{"content":[{"text":"Body and Blood of Christ, Year B \n Because Holy Thursday is such a busy time during a sorrowful season, the Church decided to celebrate a \n special feast for the Blessed Sacrament on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday. Before Vatican II it was called \n “Corpus Christi.” This was started at the instigation of St. Juliana and has been celebrated by the whole Church \n since 1264. More recently, the feast of the Precious Blood was combined with Corpus Christi so that it is now \n known as “The Body And Blood Of Christ.”3","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.090742,"width":0.864351,"height":0.11406600000000001}},{"text":"Exodus 24:3-8 \n It was common practice for people at that time to ratify pacts by means of a rite or a meal. This section \n recounts a rite whereby the Covenant was sealed, for the people had already accepted it in Ex.19:8. This event is \n very important for salvation history because it preﬁgures the sacriﬁce of Jesus Christ, which brought in the New \n Covenant. The usual interpretation is that there were two aspects to this ratiﬁcation: one involving Moses and the \n elders, that is, the authorities and the other involving the entire people. Both groups formally accepted the divine \n Covenant and all that it laid down. In Ex. 24:11 we read how they ate and drank with God.1 \n 3When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances This refers not only to \n the ten commandments but also to laws regarding every aspect of the social and religious life of the \n people.4 of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has \n told us.” Note that the covenant was voluntary. \n 4Moses then wrote down all the words of the Lord and rising early the next day, he erected at the \n foot of the mountain The ceremony takes place on the slope of Mt. Sinai and Moses alone is the \n intermediary for he alone writes down the words and he alone erects the altar and the twelve pillars \n which are symbolic of the 12 tribes.2 an altar The altar represents the unseen God who is present.1 \n and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. \n 5Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites This takes place before the institution of the \n priesthood so any man could offer sacriﬁce legitimately.2 to offer holocausts and sacriﬁce young \n bulls as peace offerings to the Lord, \n 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; This is the half for man. the other half he \n splashed on the altar. The splashed half is for God. The covenant between Yahweh and Israel was \n now a reality.2 This rite has deep signiﬁcance for the blood stands for life and belongs to God alone \n and it must only be poured on the altar or used to anoint people who are consecrated to God such as \n priests. When Moses sprinkled the blood of the offering on to the entire people, he was \n consecrating them, making them divine property and a kingdom of priests. The Covenant therefore \n is not only a commitment to obey its precepts but, particularly, the right to belong to the holy nation, \n which is God’s possession. At the Last Supper, when instituting the Eucharist, Jesus uses the very \n same terms, “blood of the Covenant”, thereby indicating the nature of the new people of God who, \n having been redeemed, is fully “the holy people of God.”1 For the Jews, blood is a sign of life; so \n this ritual symbolizes the sharing of life between God and the people. When Jesus offers the cup of \n his blood to his disciples, this also symbolizes the sharing of life.3 \n 7Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the Lord \n has said, we will heed and do.” \n 8Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant \n that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.” God chose the Israelite \n race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people \n and made it holy unto himself. This was a preparation and ﬁgure of the new and perfect covenant,","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.223581,"width":0.880877,"height":0.70145}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}