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Covenant of the Bread of Life
A covenant is an agreement between two parties, usually signified by a physical sign. In the Sacrament of Matrimony,
the physical sign is the exchange of the rings and the vows made by both husband and wife. When a couple exchange vows at the wedding, they are entering into a “covenant” through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
A covenant is more than a promise. It is a personal commitment to another person that cannot be broken.
The Lord entered into several covenants with His people over the history of salvation: First, with Abraham, our Father in
Faith. The Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sands of the sea, even though both he and Sarah were too old to have children. The physical sign was the offering that Abraham made in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, and the Lord providing a ram instead.
The Lord made a covenant with Moses in the desert, witnessed by the Law that was given to Moses as a physical sign in the Ten Commandments. Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, made an “Everlasting Covenant” with us by the physical signs of the institution of the Eucharist and His subsequent death on the Cross.
In the Eucharist, we remind ourselves of our covenant with the Lord through the reception of His Body and Blood. Once again, Jesus did not give us a symbol, He gave us Himself!
“When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your death, Oh Lord, until you come again.” This is the new
and everlasting covenant which Jesus enters into at the Last Supper with His disciples. And it is the same covenant to which we commit when we receive His Body and Blood at Mass. The promise of this “Everlasting Covenant” is fulfilled in our entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, where according to His promise: “Those who eat this Bread and drink this Cup will never hunger or thirst.” Fr. Tony