Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life; you have the message of eternal life. Alleluia.
Fifteenth Ordinary Sunday-(Year B)
Every week I look at the Altar at Mass and am moved by the beauty and simplicity of it. I have decided to capture the decoration around the Sanctuary every week to share with you. This week, a simple display of glorious yellows, orange and green was carefully designed to fit precisely in the middle under the Altar, drawing one’s eye to the main place of worship during the Mass.
Significance of the Altar
The Catholic altar is both a sacrificial altar, and a table for a communal meal. In Jesus’s time, altars where animal sacrifices took place as atonement for sin were common under Jewish norms and traditions. The passion of Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, to atone for the sin of mankind. Therefore, the Christ’s sacrifice is enacted each Mass at an altar. The altar is also a table because we are all “called to the Lord’s supper.” The sense of the Catholic altar as a table calls to mind the last supper and the tables around which the early Christians celebrated the Eucharist, as well as the fact that we as a faithful community are sharing in the saving meal.
1catholicsalmon 
SR
/ July 16, 2012Something about this post touches me! Thanks for posting it. God Bless, SR