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Patristic Lectionary.......
... Anoint the lintel of our mind with the blood of the Lamb
who was sacrificed for us ...
SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
Year II
SUNDAY
First Reading Acts 24:25-25:27 (or 24:25;
25:6-27)
Responsory Lk 21:12-13;
Mk 13:9
They
will lay hands on you
and persecute
you. You
will be taken before synagogues and put in prison
for my name's sake. + That will be your chance
to bear witness, alleluia.
V.
They will hand you
over to the courts;
you will stand before governors and kings on my account.+ That will be ...
Second Reading
From the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea
(Treatise on the Paschal Solemnity 7.9.10-12: PG24 , 701-706)
(Treatise on the Paschal Solemnity 7.9.10-12: PG24 , 701-706)
Sunday
Eucharist
In the
time of Moses the paschal lamb was sacrificed only once a year, on the fourteenth
day of the first month toward evening, but we of the new covenant celebrate our
Passover every week on the Lord's day. We are continually being filled with
the body of the Saviour and sharing in the blood of the Lamb. Daily we gird ourselves
with chastity and prepare, staff in hand, to follow the path of the gospel. Leaning
on the rod that came forth from the root of Jesse, we are always departing from
Egypt in search of the solitude of the desert. We are constantly setting out on
our journey to God and celebrating the Passover. The gospel would have us do
these things not only once a year but daily.
We hold
our Eucharistic celebration every week on the day of our Lord and Saviour, for
this is our paschal feast, the feast of the true Lamb who redeemed us. We do not
circumcise the body with a knife, but with the sharp edge of the word of God we
cut away all evil from our souls. We use no unleavened bread, except for that of
sincerity and truth. Grace has freed us from outworn Jewish customs and created
us anew in the image of God. It has given us a new law, a new circumcision, a new
Passover, and made us Jews inwardly, thus releasing us from our former bondage.
On
the fifth day of the week, while having supper with his disciples, the Saviour
said to them: With
all my heart I have longed to eat this Passover with you. It was not the old Jewish Passover that he desired to
share with his disciples, but the new Passover of the new covenant that he was
giving to them, and that many prophets and upright people before him had longed
to see. He proclaimed his desire for the new Passover which he, the Word
himself, in his infinite thirst for the salvation of the whole human race, was
establishing as a feast to be celebrated by all peoples everywhere. The Passover
of Moses was not for all peoples, indeed it could not be, because the law allowed
it to be celebrated only in Jerusalem. Christ's desire, then, must have been
not for that old Passover, but for the saving mystery of the new covenant which
was for everyone.
And
so we too should eat this Passover with Christ. We should cleanse our minds of
all the leaven of evil and wickedness and be filled with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth, becoming Jews inwardly, in our souls, where the true circumcision takes place. We should anoint the lintel of our mind with the
blood of the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, and so ward off our destroyer.
We should do this not only once a year, but every week, continually.
On
the day before the Sabbath we fast in memory of our Saviour's passion, as the
apostles were the first to do when the bridegroom was taken from them. On the
Lord's day we receive life from the sacred body of our saving Passover and our
souls are sealed with his precious blood.
Responsory 1 Cor 5:7-8; Heb 10:10
Christ has become our paschal
sacrifice. + Let us therefore celebrate the feast not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, alleluia.
V. We have been consecrated
through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. + Let us therefore ...
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