Abandoned

 

In the eucharist we recall the sacrifice of Jesus.  We proclaim his death and resurrection as it says in scripture. St Paul writes, ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’ (1 Corinthians 11:26).

However, we are participating in something than just a mere recalling of past events. We are reliving the Passover in our time not through a replay but through a renewal of all the graces coming from those unique historical events. In this sense the death and resurrection of Jesus are now as well as then.  We do not have to look far to see this reality in a broken world where hope refuses to surrender.

Sacrifice is the way of love.  God teaches us love in the mass and the in the great thanksgiving of what I call the fifth movement we join our own sacrifices to the one sacrifice – the  greatest act of love.  Jesus became abandoned by his Father that we might find our way back to the Father (Matthew 27:46)