# Join Your Life to Christ’s Sacrifice - Bishop Barron Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 17 Oct 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75632911/utf_8_q_join_your_life_to_christ_e2_80_99s_sacrifice_utf_8_q_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon_mp3.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, we come now to this
[0:02] Speaker 1: wonderful Feast of Corpus Christi. You know, every year we
[0:04] Speaker 1: have the Feast of Trinity Sunday, followed by Corpus Christi.
[0:08] Speaker 1: So two of the highest theological mysteries, the Trinity and
[0:12] Speaker 1: the Eucharist, back to back. And I think the Church
[0:15] Speaker 1: is right in sort of compelling us every year to
[0:17] Speaker 1: come back to these great truths, because in some ways
[0:21] Speaker 1: the heart of the spiritual life is here. So last
[0:24] Speaker 1: week we looked at the mystery of the Trinity, now
[0:26] Speaker 1: at the body and blood of Jesus. And the readings,
[0:29] Speaker 1: of course, are marvelous. I want to start, though, with
[0:32] Speaker 1: reading number two. It's from 1 Corinthians, and it's a
[0:35] Speaker 1: very brief passage, but wow, is it packed with theological importance.
[0:39] Speaker 1: It's now the Apostle Paul, so we're talking very early on.
[0:43] Speaker 1: He's writing this sometime in the 50s of the first century.
[0:46] Speaker 1: We're within 20 years or so of the dying and
[0:50] Speaker 1: rising of Jesus. And Paul, who met the risen Lord,
[0:54] Speaker 1: is communicating something of great significance. So here's what he says.
[0:58] Speaker 1: First of all, I received from the Lord what I
[1:02] Speaker 1: also handed on to you. That's interesting because Paul will
[1:05] Speaker 1: talk about receiving something from, you know, the other apostles
[1:08] Speaker 1: and so on. No, no, this he received, he said,
[1:11] Speaker 1: from the Lord. What? That Jesus, on the night he
[1:16] Speaker 1: was handed over, took bread and after he'd given thanks,
[1:19] Speaker 1: broke it and said, This is my body that is
[1:22] Speaker 1: for you. In the same way, also the cup after supper, saying,
[1:27] Speaker 1: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
[1:31] Speaker 1: this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Okay,
[1:35] Speaker 1: familiar words from the Eucharist, of course. But now keep
[1:38] Speaker 1: in mind who's speaking and how primitive this is in
[1:42] Speaker 1: the tradition, how early in the tradition. Paul is communicating
[1:46] Speaker 1: something that he thinks is of central importance. Also keep
[1:51] Speaker 1: in mind, who's speaking here? Paul, the apostle, who had
[1:55] Speaker 1: been Rabbi Shaul from Tarsus, who came to Jerusalem to
[2:00] Speaker 1: study at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest
[2:02] Speaker 1: rabbis of the times. Shaul was immersed in the traditions
[2:07] Speaker 1: of his people. He would have lived and worked somewhere
[2:10] Speaker 1: in the vicinity of the Jerusalem temple where sacrifice took
[2:15] Speaker 1: place year round. Paul knew that whole world, the scriptures,
[2:22] Speaker 1: the liturgy and practice of Judaism. This is the one
[2:28] Speaker 1: who says, remembers from the Lord, this is my body
[2:32] Speaker 1: that is for you. Now, you're a Jew who is
[2:35] Speaker 1: acquainted with the temple liturgy, and language now is being
[2:40] Speaker 1: used about a body offered. What does he have in mind?
[2:45] Speaker 1: He has in mind temple sacrifice. When someone would bring
[2:49] Speaker 1: the body of an animal to the temple as a offering,
[2:55] Speaker 1: it could be an offering of thanksgiving, it could be
[2:57] Speaker 1: a sin offering, an offering of reparation. You bring the
[3:00] Speaker 1: animal to the temple, presented to the priest, the throat
[3:06] Speaker 1: would be slashed and the blood would pour out into bowls.
[3:11] Speaker 1: Then the animal, depending on the type of sacrifice, was
[3:14] Speaker 1: either burnt whole in a holocaust or was partially burnt
[3:19] Speaker 1: and the rest given for a meal. That's the world
[3:24] Speaker 1: that Paul, Rabbi Shaul, lived in, where this took place
[3:28] Speaker 1: all the time. They say you could smell the temple
[3:31] Speaker 1: before you saw it as you were approaching because it
[3:34] Speaker 1: smelled like a slaughterhouse and a barbecue put together, I suppose.
[3:38] Speaker 1: The animal sacrifice was the stuff. It was the lifeblood
[3:43] Speaker 1: of the temple. Well, let's go on now. He's remembering
[3:47] Speaker 1: what Jesus did the night before he died. In the
[3:49] Speaker 1: same way, also the cup after supper saying, this cup
[3:54] Speaker 1: is the new covenant in my blood. The blood of
[3:59] Speaker 1: the animal poured out. What was happening there but the
[4:03] Speaker 1: great covenant with Israel was being renewed. Think of when
[4:07] Speaker 1: the covenant was cut with Abraham, the covenant with Noah,
[4:12] Speaker 1: the covenant with Moses, the covenant with David. They're all
[4:16] Speaker 1: accompanied by blood sacrifice. And the idea was very clear
[4:21] Speaker 1: that the blood represented the outpouring of a person's life.
[4:29] Speaker 1: My lifeblood, Lord, I'm offering to you. And I'm saying,
[4:34] Speaker 1: what's happening to this animal by right should be happening
[4:39] Speaker 1: to me. I'm seeing in this animal a representation of
[4:44] Speaker 1: my own sinful nature. And as the animal is being
[4:48] Speaker 1: put to death, it's as though I'm being punished for
[4:51] Speaker 1: my sins. My lifeblood poured out. In that great act,
[4:56] Speaker 1: the covenants with Israel are being ratified and renewed. That's
[5:01] Speaker 1: what was in the mind of an Israelite coming to
[5:04] Speaker 1: the temple. Now, I want to take one more step
[5:07] Speaker 1: here with all this imagery in mind, which Rabbi Shaul
[5:10] Speaker 1: knew very well as he's recalling what Jesus did. On
[5:14] Speaker 1: the highest of the holy days, Yom Kippur, the day
[5:17] Speaker 1: of atonement, the high priest would go into the Holy
[5:21] Speaker 1: of Holies of the temple, right? And he would sacrifice
[5:24] Speaker 1: an animal. He would sprinkle the blood of the animal
[5:27] Speaker 1: around the Holy of Holies. That's that old idea of
[5:30] Speaker 1: the lifeblood of the people being poured out, of their
[5:33] Speaker 1: sins being acknowledged. But then, see, he would catch some
[5:39] Speaker 1: of that blood in a bowl. He would then exit
[5:43] Speaker 1: the Holy of Holies through the veil and the one
[5:47] Speaker 1: that we know as Christians was torn at the death
[5:50] Speaker 1: of Jesus. It's very important, isn't it? He'd come out
[5:53] Speaker 1: through that veil, and then he would sprinkle the blood
[5:57] Speaker 1: on the people. That's an echo, too. Remember in the
[6:01] Speaker 1: book of Exodus, when Moses does that, they sprinkle the
[6:04] Speaker 1: blood on the altar and then on the people. The
[6:07] Speaker 1: idea there was, yes, the people are pouring out their lifeblood,
[6:10] Speaker 1: but so is God. God is offering his life in
[6:14] Speaker 1: love and forgiveness for his people. All of this, the
[6:20] Speaker 1: scene of the trouble is, and even for us Catholics,
[6:22] Speaker 1: that we use the language of temple and sacrifice and
[6:25] Speaker 1: altar and priesthood, but this is the world it's coming
[6:29] Speaker 1: out of. This vividly, vividly experienced sacrificing of animals, offering
[6:36] Speaker 1: of a body, pouring out of blood, the animal representing sin,
[6:41] Speaker 1: the blood of God being poured out on the people.
[6:44] Speaker 1: All of that, all of that is in the back
[6:48] Speaker 1: and front of Paul's mind as he recalls what Jesus did. Okay,
[6:54] Speaker 1: now let's focus in on Jesus. Jesus. This is my
[7:00] Speaker 1: body offered for you. This is my blood poured out
[7:06] Speaker 1: for you. This happens, everybody, on the altar of the cross.
[7:15] Speaker 1: What's happening on that cross? You say, well, it's a
[7:17] Speaker 1: Roman execution. Yeah, it is that. Oh, no, no, but
[7:20] Speaker 1: they saw us with much deeper vision. What's happening on
[7:24] Speaker 1: that cross? Jesus, like the sacrificed lamb, is taking upon
[7:32] Speaker 1: himself the sin of the world. The lamb is innocent.
[7:36] Speaker 1: That's brought it to the altar. But the lamb becomes
[7:39] Speaker 1: a symbolic bearer of the sins of the one who
[7:43] Speaker 1: offers it. So Jesus willingly becomes the lamb of sacrifice
[7:51] Speaker 1: who bears the sins, not just of one sacrificer, but
[7:55] Speaker 1: the sins of the whole world. He becomes their representative
[8:00] Speaker 1: before God. Now, please don't misunderstand something here. Don't read
[8:06] Speaker 1: this as God is this, you know, kind of like alcoholic,
[8:09] Speaker 1: dysfunctional father that's so offended he requires the bloody sacrifice
[8:14] Speaker 1: of his son before his anger is quelled. That's emotionalizing
[8:19] Speaker 1: all this. Rather, see Jesus on the cross, offering his body,
[8:25] Speaker 1: pouring out his blood, as the one who willingly became,
[8:29] Speaker 1: what did John the Baptist call him, the Lamb of God.
[8:34] Speaker 1: The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
[8:37] Speaker 1: the world. We are meant to see in the suffering
[8:41] Speaker 1: of Jesus what by right should be happening to us.
[8:45] Speaker 1: That's the point. That's the point. That's why at every Mass,
[8:50] Speaker 1: when this sacrifice is represented, we join our lives to
[8:57] Speaker 1: that sacrifice. We're saying, Lord, in your blood poured out,
[9:01] Speaker 1: I see what by right should be happening to me.
[9:04] Speaker 1: I see my sin poured out, punished, acknowledged. Take a
[9:13] Speaker 1: further step. Yes, Jesus on the cross is the lamb
[9:17] Speaker 1: offered for our sins. But now that blood poured out,
[9:24] Speaker 1: is also the blood that was offered on Yom Kippur.
[9:29] Speaker 1: When the high priest comes out through the veil and
[9:32] Speaker 1: sprinkles the people with blood, that's God's lifeblood of forgiveness
[9:38] Speaker 1: and compassion being poured out on the sinful world. And again,
[9:43] Speaker 1: go back to that wonderful, puzzling reference. As Jesus dies,
[9:48] Speaker 1: the curtain in the temple is torn in two from
[9:50] Speaker 1: top to bottom. That's the veil. The idea is not
[9:54] Speaker 1: the high priest, in the human figure the high priest
[9:58] Speaker 1: now it's jesus the true high priest coming out from
[10:03] Speaker 1: the holy of holies sprinkling all of us sinners with
[10:08] Speaker 1: the blood of his life and his compassion his forgiveness
[10:15] Speaker 1: that's what's happening on the cross What Jesus did the
[10:19] Speaker 1: night before he died, Paul is saying, was a great
[10:23] Speaker 1: anticipation of this moment. The body and blood of Jesus, therefore,
[10:29] Speaker 1: that we celebrate today, the body and blood of Jesus
[10:32] Speaker 1: that become present to us at every Mass, is our
[10:36] Speaker 1: participation anew in this magnificent moment of acknowledging our sin
[10:44] Speaker 1: and receiving the forgiveness of God. Okay, one last step,
[10:48] Speaker 1: and I'm just going to make a brief reference to
[10:50] Speaker 1: the gospel. It's wonderful, though, what the church does. It
[10:52] Speaker 1: gives us all this Pauline, wonderful, sacrificial language. But then
[10:57] Speaker 1: for the gospel reading, we get Luke's version of the
[11:00] Speaker 1: multiplication of the loaves and fishes. So we know the
[11:03] Speaker 1: story well. This giant crowd sits down, and they want
[11:06] Speaker 1: to be fed. And, oh, what do we have? And
[11:08] Speaker 1: Jesus said, well, tell me, what do you have? Oh,
[11:10] Speaker 1: just these little provisions. Well, give them to me. And
[11:12] Speaker 1: he multiplies them unto the feeding of the whole crowd. Okay.
[11:17] Speaker 1: I mentioned this a few minutes ago. Some sacrifices in
[11:21] Speaker 1: the temple were holocaust. So you'd kill the animal, the
[11:24] Speaker 1: blood's poured out, and then the animal would be wholly
[11:27] Speaker 1: consumed by flame. But there were other sacrifices where the
[11:31] Speaker 1: animal was killed, blood poured out, part of the animal
[11:34] Speaker 1: was offered as a holocaust, and the rest of the
[11:37] Speaker 1: animal was shared as a meal. Ah. Ah. What do
[11:43] Speaker 1: we say about the body and blood of Jesus? It
[11:45] Speaker 1: is all of the sacrificial reality. Yes, the sacrifice of
[11:49] Speaker 1: the mass. Yes, indeed. But we also speak of the
[11:52] Speaker 1: mass as a great meal. Now we're invited to the table.
[11:59] Speaker 1: It's an altar, yes, but it's also a table to
[12:01] Speaker 1: which we're invited. not just so that the blood of
[12:06] Speaker 1: Jesus might be sprinkled on us, as in the old covenant,
[12:10] Speaker 1: but that we might eat the body and drink the
[12:13] Speaker 1: blood of the sacrificed Christ. That we're given the privilege
[12:18] Speaker 1: now of imbibing and consuming this great sacrificial offering. The
[12:27] Speaker 1: Mass is a sacrifice. The Mass is also a meal.
[12:34] Speaker 1: I don't just witness the sacrifice of Jesus. I don't
[12:37] Speaker 1: just take it in and acknowledge it. I consume it.
[12:44] Speaker 1: I consume it. So it becomes bone of my bone
[12:47] Speaker 1: and flesh of my flesh. I become one with Jesus.
[12:55] Speaker 1: I don't know, friends, how you can say this without
[12:58] Speaker 1: falling into kind of a mystical reverie of what's happening
[13:04] Speaker 1: at the Mass, what's happening as we commune with the
[13:09] Speaker 1: body and blood of Jesus. We take his sacrifice into
[13:15] Speaker 1: our own lives. We become conformed to it. And we
[13:22] Speaker 1: begin to live. Now, remember what I said last week
[13:24] Speaker 1: about the Trinity. Now we begin to live the very
[13:28] Speaker 1: inner life of God. That's what's at stake as we
[13:32] Speaker 1: celebrate the body and the blood of Jesus. And God
[13:36] Speaker 1: bless you.

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