Saturday, April 18, 2009

Heb 13, 13-16 Let us offer God a sacrifice of praise

(Heb 13, 13-16) Let us offer God a sacrifice of praise
[13] Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach that he bore. [14] For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come. [15] Through him (then) let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. [16] Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.
(CCC 2796) When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God" (Eph 2:6; Col 3:3); yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling" (2 Cor 5:2; cf. Phil 3:20; Heb 13:14). [Christians] are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their lives on earth, but are citizens of heaven (Ad Diognetum 5: PG 2, 1173). (CCC 1330) The memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection. The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used (Heb 13:15; cf. 1 Pet 25; Ps 116:13, 17; Mal 1:11), since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church's whole liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the Sacred Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments. The Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.

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