Eucharist



Eucharist

Lesson Plan 3: The Institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood

Pray

1. Review (10 min)

-What is a covenant? Name some covenants? The first covenant is with whom? How well does man do at this covenant? Who is the first man God calls to re-forge His relationship with man? What does God promise Him? What happens to the Jews in Egypt? Who is sent to free them? What does God reveal to Moses that changes the relationship between God and man forever? What happens after Pharaoh denies the Jews their freedom? What is the 10th plague? What do we call this event (Passover)? What are some of the things eaten at the first Passover? What is the covenant God makes with all the Jews while in the desert (I will be your God and you will be My people & the Law)? While wandering in the desert what does God give the Jews (Ten Commandments)? What is the name of the box that the Jews carried the Ten Commandments in? What else is in the Ark of the Covenant (Aaron’s staff & manna) and what do they symbolize (holiness & God’s loving care)? Is Jesus God, man? How does Jesus’ divinity save us from sin? How does His humanity save us from sin? What is the Ark of the New Covenant and why? What event does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection fulfill? What is significant about the three pieces of matzah? What is special about the second piece of matzah? What does the piercing of the bread symbolize?

2. The Last Supper the Institution of the Eucharist (25-30 min)

-At the Last Supper which was a Passover meal Jesus changed forever the meaning of the Passover. It would no longer be a ritual meal that relived what God had done for them. Now the Passover was fulfilled and Jesus had saved us from slavery to sin.

-At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and turned it into His Body. He did the same with the cup full of wine turning it into His blood.

-The Last Supper transforms the Passover from a symbolic sacrifice into a real one. The sacrificial lamb would no longer symbolize God saving His people. Now Jesus, the Lamb of God, would truly save His people. Just as there was a lamb at the first Passover (the one sacrificed) there is one at the Last Supper (Jesus).

-Split the kids into groups and have them read the Last Supper narratives Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22:26; and Luke 22:14-20. What is interesting about these? What is similar? What is different? How does this compare to what we hear at Mass?

Matthew

Shorter than Mass

Doesn’t say “do this in memory

of me”

He mentions it being a covenant

Blood shed for “many” for

forgiveness of sins

Mark

Doesn’t tell them to eat the bread

Same with wine (drink wine

before he calls it blood)

Mention covenant-blood is

poured out for many but not for forgiveness

Shorter than Mass

Luke

Says “do this in memory of me”

Mentions the covenant

Very similar to the Mass

Doesn’t mention eating or

drinking

-The words of consecration at Mass are a combination of these three narratives of the Last Supper. This is much like the Christmas story. Luke has shepherds and Matthew has the magi but neither has both. However, typically Christmas scenes display both.

-All three contain the essential elements that compromise the consecration at Mass.

-Jesus foreshadowed the Last Supper and the giving of the His Body and Blood while He was still preaching. John’s Gospel does not have the Last Supper. Instead John has two sections that make up for the missing Last Supper. The first is the Bread of Life Discourse. Read John 6:25-66 with the students pointing out these key points.

Verse 27 “Do not work for the food that perish but for the food that endures to eternal life”

Here Jesus is speaking about the Eucharist. It is the food the helps us attain heaven.

Verse 32 “It was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives the true bread from heaven.”

Jesus is the supreme gift. It is Jesus and the redemption He brings that is the true gift of the Father. This bread gives life to the world.

Verse 34 “Sir give us this bread always.”

We long for the Eucharist. Our hearts long for the eternal.

Verse 35 “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Jesus is the food that satisfies the deepest yearning of our hearts: union with God.

Verse 41 “The Jews murmured about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven...”

The Jews cannot believe that God has come into the world. They don’t accept Jesus.

Verse 51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Here Jesus foreshadows the Eucharist when bread will become His Body and Blood. He reiterates His point.

Verse 52 “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saving, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

The Jews can’t comprehend the Eucharist. They are skeptical of Jesus and His power.

Verse 53-55 “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

Here Jesus states unequivocally that we must literally eat Him in order to be saved by Him.

Verse 60 “This saying is hard who can accept it?”

This teaching takes a great deal of faith.

Verse 66 “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”

Many lack to the faith necessary to follow Jesus and His teachings.

4. Christ Institutes the Priesthood (20-25 min)

-What is a priest? Priests are those who make holy that which is unholy. Throughout the centuries of humanity there have been many different religions. Many of these religions have had priesthoods. The Jews had a priesthood. Priests were the ones who offered sacrifices. For many religions, like Judaism, this was an animal or some produce but in some terrible religions they would offer human beings.

-This is why we call our leaders “priests.” Because we believe that the Eucharist is really Jesus and we really offer Him to the Father in atonement for our sins at each and every Mass, a priest is required. Anyone can preach, anyone can do good works but only a priest can offer a sacrifice.

-This is why we call our Fr. Michael a priest-because we believe that upon the altar (place of sacrifice) that Jesus becomes really present and He is offered by the priest on our behalf to the Father in atonement for our sins.

-Each Mass re-presents (not represents) the Last Supper, Calvary and the Resurrection.

-The Mass makes Jesus’ sacrifice present again by making Him present again.

-Other Christian faiths that believe the Eucharist is merely symbolic or a way of simply remembering Christ don’t believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

-Since they don’t believe Jesus is present, it’s not a sacrifice and if it’s not a sacrifice, they don’t need a priest. This is why Protestants don’t call their leaders priests but use “pastor,” “reverend” or “minister.”

-When Christ comes He offers Himself. Thus, Jesus is both a priest (because He offers a sacrifice) and the victim (He is the sacrifice).

-Before Christ offered Himself on the cross in the role of priest and victim He attracted followers from all over and from many different aspects of society (fishermen, Pharisees, women, etc.). These followers are called disciples. However, during his ministry he calls forth 12 men (see Mk 3:13-19, Read Lk 6:12-16). He gives these men authority and teaches them alone many times.

-He names these men apostles-this word literally means “one commissioned,” “messenger” or “one sent.” These 12 men will be messengers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

-Mission of the 12 (see Mt 10:1-15) (Mk6:6-13) (9:1-6)

-Peter proclaimed as the Rock of the Church (Mt 16:13-19).

-Jesus commissions the remaining 11 apostles to baptize (Mt 28:16-20) (Mk 16:14-19)

-Jesus calls only men to this ministry. Women cannot be priests. There are many reasons for this:

-Jesus does not have any female apostles and bishops and priests are the successors of the apostles. If Jesus wanted women priests he would have chosen a female apostle. Although the times of the day would have prohibited this, Jesus did and said so many other things that were prohibited by Jewish law that adding a female apostle would not have been out of his character. Plus, as God, Jesus has the capacity to know and change this directive.

-The priest acts in the person of Christ (in persona Christe). Since Jesus was a man only a man can properly symbolize him at the altar. Just as you would not cast a man to play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz it would be wrong to have a female try to represent Christ in the flesh.

-There are other reasons as well (the universal nature of the Church; only western society is calling for a female priesthood [most of the world does not care]).

-At the Last Supper Christ finalizes his work in forming the apostles. He tells them to “do this in memory of me” speaking of the Eucharist. The ministry of the apostles changes here. They go from being simple messengers of the Good News to sacred ministers given the charge of celebrating the Eucharist.

-With this act Christ makes the apostles the ones who offer the sacrifice of the new covenant. By offering the sacrifice-the Mass-the apostles become priests.

-Christ continues the mission of making them sacred ministers by entrusting to them the Sacrament of Penance (Read John 20:19-23) and the Sacrament of Baptism (Read Mt 28:16-20).

-At Pentecost the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the apostles (Read Acts 2:1-4). The apostles are the ones given the Spirit of Truth. Their ministry then is a special outpouring of the Spirit. After the resurrection Christ stays with the apostles for 40 days teaching them. These teachings are part of the tradition of the Church which she hands on to us today.

-Because Christ instituted both the Eucharist and the Priesthood in the same act, it can be seen that these two are linked. There is no priesthood without the Eucharist and the Eucharist cannot be celebrated with a priest. The priest’s life is bound to the Mass. Everything that a priest does and says is nothing without the Mass.

-The priest has the role of making Christ present. The priest does this in a number of ways: 1. the priest is unmarried just as Jesus was unmarried; 2. the priest makes Christ present in the Eucharist; 3. the priest teaches us how to live in the manner of Christ; 4. the priest grants us mercy and forgiveness as Christ did on the cross; 5. the priest offers the sacrifice which Christ did and was.

-The priest also exists as a servant of the people of God. Christ made it clear that He “came to serve not be served.” Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45. “For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves.” Luke 22:27.

-Jesus takes this role of service even further in the Gospel of John. This is the second part of John’s Gospel that fills in for the lack of the Last Supper.

-Read John 13:1-20. Jesus shows Himself the servant of man. He will serve us by His death on the cross and He shows the apostles what it means to follow after Him. The apostles have been given the authority to teach in Christ’s name and the ability to perform the sacraments. This power is enough to make any man prideful or arrogant. Christ shows them that if they truly want to be His disciples that they must humble themselves and first be servants as He was.

Prayer

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download