Psallam​​ TIBI​

 

ESCAM DEDIT TIMENTIBUS SE

 

HE HAS GIVEN A FOOD TO THEM THAT FEAR HIM, sings the Psalmist; a prophecy for the fulfilment of all prophecies in the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

 

“Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum,

misericors et miserator Dominus,

escam dedit timentibus se:

memor erit in saeculum testamenti sui”

 

“He has made a memorial of his wonders,

being a compassionate and merciful Lord,

he has given a food to them that fear him:

he is mindful for ever of his covenant”

 Ps.111(110):4–5

 

This night, as Christ raised his eyes to his Father in Heaven, instituting the Sacrament of his most precious Body and Blood, eternity transfigured our temporal world: the bread and wine at once the culmination, in the sacrifice of the Cross, of every sacrifice offered on every altar throughout the history of our salvation, and also their consummation in the eternal life wrought in the Resurrection. Henceforth, each time we hear our priests pronounce the “Qui pridie*…” we hear God’s first promise of salvation, the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15; we see the sacrifice offered by Abel; the bread and wine accepted by God from the hands of Melchizedek; Abraham’s dagger at the throat of Isaac; the Lord’s Passover that liberated Israel from Egypt; and the blood and smoke of countless sacrifices offered in the name of the People of God, in Christ’s own oblation on the altar of the Cross, and the Victim’s victory over the power of death, which brings us with his perfect sacrifice to the altar of God in Heaven; there to celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb for which we, his bride, have through our mortal lives made ourselves ready.

 

This night, and at every Mass, we get a glimpse of all of time and of eternity, and our place in both – at once created; ransomed; glorified, by the love of God. This is what the Mass offers us, and if we fail to discern it, it is necessary to pray for grace sufficient to see ourselves before the mystery of salvation as it unfolds and is consummated in eternity, for it is in this vision that the fear of the Lord, spoken of by the Psalmist, becomes a reality in each of us. The great gift of the Eucharist is given by God to those who fear him. And fear of the Lord is seeing ourselves as we truly are in his presence, standing in awe of the love expounded in his plan of salvation here, a plan that we were not just caught-up in, but for whom the plan was designed, such is the love he has borne for us in eternity.

 

This night of the Lord’s Supper, let us pray to regain that disposition to this most precious gift of love and life that is the Eucharistic Feast, which enables us to enter fully into the sacrifice that Christ, priest and victim, offers on the Cross before us, to lead us with him from the dark tomb of sin and death into the light of everlasting life, where, with the whole Body of Christ present with us at each Mass, we will stand before the altar of God and sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).

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*Qui pridie quam pateretur, accepit panem in sanctas, ac venerabiles manus suas: et elevatis oculis in caelum ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, deditque discipulis suis, dicens: Accepite, et manducate ex hoc omnes: HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM.

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Who the day before He suffered, took the bread into His holy and venerable hands: and having raised His eyes to heaven, unto Thee, O God, His Father almighty, giving thanks to Thee, blessed, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take ye all and eat of this: FOR THIS IS MY BODY.