Fifteenth Friday of Ordinary Time

This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.

As Christians, it is important to remember the Passover and its relationship with Jesus. It was at the celebration of the Passover meal that Jesus gave us His Body and Blood and in many ways our Mass reflects this Jewish tradition. We might not dress like those in flight when we attend Mass, but we should all clothe our hearts as pilgrims setting out to the Promised Land. We do not belong to this world, but to the next and so we should keep in mind this image of flight from Egypt because it reminds us that our home is not in earthly things, but in heavenly ones. And just as the Passover meal is a celebration of deliverance, so too the Liturgical and Eucharistic rites are focused on celebrating the promise God made us... to deliver us from our sins and give us eternal life in His Kingdom. The Mass makes present the Body and Blood of Christ, which marks us as houses of the Living God and protects us from God’s Righteous Wrath.

In what ways do we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ? How can we remember that we are merely pilgrims on this earth, passing through to another life? What do we do to mark ourselves as Christians in thought, word, and deed?

O Lord, mark us as your own.

Amen.