THE DIVINE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS IS THE SIGN OF GOD’S COVENANT IN CHRIST

A covenant is an agreement between two people and involves

promises on the part of each to the other. The concept of a covenant

between God and His people is one of the central themes of the Bible. In

the Biblical sense, a covenant implies much more than a contract or a

simple agreement between two parties.

The Old Testament contains many examples of covenants between people who

are related to each other as equals. For example, David and Jonathan entered

into a covenant because of their love for each other -- this agreement

bound each of them to certain responsibilities (1 Sam. 18:3)

The remarkable thing is that God is holy, omniscient, and omnipotent;

but He consents to enter into covenant with man, who is feeble, sinful,

and flawed. Jesus humbled Himself to become man so we could share in His divinity.

To understand the New Covenant in Christ we must understand the history

of Gods relationship with man.  The understanding of the progression of history

is necessary to understand how the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass is the final and only

Sacrifice acceptable to God, an oblation of ourselves and a continuation of the

Sacrifice on the Cross, offered once. 

GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH

Centuries before the time of Abraham, God made a covenant with Noah

assuring Noah that He would never again destroy the world by flood (Gen. 9)

Noah lived at a time when the whole earth was filled with violence and

corruption -- yet Noah did not allow the evil standdards of his day to

rob him of fellowship with God. He stood out as the only one who "walked

with God" (Gen. 6:9) as was also true of his great-grandfather Enoch (Gen. 5:22)

"Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations" (Gen. 6:9). This means he was

perfect in love for god and his fellowman. The Lord singled out Noah from

among all his contemporaries and chose him as the man to accomplish a great work.

When God saw the wickedness that prevailed in the world (Gen. 6:5)

He told Noah of His intention to destroy the ancient world by a universal flood.

God instructed Noah to build an ark (a large barge) in which he and his

family would survive the universal deluge. Noah believed God and

"according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (Gen. 6:22)

Noah is listed among the heroes of faith. "By faith Noah, being divinely

warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark

for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and

became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Heb. 11:7)

With steadfast confidence in God, Noah started building the ark. During

this time, Noah continued to preach God's judgment and mercy, warning

the ungodly of their approaching doom. Peter reminds us of how God "did

not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a

preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the

ungodly" (2 Pet. 2:5)

Noah preached for 120 years, apparently without any converts. That is experienced

by many Priests today who find the world is not listening and is closed to the message

of Christ and His Church.

People continued in their evil ways and ignored his pleadings and

warnings until the flood overtook them. When the ark was ready, Noah

entered in with all kinds of animals "and the Lord shut him in" (Gen.

7:16) cut off completely from the rest of mankind.

Noah was grateful to the Lord who had delivered him from the flood.

After the flood, he built an altar to God (Gen. 8:20) and made a sacrifice, which

was accepted graciously, for in it "the Lord smelled a soothing aroma".

The Lord promised Noah and his descendants that He would never destroy

the world again with a universal flood (Gen. 9:15). The Lord made an everlasting

covenant with Noah and his descendants, establishing the rainbow as the sign

of His promise (Gen. 9:1-17).

Another part of the covenant involved the sanctity of human life, i.e.,

that "whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in

the image of God He made man" (Gen. 9:6).

Every time we see a rainbow today we are reminded of that agreement -- this

covenant has not been done away with. As long as God still sends rainbows after a storm,

capital punishment will still be a part of God's law for the human race.

GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

In making a covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless his

descendants and make them His own special people -- in return, Abraham

was to remain faithful to God and to serve as a channel through which

God's blessings could flow to the rest of the world (Gen. 12:1-3).

Abraham's story begins with his passage with the rest of his family from

Ur of the Chaldeans in ancient southern Babylonia (Gen. 11:31)

He and his family moved north along the trade routes of the ancient world and

settled in the prosperous trade center of Haran, several hundred miles to the northwest.

While living in Haran, at the age of 75, Abraham received a call from

God to go to a strange, unknown land that God would show him. The Lord

promised Abraham that He would make him and his descendants a great

nation (Gen. 12:1-3). The promise must have seemed unbelievable to Abraham

because his wife Sarah was childless (Gen. 11:30-31). Abraham obeyed God with

no hint of doubt or disbelief.

Abraham took his wife and his nephew, Lot, and went toward the land that

God would show him. Abraham moved south along the trade routes from

Haran, through Shechem and Bethel, to the land of Canaan. Canaan was a

populated area at the time, inhabited by the war-like Canaanites; so,

Abraham's belief that God would ultimately give this land to him and his

descendants was an act of faith.

The circumstances seemed quite difficult, but Abraham's faith in God's

promises allowed him to trust in the Lord. In Genesis 15, the Lord

reaffirmed His promise to Abraham. The relationship between God and

Abraham should be understood as a covenant relationship -- the most

common form of arrangement between individuals in the ancient world. In

this case, Abraham agreed to go to the land that God would show him (an

act of faith on his part), and God agreed to make Abraham a great nation

(Gen. 12:1-3).

Abraham's response is the model of believing faith: "And he believed in

the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6)

The rest of Genesis 15 consists of a ceremony between Abraham and God that

was commonly used in the ancient world to formalize a covenant (Gen. 15:7-21)

God repeated this covenant to Abraham' son, Isaac (Gen. 17:19)

Stephen summarized the story in the book of Acts 7:1-8)

THE MOSAIC COVENANT

The Israelites moved to Egypt during the time of Joseph. A new Pharaoh

came upon the scene and turned the Israelites into common slaves. The people cried

out to the God of their forefathers. "So God heard their groaning, and God

remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Exo. 2:24).

After a series of ten plagues upon the land of Egypt, God brought the Israelites out "of

Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand" (Exo. 32:11)

This covenant between God and the people of Israel was temporary -- God promised

a day when He would make a new covenant, not only with Israel but also with all

mankind.

GOD’S COVENANT WITH DAVID

Another covenant was between God and King David, in which David and his

descendants were established as the royal heirs to the throne of the

nation of Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-13).

This covenant agreement reached its fulfillment when Jesus, a descendant

of the line of David, was born in Bethlehem. The gospel of Matthew

starts off by showing Christ was "the Son of David" (Matt. 1:1)

and thus He had the right to rule over God's people. Peter preached that Jesus Christ

was the fulfillment of God's promise to David (Acts 2:29-36)

THE COVENANT OF CHRIST

The New Testament makes a clear distinction between the covenants of the

Mosaic Law and the covenant of Promise. The apostle Paul spoke of these

"two covenants," one originating "from Mount Sinai," the other from "the

Jerusalem above" (Gal. 4:24-26). Paul also argued that the covenant established

at Mount Sinai was a "ministry of death" and "condemnation" (2 Cor. 3:7)

The death of Christ ushered in the new covenant under which we are justified

by God's grace and mercy -- it is now possible to have the true REMISSION of sins.

Jesus Himself is the Mediator of this better covenant between God and

man (Heb. 9:15). Jesus' sacrificial death served as the oath, or pledge,

which God made to us to seal this new covenant.

The "new covenant" is the new agreement God has made with mankind, based

on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This new covenant is continued today

in the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass.

When Jesus ate the meal at the Last Supper with His disciples, (The Seder Meal

of the first born) He spoke of the cup and said, "This is My blood of the new covenant,

which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28) 

This REMISSION of sins goes beyond mere forgiveness but wipes out the sin

as if it never happened. 

When Paul recited the account he had received concerning the Last

Supper, he quoted these words of Jesus about the cup as "the new

covenant in My blood" (1 Cor. 11:25)

The Epistle to the Hebrews gives the new covenant more attention than

any other book in the New Testament. It quotes the entire passage from

Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Heb. 8:8-12). Jesus is referred to by the writer of Hebrews

as "the Mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 9:15. The new covenant, a

"better covenant ... established on better promises" (Heb. 8:6)

rests directly on the sacrificial work of Christ and continues in the Divine

Sacrifice of the Mass.

The new covenant accomplished what the old could not, i.e., the total removal

or remission of sin and cleansing of the conscience (Heb. 10:2)

The work of Jesus Christ on the cross thus makes the old covenant "obsolete" (Heb. 8:13

and fulfills the promise of the prophet Jeremiah.

CONCLUSION

Unlike the Mosaic covenant, the new covenant of Jesus Christ is intended

for all mankind -- regardless of race. In the Great Commission Jesus

sent His apostles into the entire world so they could tell the story of

the cross (Luke 24:46-47).  In the Mass, as in no other way, we integrate into

the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is alive under

the appearance of bread and wine in the Tabernacle on the Altar of Sacrifice.

See:  http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/eucharist.html

 TRADITIONAL LATIN LITURGY IN THE CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH

http://www.celticorthodoxchurch.com/liturgy.html