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The celebration of the Eucharist: A rite of sacrifice and atonement or the
"Celebration of the New Covenant"? The stunting of the Eucharist consists in the fact that
a supplementary phrase, later attached by the evangelist Matthew to the words
of Jesus at the Last Supper ("blood... shed for the forgiveness of
sins"), shapes the entire Eucharist and the understanding of the
Lord's salvation. The human being is thereby primarily seen by his
sinfulness and guiltiness and his need for salvation is almost exclusively
related to it. (Why was
Christian worship changed in this way? >>> ) But the original center of Jesus' Last Supper, namely
the celebration of the “New Covenant”, announced by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer
31:33f), is scarcely to be found with its concrete contents in the Eucharistic
celebration. The "New Covenant" can be seen in the message
and in the life of Jesus; it is offered to us in his death and resurrection,
and finds its ritual fulfillment in the celebration of the sacrament. Those in charge of the Church should realize the
contents of the “New Covenant”, which Jesus instituted with the apostles at
the Last Supper, in the texts and rites of the Eucharist and in catechesis
and pastoral work. The contents of the "New Covenant" were
announced by the prophet Jeremiah, who lived in Israel from about 627 to 587
BC (Jer 31:33-34): 33. But this is the covenant which I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within
them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be
my people. 34. No longer will they have need to teach their
friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall
know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their
sin no more. Examples from the message and the life of Jesus, in
which we can see the contents of the "New Covenant" realized: -
“Why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge
for yourselves what is right?” (Lk 12:56-57) - “Knowledge
of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you.” (Mt
13:11) - “As
for you, do not be called 'Rabbi' … teacher … father … 'Master' …” (Mt
23:8-10) - Jesus '
parable narratives are invitations to perceive and understand life
independently. - The
words "obedience" and "obey" are never used by Jesus for
human beings. If we unfold the contents of the "New Covenant"
in the Holy Mass, the Eucharist will be the celebration of the “New
Covenant”. This would mean that we should focus on the following subjects
in the
Eucharist: - The
conscience of man and the formation of his conscience, - the
dignity of man and a dignified life, - the
ability of the knowledge of God, which is also to be seen as a task, and the
ways of the knowledge of God, - How we
learn to perceive the working of the Spirit of God within ourselves, - The
understanding and practice of authority as seen in Jesus, -
Overcoming all paternalism, incapacitation, disempowerment and oppression, - … It should be remembered that the forgiveness of sins by
God in the promise of the "New Covenant" at Jeremiah works without
blood and atonement sacrifices. It should also be remembered to understand the
crucifixion of Jesus as a consequence of his life, in which he realized the
"New Covenant" through his behavior and message. So it would be clear that his life, his death on the
cross, his resurrection and the rite of sacramental celebration are related
to the contents of the "New Covenant". The celebration of the "New
Covenant" needs the addition of the "Noah covenant": The
disciples of Jesus, who celebrated the Last Supper with him, stood in the
faithful tradition of the Old Testament and thus also in the tradition of
God's unannounced covenant with all living beings, the "Noah's covenant": "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your
descendants after you and with all living creatures that are with you, with
the birds, the livestock and all wild animals of the earth among you". (Gen 9:9f) The
awareness of this Jewish tradition of connectedness with creation, in which Jesus and
his disciples also stood, has largely been lost in the Church. In view of the
enormous ecological threat to humanity and to the entire community of nature
on our earth, it would be urgently necessary to integrate this spiritual
tradition into the prayers, songs and rites of the Eucharistic celebration. It
would also be helpful for this concern to understand the gifts of bread and
wine on the altar as a representation of creation and to express this in the
prayers: >>> Prayer suggestions for the "connectedness with creation" - from the faith perspective
of "Laudato si" >>> Bread
and wine in the preparation of gifts: creation and incarnation When
Pope Benedict was still teaching as Professor Josef Ratzinger at the
University in Regensburg, he pointed out in his lecture that in the
Eucharistic celebration the gifts of bread and wine on the altar represent
creation in the preparation of gifts. To this representation of creation
Jesus says "This is my body, this is my blood". Through
this view of Ratzinger, the whole creation is included in the Christ event
and thus also the mystery of faith of the incarnation is made present in the
Eucharistic celebration. ==> See
the meditation picture "Cosmic Christ - Cosmic Man" by Hildegard of
Bingen Understanding of the need for redemption and
salvation in RH: (Chapter 10) Also the
updating of the understanding of man's need for redemption and the
understanding of salvation in the encyclical "Redemptor hominis"
(RH) of Pope John Paul II. (1979) has not yet found its way into the
formation of the Eucharistic celebration: (Original text: >>> ) Need
of salvation in RH: Man is for himself an incomprehensible being.
His life seems senseless. He experiences in himself restlessness and
insecurity, weakness, sinfulness and death. The
experience of redemption in RH: The experience and knowledge to be loved comprehensively through the revelation of Jesus Christ. In this way, man experiences a deep
astonishment at the value and dignity of the human being. "Need for redemption" and " salvation
" through the Christian faith Does
our Christian worship correspond to Jesus' intention? >>> The role and the task of a Priest >>> Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de) |
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