ So Moses told the sons of Israel to observe the Passover. They observed the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did... Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying... ‘the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.’”

Leviticus 23:5; “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.”

Deuteronomy 16:1-7; “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. You shall not eat leavened bread with it... You shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses.”

Observance of the Passover in the time of Jesus (first century A.D.)

The order of the Passover is described in the Mishnah:

Mishnah Pesachim 10 (abbreviated):

“On the eve of Passover from close to the time of the afternoon offering, no one must eat
until nightfall. Even the poorest person in Israel must not eat on the night of Passover
unless he reclines. And they must give him no fewer than four cups of wine... They pour
the first cup of wine for the leader of the seder...and [the leader] recites a blessing over
the wine... and... a blessing for the day. Then they set food before him. He dips the lettuce
before he reaches the course following the unleavened bread. Then they set before him
unleavened bread, lettuce, and a mixture of apples, nuts, and wine, and two dishes...

“They pour a second cup of wine for [the leader of the seder]. And here the son questions
his father... [and] his father instructs him. He begins answering the questions with the
account of Israel’s shame and concludes with Israel’s glory... They mix a third cup; [the
leader] blesses his meal. The fourth cup is concluded with Hallel, which he says with the
concluding blessing...”

Basic Passover Rubric in the Time of Jesus

First cup of wine Followed by a blessing and the presentation of food.
Second cup of wine Followed by a sermon and the actual feasting.
Third cup of wine Followed by a post meal blessing.
Fourth cup of wine Joined to a final blessing.

The specific steps of the Passover ritual are listed in the Haggadah (a Jewish liturgical text for the Passover, similar to the Roman Missal used at Mass), originally authored around AD 170:

Detailed Passover Rubric in the Time of Jesus

1 Kadesh First cup of wine is poured. A prayer of sanctification is recited. The first cup of wine is consumed.
2 Urchatz Ceremonial hand washing
3 Karpas A small piece of green vegetable is dipped in salt water.
4 Yachatz The middle matzah (unleavened) bread is split in half. The larger half is set aside to be used for dessert.
5 Maggid The second cup of wine is poured. A child in the family asks ritualized questions about the Passover meal. The leader of the meal answers these questions by reciting the story of the Exodus in great detail. Wine from the second cup is spilled in reference to the ten plagues of Egypt – remainder of wine is consumed.
6 Rachtzah Ceremonial hand washing in preparation for the matzah.
7 Motzi Matzah A blessing over the matzah is proclaimed and the required quantity of matzah is consumed.
8 Maror Bitter herbs are dipped into a sweet nut and fruit paste and eaten.
9 Korech Sandwiches of matzah and the bitter herbs are dipped in the nut and fruit paste and eaten.
10 Shulchan Orech The feasting commences.
11 Tzafun The matzah bread that was set apart is now divided into small portions (about the volume of an olive), distributed amongst the participants, and eaten.
12 Berach The third cup of wine is poured. Grace After Meals is said and psalms are sung. The third cup is blessed and consumed. The matzah bread that was set apart is now divided into small portions (about the volume of an olive), distributed amongst the participants, and eaten.
13 Hallel The fourth cup of wine is poured. Great hallel psalms to God are sung. The fourth cup is consumed.
14 Nirtzah A final proclamation concludes the meal.

Here ends our brief examination of the Passover, both its inception and its practice in the time of Jesus. In part 3, we will examine the Lord's Supper—during which the Eucharist was instituted—and we will explore the significance of that first Eucharistic celebration insofar as it took place during a Passover meal.

On the Holy Eucharist – Pt.1 – the failure of Adam

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Since the Holy Eucharist plays a central salvific role in Christian life, we must begin our study of the Eucharist's importance with an examination of the event that first doomed all of mankind—the fall of Adam (Genesis 3).

What God Desired

In brief: God wanted Adam (man created in perfect justice, entirely free from sin), to learn true loving obedience. When Eve was tempted by Satan in the Garden, God wanted Adam to sacrifice himself for the sake of his bride. In offering this faultless, loving, obedient, and selfless sacrifice, Adam would secure the prize of everlasting life with God.

We can surmise from Jewish tradition that God desired Adam to at least be willing to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sake of his bride. The Rabbis consider Genesis 3 to be of a sort of riddle-genre that requires careful interpretation. In this regard, we should reflect on these two exegetical insights:

  • It must be recognized that in the Genesis account Adam was portrayed as a priest because God commanded him to "till and keep" the Garden of Eden. This language—"till and keep”—is only ever used to describe the role of priests (Numbers 3:7-8, and 8:26). And the main function of a priest is to offer sacrifice—so the riddle seems to be, "What sacrifice is this priestly Adam called to offer?" To answer this question, we should reflect on 1 Samuel 15:22: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." The Lord desired Adam to remain obedient to his duties to till and keep the garden and to not allow the fruit of the forbidden tree to be eaten, no matter the cost.
  • The term nahash (translated as "serpent" in Genesis 3) is more accurately translated as "dragon"—the same dragon seen in Revelation 12: "The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." Our understanding of what type of beast confronted Adam and Eve in the Garden needs to take Revelation 12 into account. The dragon St. Michael defeated marched into the garden, not some small slithery snake. It is of some importance that a popular ancient Rabbinic interpretation of Genesis 3 may be paraphrased as follows: Satan saw Adam and Eve engaging in sexual intercourse, and Satan, lusting after Eve, intended at the very least to kill Adam so he could keep Eve for himself (Bereishit Rabbah 18:6). It was also a popular Rabbinic teaching that Eve was forcefully manhandled by Satan when he tempted her: "he grabbed her and pushed her against the tree. 'So, have you died?' he asked her. 'Just as you were not stricken when you touched it, so will you not die when you eat from it.'" (Bereishit Rabbah 19:1). These interpretations are not divinely inspired—they are basically famous Jewish homilies—but they can be very useful in seeing how the Jewish tradition viewed the riddle of Genesis 3. Taken altogether, the dragon in the Garden is perhaps best understood as a menacing and aggressive figure, who convinced Adam and Eve to sin by his threatening stature.

In this context, it can be concluded that God desired Adam to stand up to the dragon, willing to offer up his own life for the sake of true loving obedience to the Lord and for the sake of his wife’s safety.

What Happened

Adam failed—he allowed his bride to be seduced by Satan and he gave into the devil’s lies as well. Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in an attempt to become gods.

  • The Consequences: Adam and Eve became spiritually dead. And because they were spiritually dead, their offspring (all of humanity) would be born in the same condition. Thereafter: No human is born knowing God personally; no human experiences perfect harmony with nature; no human dies naturally in God’s friendship (Rom 5:10); all humans experience the weakness and disorder of mind, body, and spirit brought on by sin; all humans are born sinners.
  • Remaining Conditions (Hope for humanity’s atonement): After the failure of Adam, the conditions necessary for obtaining everlasting life with God remain. In order to live forever with the Father, a human must be perfectly sinless and must make an unstained offering of him/herself in obedience to God’s will.
  • The Problem: Because of Adam’s sin, no human being is perfectly sinless, so the conditions for everlasting life are impossible for ordinary humans to attain.

As you may have guessed, the solution to the problem requires an extraordinary human, one who is perfect, to offer the sacrifice that Adam neglected.

Hope in Jesus Christ

God’s own inner Word assumed a human nature and was born of the Virgin Mary:

John 1:1, 1:14; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

Thus, God became a perfectly sinless man, capable of satisfying the conditions of the Adamic Covenant. And Jesus did indeed satisfy the conditions of the Adamic Covenant when he offered himself on the cross, thereby attaining the victory over death which Adam forfeited (and much more). But we must remember that everlasting life with the Father is a reward belonging primarily to Christ since, in the formal sense, he  made of himself a perfect offering. Humanity would require some sort of mechanism that would allow for a unification with Christ's sacrifice and thus a share in his everlasting reward. This is covered in part 2.