"Behold the Lamb of God"

What is today's Gospel connection with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.    Yes, Catholics do not go to Church just to praise God or receive Holy Communion because the words of a priest can command the Holy Spirit to change bread into the Body of Christ.   It is the Lamb of God that we receive.   What is the connection between the words of John the Baptist when he called Jesus the Lamb and identified that lamb as being the one that would take away the sins of the world?

Lambs and other animals were offered in Sacrifice in the Jewish Faith as reparation to God for the sins of the those who offered the Sacrifice.   Sacrifice and atonement for sins was part of the Jewish Faith.     So Jesus was sacrificed as a Lamb but not just for sinful Jews but for us and everyone in the world.    

But the lamb sacrificed was eaten afterwards in the Jewish Rite by those who had sacrificed the animal.   This made the sacrifice a very personal thing, connecting the offering, the supplicant, and God.   But of course it would seem that the actual eating of the Body of Jesus was impossible - since we are not cannibals.  And yet Jesus made it possible in a most wonderful way.   At the Last Supper he took bread and wine and gave it to His Disciples saying "Take this and eat for this is my Body which will be offered up for you"   He also took the wine and said "Take this all of you and drink for this is by Blood of the New and Eternal Testament which shall be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin"   When the Apostles and early Christians met they had already worked that this most wonderful gift was their participation in the sacrifice of Jesus where they, Jesus, and God the Father were joined together.     But we may argue that the death of Jesus was two thousand years ago and so we must be in our Liturgy offering Jesus again.    But 'No'.    It is the same lamb who died two thousand years ago, it is Jesus reaching out from the Cross of Calvary to be present in our time through the power of the Holy Spirit at every Mass offered in our time and the ages between.    Is such a thing possible?     Let us turn to the Prophet Malachi.  The book of Malachi was written because the prophet was appalled by the behaviour of the priests in his day.   They were offering injured and damaged animals rather than the best, fools trying to deceive God   BUT he wrote another time will come when there will be one complete offering.    "From the rising of the sun until its setting my name is great among the gentiles and everywhere there is an offering made - a spotless victim"   Yes, the prophecy was fulfilled and everywhere in the world the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered.   Even as you read this the spotless victim is being offered in the Mass somewhere in the world    

THIS IS NOT MY TEACHING, IT IS THE TEACHING OP THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.   It can be found in the official documents of the Catholic Church, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and yes, Vatican II.    It is an awesome teaching.    And it is the truth revealed to us by Jesus Christ and practiced in the Church for two thousand years.    We do not attend a Eucharist on a Sunday, we do not attend a service, and if we say we attend Mass we mean the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.    This is what every child should know and what every child should be taught.  What a wonder to give to their imagination!  No sermon, no book, can ever make us love Jesus more than a true understanding of his Sacrifice.    In the end the only catechism  we need to draw people to Jesus is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

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