A few days ago, I was watching a YouTube video about some miracles that occurred at Medjugorje with Father Leon. In that video, he reminds us of a simple truth: the most significant two signs and wonders in the world will always be Eucharist and Confession. Why? Because in these two Sacraments, we encounter Jesus Christ himself. There is nothing more significant than that gift!
As Catholics, we believe that the bread and wine are transformed literally into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In today’s first reading, we see the precursor to the Eucharist in the Passover meal. A spotless lamb, cooked and not a bone is broken. All of it must be eaten. The imagery goes on and on. Jesus is the Thanksgiving Sacrifice that God makes for us at every Mass, not a new sacrifice but somehow being made present to us again. How do we see the rest of that story play out?
When I read the old testament, I like to look at the world, or the enemies of Israel, as sin. Here we have the Israelites in Egypt battling it out with Pharoah. God continues to send miracle after miracle, but Pharaoh’s heart gets harder and harder. The Passover, though, it changes the world. Not only that, it begins one of the first liturgical forms of worship in the Judeo Christian world. A sacrifice that makes present to them the first Passover. They didn’t see it as another one, but as being part of the first one, being liberated from Egypt with the rest of their people.
Now if we look at sin in that same light, we begin to see a similar pattern. We can go through life with many great things happening, but the sin in our life still seems to cling on. Often changes in our lives give us the idea that we have got it under control, then somehow it rears it’s head again. We might find ourselves still doing the same sin, over and over. God is trying to help us, and for a time, we rely on him to do so. Then we begin to think, “I’ve got this beat!” That is when our hearts harden, and we fall back into the same old habits.
Like the Israelites, it is in the Passover that we find liberation. It is in the Eucharist that we see Jesus, the source and summit of our faith. He can bring us out of the Egypt of our sin. It doesn’t stop there, though. The Israelites went from Egypt to the desert and spent the next 40 years learning to be a people of God. Our faith life doesn’t stop when we receive the Eucharist; it begins anew. We too must spend the rest of our lives growing, learning, and becoming the People God has created us to be. When we fail, we must turn back to God in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession, to encounter Jesus Christ Himself, the highest sign and wonder of all.
A reflection on the readings for Friday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time, July 19, 2019.