Christ Our Priest, Christ Our Offering

The Eucharist as Covenant, Sacrifice, and Summit of the Christian Life

The Eucharist occupies a central and unparalleled place in the Christian faith. It is, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). In it, all the other sacraments find their meaning. It is the sacramental expression of Christ’s total self-gift to the Father and to us. In the Eucharist, the deepest mysteries of divine love, human need, and covenantal fidelity are revealed. These are not presented as abstract theology, but as a reality offered and renewed at every Mass.  It is important to meditate on the Eucharist as covenant, as sacrifice, and as the fulfillment of the priesthood of Melchizedek, through the lens of Scripture and the living tradition of the Church.

A New Covenant in His Blood

On the night he was handed over, Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room and instituted something utterly new. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup, declaring, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19–20; cf. 1 Cor 11:23–25).

To call this a “new covenant” was not simply poetic. It was a declaration of divine action.

Throughout salvation history, covenants were the means by which God bound himself to his people. From Noah to Abraham, from Sinai to David, each covenant involved promises, commands, and signs. These were often sealed in blood. The blood was not merely symbolic; it signified life itself. The covenant was a sacred bond, and blood marked its seriousness.

In Exodus 24, Moses took the blood of sacrificed animals and sprinkled it upon the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you” (Ex 24:8). At Sinai, the people were consecrated through the blood of animals. But in the upper room, Jesus took a cup of wine and said something far more astonishing. “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28). He was not pointing to an external ritual. He was offering himself.

Here, we begin to see that the Eucharist is not merely a meal, but a sacrifice. It is a covenant sealed in Christ’s own blood, poured out on the Cross and made present sacramentally at every altar in the world.

Sacrifice and the Priesthood of Christ

To understand the full significance of this, we must grasp the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist. Modern ears often recoil at the idea of sacrifice. Yet in the biblical world, sacrifice was central. Sacrifice was the means by which sin was atoned for, by which thanks were offered, by which covenant was enacted.

In the Letter to the Hebrews, we are told that “every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices” (Heb 8:3), and that Christ is the great high priest who “entered once for all into the sanctuary… with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). His sacrifice is not repeated, but it is re-presented. It is made present in every Eucharistic celebration. The Church does not re-crucify Christ. Rather, the one sacrifice of Calvary, offered once and for all, is made sacramentally present for us, transcending time and place.

Hebrews also declares that Christ is a priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 5:6, 7:17), a mysterious figure who appears briefly in Genesis. Melchizedek is a priest-king of Salem (peace), who offers bread and wine and blesses Abram (Gen 14:18–20). This offering of bread and wine, so unusual in a world of animal sacrifice, is interpreted by the Church Fathers as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. As St. Ambrose wrote, “He brought out bread and wine, for he was a priest of the Most High God. In this he prefigured the mysteries of the Eucharist.”

Melchizedek’s priesthood is not hereditary like that of Levi. It is timeless and universal. Christ, in assuming this role, becomes the eternal priest who offers not another's life, but his own. In the Eucharist, he continues to act as priest and victim, offering himself to the Father and feeding his people with the same body that was crucified and is now glorified.

Foreshadowed in the Miracles of Bread

Even before the Last Supper, the Gospels are rich with Eucharistic signs. In the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Jesus takes five loaves and two fish, blesses them, breaks them, and gives them to the crowd (Matt 14:19). This pattern—take, bless, break, give—reappears in the institution narrative. The multiplication of loaves was not only a miracle of compassion. It was a preview of the heavenly banquet.

Jesus later interprets this miracle in spiritual terms. “Do not work for food that perishes,” he says, “but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Then he goes further. “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). These words scandalized his hearers. Many walked away. But Jesus did not correct or soften his claim. Instead, he turned to his disciples and asked, “Do you also wish to go away?” (John 6:67).

Here we see that the Eucharist is not merely a symbol. It is a mystery that demands faith. It is a sacrament that reveals Christ’s total gift of self and calls for our total response.

A Greater Offering, A Greater Response

When Melchizedek blessed Abram, the patriarch responded with reverence and generosity, offering a tenth of all he owned (Gen 14:20). If such a response was fitting for an earthly priest-king bearing earthly bread and wine, how much more fitting should be our response to the Lord of heaven and earth, who gives us his own body and blood?

Too often we forget the enormity of the gift we receive. We approach the altar casually or distractedly. But here, heaven meets earth. Here, the veil is lifted. Here, the Son of God makes himself present, not merely spiritually, but sacramentally. He is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist.

To receive him is to enter into communion not only with Christ, but with his Body, the Church. It is to be bound in covenant. It is to share in the very life of God.

If we truly understood what we receive, we would approach with trembling joy and overwhelming gratitude. We would prepare ourselves with prayer, examine our hearts, and live lives worthy of such a gift. We would not take it for granted. We would recognize it as the very center of our existence—the source from which our strength flows and the summit to which all our efforts ascend.

Why This Matters

The Eucharist is not merely a doctrine to be understood. It is a mystery to be lived. If Christ is truly present—if every Mass is a participation in the once-for-all sacrifice of Calvary—then this changes everything. It means that the heart of our faith is not an idea or a rule but a Person who gives himself to us again and again.

It means that every time we approach the altar, we are stepping into the very center of salvation history. We are not reenacting a past event. We are entering into the eternal offering of Christ to the Father, made present here and now. This should shape how we pray, how we live, how we treat others, and how we understand our own mission as members of Christ’s Body.

In a world that often reduces religion to private feeling or moral behavior, the Eucharist stands as a bold proclamation. God is with us. God feeds us. God has bound himself to us in covenant love. And we, in turn, are called to offer our lives as a living sacrifice of praise.

Reflection Question

How might your life look different if you approached the Eucharist each week with the awareness that you are participating in the eternal offering of Christ to the Father? What might change in your prayer, your relationships, or your sense of mission?