Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today on Sundays with Bishop Ken, our guest, Father Pete Gaspini from Holy Spirit parish and shields, shares today's gospel reading with us, followed by one of Bishop Ken's homilies.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.
On the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?
He sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into this city and a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him wherever he enters. Say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.
The disciples then went off, entered the city and found it just as he had told them. And they prepared the Passover.
While they were eating, he took bread and said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them and said, take it, this is my body.
Then he took a cup, gave thanks and gave it to them. And they all drank from it. He said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which will be shed for many.
Amen. I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it. New in the kingdom of God.
Then after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, the gospel of the Lord, to help us catch hold of the truest and deepest meaning of the Eucharist. I'm going to pose a strange scenario.
Lets imagine that Jesus did everything we read about in the gospels except for one.
There was no last supper.
Pretend in fantasy that on the Thursday before Good Friday, Jesus and his disciples spent all day in the city and then simply went to the Mount of Olives in the evening and had some leftovers.
And there never was a meal where Jesus took the bread and wine and said, this is my body, this is my blood.
Do this in memory of me.
In this imaginary scenario, that's the only thing left out. Everything else is the same.
Jesus is arrested in Gethsemane, condemned to death, crucified, and on the third day rises from the dead.
The one and only thing missing is the last supper itself.
If that were the case, what would be different for us today?
Jesus celebrated the last supper for our sake. He didn't need to do it for God's sake. He accomplished everything he came to do. By becoming one of us, by proclaiming the reign of God, by living the life he lived, by his words and miracles, by accepting death, by going through death to a transformed human life, by sending the spirit upon us all this was God's great act of love toward us.
If that is so, then why did Jesus perform those rituals at the last Supper, at the Eucharist, which was ultimately expressed in his dying and rising?
All that Jesus did is made present to us so that we can enter into it.
We believe that the Eucharist is the live representation of what Jesus has done and is still doing, giving himself completely to the father.
It's not something simply remembered, not something simply represented through symbol, not a way of making the merits of Jesus spill over onto us. It's made present to us so that we can enter into it.
And that's what would be missing if there were no last supper.
We would not be able to do this in memory of him.
If Jesus had not given us in the last supper what we call the words of institution, this is my body. This is my blood.
And if Jesus had not instituted the continuance of this ritual, do this in memory of me, we would not have the opportunity to join live with Jesus in his dying and rising. We could remember it, give thanks for it, but not actually enter into it.
The words and actions of the Eucharist express all this. Perhaps we need to be more aware of their meaning.
For example, in the eucharistic prayer after this is my body, this is my blood, there is always a prayer expressing the offering of ourselves with Christ. The wording of one of the prayers expresses this very clearly.
Therefore, we ask you, Father, to accept us together with your son.
Every eucharistic prayer ends with the bread and cup being held up high to God and the sung or spoken words through him, with him, in him, all glory and honor is yours, almighty father, forever and ever.
We are joining the Lord in giving all to God.
Clearly, this is something we are doing live, not simply as a remembrance.
And when we come forward to receive the bread and the cup, we are connecting ourselves with the Lord in the giving of himself entirely to the Father.
We are joined with him as he stands before the father and says, these are my brothers. These are my sisters. I'm with them, and they're with me. And together we give ourselves completely to you.
All of this would be missing if Jesus had not given us the Eucharist. It is his gift to us, enabling us to join in his great act of love for the Father.
For centuries, people have been doing this. And because they did, the world is different.
In our churches, people have been bringing part of the human race, part of creation to God. And each time the reign of God inches closer to fulfillment and the whole world, all creation, all people are affected by it.
One of the prefaces for the mass on this feast says, Jesus is the true and eternal priest who instituted the pattern of an everlasting sacrifice.
Indeed, it is everlasting. It is open ended to make room for us to join in, for which we are very, very grateful.
And that is why we always end the Eucharist by saying, deo grazias. Thanks be to God.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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