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,