How Are Passover and Communion Connected?

The Jewish Passover meal celebrates when God loved his chosen people by freeing them from captivity in Egypt. You know the story…

• 10 plagues convinced Pharoah to free the Jews, 
• God parted Red Sea,
• the Jews wandered in desert, and
• 40 years later entered the promised land.

This story of the Jews freed from Egyptian captivity is called the Exodus. The traditional Passover meal includes a reading from the book of Exodus, special prayers, special food, special songs… and it is still celebrated today by Jews.

Fast forward to the Last Supper when Jesus said to apostles, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you” -- the Last Supper was actually a Passover meal. Or at least it began that way.

Jesus was eager because he was going to change the Passover meal into the Eucharistic meal that we now partake of at every mass.  Jesus changed the meal from
-- remembering God’s saving action in the past, the Passover event,
-- to God's saving action in the present and future – Jesus' death and resurrection, represented by his body and blood.

Jesus’ death on Good Friday paid for all sin; that is, he freed us from the need to make things right for all the wrongs we’ve done. By his death, he atoned for our sins. His death allows us to be free from sin - today! - through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

And Jesus’ resurrection on Easter overcame death, opened the gates heaven. Death no longer is considered the final act of our earthly journey, but is a mere prelude to eternal life in heaven. Jesus' resurrection from death made that possible, promising in his resurrection our own victory over death.

We proclaim this supernatural Truth when we pray the Apostles Creed:
I believe in the HS, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen

And we re-affirm our belief when, after the consecration of the bread and wine into Jesus’ real presence - body and blood - Father says; the mystery of faith. And we say: save us, savior of the world for by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. 

Freed from sin, and freed from death - for these two freedoms we give thanks at every mass – which is why it's called the EUCHARIST - a Greek word meaning THANKSGIVING 

As if to put a fine point on this new freedom by his death and resurrection, Jesus celebrated the second mass on Easter Sunday afternoon (the first being Holy Thursday of course). 

This happened when two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, mourning the loss of their friend who was crucified by the Romans, and then Jesus fell in with them (but hid his identity from them) and asked them why they were so sad.

Jesus saw their sadness and confusion, so he helped them by explaining all the Old Testament references to the Messiah and how actually the events of the past weekend – the death and resurrection – were foretold in the Scriptures. 

The two disciples were amazed at this explanation but still could not quite grasp what it all meant. Then they stopped for a meal, and when Jesus blessed the bread and broke it, their minds were opened and they recognized Jesus.  Boom - the mass:

• When Jesus reviewed the Old Testament Scriptures, (the readings at our mass),
• then explained them (the homily at our mass),
• then blessed and broke the bread (the consecration of the bread and wine at mass),
• Jesus celebrated a mass. Easter Sunday night.

Why is this important: we are all on the road to Emmaus, lost in our struggles with our life – business meetings, gas prices, rush hour traffic, ministry duties, car maintenance, house and car payments, the wife, the kids, the grandkids...

Perhaps ...

• Our eyes are too blurry from all our hyperactivity to see Jesus present in the host;
• Our minds are too distracted by all our constant busyness to grasp Jesus present in the cup
• Our hearts are too troubled by all of life’s burdens to embrace Jesus present – body blood soul and divinity - in Communion.

To which Jesus says in the Gospel of John (14), “Do not let your hearts be troubled, You have faith in God, have faith in me.

• Have faith that it’s really Jesus present in the host and cup;
• have faith that Jesus makes himself accessible to us in a way that is eatable and drinkable.
• Have faith that Jesus is eager to eat with us, be united with us, in union with us, in communion with us
• have faith that Jesus is saying to us: I eagerly want to share myself with you.  

So, let us ask the Lord to open the eyes of our heart, that we may recognize Jesus in the Eucharist, and encounter him in the readings at mass, and to be attentive to how God is speaking to us in the homily. And so let us pray, Jesus I trust in you. Amen!