Sacramentum Caritatis Bulletin Articles - #4

This is the fourth part of a series of bulletin articles on the March, 2007 apostolic exhortation from Pope Benedict the XVI entitled ‘Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Love)’. For further study, refer to paragraphs 7 through 10 of SC.

Links to previous parts can be found here.
Thanks, Fr. Martin Fox.

Pope Benedict writes, ‘The first element of eucharistic faith is the mystery of God himself, Trinitarian love… In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a "thing," but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. He thus gives us the totality of his life and reveals the ultimate origin of this love.’ (SC ¶ 7)
Jesus, the Son and Redeemer, was sent by God, the Father and Creator, and conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete and Sanctifier. God willed that we might be saved by one like ourselves. Jesus revealed the purpose of His mission in the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name, reminds us of all that Jesus taught us, and will be with us always (cf. John 14).
The new and eternal covenant of Jesus’ Body and Blood delivers us from evil and death. In addition to the Last Supper, consider how the Cross (Jesus’ Passion and Death) is also about the Eucharist. The ‘First Mass’ didn’t end with the end of the Holy Thursday meal, but continued through the entire Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection. As the Holy Father writes, ‘In instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus anticipates and makes present the sacrifice of the Cross and the victory of the resurrection. At the same time, He reveals that He Himself is the true sacrificial lamb… The institution of the Eucharist demonstrates how Jesus' death, for all its violence and absurdity, became in Him a supreme act of love and mankind's definitive deliverance from evil.’ (SC ¶ 10)

adapted from presentations written by Rev. Martin Fox, published at http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/; alt. GPW