What good does this eating and drinking do?
These words tell us: "Given for you" and "Shed for you to forgive sins."
Namely, that the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given to us
through these words in the Sacrament. Because, where sins are forgiven, there is
life and salvation as well.
How can physical eating and drinking do such great things?
Of course, eating and drinking do not do these things. These words, written
here, do them: "given for you" and "shed for you to forgive sins." These
words, along with physical eating and drinking are the important part of the
sacrament. Anyone who believes these words has what they say and what they
record, namely, the forgiveness of sins.
Prayer
Merciful God, your love is so wonderful we cannot begin to comprehend it all.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit help us believe more and more that your
love is for all the world, but also and in particular, for us; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
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The Catechism goes straight to the point: when we believe we have what is promised: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, three terms for one and the same thing: the merciful life of God intermingled with our lives-no, God's loving life as the very foundation of our lives, the great "for you." Does this suggest, then, that somehow the forgiveness of sins, is an experience wrought by faith? I think so. For while it is true that simply believing gives the forgiveness of sins, it is also true that the gift means nothing until it "clicks" with us, connects with us in our neediness and poverty of spirit. Forgiveness, life, salvation, these are the terms for God's justice: not fairness, but rather, shalom!
Shalom be with you! Or, to put in terms of the catechism, shalom for you!
Amen