Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do."  And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.   And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.   And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.  Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."  And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 116:

        What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
        I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
        O LORD, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid.
        Thou hast loosed my bonds.
        I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.

Today's Epistle is from the Letter of Paul to the Hebrews, beginning at the 9th Chapter, and the 11th Verse:

        But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh,  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.   Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death  has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

+ A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, beginning at the 14th Chapter, and the 12th Verse:

        And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?" And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him,  and wherever he enters, say to the householder, 'The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples.'   And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us."  And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the passover.

        And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body."   And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.  Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

        In this Jubilee year, it is especially appropriate to emphasize His presence in the Sacrament, since He is the door by which we get to the Father.  He has been constant, and faithful, as His Father is faithful, and will be with us "...to the end of the age."

        Today's reading from Exodus records the ceremony by which the people of Israel were hallowed to the Lord -- by which they ratified and accepted the Covenant  and the Commandments which they were offered.  By the blood of the sacrificed oxen, they were made Sons and Daughters of the Covenant, Sons and Daughters of the Lord's Commandment (Bar and Bas Mitzvah).

        By blood, the rabble of slaves out of Egypt were made into a people -- the people of Israel -- and came into a relationship with the Lord.  As the blood of the Paschal lamb, spread on their door posts in Egypt had preserved them from the plagues which convinced Pharaoh to let them go, so the blood of oxen, sacrificed to the Lord bound them in Covenant to that Lord.

        For us, the Blood of the pure victim -- Agnus Dei, he who takes away the sins of the world -- redeems us from sin, and protects us from the plagues of the Devil, and the Blood offered in the Liturgy binds us ever tighter to that Same Lord who covenanted with Moses and Israel some 4200 years ago, through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

        Today's Song of Praise, from Psalm 116, is the source of the prayer that the priest says before receiving Communion in the Mass:  "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all that he hath rendered unto me?  I will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.  Praising, I will call upon the Lord, and so shall I be saved from my enemies."  I confess to getting chills and goose-bumps every time I say that prayer in the liturgy.

        In today's Epistle, St. Paul refers to the passage from Exodus when he says:  "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh,  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.   By blood, Israel was brought into the Old Covenant, by Blood, we are brought into the New.

        Today's Gospel, from Mark, recounts the institution of the Eucharist -- how Jesus said to his disciples, gathered for the Seder:  "Take, this is my body" -- not "represents", notice, not "memorializes", but "IS"!  A little later, He says:  "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. "  -- again, "IS".

As the wonderful Communion Prayer, from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom says: "I believe and confess, Lord, that You are truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. I also believe that this is truly Your pure Body and that this is truly Your precious Blood. Therefore, I pray You to have mercy upon me, and forgive my sins, voluntary and involuntary, in word and deed, known and unknown. And make me worthy without condemnation to partake of Your pure Mysteries for the forgiveness of sins and for life eternal. Amen."

        This is what the whole, undivided Church has believed from Apostolic times, and still believes today.  In the Eucharist -- "Corpus Christi" -- the Body of Christ -- we are united as a people with our Lord and God, and through Him, and through the Holy Spirit, to the Father Almighty.  We are heirs of the Covenant of Israel by being heirs, with Christ, of the New Covenant, written in His Blood.

        It always amazes me how people can call themselves "Christians", and refuse to believe Jesus plain words about His Body and Blood, how they can deliberately cut themselves off from the New Covenant in His Blood.  I do not try to explain it -- He said it, I believe it, and that is as far as I can go with words, but I do believe what Chrysostoms's prayer says, and I am shaken to my core to receive Him who is my Savior -- literally and actually -- in the Holy Eucharist.

        Let us pray that all those who call themselves Christian will realize the reality and actuality of His presence, and bring themselves back to Him...

        In the Name of
        The Father     +
        And of the Son
        And of the Holy Spirit
Amen.