Last week’s post examined innovation in salvation history. Today’s post focuses on the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper as an innovative act of Christ.
As noted last week, when sacrifices offered by high priests were no longer efficient, it necessitated the need for a “a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Heb 7:26), who can offer for all time, a single sacrifice (Heb 7:27; 10:12). This was effectuated by Christ, who offered this sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, once and for all.
However, before departing the world, Christ founded the Church, which is his mystical body (Mystici Corporis Christi, 1). The Church was foreshadowed right from the beginning of the world, was constituted in the present era, and will gloriously achieve completion at the end of time when all “will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church” (Lumen Gentium, 2). Hence, Pope John Paul II maintains that “The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion” (Redemptoris Missio, 1).
The Church as “the universal sacrament of salvation” attains “its full perfection only in the glory of heaven”, and continues the salvation plan through the liturgy, especially in the Mass, awaiting the restoration of all things, a time the entire human race “will be perfectly reestablished in Christ” (Lumen Gentium, 48, 50).
Also, before departing the world and in continuation of this salvation plan, Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper and entrusted it to the Church to ensure the sacrifice continues to be brought into being till eternity.
Hence, the Second Vatican Council maintains: “Our union with the Church in heaven is put into effect in its noblest manner, especially in the sacred Liturgy, wherein the power of the Holy Spirit acts upon us through sacramental signs…Celebrating the Eucharistic sacrifice therefore, we are most closely united to the Church in heaven” (Lumen Gentium, 50). In light of this intrinsic relationship, “the Church draws life from the Eucharist” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit) (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 1) and “the Eucharist builds the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 26).
There are several reasons for Christ’s innovative decision.
The first is that Christ instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross until he should come again (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47). The Eucharist is a sacrifice because the Mass re-enacts the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus is both the victim and the priest of the sacrifice. The priest who celebrates the Eucharist acts in the person of Christ while Christ is the victim. While there was shedding of blood on Calvary, there is no shedding of blood at the altar.
The second reason is to establish a new covenant, which fulfils and surpasses the Old Testament sacrificial system. While instituting the Eucharist, Jesus affirms that the cup is the new covenant in his blood. “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).
The third reason is to entrust to the Church a memorial of his death and resurrection so that future generations will have a remembrance of this single sacrifice done for all. The Eucharist re-presents the Paschal mystery because in it, Christ is ever physically present under the species of bread and wine. Hence, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the whole Christian life (Lumen Gentium, 11).
The fourth is that Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a pledge of love and unity for the Church, for it is “a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47). In the context of the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and gave them a new commandment to love one another; a love that fosters ecclesial communion and participation. By receiving the same body and blood of Christ, the faithful become one body in Christ and are bonded in the love of Christ. As St Paul notes, because of one bread, we are all one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Cor 10:17).
Finally, Jesus instituted the Eucharist to serve as nourishment for the Christian life on the journey toward holiness and salvation. Jesus says: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). The Eucharist is a meal, “a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47). Hence, the Catechism teaches that holy communion augments our union with Christ, wipes away venial sins, preserves us from future mortal sins, increases unity with the Church, commits us to the poor, and serves as a pledge of the glory to come (CCC, 1391-1405).
To ensure the efficiency of the priests who will celebrate the Eucharist, Christ also established the priesthood at the Last Supper. Unlike the non-eternal and Levitical priests in the old sacrificial order, the priesthood of Christ is eternal, prefigured in the order of Melchizedek, who was without father or mother or genealogy, and who has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but continues a priest for ever (Heb 7:3-17). As Pope John Paul II affirms, the Eucharist “is the principal and central raison d’être of the sacrament of priesthood, which effectively came into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist” (Dominicae Cenae, 2). Hence, the law provides that a validly ordained priest is “the only minister who, in the person of Christ, can bring into being the sacrament of the Eucharist” (Can. 900 §1).
The Church further safeguarded this efficacy with the doctrine of ex opere operato, in the sense that the efficacy of the Eucharist and other sacraments celebrated depends on the ministry of the Church rather than on the holiness of the priest.
Next week’s post examines innovation in evangelisation.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
