In our first reading from the book of Genesis we heard of
Melchizedek, a priest-king of Jerusalem, who, later on in Israel's history, would
be described (Ps.110) as the eternal priest of Yahweh. This great figure, King of Righteousness (so
his name declares), priest of Yahweh God Most High, meets Abram and his men
returning victorious from battle with Chedorlaomer, the former overlord of the
land. Abram and his 300 warriors are exhausted after the battle, and
Melchizedek comes with bread and wine to refresh them.
Let us just stop here and wonder at the wisdom of our
God! This picture of Melchizedek -- based
on ancient traditions going back hundreds of years if not a thousand and more,
and then taken up again in Psalm 110 about 400 years before Jesus -- presents
us with a King of Righteousness, a priest of God Most High, who comes with
bread and wine to meet the battle-weary Abraham and his men. Since Abraham is our father in faith, as St.
Paul tells us, and as we say in the canon of the Mass, who cannot see that here
Melchizedek foreshadows Jesus? Jesus it
is Who comes to meet us, children of Abraham, wearied and wounded in our battle
not only with flesh and blood but, much more importantly, with the baleful power
of sin in the world. Jesus it is Who comes offering bread and wine now become
His own Body and Blood, the only food fit for the spiritual refreshment and
eternal nourishment of all who are fighting in order to answer God's call, as
was Abraham our father in faith so long ago.
People of God, here we can glimpse something of God’s astounding
wisdom and beauty, enough surely to encourage us to whole-heartedly trust
Him and joyfully praise His most holy Name!
Melchizedek blessed Abram,
with these words: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven
and earth. And blessed be God Most High,
Who delivered your enemies into your hand".
When the time of fulfilment came, none could have imagined
that the ultimate Priest-of- God-most-High would be God’s very own Son, made man;
whereas Melchizedek had been a merely functional link between God and man,
Jesus, on the other hand, is a sublimely Personal link uniting God and man in
Himself; and the reciprocal love between Jesus and His Father will always, and in
everything, be the originating source of, and definitive model and fulfilment
for, every other blessing.
God’s blessing mediated through Melchizedek was a singular blessing for the overthrow
of one man’s earthly foes:
Blessed be God Most High Who
delivered your foes into your hand.
It would, however,
become a universal paeon of praise when mediated through Jesus for the overcoming
of Satan’s baleful power of sin and death over all mankind:
Glory to God in the Highest and peace to His people on earth.
Let us now look more lovingly at the intimate details of Jesus’ giving glory to His heavenly Father and bringing peace to His faithful people on earth.
‘Peace to His people on earth’, this Jesus alone can give, in the sense that He alone destroyed Satan’s power of sin and death by His own dying sinless on the Cross and rising bodily from the tomb. When the priest elevates the Sacred Blood, that is what he offers first of all to the Father in propitiation for our sins: Jesus’ self-sacrifice of love and adoration, Jesus’ self-sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, Jesus’ self-sacrifice of faithfulness, trust, and obedience. And there we come into it, so to speak, for, Jesus wills to bestow peace on earth, though He Personally is in heaven at the right hand of His Father, and therefore He wills to use us -- His disciples and members of His Body – as His very Own members on earth, to bring the fulness of His gift of peace to all of good will.
And that, dear People of God, we do, above all, by living out the one prayer He gave us, through our humility: ‘forgive us our sins’, and our fraternal charity: ‘as we forgive others’, the only conditional petition in Jesus’ prayer!!
Think of the dreadful mess in our world today, and see how much evil is done for revenge, retaliation, satisfaction … Jesus does not pray directly for the forgiveness of such people; He acknowledges His Father’s truth and righteousness and mercy, He proclaims His absolute HOLINESS, and the INEFFABLE BEAUTY of His glory and goodness:
Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Therefore, as disciples of Jesus, our first duty on
receiving Communion is to give praise to God the Father Who, through the death
and resurrection of His beloved and only-begotten Son, has freed us from the
power of sin and death and bestowed upon us His Gift of the Holy Spirit.
In His feeding of the Five Thousand Jesus insisted that the
Apostles share with Himself in the provision of food for so many:
‘Give
them some food yourselves’, He said.
He still provides food for His People, but His demand
for our contribution still remains in force, and the contribution each of
us has to bring to the Eucharistic Table is our faith in Jesus, a faith not to be simply presumed but one
to be repeatedly called to mind, renewed, and deepened in humility and love.
Bearing this teaching in mind, we are now able to see the
full pattern of our response to Jesus and our rejoicing in the Eucharist today:
First of all, therefore, dear People of God, be always
prepared and ready to give thanks, glory, praise and honour, to our heavenly
Father. Then, renew your faith in His
goodness, power and promise to us in Jesus.
Finally, welcome the Spirit Whom Jesus bestows; for Jesus' own
Eucharistic Presence with us passes quickly. He comes, however, to bestow the Spirit Who wills
to abide with us in all the circumstances of life: welcome Both, therefore,
open your heart to both Jesus and His Gift, and pray that the Spirit may abide
in you and rule in your life so that you may be formed in the likeness of Jesus
for the glory of the Father in heaven.
Finally, never forget Mother Church. We who aspire to become true children of God, must never fail to thank God for Mother Church, and to ask His continued blessing on her whenever we receive God’s food from her table at her Eucharistic sacrifice.
