"Again He gave You thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it...so that sins may be forgiven"

Upon hearing this in Mass today, I recalled Christ's second prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!" (Mathew 26:42). Christ had free will--every moment of His suffering was chosen; His drinking from the cup was a purposeful action, freely chosen in order that the world might be reconciled to His Father. When He offers the cup to the disciples to drink at the Last Supper--and in Mass to us--it is the cup of salvation. It is the cup of the Passion and the Crucifixion. It is a cup of suffering. We too must drink of this sacrifice in our own lives, that we might be resurrected with Him and all the world; that sins be forgiven and hearts transformed.

"What return shall I give the Lord for all His goodness to me?
I shall take the cup of salvation." --Psalm 116: 13,14