THE BEQUEST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE BEQUEST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

A reading from a treatise of St. Gaudentius of Brescia [+ about 410 or 427]

Tr 2 

The heavenly sacrifice which Christ instituted is truly the bequest of His new testament, a bequest which He left us as the pledge of His presence on the night He was handed over to be crucified. 

This is the food which sustains and nourishes us on our journey through life, until we depart from this world and are united with Christ. This is why the Lord said; ‘Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you will have no life in you.’ 

It was His will that His gifts should remain among us; it was His will that the souls which He had redeemed by His precious blood should continue to be sanctified by sharing the pattern of His own passion. For this reason He appointed His faithful disciples the first priests of His Church and enjoined them never to cease to perform the mysteries of eternal life. These mysteries must be celebrated by every priest in every church in the world until Christ comes again from heaven, so that we priests, together with the congregation of the faithful, may have the example of Christ’s passion daily before our eyes, hold it in our hands, and even receive it in our mouths and in our hearts and so keep undimmed the memory of our redemption. 

Besides, since bread is made from many grains of wheat ground into flour, mixed with water and baked by fire, it is appropriate that we should receive the sacrament of Christ’s body in the form of bread. For we know that Christ has become one body made up of the many members of the human race and brought to completion by the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

He was born of the Holy Spirit, and since it was fitting for Him to fulfil all righteousness, He entered the waters of baptism in order to consecrate them. Then, full of the Holy Spirit, who had come down on Him in the likeness of a dove, He returned from theJordan, as Saint Luke tells us: ‘And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from theJordan.’ 

So too the wine of His blood is made from many grapes, the fruit of the vineyard He has planted Himself, which are gathered and pressed in the wine-press of the cross; by its own energy this wine ferments in those who, with faithful hearts, receive Him like capacious jars. 

Escape, all of you, from the domination of Egypt and Pharaoh, I mean the devil, and join us in receiving this sacrifice of the saving Pasch with all the eagerness of a religious heart, so that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, whom we believe to be present in His sacraments, may sanctify our inmost hearts. For the power of this sacrifice is beyond worth, and endures for ever. 

Short Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are the bread which came down from heaven; any one who eats this bread will live for ever. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen. 

Taken from THE DIVINE OFFICE II – LENT AND EASTERTIDE – The Office of Reading – The Second Reading, pages 519-520. 

A Christian Pilgrim