Concerning the Crucifix on the Altar.



In my last post I talked about the Tabernacle - now let us turn to the Crucifix.

In the Jewish Faith there were offerings of animals to God in reparation for sin.   The family would bring an animal to be sacrificed in the Temple by the Rabbi.    When in the liturgy the Rabbi killed and offered the animal to God the sacrificed animal was then consumed by the family and friends of those who had offered it.   Somehow in being joined to the dead animal they believed that they somehow in this connection they were part of the Sacrifice.

When Jesus was sacrificed on the Cross he could not be cut up and shared with humans in his mortal form.    Yet he had told his followers that they must eat the flesh of the so of Man and drink His Blood.   This surely was an impossible.    If his followers were to participate in the Sacrifice following the Jewish custom they would have to have eaten him after his crucifixion.    How could this be solved?    The answer was that he gave them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink before the Sacrifice and we must pay real attention to what he said in order to understand .   Jesus said "This is my Body WHICH WILL BE OFFERED UP FOR YOU"     and again This is he chalice of my blood which will be shed for  you and for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN, do this in memory of me"   In other words the Holy Spirit to whom nothing is impossible allowed them to eat his flesh and drink his blood PRIOR TO THE CRUCIFIXION, but that they were eating and drinking the Sacrificed Body and the blood that was shed, Jesus left them in no doubt.   So it was far from being just a meal among friends, it was a sacrificial meal that was to e offered time and again into perpetuity with the words that Jesus spoke "Do this in memory of me"   St Paul told the Corinthians "When we eat of the bread and drink of this cup are we not participating in the Body and Blood of Jesus"   Body + Blood means sacrifice.   Why did Christ insist that we must perform the same sacrificial act over and over again.    Was it to just one Sacrifice on Calvary which cannot be related.  With God all things are possible and eery time a priest says the words that call the Holy Spirit into action and Jesus becomes present in the Host, body, blood soul, and divinity it is Christ reaching out from Calvary to a saviour for the sins of today and tomorrow,

The Sacrifice was always on an altar - not a table.    Ad the Crucifix reminds us that indeed there was on Sacrifice on Calvary but that Sacrifice is Christ remembering us today from his passion and from his Cross..  It is a memorial but much more.

That you Jesus for dying for me on the Cross          

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