Sunday, August 11, 2013

Everyone Loves a Secret ...

Look at today's first reading (Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C), because it speaks to our situation today:
The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.
For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution, 
That your holy ones should share alike the same good things and dangers, having previously sung the praises of the fathers. (Wisdom 18:6-9)
The world keeps moving forward, pursuing many an agenda at odds with God's will.  But when we celebrate the Eucharist - a divine institution, ignored by the majority - we are bringing the grace of salvation into the world.  All grace, all supernatural life, flows from Christ's Passover - His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension - and the Eucharist represents it to us, calling down the Father's power (Rom1:4, 8:11; Jn 6:54-57; 1 Cor 5:7-8, 11:23-32).


Like Israel in Egypt, we celebrate the Passover Sacrifice, as the harsh world outside goes its way, blissfully unaware of the judgment being courted.  The one great difference is that we have been charged with going out and continuing to invite others to join us at the Sacrificial Feast (Mt 22:1-7)!  We don't want to keep this Feast a secret, and more importantly, God doesn't want us to keep it a secret!

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