Mary and Scriptural Typology

God’s harmony in creating the universe mysteriously foresaw the need for a Redeemer and His helper, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sacred Scripture prefigures her in many occurrences. Here are some of those examples:

God said to Abraham: Sarai your wife you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah. And I will bless her, and from her I will give you a son, whom I will bless, and he shall become nations, and kings of people shall spring from him. ~ Genesis 17:15-16In this passage Sarah symbolizes motherhood by means of divine interposition. Sarah was beyond the age of childbirth according to the natural law and Mary was a Virgin. Both circumstances make pregnancy unforeseen; thus, both circumstances required that the Creator of the natural law would step in and do something supernatural.

So Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and taking also a hammer: and going in softly, and with silence, she put the nail upon the temples of his head, and striking it with the hammer, drove it through his brain fast into the ground: and so passing from deep sleep to death, he fainted away and died. ~ Judges 4:21
By the power given to her by her Son, our Blessed Mother, the new Jael, will crush the head of the evil one prefigured in this scriptural verse by Sisera.

The canticle of Judith in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judith gives all the glory to God for her victory. This prefigures our Lady and most especially her words in the Magnificat.

In the First Book of Samuel, chapter 25, Abigail falls at the feet of David and begs him to look past the sins of Nabal. This clearly is a look into the New and Everlasting Covenant in which our Blessed Mother pleads to our Savior on our behalf and also her mission of reconciling sinners to her Son.

There are a couple of situations in the First Book of Kings, chapter 1, which prefigure Mary. First, and very briefly, Abishag the Sunamite is ministering to the king – certainly a role that would be humbly accepted by our Lady and foretold elsewhere in Sacred Scripture: “… et in habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi” – “… and in the holy dwelling-place I have ministered before Him” (Ecclesiasticus 24:14 & Vespers of Our Lady). Second, Bathsheba bows to the face of the earth and worships the king. Certainly our Holy Mother is no stranger to approaching the Throne and the King of kings.

In the second chapter of the Book of Esther, Esther is brought before the king and as the verse reads, “she pleased him and found favor in his sight” (Esther 2:9). Our Blessed Lady is without stain and humbly submits to the will of her Creator; therefore she is always pleasing in the sight of the King of kings – she is His masterpiece.

Denys the Carthusian wrote in his Works: “Many women have gathered together great spiritual treasures, but you, O Virgin most admirable, have surpassed them all. For if, according to Saint Jerome, no one is good when compared to God, in like manner no virgin is perfect in comparison with you.”

Mary is also prefigured by some terms used in both the Old and New Testaments like, Mount Zion (cf. Isaiah 8:18), the Chosen City (cf. 1 Kings 8:44), the Temple of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16), the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Testament (cf. Hebrews 9:3-4).

The prophet Ezekiel says something that surely turns ones reflections towards Mary when he speaks of a gate that only the Lord may enter which looks to the east (cf. Ezekiel 43:4).

She is also the Rod of Aaron that blossomed (cf. Hebrews 9:4).

The Blessed Virgin is also prefigured in the fleece of Gideon which on dry ground was moistened by heavenly dew (cf. Judges 6:37-38).

Mary is also the rod which comes forth out of the root of Jesse as prophesied by Isaiah (cf. 11:1).

She is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up (cf. Canticles 4:12).

Beyond Scripture, surely Mary is visible to us in the works of nature. Isn’t she the Dawn preceding the Sun? She is the Star which brightens the night sky. She is the most beautiful of all flowers. She is a sweet-smelling fragrance.

A Carthusian monk wrote that our Lady is “scattered by God throughout His creation! With a little recollection and goodwill, how easy the life of faith can become. Everything that our eyes light upon has the power to raise our hearts to Mary and, reminding us of all that is attractive in her, can inflame our souls with heavenly desires.”

In the midst of so much beauty and all that is pleasing to the contemplative way, we must, as Lanspergius the Carthusian wrote, “desire intensely to eradicate from [our] soul all that displeases [our] heavenly Mother, and to obtain from God through her intercession all that will be pleasing to her.”

Considerations: by Innocent Le Masson

Consider what were the impulses of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when His Soul returned to It and restored It to life. O Sacred Heart, Your repose in the sepulcher only served to make known to us still more the ardor of Your charity towards us. How applicable to You at this time are these words of David: “According to the multitude of your sorrows in my heart your comforts have given joy to my soul” (Psalm 93 [94]:19). And these also of the same Prophet: “I rose up and am still with you” (Psalm 138 [139]:18). O Sacred Heart, if I do not deserve to participate in Your joys, grant me grace to partake of Your charity and Your fidelity in accomplishing the will of Your Heavenly Father.

Consider the impulses of the Sacred Heart of Jesus risen, towards His holy Mother. With what ardent love He hastened to console her for the sufferings He knew His Passion and death had caused her! What must not have been the emotions of the Hearts of the Son and of the Mother in this meeting! O holy Heart of Mary, how you melted at the first word from the risen Heart of your dearly beloved Son! The Heart of the Son and that of the Mother melted together. Speak of these two Hearts communing and blending the one with the other so divinely. Tell them all your heart suggests, and ask for their protection and a share in their holiness.

Consider how loving were the impulses of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when He came to show Himself to His disciples that they might take part in the joys of His Resurrection. See His amiable devices of charity with regard to Saint Mary Magdalene and the disciples at Emmaus, in order to impart to them a more lively sense of the sweetness of His ardent love. Behold what He does and what He permits in order to cure Saint Thomas of his unbelief and to prevent ours! O Sacred Heart of Jesus, most amiable, most loving and most ardent of all hearts, vouchsafe to speak to my heart as You did to those of the disciples at Emmaus, and make it burn with the fire of Your holy love, that, like them, I may constrain You to stay with me, and may, with a faith and love resembling that of Thomas, say with him: “My Lord and my God!” (Luke 20:28).

Development of the Sacred Heart

Here is the reflection offered in the Second Nocturn for the hour of Matins in today’s traditional Divine Office for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For those who are unfamiliar with the traditional Office, you’ll see in the final paragraph the term “double of the first class” which indicates a Feast of the highest rank. Today, that ranking has been changed to the term “Solemnity.”

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Among the wonderful developments of sacred teaching and piety, by which the plans of the divine Wisdom are daily made clear to the Church, hardly any is more manifest than the triumphant progress made by the devotion of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Very often indeed, during the course of past ages, Fathers, Doctors, and Saints have celebrated our Redeemer's love; and they have said that the Wound opened in the Side of Christ was the hidden fountain of all graces. Moreover, from the Middle Ages onward, when the faithful began to show a more tender piety towards the most sacred Humanity of the Savior, contemplative souls became accustomed to penetrate through that Wound almost to the very Heart itself, wounded for the love of men. And from that time, this form of contemplation became so familiar to all persons of saintly life, that there was no country or Religious Order in which, during this period, witnesses to it were not to be found. Finally, during recent centuries, and most especially at that period when heretics, in the name of a false piety, strove to discourage Christians from receiving the most Holy Eucharist, the veneration of the Most Sacred Heart began to be openly practiced, principally through the exertions of Saint John Eudes, who is by no means unworthily called the founder of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

But in order to establish fully and entirely the worship of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to spread the same throughout the whole world, God Himself chose as His instrument a most humble virgin from the Order of the Visitation, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, who even in her earliest years already had a burning love for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and to whom Christ the Lord had very many times appeared, and was pleased to make known the riches and the desires of His Divine Heart. The most famous of these apparitions was that in which Jesus revealed Himself to her in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, showed her His Most Sacred Heart, and complaining that in return for His unbounded love, He met with nothing but outrages and ingratitude from mankind, He ordered her to concern herself with the establishment of a new Feast, on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, on which His Heart should be venerated with due honor, and that the insults offered Him by sinners in the Sacrament of love should be expiated by worthy satisfaction. But there is no one who doesn’t know how many and how great were the obstacles which the handmaid of God experienced, in carrying out the commands of Christ; but endowed with strength by the Lord Himself, and actively aided by her pious spiritual directors, who exerted themselves with an almost unbelievable zeal, up to the time of her death she never ceased faithfully to carry out the duty entrusted to her by heaven.

At length, in the year 1765, the Supreme Pontiff Clement XIII approved the Mass and Office in honor of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; and Pius IX extended the Feast to the universal Church. From then on the worship of the Most Sacred Heart, like an overflowing river, washing away all obstacles, has poured itself forth over all the earth, and at the dawn of the new century, Leo XIII, having proclaimed a jubilee, decided to dedicate the whole human race to the Most Sacred Heart. This consecration was actually carried out with solemn rites in all the churches of the Catholic world, and brought about a great increase of this devotion, leading not only nations but even private families to it, who in countless numbers dedicated themselves to the Divine Heart, and submitted themselves to its royal sway. Lastly, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI, in order that, by its solemnity, the Feast might answer more fully to the greatly widespread devotion of the Christian people, raised the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus to the rite of a double of the first class, with an octave; and moreover, that the violated rights of Christ, the Supreme King and most loving Lord, might be repaired, and that the sins of the nations might be bewailed, he ordered that annually, on that same Feast day, there should be recited an expiatory form of prayer in all the churches of the Christian world.

This Heart of Virtues

The Carthusians have brought forth a good amount of writings on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of their authors is Johannes Gerecht of Landsberg (1489-1539). He’s sometimes identified as John Justus of Landsberg but perhaps most familiarly by the single Latinized name of Lanspergius. He joined the Carthusians at the age of twenty and entered the Charterhouse in Köln where he would eventually become the novice-master. In the year 1530 he became prior of the Charterhouse of Cantave. Here are some of his reflections.

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How to honor the Heart of Jesus

Jesus to the faithful soul: Christian Soul, I will teach thee how to honor My Wounds, particularly that of My Divine Heart which was wounded for love of thee. After My Resurrection, I showed the Wounds of My Hands, My Feet, and My Side to My Apostles, saying to them: See, handle, look at Me carefully. They did so without delay. Imitate them. If thou wouldst touch, in spirit, the Wound of My Side consider with deep gratitude the love of My Heart, which has led Me to choose thee from all eternity to be My child and the inheritor of My Kingdom.

Offer Me this prayer: Lord of infinite mercy, through this Wound of intense love, through this Wound so great that it can contain the earth, the heavens, and all that is therein, I unite my love to Thy Divine love, in order that, in this way and by it, my love may be made perfect, may lose itself in Thine, and be blended with it as two metals liquefied by fire and mixed together form but one. May our two wills become only one, or rather, may mine be wholly united to and always in perfect conformity with Thine. Into the burning furnace of Thy Heart, into this Wound of love, I cast my affections, my inclinations, my thoughts, and my desires, that all that is covered with rust and defilement, all that is imperfect and in disorder, may be destroyed by the flames. Then will my heart, all cleansed and renewed, be wholly consumed in Thee and for Thee.

Behold this Heart which has so much loved me 

In order to manifest more clearly His infinite love, Jesus has opened to us His Heart. It is to make us understand that all He has endured for us, He has endured just on account of the love with which His Heart was filled. After showing to us the pains suffered in His Body, Jesus wishes us also to see the love of His most merciful, most faithful, most loving Heart, which inspired Him with the desire and the necessity of suffering for us.

The Wound of the Sacred Heart of Jesus teaches us to pray unceasingly that our hearts may be so pierced with the spear of charity, that tears of compunction and of divine love may be as a river always flowing in our souls.

The Wound of the Side, which is the Wound of the Heart, therefore makes known to us the warm-hearted charity of Jesus Christ, a love which sheds an ineffable radiance over all His actions, all His words, and all His sufferings, filling them with unspeakable sweetness.

What the Heart of Jesus teaches us

The Wound of the Side, that is to say, the Wound of the Heart, teaches us how great is the tender love of Jesus Christ. The love of Jesus is very fervent and very deep. It is poured out on all men, even on those who are ungrateful and are His enemies; and this love has chosen the Wound of the Sacred Heart for its dwelling. No one was able to take away our Lord's life, but love conquered Him and constrained Him to deliver Himself up to death for us. Yet even death could not make His love to cease. Why indeed was His Heart opened with a spear after death, if not to point out to us this love, which determined Him to endure so many pains and such deep suffering for our sake?

When your mind is filled with dangerous thoughts and evil inclinations, when you sigh under the weight of trouble, sadness and affliction, take refuge in the Wounds of Jesus, above all in that which opens to you the door of His Heart. Hide yourself in His Heart, cast yourself into It, cling to It; and the remembrance of so much loving kindness will make you forget your sorrows and your sufferings.

The Water and the Blood

The Sacraments of the Church, especially Baptism and Penance, receive their efficacy from this Blood and Water which gushed out from the Heart of Jesus. Our Divine Master suffered His Side to be opened and His Heart to be pierced as though He would say to us: I have shed the Blood that was in all My members, and now I give the rest, even to the last drop. Having given up My Body to torments and My Soul to death, there is nothing more that I can do, unless it be to open My Heart which has loved you so much, so that you may not only draw near to Me by coming to the Cross, but may also enter, through this Wound, into My Heart.

O my beloved Brothers, let us meditate on the five virtues which our Savior's five Wounds reveal to us, and let us ask for these virtues, which are humility, poverty, obedience, patience, and charity. I might say six virtues, for the Wound of the Heart of Jesus teaches us that, in receiving it, Jesus practiced two virtues. From the other Wounds there came out Blood only, but from the Heart there flowed both Blood and Water. In the Blood I see boundless love, and in the Water the symbol of the purity of Jesus, Who is the Lamb without spot, the reflection of the eternal Light, the splendor and glory of the Father, to Whom be all praise, honor, glory, and thanksgiving.

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 14, 2015

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First Reading Commentary

Ezekiel is a prophet and thus one has to interpret this Reading from a prophetic, mystical view.  Otherwise, this Reading is a puzzle if trying to understand it from the surface only. 

The “crest of the cedar” is referring to the royal stock of David. 

The “tender shoot” planted “on a high and lofty mountain” is Jesus.  And what is this “high and lofty mountain?”  Literally Mount Zion but prophetically it is the Church. 

A lofty spiritual life of each and every one of us is intimated in this Reading as “birds of every kind” does not mean birds literally.  Birds can fly, therefore this imagery is used to designate the souls of those for whom prayer is a priority; and through this life of prayer grow closer to Jesus and thus are able to lift their souls above the desires for temporal goods.  That is, those, who like everyone else, must live and work in this world and labor for the Lord in it but are able to find that trustful, heavenly peace in all its troubles. 

This is why secularism and relativism is so dangerous.  Those ideologies will never find peace in a troubled world.  Many kingdoms have come and gone in human history, but Christ’s Kingdom remains forever as will His Church as He has always, in the midst of her storms, guided her to safety.

  

Second Reading Commentary

Being “away from the Lord” simply means that we are pilgrims.  Notice the comparison: We are like those who are on a journey and are far from home.  Such an environment can be taxing.  Perhaps no one can relate to that journey more than those who serve in the military, especially those who are in harm’s way.  But Saint Paul calls us to be on a spiritual journey possessing courage and faith. 

We all know how rough the road can be as no one escapes the journey without suffering.  Our faith tells us that all of us at His appointed time will “leave the body and go home to the Lord,” to “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”  Until that time, what is our mission?  Saint Paul answers that for us: “We aspire to please Him, whether we are home or away.” 

Anyone who has journeyed to other nations whose language and culture is different from what they’re accustomed to knows how uncomfortable that can be at times.  In the spiritual life we are strangers in a foreign land.  As Saint Augustine said: “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee” (Confessions of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo).

Gospel Commentary

The scattering of seed which sprouts and grows is explained by Saint Jerome as the preaching of the Gospel and knowledge of the Scriptures which makes the Kingdom of God grow in the heart of man. 

Saint Ambrose speaks of the mustard seed as such: “If the Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, and faith is like to a grain of mustard seed, faith is then truly the Kingdom of heaven, and the Kingdom of heaven is faith.  He therefore that has faith possesses the Kingdom of heaven.  And the Kingdom of heaven is within us, and faith is within us.  Now let us, from the nature of the mustard seed, estimate the force of this comparison.  Its seed is indeed very plain, and of little value; but if bruised or crushed it shows forth its power.  So faith first seems a simple thing, but if it is bruised by its enemies it gives forth proof of its power, so as to fill others who hear or read of it with the odor of its sweetness.” 

And we are called to live out this faith as Saint Aphraates teaches us: “It is not enough to read and to study the Sacred Scriptures; we must fulfill them also.” 

On the parables of Jesus, Nicholas of Lyra, a Franciscan exegete, writes:  “We must observe that parables have more explanations than one: some more easy while others are more difficult to understand.  In parables, the multitude understood the more literal interpretation, while Christ explains the more abstruse and hidden sense to His apostles.” 

Interesting that by Jesus explaining the parables to His disciples in private seems to delineate inklings of the Magisterium or teaching authority of the Church.  Although Jesus no longer walks the earth, the Magisterium is able to teach the faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Pope Saint Pius X referred to him as the "father, doctor, and apostle of the liturgical cult of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary." He is Saint John Eudes. Here are some of his thoughts on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on this First Friday of the month of the Sacred Heart.

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The first cause of those most painful Wounds in the Sacred Heart of Our Redeemer is our sins. We read in the life of Saint Catherine of Genoa that one day God let her see the horror of one tiny venial sin. She assures us that, although this vision lasted but a moment, she saw nevertheless an object so frightening that the blood froze in her veins and she swooned away in an agony that would have killed her if God had not preserved her to relate to others what she had seen. Wherefore she declared that if she were in the very depths of a sea of flaming fire and it were in her power to be set free, on condition that she should once more behold such a spectacle, she would choose to remain rather than to escape. If the sight of the smallest venial sin brought this saint to such a pass, what must we think of the state to which Our Savior was reduced by seeing all the sins of the universe? He had them continually before His Eyes, and His vision being infinitely more powerful than that of Saint Catherine, He could behold infinitely more horror.

He saw the immeasurable insult and dishonor it caused His Father; He saw the damnation of a countless number of souls resulting from those sins. As He had infinite love for His Father and His creatures, the sight of all those sins rent His Heart with countless Wounds, such that if we were able to count all the sins of men, which are more numerous than the drops of water in the sea, we would then be able to count the Wounds of the loving Heart of Jesus.

The second cause of His Wounds is the infinite love of His Sacred Heart for all of His children, and His constant vision of all the afflictions and sufferings that are to happen to them, especially all the torments that His holy martyrs are to suffer. When a mother watches her beloved child suffering, she feels the pain more keenly than the child. Our Savior’s love for us is so tremendous that if the love of all parents were centered in a single heart, it would not represent even a spark of the love for us that burns in His Heart. Our pains and sorrows, ever present to His vision and seen most clearly and distinctly, were so many Wounds bleeding in His paternal Heart. These Wounds were so painful and deep that they would have caused His death a thousand times over, even immediately after His birth, if He had not miraculously preserved Himself, because during His whole earthly life His Sacred Heart was continually pierced by many mortal Wounds of love.

Therefore we have the greatest obligation to honor the gracious Heart that sustained so many Wounds of love for us. With what affection should we embrace, and endure all our afflictions, out of love for Jesus, our Savior, since He first bore them for love of us! Should they not be most sweet to us, since they have already passed through His most gentle and loving Heart? What a horror we should have of our sins that have caused so many Wounds and such intense grief to the Divine Heart of our Redeemer!

Let us learn from the foregoing example that it is not our Redeemer's fault if we are lost. There are hearts so hard that, even if Jesus Himself were to come down from heaven to preach to them and they were to see Him covered with Wounds and bathed in His Blood, they would still not be converted. O my God, let us not be one of them, but give us the grace to open our ears to the voice of all the sacred Wounds of Your Body and Your Heart, which are so many mouths through which You call us unceasingly: "Redite, prævaricatores, ad cor -- Return, transgressors, to the heart," which means to My Heart that is all yours, since I have given it entirely to you. Return to that most loving Heart of your Father, which is full of love and mercy for you, which will receive you home, heaping upon you blessings.

Of all the divine perfections mirrored in the Sacred Heart of our Savior, we should have a very special devotion to divine mercy and we should endeavor to engrave its image on our heart. To this end three things must be done. The first is to pardon with all our heart and promptly forget the offenses done to us by our neighbor. The second is to have compassion on his bodily sufferings, and to relieve and help him. The third is to be compassionate toward the spiritual misfortunes of our brethren, which are much more deserving of our commiseration than corporal ills. For this reason we ought to have great pity on the numbers of wretched souls who have no pity on themselves, using our prayers, our example, and our teaching to safeguard them from the eternal torments of hell.

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - June 7, 2015

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First Reading Commentary

In this Reading we see some of the rituals of the covenant with Moses and the people of Israel.  Perhaps today it is more often referred to as the “Old Covenant.”  In this covenant animals were sacrificed which prefigures the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The book of the covenant was read aloud to the people so that they could all hear what the Lord expected of them. 

Blood sprinkled on the people was symbolic.  It was a reminder to the people of Israel to heed the commands of the Lord or it could be their blood that was spilled – a fate, actually an act of love, which God’s own Son fulfilled.  At this point we can almost anticipate the infinite love that God would reveal to His people.  As the people of Israel are reminded that their blood could be spilled if they defy the Lord, we now realize that God in His infinite justice, mercy and love for us did indeed allow Blood to be shed because of the sinfulness of His people; but the Blood that was shed was His own. 

When we commit sin we distance ourselves from God; and it seems just that we should receive some sort of punishment for our failings.  But now what we need to do is repent and confess our sins because God made a decision which revealed His infinite love for us when He became Man and took upon Himself the punishment that deservedly should be ours. This is not, however, an invitation to abuse His love by haphazardly committing sin thinking that the Sacrament of Penance is a quick fix.  No, there must also be a sincere conversion of the heart as well. 

Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself as payment for our sins in what is now known as the “New Covenant.”  And it is not only a “New Covenant,” but an “Everlasting Covenant” as well.  This was the ultimate and supreme Sacrifice.  Nothing else will ever take the place of the Sacrifice of Jesus.  And so we can say that God is indeed a just God because a price had to be paid; but we can also say that He is a loving and merciful God because He paid the price for us.   

Second Reading Commentary

“The good things that have come to be” is referring to heaven and eternal life.  In the old covenant the priests passed through a tabernacle made by human hands.  Jesus is the “perfect Tabernacle” and this Tabernacle, as Saint John Chrysostom puts it, is framed by the Holy Spirit. 

It is not the “blood of goats and bulls” that can redeem us; but it is the Blood of the Lord Himself that has restored our relationship with God. 

In the old covenant there were both priests and victims for sacrifices.  Jesus was both Priest and Victim and His Sacrifice has won for us eternal redemption, something that could not be achieved in the old covenant.  In the old covenant, once a year the high priest atoned for the sins of the people in what was called the “Day of Atonement”.  Christ’s Sacrifice is eternal; time has no value.  His Sacrifice does not need to be repeated every year.  At Mass, every time the priest says the words of Consecration, Christ is not being sacrificed all over again as if He needed to be sacrificed every Sunday or daily.  No, Christ’s Sacrifice is eternal and at Mass that eternal Sacrifice is being re-presented. 

When we speak or think about eternal things or eternity, it is difficult for our minds to comprehend this because we live in the limits of time and space.  But when we are at Mass and the priest says the words of Consecration, we are, at that moment, at Calvary in the shadow of the Cross because the Sacrifice is eternal and has no boundaries of time and space; and it is that eternal Sacrifice of Jesus that has rewarded us with “the promised eternal inheritance.”   

Gospel Commentary

In the first half of this Gospel, preparations are being made for the Passover.  Jesus tells His disciples, where to go, what to do, and what to say; and everything happens as He said it would.  Perhaps this part of the story is included so that all the hearers and readers would be more easily convinced that Jesus was indeed the One Whose coming was foretold by all the prophets.  Jesus knew that the disciples would meet up with “a man carrying a jar of water.”  Who else but God could know in advance such details? 

“Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”  This verse seems insignificant but Saint Jerome says that by these words the disciples teach us to direct our every step according to the will of God. 

“While they were eating, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My Body.’”  In Saint John’s Gospel, chapter 6 Jesus says, “The bread that I shall give is My Flesh,” but the Flesh is not seen by us because of our infirmity; for if we were allowed to actually see the Flesh and Blood of Jesus, it is highly unlikely that we would ever approach the Altar of the Lord.  Our Lord, therefore, completely understanding our weakness, preserves the appearance of bread and wine, but changes them into His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. 

Saint John Chrysostom, in his sermon on the treason of Judas explains, “Christ is also now present to adorn our table, the same that was present to adorn that table.  For it is not man that causes the elements to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but the very Christ, the same that was crucified for us.  The priest stands as His delegated authority, and pronounces the words, but the power and grace is of God.  He says, this is My Body, and the Word changes the elements.  These words of Consecration, once spoken, constitute an absolute, perfect Sacrifice upon every altar of the Church from that day to this, even to the time when Christ shall come again at the last day.” 

“This is My Blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.”  These words are so explicit that it is difficult to find any other meaning than a literal translation.  They are designed to speak of the memorial of Christ’s Passion and death. 

“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.”  This “vine,” as Saint Bede the Venerable explains, represents the synagogue or house of Israel; and of this vine Christ drank for some time.  

The Church offers daily this banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ; and of this banquet Saint Thomas Aquinas writes, “How precious and wonderful is this banquet, which brings us salvation and is full of all delight!  What could be more precious?  At this meal Christ, the true God, is set before us for us to eat.  What could be more wonderful than this Sacrament?  No Sacrament contributes more to our salvation than this; for it purges away our sins, increases our virtues, and nourishes our minds with an abundance of all the spiritual gifts.  It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that it may be beneficial to all, as it was instituted for the salvation of all.”

And the Angelic Doctor also teaches us: “Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in His Divinity, He assumed our nature in order that by becoming Man He might make men gods.  Moreover, when He took our flesh He dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation.  He offered His Body to God the Father on the Altar of the Cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation.  He shed His Blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin.  But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, He left His Body as Food and His Blood as Drink for the faithful to consume in the form of Bread and Wine.”