God Remembers His Covenant Forever"

Today's Mass Readings

Throughout the Bible the issue of God's covenant comes up. We see this in the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and again in the New Testament with Jesus. Covenants in the ancient world in which the Israelites lived, were about families. When people entered into covenants, they extended family relationships. The best example of this is marriage. People who once were not related, enter into an unbreakable family relationship. In today's first reading from the Book of Genesis, we find God making a covenant with Abram. In this covenant, God changes Abram's name to Abraham, and He fortells how Abraham's descendents will prosper. This is an important covenant for the people of Israel.

Jesus as well makes a covenant with His followers. At the Last Supper, Jesus takes the cup of wine and says that, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20). In today's reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus informs us that whoever keeps His word will "never taste death" (8:51). This is because, as our responsorial psalm reminds us, "The Lord remembers his covenant forever" (105:8). We must pass through death to attain the resurrection, but Jesus' statement implies that death is not the end. Those who follow Him, keeping His word, shall live forever.

The Eucharist plays an important role in our relationship with Jesus. In the Eucharist, we receive Jesus' body, blood, soul, and divinity, we partake of Jesus' own divine life, and therefore we participate in the very divine life of the most holy Trinity. Covenants are made through oath-swearing, and the Latin word for oath is sacramentum. In western Christianity, this was the term, sacrament, that was used to describe what in the east Christians called mysteries: namely, the Sacraments. Just as God made a covenant with Abraham in today's reading, which, if we read the context further we see was made with circumcision, so we enter into the covenant family of God through baptism. The Sacraments are a central part of what our family life with God is about. As we approach Triduum and Easter, let us really try to strengthen our relationship with God through the Sacraments.

If we have a relationship with someone, communication is essential to maintaining and strengthening that relationship. Anytime we pray, we communicate with God, not merely at the Liturgy, but throughout the day.

Let us set aside time today to really spend some time in prayer and ask the Lord to strengthen our relationship with Him. As we prepare to leave Lent, let us not leave behind our practice of praying. Let us try to take prayer with us wherever we go, so that our prayer practices will not remain only a Lent-thing, but a year-round practice.

- Jeff Morrow