Credit for this lesson must be given to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. All prayers, names of the stations, and some of the writing from this lesson, are from their outdoor stations and their accompanying pamphlet. Learn more about the shrine by visiting their website: www.olamshrine.com.
For many Catholics, it can sometimes be difficult to identify where the Eucharist is in Scripture. We know that the Eucharist is in John’s Gospel (Chapter 6), and in the Last Supper, but we are not as educated on other Old Testament and New Testament Eucharistic references.
These stations walk us through the Bible and show the references to the Eucharist in both the Old and New Testaments. This will support the doctrine of the Eucharist in Sacred Scripture as it is in Sacred Tradition. Reviewing other lessons in this packet will provide more scripture in order to better understand and defend the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Station 1 – Melchizedek
Melchizedek was “…a priest of God Most High” (Hebrews 7:1) and King of Salem. He is mentioned in the story in Genesis, Chapter 14, when Abram (soon to be Abraham) comes to Melchizedek after winning a battle. Melchizedek gives Abram a blessing and brings an offering of bread and wine (cf. Gen 14:17-20).
In the Book of Psalms, David refers back to Melchizedek when prophesying about the coming Messiah: “The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek’ ” (Ps 110:4).
In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author references the High Priest and the connection of Jesus to that role, “…Jesus has gone as a forerunner on your behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:20).
What is the connection with Jesus? As we see in Psalm 110, Jesus is the priest appointed by God “…according to the order of Melchizedek.” He is the King of Salem, which traditionally is identified with Jerusalem. Jesus was meant to come from the line of David, but Jesus is also a priest forever. David was never a priest, so where does Jesus get his priestly lineage? Jesus’ lineage comes from Melchizedek as it says in the Letter to the Hebrews. He is both the great King and the great High Priest.
Station 2 – The Jewish Passover, Prefigurement of the Eucharistic Sacrifice
The story of the Passover is important for both Jews and Christians. In the Book of Exodus, we see the foreshadowing of Christ as the Paschal Lamb:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old…Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. They shall eat the flesh that night…And you shall let none of it remain until morning…In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet. And your staff in your hand: and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover (Ex 12:5,7,8,10,11).
During the time of their enslavement by the Egyptians, the Israelites were commanded by God to give a special sacrifice. This sacrifice freed them from the slavery that they had been in for over four hundred years. That sacrifice and meal did not take place that one time, but is and has been commemorated every year by the Jewish people to remember their deliverance from slavery.
What is the connection with Jesus? In the New Testament, Saint John the Baptist declares “Behold the Lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish Passover that took place a thousand years before Him. We read in the Catechism:
By celebrating the Last Supper with his Apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom. [1]
Station 3 – The Manna from Heaven
After being freed from slavery, the Israelites find themselves in tough times again. They are wandering in the desert with no food. Many cry out to God and begin to complain about the lack of nourishment. They even talk of going back to Egypt to be slaves in order to have food to eat. God then tells Moses “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion…”(Ex 16:4). The Israelites would eat of this manna for forty years until they came to the Promised Land (cf. 16:35).
What is the connection to Jesus? In John 6:41-60, Jesus speaks in reference to the manna that the Jews’ ancestors ate in the desert. He explains that even though they received this bread, they still died and could not live in eternity with God. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the new manna that will never go away and will give our souls life for all eternity. The Jews in Moses’ time question the miracle of the manna: “…the Israelites asked one another, ‘What is this?’ for they did not know what it was” (Ex. 16:15). The Jews in Jesus’ time question the same thing. They hear Jesus saying “I am the Bread of Life,” and they question Him for they do not know who He really is.
The connection between Jesus and the manna from heaven is expressed in the liturgy. The Antiphon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent says, “Skies, let the Just One come forth like the dew, let him descend from the clouds like the rain. The earth will open up and give birth to our Savior” (Isaiah 45:8).
In the Eucharistic Prayer II in the Order of the Mass, the Priest joins his hands, and holding them extended over the offerings, says:
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, He joins his hands and makes the Sign of the Cross once over the bread and the chalice together, saying: so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. [2]
Station 4 – The Old Temple
After spending forty years in the desert, the Israelites finally conquer the Promised Land of Canaan. They soon build their kingdom and begin to grow. During this time they also had the Ark of the Covenant. King David wanted to build a great temple for the Ark as a place for God to dwell with his people. It would be his son, Solomon, who would fulfill this dream. In 2 Chronicles we read:
Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished…So the priest brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim… (2 Chron. 5:1a, 7).
The Lord, pleased by these efforts, manifested His Presence among them:
The house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. Then Solomon…said…But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? (2 Chron. 5:13b-14, 6:18).
What is the connection with Jesus? Jesus is the new and eternal temple:
The Jews then said to Him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body (Jn. 2:18-21).
Jesus identifies the temple of Jerusalem with his own body, and by so doing refers to one of the most profound truths about himself--the Incarnation. After the Ascension of the Lord into heaven this real and very special presence of God among men is continued in the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist. [3]
Mary is also called the Ark of the New Covenant. This reference is taken from Revelation 12:2 where Saint John sees a “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…” In the preceding verse (Rev. 11:19) Saint John says, “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple…”
Search: Blessed is the fruit of your womb
Station 5 – Elijah and The Hearth Cakes
Soon after the death of Solomon comes the great divide and split of the Kingdom of Israel. King Ahab takes the infamous Jezebel, who is a pagan, as his wife. He soon begins to worship her gods and persecutes all those who believe in the one true God. This leaves only Elijah to flee for his life. He goes into to the desert and falls under a broom tree:
He prayed for death: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again but the angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb (1 Kings 19:4-8).
What is the connection to Jesus? Elijah was much like the first Israelites in that he was wandering in the desert and was given food for the Journey.
Elijah in some way repeats the experience of the chosen people as they fled from Egypt pursued by the pharaoh. The food that the angel gives him has been seen in Christian tradition as a figure of the Eucharist, given that by the grace of this Sacrament men enjoy the greatest peace and tranquility of conscience during the present life; and when the hour of departing from this world shall have arrived, like Elijah, who is the strength of the bread baked on the hearth, walked to Horeb the mount of God, they [are] invigorated by the strengthening …of this (heavenly food). [4]
Lembas Bread: “One small bite is strong enough to fill the stomach of a grown man.” The Lembas Bread helps Frodo accomplish his goal; it is food for the journey.
Viaticum comes from three Latin words:
Viaticum, which means traveling provisions.
Viaticus, which means of a road or journey.
Via, which means way or road.
Viaticum is,
the reception of Holy Communion when there is probable danger of death. Viaticum should not be deferred too long in sickness lest the dying lose consciousness. It can be given as often as such danger exists, and is required of all the faithful who have reached the age of discretion. No laws of fasting persist either for the recipient or for the priest who must consecrate in order to supply the Host in an emergency. [5]
The Eucharist is the food for our journey to heaven. For every journey you have to have a beginning, an end, and the means to get from beginning to end. If a person travels from New York to Los Angeles, they have the beginning and end set, but need the means to get from point A to point B.
The Eucharist is the food for our journey, the means of salvation. This fact is expressed in the Order of the Mass when the Priest, facing the altar, says quietly: “May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.” [6] Then he reverently consumes the Body of Christ, after which he takes the chalice and says quietly: “May the Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.” [7]
In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite of the Mass, the priest gives Communion, first making with the host the sign of the cross over each communicant, while saying: “May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul for eternal life. Amen.”