Photo: The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck (c. 1432)
‘Christ our Passover Has Been Sacrificed for Us. Therefore Let Us Keep the Feast.’
Most of the ink that has been spilled on this seminal statement of our redemption focuses only on the first half - 'Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us'. But don’t miss the second part, the logical couplet of completion: ‘Let us keep the feast’. Feasting is the message of Eastertide.
St Paul writes: 'For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth'. We must, therefore, feast on the riches of our redemption this season, both spiritually, that is, in our heart of hearts, also in our interactions with others and on our kitchen tables, to boot. For why else did we fast during Lent than to prepare for the feast that is Easter?!?
The primary means by which we feast spiritually, the means by which are souls are fed and nourished, is by feasting on the True Bread of Heaven, ‘which comes down and gives life to the world’, without which, as St. John saith, we have no life in us (St. John 6:53).
And this Bread is the Bread of Life, the Easter Bread of the Most Blessed Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is given to us in the Mass, the Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper. For, yea verily, ‘my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them’, promises our Lord Jesus. And this abiding in Christ – He in us and we in Him – is the natural outworking of the resurrected life. Christ has risen so that we may live, be healed and restored to glorify Him.
What I write to you is not hard to comprehend. Do not grumble with this Divine Love, this deigning to love us so intimately, as did the original hearers of this great gift – ‘They began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat’? Instead, let us this Eastertide accept this precious Flesh and treasure the gift of the Eucharist as the outpouring of God’s own self and delight forever in its richness.
Christ’s abiding presence in the Sacrament of the Altar is not something we pull out on Sundays as some talisman that makes us feel good and makes us look good. From so many unworthy Communions, Good Lord deliver us!
Through the power of Our Lord’s resurrection, we who have been baptised are drawn into a deeper and infinitely richer life than we once knew, and isn’t this both what we want and what we so desperately need? The grace received in the Eucharist, you see, is the way in which our new life, our ongoing sanctification, is actualised and sustained.
What I have written to you is what it means to feast on Christ, especially in the gift of the Eucharist. We feast not only for sustenance, but also for the grace of transformation.
I am begging us to feast on Him, the Victorious Lamb, this Eastertide. Drink deeply from Him, dear ones, and allow Him to raise you up now and on the last day.
And while you’re feasting, try feasting on these decadent veal chops!
Festal Grilled Veal Chops & Herb Butter
Ingredients for Chops
4 double-eagle veal chops (i.e., two bones in thickness)
8 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoons of thyme
Ingredients for Herb Butter
2 cups salted butter, softened
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced garlic cloves
4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh minced chives
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the herb butter first. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl or blender and mix till smooth. Store at room temp.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and preheat the grill to high heat. Coat the chops on both sides with first the balsamic then the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Allow chops to rest at room temp for one hour before grilling. Grill chops on very high heat for four minutes per side; the grill will most likely flame up. Remove from grill and transfer to hot oven for an additional 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, remove the chops and insert and instant-read thermometer in the thickest portion. Remove the chops at 125-130 degrees (for medium-rare). They will continue to cook after they’re removed from the heat. Let cooked chops stand for ten minutes before topping with a healthy serving of the herb butter. Serve and enjoy.
Do you understand the 4th Cup?
ReplyDeleteAfter the beginning of Jesus’ Last Passover Supper (Seder) Judas Iscariot left to do what he had to do. The twelve left in the room were at the point where the second of four traditional cups was about to be drunk.
(The first is at the beginning of the Seder meal.) Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”
More of the lamb meal was consumed. During that He took a loaf of unleavened bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, “This IS my body given for you; do this to recall me.” (“Recall” is a better translation of the Greek “anamnesis” than “remember”.)
After the supper He took the third cup saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This IS my blood of the NEW and everlasting covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
A hymn was sung, which is a combination of several psalms called The Great Hallel, and they went out to the Mount of Olives.
What happened? The Passover ceremony and ritual was not complete. There was no fourth cup. There was no announcement that it was finished. Could it be that Jesus was so upset with what He knew was about to happen that He forgot? Doubtful!
Not only Jesus, but also the 11 others had participated in the Passover Seder every year of their lives. No, this was done on purpose. The last supper of Jesus was not over.
On the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples slept while Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”
He prayed that three times. Then Jesus was arrested, illegally put on trial by the Sanhedrin, then by Pontius Pilate, sentenced and crucified.
While on the cross He wept. Jesus, who was in excruciating agony, was so merciful that He prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners. He was offered some wine with a pain killer, myrrh, in it. He refused it.
“Later, knowing that all was now complete, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled and the kingdom established, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.‘” A man dipped a sponge into sour wine; he placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to Jesus lips.
He drank. (We recall that it was the hyssop branch which was used to paint lambs blood around the Hebrew’s door for the Passover of the angel of death.)
It was then that Jesus said, “It is finished.” He then bowed His head and gave up the spirit to His Father.
The fourth cup now represented the lamb’s blood of the first Passover, a saving signal to the angel of death.
The Lamb of God was now sacrificed. The last Passover supper of Jesus Christ was now complete with the fourth cup. It was finished.
The tie in with the Passover is unmistakable.
The Lamb of God was sacrifice and death was about to be passed over come Easter day.
The promise of eternal life for many was about to be fulfilled.