Apr 28, 2025 Written by 

Mysticism of the Sacrament

12. Though up to now we have been speaking mainly of the Old Testament, nevertheless the profound compenetration of the two Testaments as the one Scripture of the Christian faith has already become evident. The real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and blood to those concepts—an unprecedented realism. In the Old Testament, the novelty of the Bible did not consist merely in abstract notions but in God's unpredictable and in some sense unprecedented activity. This divine activity now takes on dramatic form when, in Jesus Christ, it is God himself who goes in search of the “stray sheep”, a suffering and lost humanity. When Jesus speaks in his parables of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, of the woman who looks for the lost coin, of the father who goes to meet and embrace his prodigal son, these are no mere words: they constitute an explanation of his very being and activity. His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). It is there that this truth can be contemplated. It is from there that our definition of love must begin. In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move.

13. Jesus gave this act of oblation an enduring presence through his institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. He anticipated his death and resurrection by giving his disciples, in the bread and wine, his very self, his body and blood as the new manna (cf. Jn 6:31-33). The ancient world had dimly perceived that man's real food—what truly nourishes him as man—is ultimately the Logos, eternal wisdom: this same Logos now truly becomes food for us—as love. The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving. The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realized in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood. The sacramental “mysticism”, grounded in God's condescension towards us, operates at a radically different level and lifts us to far greater heights than anything that any human mystical elevation could ever accomplish.

[Deus Caritas est]

71 Last modified on Monday, 28 April 2025 05:30
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

Email nespeca@noemail.it
Our commitment does not consist exclusively of activities or programmes of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilizes is not an unruly activism, but above all an attentiveness that considers the other in a certain sense as one with ourselves (Pope Francis)
Il nostro impegno non consiste esclusivamente in azioni o in programmi di promozione e assistenza; quello che lo Spirito mette in moto non è un eccesso di attivismo, ma prima di tutto un’attenzione rivolta all’altro considerandolo come un’unica cosa con se stesso (Papa Francesco)
The drama of prayer is fully revealed to us in the Word who became flesh and dwells among us. To seek to understand his prayer through what his witnesses proclaim to us in the Gospel is to approach the holy Lord Jesus as Moses approached the burning bush: first to contemplate him in prayer, then to hear how he teaches us to pray, in order to know how he hears our prayer (Catechism of the Catholic Church n.2598)
L’evento della preghiera ci viene pienamente rivelato nel Verbo che si è fatto carne e dimora in mezzo a noi. Cercare di comprendere la sua preghiera, attraverso ciò che i suoi testimoni ci dicono di essa nel Vangelo, è avvicinarci al santo Signore Gesù come al roveto ardente: dapprima contemplarlo mentre prega, poi ascoltare come ci insegna a pregare, infine conoscere come egli esaudisce la nostra preghiera (Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica n.2598)
If penance today moves from the material to the spiritual side, let's say, from the body to the soul, from the outside to the inside, it is no less necessary and less feasible (Pope Paul VI)
Se la penitenza si sposta oggi dalla parte, diciamo, materiale a quella spirituale, dal corpo all’anima, dall’esterno all’interno, non è meno necessaria e meno attuabile (Papa Paolo VI)
“Love is an excellent thing”, we read in the book the Imitation of Christ. “It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity…. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low… love is born of God and cannot rest except in God” (III, V, 3) [Pope Benedict]
«Grande cosa è l’amore – leggiamo nel libro dell’Imitazione di Cristo –, un bene che rende leggera ogni cosa pesante e sopporta tranquillamente ogni cosa difficile. L’amore aspira a salire in alto, senza essere trattenuto da alcunché di terreno. Nasce da Dio e soltanto in Dio può trovare riposo» (III, V, 3) [Papa Benedetto]
For Christians, non-violence is not merely tactical behaviour but a person's way of being (Pope Benedict)
La nonviolenza per i cristiani non è un mero comportamento tattico, bensì un modo di essere (Papa Benedetto)
But the mystery of the Trinity also speaks to us of ourselves, of our relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Pope Francis)
Ma il mistero della Trinità ci parla anche di noi, del nostro rapporto con il Padre, il Figlio e lo Spirito Santo (Papa Francesco)
Jesus contrasts the ancient prohibition of perjury with that of not swearing at all (Matthew 5: 33-38), and the reason that emerges quite clearly is still founded in love: one must not be incredulous or distrustful of one's neighbour when he is habitually frank and loyal, and rather one must on the one hand and on the other follow this fundamental law of speech and action: "Let your language be yes if it is yes; no if it is no. The more is from the evil one" (Mt 5:37) [John Paul II]
Gesù contrappone all’antico divieto di spergiurare, quello di non giurare affatto (Mt 5, 33-38), e la ragione che emerge abbastanza chiaramente è ancora fondata nell’amore: non si deve essere increduli o diffidenti col prossimo [Giovanni Paolo II]

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