The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Christi) – the Covenantal Nature of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist

The Scripture Readings of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ reminds us of the covenantal nature of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. From the First Reading (Exodus 24:3-8), we see that the Eucharist has its historical root in Israelites’ ratification of God’s covenant with the blood of sacrificial animal, upon receiving the Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-23:33). Moses was the mediator between God and the Israelites in receiving the Law and the Israelites’ full acceptance of the covenant with the Law. In fact, a prototype of animal sacrifice for upholding a covenant is found in Abraham’s offering of his son with Sarah, Isaac, though the actual sacrifice was the lamb provided by God (Genesis 22:1-19). Ratifying the covenant with God is to demonstrate our faithfulness to him and His covenant with us (i.e. Genesis 22:16; Exodus 24:3,7).

The First Reading (Exodus 24:3-8) describes how Moses, as the mediator, facilitated the Israelites to ratify the covenant with animal sacrifice and sprinkling the blood of the sacrificial animal. In fact, Moses was serving as a prototype of high priest (kohen godol), before his brother, Aaron was appointed by God to be the first official high priest (Exodus 28:1-2). But this high priest, Aaron, turned out to be unfaithful to God for facilitating the Israelites to commit idolatry, violating the Law (Exodus 20:4-5), by ordering them to make a golden calf idol of Egyptian deity, while waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:1-33:6). Henceforth, the covenant had not been faithfully kept due to corrupted priests and infidelity of the Israelites (e.g. Malachi 2:1-9; 2 Maccabees 4:7-10:9). It was high priest, Caiaphas, who facilitated a trial of Jesus with false witnesses, with his intent to kill him (Matthew 26:57-68), violating the commandment against a false witness (Exodus 20:16).

There needed to be a drastic game change to make sure that the covenant is kept faithfully. And this is why God the Father sent His only begotten Son as the perfect and eternal high priest (Hebrews 7:25-28) and the mediator of the New Covenant, as addressed in the Second Reading (Hebrews 9:11-15; cf. Hebrews 10:1-18).

As we have Christ as our high priest, we no longer repeat animal sacrifice and shed the sacrificial animal blood to be sprinkled for a covenant ratification (Hebrews 9:11-14). This is why we do not need to slaughter and burn sacrificial animal on the altar and to have its blood sprinkled. For this reason, instead of animals to be sacrificed, we use the species of unleavened bread and wine to commemorate the self-sacrifice of the incarnated Christ, our great high priest, for us to ratify the New Covenant, for which he serves as the mediator.

The Gospel Reading (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) depicts that how Christ, our high priest, established the New Covenant at the Lord’s Supper on the night before his death, which served as the eternal Paschal and Yom Kippur sacrifice on the Cross confirmed the New Covenant, shedding his blood (i.e. John 19:17-37; Hebrews 9:22; cf. John 1:29; cf. Exodus 12:1-13; cf. Leviticus 16:3-14). This is why no longer sacrificial animal’s blood but the precious blood of our high priest, the incarnated Christ, Jesus, to be shed, not to be sprinkled but to be consumed by us. For his blood to be shed, Christ, our great high priest, offered his body for the eternal sacrifice once for all.

Thus, our great high priest, Christ, transcendentally transformed the old covenant into the new one, by establishing the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, at the Lord’s Supper. He did so by offering unleavened Passover bread, as his body, upon blessing and breaking it, saying, “Take it; this is my body”(Mark 14:22) and offering the chalice of wine, as his blood, upon giving thanks, saying, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many”(Mark 14:23-24). Then, on the following day, he offered himself on the Cross as the eternal sacrificial Paschal Lamb (i.e. John 19:17-37).

Now, you may ask: Why does the unleavened Passover bread is the Body of Christ to be broken by him and eaten by us and why the Passover wine is the Blood of Christ to be drunken by us?

To answer these questions, we must recall Jesus’ self-identification as not just the bread of life (John 6:35) but, indeed, the living bread of life (John 6:51). And he is the living bread of life to give life because this bread, which is his flesh, is filled with the Holy Spirit (i.e. John 6:63). In other words, the bread of life is made into the living bread of life because of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the flesh that Jesus offered in his body is the living flesh (sarx) (John 6:53), not dead meat of carcass (kreas) . Therefore, the blood that he offers comes from his living body (John 6:53, 63), not his corpse, because of the Holy Spirit (John 6:63).

By connecting the Gospel Reading (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) to Jesus’ living bread of life discourse (John 6:22-58), we can better understand why the Passover unleavened bread becomes the real living body of Christ and the Passover wine becomes the real blood of the living Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through epiklesis during the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass.

Every time we celebrate Mass, we solemnly remember that we are actually ratifying the New Covenant established by our great high priest, Jesus Christ. We also remember that he offered himself, shedding his precious blood, for the New Covenant, once for all, making it unnecessary to sacrifice animals and shed their blood, by human high priests.

We receive the Eucharist at Mass at least on Sundays and holy days of obligations, as we make up about 25% baptized Catholics, who regularly attend Mass. Now the question is – Are we really upholding the New Covenant faithfully?