In so far as I have come to understand it; the Mass is both sacrament and sacrifice. When we attend Mass we gather around the table as the apostles did at the last supper, we assemble before the Lamb, we are there at the re-enactment of the sacrifice of His body and just as Mary was present at Calvary she too is present, by her Son’s side at every Mass.

In recent weeks at Mass, I have found myself thinking that not only are we present with Jesus and the apostles as at the Last Supper and also participating in a re-enactment of the sacrifice of His body, but truly with them from Passion Sunday right through to the Resurrection. From the Acclamation: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (as on Passion Sunday), through to The Lord’s Supper, and on to the Memorial Acclamation: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” (the Crucifixion and the Resurrection).

So, when we receive Holy Communion, it is Christ’s resurrected Body that we receive.

I would love some feedback on this, though I know commentors are few and far between in recent weeks! Am I correct in thinking this? Is this something I should always have known, maybe did always know, but it’s just really hitting me now?

“Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.”

You can read more about Christ’s descent to the dead on the Vatican website.

In English

In French

Seigneur tu me cherches
Tu me connais
Et si je t’oubliais
Je sais que tu m’aimes

Ta sainte présence
Elle m’environne
A chaque moment
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Je sais que tu m’aimes

A la croix je me prosterne
Où ton sang coula pour moi
Aucun amour n’est plus grand
Tu as gagné sur la mort
Ta gloire remplit les lieux très hauts
Rien ne peut nous séparer

Tu marches devant moi
Tu gardes mes pas
Ta main me soutient
Je sais que tu m’aimes

Tu déchire le voile
Tu traces un chemin
Car tu as tout accompli (x2)

Si tous s’éffondrer
devant mes yeux
Et tu te tiens devant moi
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Je sais que tu m’aimes

The Last Supper
(by Rainer Maria Rilke)

They are assembled, astonished and disturbed
round him, who like a sage resolved his fate,
and now leaves those to whom he most belonged,
leaving and passing by them like a stranger.
The loneliness of old comes over him
which helped mature him for his deepest acts;
now will he once again walk through the olive grove,
and those who love him still will flee before his sight.

To this he has summoned them,
and (like a shot that scatters birds from trees)
their hands draw back from reaching for the loaves
upon his word: they fly across to him;
they flutter, frightened, round the supper table
searching for an escape. But he is present
everywhere like an all-pervading twilight-hour.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the night he was betrayed,
he took bread and gave you thanks and praise.
He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

Take this, all of you, and eat it:
this is my body which will be given up for you.

When supper was ended, he took the cup.
Again he gave you thanks and praise,
gave the cup to his disciples, and said:

Take this, all of you, and drink from it:
this is the cup of my blood,
the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
It will be shed for you and for all
so that sins may be forgiven.
Do this in memory of me.

So I will be signing off here until sometime after Divine Mercy Sunday.  I wish you all a blessed Holy Week and a very joyous Easter.

I will keep you in my prayers.

“Taking leave of prayer.  The uninterrupted communion with the Father begins to break off.  Everything recedes now into the light of estrangement.  Humanly it is inexplicable how this estrangement could be ordained by the Father, how the Father holds the spirit of the Son of Man in his hands even before he has received it back expressly at the moment of death…

Until now it seemed that each of his human words was immediately taken up by the Father and even received an answer before a petition was uttered.  Now he knows that it will be different:  he has to ask as never before, inescapably, even if no answer is given.  The word comes back sounding hollow.  Or at least filled with the full sound of sin that the Son increasingly hears, stirring up anguish in him.  All this is waiting outside the door, and the door will open.  There are many doors, but whichever he chooses, it leads into the Passion.”