Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Mình và Máu Thánh Chuá

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Lễ Mình và Máu Thánh Chuá
Phong tục Việt Nam chúng ta khi có những dịp mừng kỷ niệm vui mừng hay những sự kiện quan trọng trong cuộc sống, chúng ta thường mời những người thân quen và bạn bè đến dự tiệc vui. Ăn uống với nhau là một trong nhữnh sinh hoạt sống động quan trọng của con người.
            Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, ông Môi-sen đã đóng ấn giao ước giữa dân Israel với Yavê Thiên Chúa bằng những cùa lễ hiến dâng hy sinh : "Tất cả những điều mà Ðức Yavê đã phán chúng ta phải vâng lời phục tùng."
 Trong bài đọc thứ hai, chúng ta được nhắc nhở rằng sự hy sinh bằng giá máu của Chúa Kitô trên thập giá mang lại ơn cứu chuộc và sự cứu rỗi cho tất cả mọi người.
            Trong bữa ăn tối mừng ngày lễ vượt qua ‘Passover’ hàng năm, người Do Thái đã ăn mừng ngày họ được  giải thoát khỏi cảnh nô lệ, tôi đòi nơi xứ Ai Cập. Trong bữa tiệc mừng Lễ Vượt qua cuối cùng với các môn đệ  thân thiết của mình,  Chúa Giêsu đã ban hành bí tích Thánh Thể khi Ngài nói với các môn đệ: "Hãy lấy cầm lấy mà ăn, vì này là mình Ta." Sau đó Ngài lại nói: "Đây là máu của ta, Máu Giao ước đã được đổ ra cho nhiều người. Các con hãy làm việc này để nhớ đến ta"  
Mỗi lần chúng ta tham dự Thánh Thể, chúng ta nhận được Mình và Máu Chúa Kitô. Ngài đã để lại chính NGÀI cho chúng ta trong Thánh Thể như là một bí tích của sự hiệp nhất giữa chính Ngài và tất cả chúng ta và tất cả những ai đã tin vào ngài, và đó là dấu chỉ  của sự hiệp nhất giữa tất cả những ai đã tin và theo Ngài.
            Trong bài bài giảng về bánh hằng sống, Chúa Jêsus đã Phán, “Ta là bánh sống từ trời xuống, ai ăn bánh này sẽ được sống đời đời. Và bánh Ta sẽ ban, ấy là thịt mình Ta vì sự sống thế gian". (Ga 6:51).Ngài cũng đã nhắc lại, " Quả thật quả thật, Ta bảo các ngươi: nếu các ngươi không ăn thịt Con Người và uống máu Ngài, các ngươi không có sự sống nơi mình các ngươi. Ai ăn thịt và uống máu Ta thì có sự sống đời đời. và Ta sẽ cho nó sống lại trong ngày sau hết. " (Ga 6: 53- 54)
 Chúng ta hãy cảm tạ ơn Chúa Jêsus Kitô vì món quà vô giá của là Ngài ban cho chúng ta chính Ngài qua phép Thánh Thể, và sự hiện diện liên tục của Ngài ở giữa chúng ta như là của ăn lương thực cho cho sự sống đời đời cùa chúng ta.
 
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
 We celebrate important occasions and   events in life by inviting relatives and friends to a meal. Eating together is an important human activity.  In the first reading Moses seals the covenant between Yahweh and Israel with sacrificial offerings: "All that Yahweh said we shall do and obey."  In the second reading we are reminded how the bloody sacrifice of Christ on the cross brought redemption and salvation to all.
            At the annual celebration of the Paschal meal, the Jewish people celebrated their liberation from their Egyptian captivity. Jesus uses this occasion, his Last Supper with his close disciples, to institute the sacrament of the Eucharist: "Take this, it is my body." "This is my blood, the blood of the Covenant, which is to be poured out for many."
 Every time we join a Eucharistic celebration we receive the body and blood of Christ. He left us himself in the Eucharist as a sacrament of unity between himself and all his believers and followers and as a sign of unity among all who believe and follow him.
            At his discourse on the bread of life, Jesus had said, "I am the living bread which has come down from heaven: whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world." (Jn 6:51).
 When many questioned him, he reiterated, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live with eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day." (Jn 6: 53- 54)
 
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
 We thank the Lord Jesus for the priceless gift of himself in the Eucharist, his continuing real presence in our midst as our food and drink for eternal life. While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” Mark 14:22–24 (Year B Gospel)
At the holy Mass, as soon as the priest pronounces the words of the consecration, transforming the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord, he genuflects, rises, and then says, “The mystery of faith.” What is “the mystery of faith?” Oftentimes, when we say that something is a mystery, we mean that the conclusion is hidden but that there are certain clues to help solve the mystery. And once the mystery is solved, everything is clear and it is no longer a mystery.
“The mystery of faith” is much different. Those words are spoken at Mass immediately after the consecration as a way of drawing the faithful into a holy awe and amazement of what just took place. But this mystery can only produce wonder and awe if the reality of what just took place is understood through the gift of faith. Faith is knowing and believing without perceiving the reality before us with our five senses or through logical deduction. In other words, faith produces true knowledge of a spiritual reality that can only be known, understood and believed through spiritual insight. Therefore, if we attend the Mass and have been gifted with the knowledge of faith, then as soon as the consecration of the bread and wine takes place, we will cry out interiorly, “My Lord and my God!” We will know that God the Son is present before us in a veiled way. Our eyes do not perceive, nor do any of our senses reveal to us the great reality before us. We cannot rationally deduce what just took place. Instead, we come to know and believe that the Son of God, the Savior of the World, is now present before us in His fullness, under the veil of mere bread and wine.
In addition to the divine presence of our Lord and our God, the entire Mystery of our Redemption is made present. Saint Pope John Paul II tells us that in this moment there is a “oneness in time” that links the Paschal Mystery, that is, the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, to every moment that the Eucharist is celebrated and made present through the words of consecration. And that unity between each Mass and the Paschal Mystery “leads us to profound amazement and gratitude” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #5). Do you sense and experience this profound amazement and gratitude each time you attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Do you realize as you attend the Mass and as the words of consecration are spoken that the entire Mystery of your redemption is made present before you, hidden from your eyes but visible to your soul by faith? Do you understand that it is God the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity Who descends to us to dwell with us in that moment of time in this glorious Sacrament?
Reflect, today, upon the hidden but real Mystery of Faith. Allow yourself to be drawn into a wonder and awe at what you are privileged to attend. Let your faith in the Most Holy Eucharist grow by being open to a deepening of this gift of faith through spiritual insight and belief. Behold this great Gift of the Eucharist with the eyes of faith and you will be drawn into the wonder and awe that God wants to bestow upon you.
My ever-glorious Eucharistic Lord, I do believe that You are here, made present in our world under the form of bread and wine, every time the Holy Mass is celebrated. Fill me with a deeper faith in this Holy Gift, dear Lord, so that I may be drawn into wonder and a
 
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of the Eucharist. It is the memorial of your Son’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. It is the foretaste of the heavenly banquet and food for eternal life. May I always welcome this gift!
Encountering the Word of God
1. Five Sacrifices: In the Old Testament, in the Book of Leviticus 1:1-7:28, laws for five different types of sacrifices were established. The Burnt Offering, or Holocaust, consisted of the offering of the entire animal, except for its blood and hide. The entire animal is given to God. This represented the offerer’s own self-donation to the Lord. The Cereal Offering, or Grain Offering, was an unbloody sacrifice consisting of some form of grain, whether baked as a cake or not. The Hebrew name means ‘gift’ or ‘tribute’ to the Lord and expresses the communion between the offerer and God in the form of a kind of meal. Only a portion of the cereal offering was burned on the altar; the rest was consumed by the priests. The Peace Offering signified the state of communion between God and the worshipper. It was a communal meal with God and his priestly servants, and always followed any other offerings (burnt, sin, or guilt). “While the sin and guilt offerings serve to restore peace or shalom, with God, the peace offering both recognizes and celebrates it. It is a sacrifice of joy and thanksgiving” (Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 209). The purpose of the sin offering or purification offering was to restore communion with God through the forgiveness of sin – it literally “de-sins” or purifies a person or object. It cleanses the worshipper from ritual uncleanness. The guilt offering also serves to restore communion with God. While the sin offering restores the relationship with God, the guilt offering makes reparation or restitution for the damage done by sin. Forgiveness of sin and reparation for sin are not the same thing (see Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 209).
2. Eucharistic Fulfillment of the Burnt Offerings, Cereal Offerings, and Peace Offerings: On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, we can reflect on how Jesus fulfills these five sacrificial offerings in the Eucharist. Israel offered the daily burnt offering, the tamid, of a lamb every morning and evening. “Jesus’ death on the cross was a ‘holocaust’ in that he was entirely consumed by his self-offering; he gave himself so completely that he had nothing left to give” (Healy, Hebrews, 152). The Eucharist is the memorial of Jesus’ holocaust and complete self-giving. “Jesus’ passion was a ‘grain offering’ in that through it he becomes the bread of life for us (John 6:35; see John 12:25). By partaking of this bread in the Eucharist (see Heb 13:10), we share in his own divine life” (Healy, Hebrews, 152). The Peace offering or communion sacrifice was the only sacrifice in which some of the meat and bread was eaten by the worshipper and his household. When it was celebrated to thank God for a particular favor, such as saving one from death, it was called the “thanksgiving sacrifice” (see Psalm 107:21-22; 116:17). Jesus’ passion and the sacred banquet of the Eucharist fulfilled the Passover memorial and the peace offering. It establishes the ultimate communion between God and man; thus, the name of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving” (see Healy, Hebrews, 153).
3. Eucharistic Fulfillment of the Sin Offerings and Guilt Offerings: The offering on the Day of Atonement was seen as the great national purification of the people of Israel. The Letter to the Hebrews sees Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension as the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. “Hebrews 13:11-12 suggests that Jesus’ passion was a purification offering, since he ‘suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people with his own blood’ (New Jerusalem Bible). His blood purifies the living temple, the Church, of all sin for all time” (Healy, Hebrews, 153). In the Eucharist, we celebrate the shedding of Christ’s purifying blood. Finally, the reparation or guilt offering sought to make atonement. Isaiah foretold that the Suffering Servant of the Lord would give himself as a reparation offering” (Isaiah 53:10), “a prophecy fulfilled by Christ, whose sacrifice was the all-sufficient restitution to God of the human love, trust, and obedience that had been withheld due to sin” (Healy, Hebrews, 153). The Catechism teaches that, “As a sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God” (CCC, 1414).  
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you shed your blood to save and redeem me. You poured out your blood on the Cross to wash away my sins. You are the pleasing and acceptable sacrifice. Help me today to unite my sacrifice to yours and offer it to the Father out of love.