Day 87: Christ's Life as Offering

The entire life of Christ was a free offering to the Father to carry out his plan of salvation. He gave “his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and, in this way, he reconciled all of humanity with God. His suffering and death showed how his humanity was the free and perfect instrument of that divine love which desires the salvation of all people. (Catechism Compendium, #119)

In today's reading, the Catechism speaks of how Jesus freely offered His life in submission to the will of the Father, and out of love for us. As this section is a bit weighty but good, I didn't think I could pick just one paragraph to quote above, so I used the summary from the Catechism Compendium instead. I do like how the Catechism expands on this with the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper:

Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed".429 On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." CCC 610

The Eucharist is the queen of the Sacraments, one could say, with the Mass/Divine Liturgy at the heart of Christian worship and mystically making us "participants in what Jesus himself has done." So said the Fathers, and so says the Church to this day. Of course, there will be more on the Eucharist later in the Catechism.

I also really liked this from the Catechism Companion, Vol I as it captures perfectly what we believe about Jesus:

Even the Incarnation is a "yes" of Jesus' obedient love to his Father. Every breath he took was an offering to the Father in love. (p. 178)

Agony in the Garden by El Greco, c. 1590

Shown here is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, contending with the horror of his impending suffering and death. He chooses to drink the chalice of suffering in obedience to the Father and for our sake. (p. 179)