The scripture reading (Heb 9:11-15) I’ve chosen for this evening’s Holy Hour is the passage from the letter to the Hebrews which we will hear on the upcoming Feast of Corpus Christi.
The reading evokes images of the old covenant rituals: the Levitical priests entering the sanctuary in the Jerusalem temple, sacrificing goats and calves and bulls, pleading to God to forgive the sins of his people.
The passage from Hebrews helps us to realize, that while those old covenant rites foreshadowed the sacrifice of the Christ, the one true lamb, Christ’s sacrifice is a far great reality than those old animal sacrifices.
In the sacrifice of Christ, it is not the blood of irrational animals offered to God, but the blood of Christ freely poured out in love. And the effect of the sacrifice of Christ is not mere outward, legal purity, but a cleansing that reaches down to the very depths of our soul.
How do we know that we are truly forgiven of our sins, we need to look no further than the blessed sacrament present on this altar tonight. We kneel tonight before the very body and blood of Christ offered for the forgiveness of our sins. The Eucharist is proof of God’s mercy. How do I know God loves me and forgives me, even of the sins that I’m too blind to realize that I’ve committed, look no farther than here!
We kneel before him tonight, pleading for all those who are still unwashed, those who have not come to believe, those who go through life ignorant of his love, those guilty of sacrilege. We plead that his blood may continue to cover us and our families and our parish. That his blood will banish temptation, and fear and insecurity, anger, moodiness, confusion, depression, tension, disunity, and despair. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 9:11-15)
Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came as high priest
of the good things that have come to be,
passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle
not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,
he entered once for all into the sanctuary,
not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls
and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes
can sanctify those who are defiled
so that their flesh is cleansed,
how much more will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works
to worship the living God.
For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant:
since a death has taken place for deliverance
from transgressions under the first covenant,
those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
The word of the Lord
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