While all the sprinkling of blood in the first reading may be a little more gory detail than you might have wanted, the story of this ritual offers you something to consider for the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Jesus asks us to celebrate this covenant supper with him. It reminds us that his life and ours are one life. This ritual keeps the whole church united with Christ until Kingdom Come.

On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the day they prepare the Passover sacrifice, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations so you can eat the Passover meal?”

Our relationship with Christ is also a story of love’s triumph over all; Christ’s sacrifice of body and blood for our sake unites us in love with him in a similar way that bride and groom are united in love and sacrifice.

To receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we must first seek his forgiveness.

While obedience makes people children of God, it is also an active response to the loving initiative of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Forgiveness . . . is the ultimate declaration of equality, founded on the recognition that all crimes are the same crime, every failing the human failing, and every insult a cry for help. —D. Patrick Miller, A Little Book of Forgiveness