Eucharist: Covenant of God's Love

At the very heart of the Eucharistic celebration we have the words: “This is the cup of My blood, the blood of the new and everlasting Covenant, which is poured out for you…” In this session, we shall reflect on this central insight into Eucharist – as Covenant.

What is Covenant? Covenant is a free, loving, mutual acceptance of God’s offer to enter into oneness of life with him. Thus, we see that there are three movements in Covenant. [1] God freely and lovingly offers us the gift of sharing life with him
[2] We reflect on what this means, whether we are ready to accept or not;
[3] We freely, lovingly and mutually accept to share life with God.

“Oneness of life” = In the Bl. Trinity, there are three distinct persons, Father, Son and Spirit. Yet when they share their inner life we do not have three gods, but only ONE God, a perfect unity! Again, the two natures in Christ, divine and human are distinct. But, when united in the person of Jesus, we have only ONE person, Jesus, who is totally divine and also totally human.

Thus, when we accept to enter into Covenant with God, we are totally one with God yet retain our identity. It is important to maintain both unity and distinction. Thus, we can truly say with St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” [Gal. 2:20] “For me, to live is Christ” … “What you do to the least of my brethren you do to me.” “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? … I am Jesus whom you persecute.” Every Christian who makes Covenant with the Father should be able to say of himself: “I am Jesus.”

The Sinaitic Covenant: Seeing their misery during their slavery in Egypt, through Moses God said to the Israelites: “I shall free you from this bondage and bring you into your own land … there you could freely choose to belong to Me in Covenant.” After some initial reluctance, the Israelites accepted God’s offer and Moses led them out of Egypt. But when they encountered a difficulty at the Reed Sea, they grumbled against God/Moses saying: ‘Why did you bring us out into this desert to die – it would have been better for us to have died in Egypt itself.’ True to his promise, God freed them from Pharaoh, but not long after they experienced another trial: they had no food. Once more they began to grumble, longing for the flesh-pots of Egypt … the same when they ran short of water! In each instance they wanted to return to Egypt. They had left Egypt physically, yet their hearts and spirits were still in Egypt, enslaved to Pharaoh.

Seeing that they were not yet ready to make Covenant with him, to belong totally to him, God made them wander through the desert. Further trials would test whether their hearts still hankered for Egypt? Little by little, they realized that Pharaoh no longer helped them in their difficulties: it was Yahweh, the faithful One who remained true to his promises. Gradually, their hearts turned towards Yahweh and they forgot Egypt. That is when God was able to invite them again to enter into the Covenanting ceremony,
See Exod. 19: 3-5 Have you SEEN - what I did to the Egyptians …
- how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought …

Now therefore, IF you will obey … Israel said YES, we will obey …
first in words … corresponds to our Liturgy of the Word in the Eucharist
then in action: * the blood ceremony [blood = life – same blood/life in God and people]
* the meal ceremony [food = life – sharing food means sharing life]

Israel said Yes, yet they constantly broke the covenant … hence it was a failure – until … When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law … and Jesus said his perfect Yes [2 Cor. 1:19-20] from the first moment of his Incarnation right up to his death on the Cross. This Yes [obedience] of Jesus was summarized and expressed in ritual form, when on the night before he suffered, he took the bread … broke it [expressing the breaking of his will in obedience to the Father] … then he said: “Do this as a memorial of me.”

So, each time we come to Eucharist, God invites us into Covenant with him. Through the readings, he says to us: Have you seen how I love you [in the examples from OT and NT you have heard]? Are you ready to obey? Our response is given in a two-fold manner:
In words : Profession of faith / Prayer of the faithful
In action : The presentation of the gifts of bread/wine – symbols of our very lives
Sharing at the table of the Lord – sharing food [Christ] is sharing life
Thus, in every Eucharist, we renew our Covenant with God.

In practice, God says to each of us: “All that is yours is mine – and all that is mine is yours.” Do I surrender ‘everything’ that concerns my life [joys, sorrows, difficulties, friends, family …] into God’s hands, so that he then organizes things his way? Do I give God a free hand in my life, or do I still seek to control things and have my way? Further, do I accept what is God’s concern – to establish his kingdom of love, by making his love visible for people around me? Is love the one great concern of my life? “Seek first the kingdom of God and all the rest will be given to you.’ [Mt. 6:33]

One good sign that we are living Covenant is: we are free of anxiety, worry, fear, doubt, needless concern about our lives and how to secure them … we are free for and able to avail ourselves of every opportunity to build God’s kingdom. Read the “Beatitudes” in Mt. 5 - Once we belong to the kingdom, then we find that we are: poor, merciful, seeking justice, persecuted yet serene, meek … we don’t have to strive to develop these qualities, we find that we possess them already.

The Christian ideal is expressed in the Lord’s prayer [Lk. 11:1-13]

“Happy the man who dines with you in the kingdom.” Lk. 14:15

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