Q. But why are you guys so obsessed with eating the Body of Christ?
A. Because this is the "new and everlasting covenant", between God and His new Chosen People - the Church.
You see, the entire Old Testament is a rehearsal or preparation or training for the New Testament. As St. Augustine would say, "The new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed."
Two major motifs in the Old Testament are the Chosen People of God - the Israelites, and the Passover Covenant between them and God. These two motifs continue in the New Testament where the new Chosen People of God is the Church and the New Covenant is the Eucharist.
So. For example. One became a member of the People of God through the mark of circumcision. One becomes a member of the New People of God through the mark of Baptism.
Q. Let me interrupt you there and digress a bit... Speaking of Baptism, why does the Catholic Church baptise infants or people who have not reached the age of reason and thus cannot give their own free consent to becoming members of the Church? Nowhere in the Bible do we find infants being baptised.
A. For two reasons I am aware of. One is because if circumcision in the Old Testament was given to infants to make them members of the People of God (Gen 17:12), then it should be possible to give Baptism to infants to make them members of the New People of God.
Second reason is because of Tradition: practices that were handed down to us from the first Christians by word of mouth. And the early Christians baptised infants.
Q. That was much more straightforward than I expected.
A. You're welcome
Happy Feast Day!
15th January 2017