Finding the Scripture in the Eucharist (Mass) ; For audio only PPN
Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner shares “Finding the Scripture in the Eucharist’. She points out some Old Testament characters and various passages from the Bible that have found their way into the Eucharistic Celebration of the Mass.
BLOG
During a ‘normal year’ children and adults receive their First Communion during the Easter Season. During the extraordinary year of Covid-19 however, First Communions around here are being celebrated beyond the feast of Pentecost! That has given us a long time to yearn to receive Jesus for the first time or the first time in a long time. Today I want to share the stories from the Bible that show that the yearning to receive the Eucharist, the Holy Communion with the Living God, was a long time in the making.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m your host Patti Brunner. Our topic today is the Finding the Eucharist in Scripture.
You are probably aware that the consecration prayers of the Mass are the same as what Jesus said at the Last Supper when he said “This is my Body”, and “This is my Blood” but you may not be aware that the actual quote comes not from the Gospels but from 1 Corinthians and the early Church’s celebration of the Eucharist.
Similar accounts of the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper are reported in the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. However, the Church has chosen to use the words of Jesus as written by Paul to the newly established church in Corinth for the Mass Liturgy. Paul’s letter was written around 50 A.D., which is actually before any of the Gospels were written.
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 11:23-26 Paul writes: “23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” “25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”
Sound familiar? Most of the mass prayers are chocked full of scripture quotes. Our Church known as the Catholic Church, the universal church, knows the importance of Tradition with a capital T. What God handed down to the Church through scripture is now handed down to us through the Eucharistic Celebration of the Mass.
These scriptures complement and point the way to understand the beauty of the Mystery, the sacrament of thanksgiving. Or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:7 “Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory.”
We need to be familiar with some of the passages of scripture that foreshadow the Mass and some that are quoted during the Mass to recognize the magnificence of God’s glorious gift to us.
Years ago, after my life-changing conversion experience, I fell in love with scripture. I had randomly heard that there was a lot of scripture in the Mass and I started searching the mass prayers for scripture. My main problem was that I was not a bible scholar and although I recognized the scripture of the consecration other things were beyond my discovery.
I remember the first time I was taught about the importance of the Tabernacle. Dr. Dennis Holt was visiting our parish and was teaching about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and keyed in on the structure of the temple’s outer court, Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. I remember asking myself, “Where is he getting this?” Even though I was a faithful Catholic I had no idea that everything he was teaching was in the Bible and foreshadowed the very Eucharist that I attended every week. Later on, when I picked up the Bible and read the Old Testament, I began to connect the dots with the New Testament teachings and the Eucharistic Celebration itself.
As Catholics join bible studies and begin obeying the Church to read the bible, we gain understanding and can begin to recognize and find the scripture within the Mass. The clearest source, the Liturgy of the Word, directly quotes the Scripture, usually two readings from the Old Testament which includes a responsorial Psalm, and two readings from the New Testament including the Gospel. Even when we study the readings from daily mass we are still missing a lot. One time I traced all the readings from the 3 year Sunday cycle to see just how much of the bible was covered. Others have done the same thing plus adding the two year daily readings cycle. The 4 Gospels are the greatest majority of the bible read during Mass. 90% of the Gospels are covered on weekdays and 60% of the Gospels are covered on Sundays. Non-Gospel New Testament readings are 60% weekday +25% on Sundays.
If you are like me and pray the daily mass readings you will have covered 75% of the New Testament. Many scriptures are read both on Sunday and during the week. However, when we look for the % of the Old Testament, not counting the Psalms, only 4% is covered on Sundays and 14% weekdays of the liturgy of the word. Even if you add the daily and the Sunday verses from the Old Testament together you still get only 17% of the Old Testament directly read at Mass. It’s no wonder we Catholics don’t know much about the Old Testament. Scripture scholars of the early church were scholars of the Old Testament. Remember that after his resurrection, Jesus explained to the Emmaus disciples the fulfillment of the foreshadowing of Christ in Scripture. He’s talking about the Old Testament. We can find all kinds of quotes and phrases of the Old Testament contained in the New. What fun it is to discover that!
I finally found a book that took the mass prayers line by line and discovered that almost every line was a direct or an indirect reference to scripture. That book disappears from my shelf whenever I start looking for it, only to show up when I’m looking for something else. I am comforted by Scott Hahn’s “Home Sweet Rome” who, as a bible scholar extraordinaire, shares that during his very first mass attendance he realized that the whole mass seemed to use scripture quotes for the majority of the prayers. Many other books and bible studies I have read have also pointed out scriptures in the Mass. I’m not going to try to be all inclusive here; this is a short broadcast compared to a book. Just know that the Psalms and the Prophets find their way into the mass prayers a lot as well as the New Testament. Even the basic form of the mass comes from scripture as Luke in Acts 2 & 4 describes the early Christian community being “of one heart and mind” devoting themselves “to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers”. Each of the major songs of the Mass, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Alleluia, the Holy, Holy, the Great Amen and the Lamb of God are scripturally based. And then there’s everything in between!
The Holy Bible, God’s gift to us shared through Tradition, provides passages to the Mass about the Melchizedek, Lamb, sacrifice, ritual, priesthood, altar, Passover, Manna, bread, the bread of life discourse in John’s chapter 6, Last Supper, eternity, angels, reality, the early church, and praise to God. All these find their way into what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324); what we call the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass.
For instance, during the Eucharistic Prayer #1 of the Mass the priests prays:
“Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son. We, your people and your ministers, recall his passion, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into glory; and from the many gifts you have given us we offer to you, God of glory and majesty, this holy and perfect sacrifice: the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.
Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedek. Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.”
To help you to be filled with every grace and blessing, I think we need to be familiar with scripture so we know who Abel, Abraham and Melchizedek are and how their stories in scripture prepared us. One of the main things that ties these three men of the Old Testament together is offering sacrifice to God. The mass makes present the sacrifice of Jesus to God the Father.
The earliest foreshadowing of the Eucharist was Abel, the younger son of Adam and Eve. In Genesis Chapter 4 we find Abel, who was a shepherd, offering a sacrifice of the fatty portion of the first born of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering. After Cain murdered his brother Abel, the Lord told Cain, Genesis 4:10 “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” The Book of Hebrews 12:24 reminds us of in chapter 12 “[Christ’s] sprinkled Blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.”
Another character in Genesis, Abraham, became the father of faith after God called him to leave his homeland and go into a promised land. Abraham obeyed God. Abraham’s world revolved around Isaac, the child promised by God and given in his old age. God tested Abraham by asking him to offer his son in sacrifice. The blood sacrifice was a sign of covenant. God wants us, too, to be willing to trust Him enough that we would set aside that which we love or desire most to deepen our relationship with Him. Abraham was obedient. His son Isaac carried the wood up the hill on his shoulder just as Jesus carried the wood up Calvary. God stopped the hand of Abraham and provided an alternate animal sacrifice, a ram. By covenant, since Abraham was willing to give the life of his only son, God the Father was willing to sacrifice his son, Jesus.
The third character mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer #1 is Melchizedek. Melchizedek might be Noah’s long living son Shem who was on Noah’s Ark, but officially he is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.” We can read about Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14:18 as well as the New Testament Hebrews chapters 6 & 7. His name means righteous king and he was also King of Salem, that is, king of peace. Visiting Abraham, after Abraham justly defeated several kings, “Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High …” to bless Abram, pre-figuring the bread and wine consecrated by a priest at Mass. The New Testament book Hebrews, chapter 6:20, calls Jesus “high priest forever according to order of Melchizedek”.
One of the key prayers of the Mass that the people say while the priest is breaking the bread which is now the Body of Christ is the Lamb of God. The importance of the Lamb is in lots of different scriptures especially in Exodus and the story of Moses. As God freed the people of Israel from slavery using 10 plagues against the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the last one was the death of each first born male, human and animal. God instructed Moses how to be protected thus allowing the Angel of death to “Passover” their household. Exodus 12:7 says: “They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb.”
This foreshadowed the saving power of the sacrificial blood of Jesus to free us from the death of sin. Exodus 12:8 says “That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” They were called to eat the sacrificed lamb to enter into the saving covenant with God. The Passover meal foreshadowed the Eucharistic meal.
The Lamb used for the first Passover and the remembrance feast of the Jewish people was required to be without blemish. As the temple was built in Jerusalem this requirement was continued for the Passover sacrifice. In Exodus and Numbers the people are cautioned not to break the bones of the Passover lamb. John 19:36: points out that although others who are crucified on Good Friday, and their legs were broken the legs of Jesus are not broken. And 1 Peter 1:19 speaks of “the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.” The prophet Isaiah in chapter 53, speaks of the suffering servant, and says in verse 7: “Like a lamb led to slaughter”. When John the Baptist sees Jesus from a distance he proclaims in John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb”. And 1 Corinthians shares 5:7 “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed”.
All of these scriptures bear witness when we sing or proclaim, “Lamb of God who take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.” Powerful witness, isn’t it!
The last book of the New Testament, Revelation, is described by Dr. Scott Hahn in his book “The Lamb’s Supper” as a great teaching about the Eucharist. The mystical vision of St. John shares in Chapter 5:6 is about the “slain lamb.” And in Revelation 7:14 and 19:9 we hear of the final banquet—the banquet is the flesh of the Lamb of God. In John 6:51 and 53 Jesus tells us to eat his flesh.
One Old Testament goldmine for finding scriptures about the mass is in the words of Moses in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. After God brought the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt into the desert, God fed them bread from heaven called Manna. Then God gave them the written word known as the 10 Commandments as a covenant at Mount Sinai. God established the liturgy of the presence of God through the building of the Tabernacle and the descent of God’s Glory upon it. The Tabernacle was a mobile tent built to God’s specifications. After it was constructed the presence of God came upon it in the form of a cloud of smoke by day and a column of fire by night. Within the inner recesses of the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies room. It contained the golden Ark of the Covenant which held the stone tablets of the 10 Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff which had sprouted fruit to name Aaron as the High Priest. These foreshadow the Eucharistic presence of God, the liturgy of the Word, the Eucharistic bread and the priesthood. In the outer room of the Tabernacle there was a table of incense, a table of 12 loaves of showbread that was eaten weekly only by the priesthood that were chosen to communicate with God, and an eternal 7 flamed candlestick that foreshadows the seven sacraments. In the outer court was an altar for sacrifice. When Jesus says in Mark 14:58, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.’” We realize Jesus is the new altar and the temple of the Holy Spirit. The priests offered sacrifice for the annual atonement of sin where the blood was sprinkled on the “Mercy Seat” of the Ark of the Covenant. Portions of other sacrifices were shared with the people so that as they consumed it they were connected with God. We can see in the New Testament book of Hebrews 9,10 the early Church saw Jesus as a Jewish high priest offering sacrifice to God. This sacrifice was his own body and blood, shed to set us free from the bondage of evil and consumed by us to be one with God.
In some of our other podcasts we addressed various facets of the Eucharist and the celebration of the Mass. Truth of the Spirit has provided a YouTube playlist titled The Eucharist (The Mass) Source & Summit of Christian Faith. We’ll add this talk to that playlist.
We will end with a quote from 1 Corinthians 10: “15 I am speaking as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”
The priest says at the end of Mass, “May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” To which we reply: “Amen!”
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit. I’m your host, Patti Brunner. Be sure and check out our YouTube channel and the various playlists and the PatriarchMinistries.com website. And then come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
Note: Truth of the Spirit also has a new playlist in the menu on Patriarch Ministries website and on its YouTube Channel: “The Eucharist (The Mass) Source & Summit of Christian Faith” that covers many other facets of the Mass.
