Seeing the Eucharist through Jewish eyes

 

Picture: Ahawah Children's Home, Berlin; Passover Seder Table

Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist #2

Spiritually, we Christians are rooted in Jewish faith and spirituality. This can feel slightly disconcerting because it is difficult to disentangle the historical, tribal, and political threads that run through Jewish and Christian history. Yet one thing is clear: Jesus was Jewish—completely and faithfully so. The Gospels testify that He and His family observed the Law of Moses. In His teaching and His life, Jesus never allowed any legal precept to override the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (see Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). In this, He fulfilled the Law.

An important work (Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist #1)

 

Six years ago we were in the throws of the first ‘Covid lockdown’.  At this time I read a very interesting book entitled:

Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist – Unlocking the secrets of the Last Supper’ by Brant Pitre. 

A priest friend of mine had recommended the work of Pitre in 2019. I got around to reading the book and, on 4 May 2020, I wrote the following on the inside cover:

“I read this gem of a book over a period of weeks – a lot of it during the ‘lockdown’ of 2020 (Covid19).  The book is well written and easy to follow.  It allows gaps in which the reader may draw their own conclusions after reflection and prayer.  The author demonstrates, persuasively, the prefiguring of the Eucharist in the writings and lived experience of the Hebrew people. The Bread of Presence and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary are inextricably linked and grounded in scripture. I highly recommend this book. Take and read!”

In the coming days, I will review and reflect on a few key ‘takeaways’ in the book.

Holy Week and the Eucharist

 

File:Sunday mass at st Augustine Chapel.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Today is Palm Sunday, the doorway into Holy Week for Christians in the West. Much lies ahead in the liturgy, culminating in the greatest feast of the year – Easter. We follow a familiar pattern:

Why Mass?

 

An imaginary conversation:

Another: “Why go to Mass? None of my friends go. It is meaningless and irrelevant. Anyway, the Church is a completely discredited and misogynistic institution. Nobody should be supporting it by attending their rituals or encouraging any role for it in society”.

Offering our own prayers with the Mass

 

Last Wednesday, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I reflected on the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation and its inseparable link to the infinite value and dignity of every human being -  from conception to natural death. Today, I happened to come across an item: Pope backs “spiritual adoption of the unborn”. It resonated deeply with a practice I adopted some years ago: to choose one living person each day – known or unknown – and include that person in my morning offering, consciously uniting them to the offering of the Mass being celebrated anywhere in the world at that moment. One might even give that person a name.

Why this blog?

 

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It stands at the centre of our identity, our worship, and our belonging as a Eucharistic community. Yet for many, the Eucharist can seem like a strange ritual, disconnected from their experience, needs, or understanding.

What I’m trying to do in this series is to share my own understanding and experience, grounding it in Scripture, Catholic tradition, and the realities of the world we inhabit. In a fragmented culture marked by polarity, distance, noise, and confusion, I want to point to the Eucharist as the wellspring of hope, life, unity, and intimacy — the very things we thirst for.

This is not about nostalgia or longing for some imagined past. It is about renewal here and now, in a world crying out for justice, peace, and solidarity.

If these reflections help even one person, somewhere, at some moment, to pause and consider the mysteries explored in Bread for theJourney, that is consolation enough. I am grateful for the chance to offer something of value. I have received much, and I simply wish to share it.

We need to talk about Peter

 

Basilica of Saint Apollinare

Sunday 29 March 2026

 Palm Sunday

Lectio Divina:*

Isaiah 50:4-7 Psalm 22(21)

Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 26:14 — 27:66

Meditatio:

‘And he went out and wept bitterly’  (Matthew 26:75))

Commentary:

To experience betrayal is a gutting experience. This is all the more when the one who betrayed us was, perhaps, the closest and most loved of persons.  To experience betrayal as one who has perpetrated betrayal is also a gutting experience. This is all the more when the one who does the betraying does it to the closest and most loved of persons.