Did you know that we are a people in a covenant with God? Most people that I have asked have said what is a covenant? Most people know that a contract is a deal between two people where some form of goods are exchanged. You shop Sterling Auto and sign a paper where you agree to give them money and they give you the keys to a car. This is a contract, an agreement between two people where goods are exchanged. A covenant is where life is exchanged! The most common covenant is marriage and the first part of the vows of marriage state: “I ____ take you ____ to be my husband / wife.” Done properly, this taking and being taken, by one man and one woman, is a free exchange of life! A marriage Covenant! In the scriptures God makes a covenant with man. The Prophet Jeremiah in the above scripture passage reveals a new covenant that God will make with His people. This new covenant is made by Christ. This new covenant is made most explicitly at His Last Supper in the Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 26:26-28) and Mark (Mark 14:22-24) and St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11:23-26). We see this statement by Christ in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 22:20): "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” Jesus connects the old covenant of the Passover with his new covenant in his blood. We entered into this covenant by Baptism, we experience the fullness of this covenant after we are fully initiated by the receptions of the sacraments Confirmation and the Eucharist.

We are a people of the Covenant! A Covenant that Our Father and Jesus in union with the Holy Spirit, our one triune God, created because they love us! Please re-read the passage above and see if you can understand how this is a prophecy of what Christ did. Can you see God’s law written on your heart no matter how much you try to avoid it? Can you see how God forgives your sins? Can you see the good news that God manifested in the flesh of Jesus Christ? Can you see the good news that is enfleshed on our altar and that we receive in communion and is fullness of the new Covenant?

We are a people of the Covenant that God made and are called to live our lives in worship of him, in union with him, in communion with him. Let us celebrate these final few weeks of Lent, let us enter into his passion, let us experience his passion, death, and resurrection – together, in communion!

Fr. Rob