The New Covenant

We are about to enter into the year 2024. Last week in this column, we looked at the connection between Christmas and the Eucharist. This week, let’s look at the concept of “new” and apply it to something secular, the new year, and compare and contrast with the New Covenant.

First, what is a “covenant”? It is a term we might be familiar with from law. This is a formal, solemn and binding agreement. Legally, it is a type of promise that often forms the core of a contract. But in spiritual matters, a covenant is much greater. A covenant involves mutual commitments between parties. Rather than going beyond a mere service, which is typically what a contract arranges, a covenant binds two parties in a trust that, at least in the spiritual world, is meant never to be broken. Each side has an interest in working for the good of the other.

After the Fall of Adam and Eve, God established a covenant first with his chosen people, the Israelites. God would protect and bless his people, and the people would obey God and stay faithful to him. God kept up his end of the covenant, but the people found it difficult to do the same. The human race needed a savior to redeem them from sin and death. And so God sent his only Son, and the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross is the blood of “the new and everlasting covenant,” as we hear at Mass.

Just like the new year about to dawn upon us, this covenant was new to God’s people. Unlike the new year, this New Covenant will not pass away. 2024 will run its course, and in a little over 12 months, it will simply be a memory. But the New Covenant is eternal. Jesus Christ is the mediator of that covenant, in which we are graced by God’s love and forgiveness. And we are drawn ever closer to him each time we experience him in the Eucharist.

“The renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire.” – Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact me at eucharist@stmli.org.