Marked with the Blood

~~~ Exodus 11:10—12:14 ~~~ Psalm 116 ~~~ Matthew 12:1-8 ~~~

How shall I make a return to the LORD

for all the good he has done for me?

The common thread in the readings today is food.

Food is one of our basic needs as a human being.

We cannot exist for long without some type of food and water.

God instructed Moses to follow the prescription 

for the Passover celebration;

but he made one addition.

After choosing and preparing the whole lamb or goat for roasting,

the animal's blood was to be used to mark their doorways.

When God came to judge the town

those with the sacrificial blood were to be spared.

The blood of the slain animal was the sign of saving from harm.

God does keep to his plan and passes over those houses.

Without the whole sacrificial animal salvation would not be realized...

the inhabitants of the household would perish.

Later the body and blood of Jesus

would become the sacrificial offering.

The need for our body and soul to be fed would

now be more than just grains picked from a field.

The food which we use to nourish our body

 isn't sufficient to also nourish our soul.

It is the whole, unbroken body of our crucified Jesus,

which satisfies our hunger.

It is the pouring out of the Blood of Jesus

which satisfies our thirst.

In the upper room the night before Jesus was to die

he took bread and wine into his hands.

He offered these as himself.

He is the new sacrifice.

It is his Body and Blood which is given up for us...

He gives himself up for the atonement of our sins.

He feeds and blesses us in the middle of forgiving and saving us.

Or is it, In the middle of forgiving and saving us he feeds and blesses us?

These four things are brought to completion

in Jesus himself.

There is no longer the need or

 requirement to sacrifice the lambs and the goats.

Their blood will not save you now.

Only the Blood of Jesus Christ has the power to save.

When we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist

we are participating in our own salvation.

When we do not receive Holy Communion

it is equivalent to preparing the Passover meal

without placing the blood above your portal.

This the way to keep holy the Lord's day...

Come to the table...Be fed...

in flesh and blood.

May the Blood of Jesus keep you

 safe and free from all distress.

Blessed with the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the one who feeds us for eternal life.

~~~Peace~~~

Corpus Christi

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ 

(Corpus Christi)

~~~Exodus 24:3-8~~~Psalm 116~~~ Hebrews 9:11-15~~~

~~~Mark 14:12-16, 22-26~~~

Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying,

"This is the blood of the covenant

that the LORD has made with you

in accordance with all these words of his."

Being sprinkled with blood seems foreign

 and even barbaric to us today.

In the time when Moses was leading the Israelites 

such a sprinkling was very important.

It was their custom to sacrifice a warm blooded 

live animal as an offering to God. 

They believed this was pleasing to God.

They believed that it signified their holy relationship with God.

This blood confirmed and sealed their covenant with God,

as he had revealed to Moses.

Moses revealed to the people all that God had told him.

He wrote it down exactly as he had been told.

He must have delivered God's message with conviction and passion,

because the people agreed to do exactly as God commanded.

Today the church celebrates the great mystery

 of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout the pages of the Old Testament God 

consistently revealed tiny sparks of what was to be revealed 

when his son, Jesus, would be sent to us.

God took this graphic blood ritual and gave us the Eucharist.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, as he says, not to abolish it.

Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice.

His blood will flow freely from his body,

not only for the present but for all eternity.

It is Jesus, who freely gives himself to us 

under the appearance of bread and wine;

what today we call Eucharist.

As you receive the Body and Blood of Jesus

 recall the words of Psalm 116...

 I will take the cup of salvation, 

and call on the name of the Lord.

May the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord

be alive in your soul.

May His consecrated Body and Blood 

be a living source of nourishment for all of your days.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven,

says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

(John 6:51)

Receive the many Blessings 

from Corpus Christi.

They were given for you.

~~~Peace~~~

All Who Ate Were Satisfied

The Most Holy

Body and Blood

of Christ

 

~~Genesis 14:18-20~~Psalm 110~~ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26~~Luke 9:11b-17~~

 

Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.

 

 

Jesus looked up to heaven...to God the Father...

Demonstrating his connection with the Father and

his obedience to him in all things.

 

He said the blessing over the few loaves and fishes.

Nothing is too meager or too insignificant for God to work on his behalf.

 

Jesus breaks the bread and it turns into abundance

right before the eyes of the apostles.

The bread is broken.

Because of its brokenness it feeds thousands that day.

This is truly what we remember today...

the broken body of Jesus and the pouring out of his blood.

Through his sacrifice we are given the gift of the Eucharist...

abundantly and forever feeding us and blessing us.

 

All who ate of these tiny fragments of bread and fish were satisfied.

It is only through the blessing, said over these few offerings,

 that everyone who ate was satisfied.

 

How much food must you consume before you are satisfied?

 

Not only were all who ate satisfied,

they had twelve baskets of leftover fragments remaining.

 

Leftovers from God and for God.

 

How many people think of God as merely their leftovers.

How many people try in vain to satisfy their hunger on that which is not of God?

 

Lord, you satisfy the hungry heart.

I believe in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It sustains and nourishes my soul.

Thank you, Lord, for this wondrous gift.

Corpus Christi: Jesus Shares Himself

Corpus Christi

The Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Exodus 24: 3-8 ~~~ Psalm 116 ~~~ Heb. 9: 11-15 ~~~ Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 ~~~

I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.

How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?

These words from psalm 116 are so beautiful. There is no way that we can truly make a return to the Lord. The Lord wants us to believe and to follow as best as we can in his footsteps of love, compassion, and forgiveness.

The best we can do is to be forever thankful for all that he has done for us.

The gospel today reads like a screenplay for a movie...

Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying s jar of water.

Follow him.

When they do arrive at the chosen house they are led to a large upper room furnished and ready. Everything has been prepared ahead of time for the feast of Passover; for Jesus and his disciples were devout Jews.

Tucked into this annual Passover celebration was the nucleus of what we believe.

Jesus pronounces the words of consecration of the Eucharist.

Our ministers today are still using those very words spoken many years ago in this upper room. Words which Jesus intentionally uses to institute the the Bread and Wine into his very being.

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it, this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many'."

As we recite during the Mass...

'When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death,

Lord Jesus Christ, and your rising to eternal life.'

Jesus is the Bread of Life whoever believes has eternal life.

Jesus himself says, I am the Bread of Life. 

Today we rejoice in the Eucharist...

the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

that was given up;

sacrificed for our salvation.

He alone was the perfect sacrifice offered for the atonement of our sins.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life because he is the conduit

through which we pass to our promised eternal inheritance.

We have been saved and nourished through the mystery of the Body

and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Each time we take and drink from the cup and each time we take and eat the bread we enter into this great Divine Mystery. We become part of the mystery;

because we consume this precious Body and Blood.

This bread and wine are processed into our bodily cells for food.

Physically and spiritually we are fed. He gave himself to us as bread and wine for the journey. The journey; returning back to him where we belong. 

  

Prepare your upper room for the Lord wants to remain in you.

Believe that you might have life eternal.

Jesus shares his very essence with us each time we eat and drink

at his table. Your 'Amen' is your verbal conviction to his presence.

It is by Faith that we Believe.

Pray for God to decrease any disbelief you may harbor silently within.