"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.” (Hebrews 9:16-18).

The Lenten season culminates in Holy Week; running from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Holy Thursday is pivotal. Christians believe that the promised new covenant with a new sacrifice was instituted by Jesus during the Last Supper, on Holy Thursday. 

From time immemorial people are known to have offered sacrifices to appease the gods and worship them. The very first offering was made by God when He killed animals to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve with animal skins after they had sinned (Genesis 3:21). 

The sacrificial system of killing animals was meant to give a constant reminder of the fatal consequences of sin. 

Jesus practised Judaism, but Christians didn’t follow Judaism. Judaism is a religion of the covenant between God and Israel, through Moses, on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20). 

God wrote His laws on tablets of stone, and Israel was commanded to obey them. But this covenant was only a picture of a new and better covenant that God would one day give to His people, both Jews and Gentiles. 

In the New Covenant, Jesus gave Himself, once and for all, as the perfect Lamb of God, to permanently wash away our sins. Christians have a better covenant, with a better sacrifice, administered by a better High Priest (Hebrews 10:19-23). 

Jesus' actualization of the new covenant and new sacrifice, in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper or Eucharistic sacrifice, was not merely a remembrance, as some Christians acknowledge. His command to “do this” is translated as “offer this”(Greek: poiete) (Luke 22:19). 

The bloody sacrifice of Good Friday was mysteriously made present in an unbloody manner, on Holy Thursday. It was the holy precious Blood of God's own Son, poured for us and the fulfillment of all covenants. Jesus is, indeed, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

At the Last Supper, Jesus lifted the Passover cup of wine and proclaimed His death and eventual resurrection (Matthew 26:28). By using the phrase “blood of the new covenant”, Jesus was drawing a parallel between the Sinai covenant and the Last Supper. The Catholic Church teaches that “the Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life. 

We, hereby, encounter the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the mystery of the Real Presence. Transubstantiation is the idea that during Mass, the bread and wine used for Communion become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, worthy of adoration/worship. 

For most Protestants, however, the bread and wine do not change at all because they are mere symbols, and communion is a mere memorial of Christ's death. This contention challenges Christian unity, as the two parties will not partake of the same communion. 

Catholics further believe that at the time of the Last Supper, Christ’s Blood, in the cup, already had the status of the real and substantial blood of the New Covenant redemptive sacrifice. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, hence, becomes an unbloody continuation and representation of the bloody sacrifice of Calvary. 

Jesus commanded the apostles to offer it in His memory, as the new sacrifice of the new covenant by the new people of God. It is in accord with Jesus’ promise to abide with His Church, till the end of time (Matthew 28:20). 

Although Jesus fulfilled the new covenant in His life and ministry, we need to confess our sins, for its full realization in us. Very significantly, it means to make a daily decision that my desires must die so that I can be free to do with my body what God desires (Romans 12:1). Blessed Easter. 

The writer is a Catholic Priest