A covenant is an agreement

between two or more people

or between God and Man.
The Old Covanant was based
on Gods promises to Man,
the Protogospel, the promise to Noah,
the promises to Abraham,
which were renewed
through Isaac and Jacob,
the giving of the Law to Moses
and the promises to King David.
In the incident recorded in the Bible
of Melchisedek, we see a ritual

that was used to seal a covenant.

Melchisedek sealed
his covenant with Abraham
by offering ritual bread and wine
to God Most High.
This offering is alluded to
in the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus,
the Mass,
the ritual of the New Covenant.
Our Lord Jesus Christ took bread,
broke the bread
and gave it to His disciples, saying
This is My Body.

Do this in remembrance of Me.

Then he took the cup,
blessed it and gave it to His disciples,
saying, Take this, all of you, and drink it,
for this is My Blood,
the Blood of the new
and everlasting covenant.
It will be shed for you and for all
so that sin may be forgiven.
So we see here that Our Lord
used the ritual covenant meal
as the form for the ritual
of the New Covenant.

The Old Covenants are fulfilled

in the New Covenant,
the gift of the Spirit.
All of the Covenants were insufficient
to satisfy the justice of God
because Man cannot
fulfill his obligations
established in the covenants,
even when he tries.
This is a revelation of his weakness,
concupiscence, and the darkening
of his intellect,
all consequences of the Fall.

He is like a fish in a fishbowl

with no way out of the water
because it is the only element he knows
and it maintains his existence.
He can however look up
and see a bright light shining
over the bowl. This plants in his heart
a longing for a better place,
but he is helpless.
The New Covenant is the gift
of the Spirit of Christ
that frees Man
from his human condition

and restores him

to a life of grace.