THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT

SAINT JOACHIM AND ANNE, PARENTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Exo 24:3-6; Ps 50:1-2,5-6,14-15; Mt 13:24-30

Blood of the Covenant between us and God

The terrifying events that marked the manifestation of God to the children of Israel in sacramental form, at the foot of Mount Sinai, compelled them to agree to all the terms of the covenant he proposed to them. There is no doubt that many had genuine faith in the Lord and were willing to enter into communion with the God of their fathers. Many entered the communion out of fear; they acceded to the terms of the covenant like slaves do to their master’s words, out of fear. “Moses went and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that the Lord has decreed.’ Those who said yes to the ordinances of the Lord out of fear would gradually show for what they are, namely, slaves to their senses. Slaves cannot give themselves to another without gaining freedom from their master. Those who are still slaves in Egypt due to their appetite for sensual pleasures cannot truly keep the ordinances of the Lord.

The ritual that followed signified the total commitment required for the communion to be true and fruitful. “Moses put all the commands of the Lord into writing, and early next morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifices.” God is the Ultimate Spirit and the Father of all spirits; none can commune with him without committing the whole mind, heart, and strength to it. The holocausts and the immolation of bullocks signify the total commitment required for communion with the Lord, who is holy unto himself. The ritual of throwing half of the blood on the altar and the people also speaks volumes about the mutual commitment that the sacred communion of God with His people requires. Thus, the communion will fail, not from the will of God, but from the noncommittal of the slaves among them. The covenant of God with his people would crumble through those whose minds and hearts were still in the fleshpots of Egypt, whose senses refused to part from the smell of onions and garlic of Egypt. The casting of the blood towards the people signifies the purification of their minds and hearts from the pollution of the worship of these sensible idols of Egypt through its signification of the blood the Son of Man would shed on the cross for all people, and their freedom to commit themselves to the worship of God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fathers.

The refusal to be attentive and mindful of the ritual would cause many of them to go back to Egypt in their minds and hearts. The above throws light on our Eucharistic celebration as our communion sacrifices. The efficiency of our Eucharistic ritual lies in our attending with our senses, minds, and hearts. The Lord sows the spiritual seed of his sacrifice on the cross in our lives through our attentive participation in the Eucharistic sacrifices; therein we renew our total commitment to the Lord, who gives us himself in the Sacrament of his body, blood, soul, and divinity. The parable of our Lord in the Gospel means this. “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well.” Our lack of attention provides an opportunity for the enemies of our salvation to sow darnel in our minds and hearts in place of the heavenly wheat the Lord sows in us. The Lord allows us to make good our defects by not uprooting us from among his own. He uses various means to call us back to faith in his word and Sacraments. The good seed or heavenly wheat the Lord sowed in Abraham and his faithful descendants gradually matured in the union of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary through attentive following of God’s word.  We understand, as we celebrate the devout couple, that God achieves all in us through His Word. What God requires of us is a prayerful attention to the divine presence among us, which found a worthy receptacle in the fruit of the union of Joachim and Anne.

Let us pray: O Lord, God of our Fathers, who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace, that of them should be born the Mother of your incarnate Son, grant, through the prayers of both, that we may attain the salvation you have promised to your people. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.