Holies for the Holies

In the Byzantine Cathedral of the Transfiguration, north of Toronto, the Divine Liturgy celebrated every Sunday by the Greek Melkite Catholic community is served by one or more of the priests and the renowned Homsy choir, or one of the other good choirs. At one point in the Divine Liturgy (or the Mass), the main celebrant raises the cup blessing the Lord and says "Holies are for the holies" and the choir responds on behalf of the congregation or with them: "One Holy, One Lord, Jesus Christ in the glory of God the Father..." - It is the cup of the blood of Christ that will be received with his body by the faithful at communion time. Communion means that Christ is shared by everyone who receives him in space and time within the Catholic fold. In the New Testament, on the night before his betrayal, Jesus wanted to continue to be with his disciples - "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." (John 13:1). In the Gospel according to St.  Matthew, it is written "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt 25:26-28). The redemptive act on the cross for the forgiveness of sins is made permanent till the end of the world through the Eucharistic banquet. The sanctified bread and wine are "Holies are for the holies". In fact, Catholic missionaries bring Christ to the nations through the Mass where the Eucharist is the ultimate act of adoration and thanksgiving to the Lord. Bishop Robert Barron gave a talk on the mystical body of Christ, The Church in which he explains the Mass including the Biblical readings and the Eucharistic sacrifice as an act of "Adoratio" or adoration. It is in glorifying God that the peace of Christ will come to us. "My peace I give you - My peace I leave you" said the Risen Christ to his Apostles. Watch it here.
In his homily on Sunday January 12, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad gave a fascinating homily (Quoi qu’il arrive, je suis avec toi ...here in French) where he tells the story of love that a mother particularly has for her delinquent child more than the other children. Jesus goes and stays with sinners because he loves them. It is the same story of the Parable of the Prodigal Son - The Father does not wait for his broken child who squandered his fortune in pleasures to come back home, but hurries to him and orders his servants to celebrate the return - When his other son complains, the generous Father replies "My son, you are with me...All what I have is yours. But we must celebrate because your brother was dead and he is now alive"! (Luke 15:11-32). This is the Eucharist - Jesus, the holy One, wanted to stay with us while he reigns with His Father and his Holy Spirit for ever in the Kingdom of God. In the Book of Revelation, the visionary wrote "And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal. He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits by a man's measure, that is, an angel's.The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day -- and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations." (Rev. 21:10-26). This is the Lamb of God that we receive in the Eucharist! "Holies are for the holies"!!!