ALTAR

 INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 12 Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Altar.”

When I spotted the scene in today’s first reading from Genesis 12:1-9 - where Abraham builds an altar at Shechem and then another altar at Bethel - I began thinking about altars.

What are your thoughts about altars?  

What are my thoughts about altars?

What’s  the anthropology  about altars? Who has written the best stuff about altars?  I assume it would be in the various books I have by  Mircea Eliade. Maybe Rudolf Otto would have good stuff as well - in his studies about the non-rational - the holy. Then there's Clifford Howell's classic book: On Sacraments and Sacrifice.

Altars?  What does that word trigger?

As an altar boy and then as  priest I have been standing at altars all my life - so I should have some thoughts about altars.

RELIGIONS

Do all religions have altars?

I don’t know.

I do know that ancient religions - Judaism and Christianity - have altars.

They are places of sacrifice.

They are places where we go to - to connect with God.

They are places where we say to God, “I need you.”

They are places where we offer up a good to get a better situation.

They are sacred places.

JUDAISM

We can mine the Bible and pick up different scenes and situations where altars are central.

First of all there were altars where offerings were burned. They are called “burnt offerings” or “holocausts”.  The victim was completely burned - destroyed - no return. Is it any wonder that became the name of what happened to the Jews and others at Auschwitz, etc. etc. etc.?

Next there were altars where peace offerings were placed. It would be food. God got some, the priests got some, the offerors got some. It was a moment of communion. I assume if we get an understanding  of that, we will have a better understanding of the Mass as a peace offering. We want peace.

There were also guilt or sin offerings placed on altars. It was a way of trying to make amends to God.

A variation of some of these ceremonies were cereal offerings. Related to this was the Showbread ceremony. This included the offering of bread and the sharing of bread. One thought was that bread shows us the face of God.  Bread brings comfort and peace and connection with God and each other.

So that’s a short list of the use of altars in the Jewish Bible. Of course these ceremonies changed and developed in time.

THE MASS - THE ALTAR

Today’s gospel puts us into the New Testament.  Mention of altars is not in today’s gospel, but in the New Testament - in books like Hebrew’s especially, we have New Testament ideas about altars.

Ceremonies with altars continue with our Mass.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

These are just quick glances to look at - in an effort to understand the meaning of an altar.

I will have to do more homework on all this.

I know I have to make connections between altars and tables.

Jesus was at a table I presume at his Last Supper.

The altar is called a table at times.

The Mass is a meal

I think of the sacredness of the family table. I look back at our childhood and our kitchen table. It was where we ate,  where we prayed, where we played cards, where we did our homework, etc.

I have to do a lot more homework on all this.

I know -  that after baptisms - I like to have the parents of a baby come up to the altar and stand where the priest stands. I say to the couple that I am trying to make the connection between the Mass and Baptism. So I tell the parents to put their hand on their baby and repeat along with me, “This is my body. This is my blood. We’re giving our life to you.” 

Then I conclude by saying: "This is the sacrifice of the Mass - your life for your son or daughter. It’s all connected."