We must see the Last Supper and the Mass as more tan preludes to the sacrifice of the crisis.

Friday, 7, 28/17

The title page of our Catholic Bible in English tells us that a Catholic Bishops’ Committee has the final word in the translation of the original Greek of the New Testament into English, and it seems to me that in some cases, to suit Catholic traditions, they mistranslate some words from the accounts of the Last Supper.   

There was a fixed table blessing for  formal meals like Passover. Its parts in Greek were known as the Amanesus, the Epiclesus, and the Eucharistia. They translate as The Calling to Mind, The Calling Down, and the Pleasing Gift.

Although both Paul and Luke tell us that Jesus took up the bread at the Eucharistia, with Lule our Bible there translates Eucharistia as “said the blessing;” with Paul they translate the same word as “after he had given thanks.”

Then, the bishops, wanting us to see the Last Supper as just a preludes to the sacrifice of the cross, change the tense of the words of the Consecration. Where Luke and Paul, in Greek wrote “This is my body which is given for you,” and, “This is my blood which is poured out for you,” our bishops’ translates that to, “This is my body which will be given for you, and “This is by blood which will be poured out for you.”

Of course the bishops are right in seeing our Lord’s death on the cross as the culmination of his sacrifice, However, they may be wrong in minimizing the Last Supper as the true beginning of his sacrifice. And in so doing, they minimize our Mass as being only the preluded to his sacrifice

In the First Century when the Christians came together on Sunday, they were told,” Begin by confessing your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure,” and, “if any Christians have a difference with each other, let them first resolve it, so that their sacrifice may be genuine.”    Last Supper and the Mass as