2. PRIEST and BISHOP
They act in persona Christi,
meaning, “in the person of Christ”.
In the New Testament there is only
one priest, Jesus, and all those called
to the priesthood, from the Apostles
till the last ordained presbyter, act on
his behalf. This means that
whenever we look at the celebrant of
the Mass, with the eyes of the body
we see a man, but with the eyes of
faith we see Jesus Christ himself.
4. UNLEAVENED BREAD
Following the example of Jesus during
the Last Supper, the bread must be
made of flour from wheat, without
yeast, salt, or any other ingredient. The
Unleavened bread was used by the
Jews since they left the land of Egypt,
and commemorates the haste of the
departure. (Exodus 12:17)
5. GRAPE WINE
The wine must be “the fruit of
the vine”, as specified by the
Gospel (Matthew 26:29), and it has
to be pure. Without any addition of
chemicals, coloring or
preservatives.
7. The form of the Eucharist are the
words of the Consecration, namely:
“Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for
this is my body, which will be given
up for you. Take this, all of you, and
drink of it, for this is the chalice of my
blood, the blood of the new and
eternal covenant, which will be poured
out for you and for the forgiveness of
sins. Do this in memory of me.”
9. WHEAT: the symbol of the
Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us through his
broken body in death.
10. CHALICE & GRAPES: symbols of
the cup of forgiveness and the new
covenant we have in his blood.
11. ALPHA & OMEGA: They are the
first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet, signifying that Christ is
“the beginning and the end” of
creation. (Revelation 22:13)
12. CHI-RHO: It is a symbol made by
superimposing the first two letters of
Christ in Greek, the Chi (X) and the
Rho(R). Emperor Constantine saw
this symbol in the sky, and heard the
words “By this sign, conquer.”