Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
What is a sacrifice? The Catholic Encyclopedia says:
By sacrifice in the real sense is universally understood the offering of a sense-perceptible gift to the Deity as an outward manifestation of our veneration for Him and with the object of attaining communion with Him. Strictly speaking however, this offering does not become a sacrifice until a real change has been effected in the visible gift (e.g. by slaying it, shedding its blood. burning it, or pouring it out). As the meaning and importance of sacrifice cannot be established by a priori methods, every admissible theory of sacrifice must shape itself in accordance with the sacrificial systems of the pagan nations, and especially with those of the revealed religions, Judaism and Christianity. Pure Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Protestantism here call for no attention, as they have no real sacrifice; apart from these there is and has been no developed religion which has not accepted sacrifice as an essential portion of its cult.
Sacrifices were offered in ancient cultures: in India, Iran, Greece, Rome, China, Egypt, among the American Indians, and the Semites. Among the Jews, it is enough to read the book of Leviticus, to get an idea of the different kinds of sacrifices offered in the Old Testament.
1.1 What figures and prophecies are there in the Old Testament that point to the Sacrifice of the New Testament?
1.1.1 Bread and wine, the cup of blessing
The CCC (1334) states:
In the Old Covenant BREAD and WINE were OFFERED in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the UNLEAVENED BREAD that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the MANNA in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God [cf Deuteronomy 8:3]; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises.
The "CUP OF BLESSING" [I Corinthians 10:16] at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.
(For a more detailed discussion of how the sacrifice is foreshadowed in the Old Testament, see http://www.scripturecatholic.com/the_eucharist.html.)
1.1.2 The Passover and the Paschal Lamb
Marty Barack, in his article "The Eucharist in Scripture" (http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/scrip/a6.html) explains the meaning of the PASCHAL LAMB:
Pasch or pesach in Hebrew means "he passed over." The paschal lamb recalls the lamb that was sacrificed that its blood might be daubed on the doorposts of every Jewish home, and its body eaten in every Jewish home, that the angel of death might know it as a household of the faithful and pass over. God had originally commanded (Exodus 12:6) that the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel kill the paschal lambs. When Solomon built the first Temple, Jewish priests sacrificed the paschal lambs there. But after Jesus ascended to heaven and the second Temple fell never to rise again, the Temple sacrifices could no longer be done, so Jews began to represent the paschal lamb with a lamb's shank bone.
Jesus is spiritually present in the shank bone of the lamb. The Jews in Egypt ate the paschal lamb to be physically redeemed and led to the promised land of Canaan. Catholics for two thousand years have consumed the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God (John 1:29) that we might be spiritually redeemed and find the promised kingdom of heaven.
In the ancient days, when the Jewish priest had killed the last lamb of the Passover, he uttered the Hebrew word Kalah, "it is finished." Moments before He died on the Cross, Jesus said "Kalah" (it is finished) (John 19:30).
The CCCC (276; cf CCC 1333-1344) says:
The Eucharist was foreshadowed in the Old Covenant above all in the annual Passover meal celebrated every year by the Jews with unleavened bread to commemorate their hasty, liberating departure from Egypt. ...
The CCC 1340 explains that these symbols are brought to reality in the New Testament and in the life to come.
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which FULFILS the JEWISH PASSOVER and ANTICIPATES the FINAL PASSOVER of the Church IN the GLORY of the kingdom.
1.1.3 The Prophecy of Malachi
There is a passage in the book of the prophet Malachi (1:10-11) where God tells the Levitical priests:
10 Oh, that one among you would shut the temple gates to keep you from kindling fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts; neither will I accept any sacrifice from your hands, 11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring SACRIFICE to my name, and a pure OFFERING; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. [New American Bible]
The Lord says several things in these passages:
(For a fuller treatment of this topic, see Catholic Encyclopedia--http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10006a.htm).
1.2 Divine Command: "Do this in memory of me"
In the previous lesson, we have seen how Saint Luke in his Gospel and Saint Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians record our Lord's command (Luke 22:19, I Corinthians 11:24 & 25): "Do this in remembrance of me." The CCC (1341) explains:
The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father. [Cf II Corinthians 11:26]
The CCC (1342) notes further:
From the beginning the Church has been faithful to the Lord's command. Of the Church of Jerusalem it is written:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.... Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts [Acts 2:42, 46].
Moreover, the next point (1343) says:
It was above all on "the first day of the week," Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection, that the Christians met "to break bread" [Acts 20:7]. From that time on down to our own day the celebration of the Eucharist has been continued so that today we encounter it everywhere in the Church with the same fundamental structure. It remains the center of the Church's life.
It is good to remember that the "breaking of the bread" was not a simple act of eating, but referred to something more sublime. For the Apostles, it was the same act Jesus did at the Last Supper. It referred to the Sacrament and Sacrifice he had instituted. Remember the two apostles of Emmaus, narrated in Luke 24:
30 When he was at table with them, he TOOK the bread and BLESSED, and BROKE it, and GAVE it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened and they RECOGNIZED him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
1.3 Is the Mass a real sacrifice? What is the need for a sacrifice after Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross?
The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10006a.htm) explains:
If the Mass is to be a true sacrifice in the literal sense, it must realize the philosophical conception of sacrifice. Thus the last preliminary question arises: What is a sacrifice in the proper sense of the term? Without attempting to state and establish a comprehensive theory of sacrifice, it will suffice to show that, according to the comparative history of religions, four things are necessary to a sacrifice:
These four elements are present in the Eucharist because the Eucharist is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross. It is not a new sacrifice different from the Cross. It is the same one single sacrifice as the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.
The Eucharist is a MEMORIAL of the sacrifice of Christ, but a unique kind of memorial. In ordinary language, a memorial is not the same as the real thing--a memorial brings to our mind something past and gone. But in this case, the memorial is the same as the act it brings to mind--the memorial of Christ's sacrifice is the SAME SACRIFICE as Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. The CCCC (280; cf CCC 1362-1367) explains:
The Eucharist is a MEMORIAL in the sense that it makes present and actual the sacrifice which Christ offered to the Father on the cross, once and for all on behalf of mankind. The SACRIFICIAL CHARACTER of the Holy Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution, "This is my Body which is given for you" and "This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood that will be shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20). The sacrifice of the cross and the sacrifice of the Eucharist ARE ONE AND THE SAME SACRIFICE. The priest and the victim are the same; only the manner of offering is different: in a bloody manner on the cross, in an unbloody manner in the Eucharist.
The CCC (1366) teaches:
The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which [1] the bloody SACRIFICE which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be RE-PRESENTED, [2] its MEMORY PERPETUATED until the end of the world, and [3] its salutary POWER be APPLIED to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit [Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740; cf I Corinthians 11:23; Hebrews 7:24, 27].
1.4 Which was the first Mass--the Last Supper or the Crucifixion? How are the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Mass related?
Let us quote CCC 1340 once more:
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his DEATH and RESURRECTION, the NEW PASSOVER, is ANTICIPATED IN THE SUPPER and CELEBRATED IN THE EUCHARIST, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.
The relationship can be illustrated as follows:
LAST SUPPER --anticipates--> CROSS & RESURRECTION <--commemorates-- EUCHARIST
1.5 A memorial that looks to the future
In the explanation above, the Church also teaches that the Mass looks to the future life. The liturgy on earth anticipates the liturgy in heaven. This is explained by the document Sacrosanctum Concilium (no 8) of the Second Vatican Council:
In the earthly liturgy we take part in a FORETASTE of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle [cf Revelation 21:2; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 8:2]; we sing a hymn to the Lord's glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory [cf Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:4]. (Quoted in CCC 1090)
In short, the OLD PASSOVER foreshadows the NEW PASSOVER which, in turn, looks foreward to the FINAL PASSOVER.
1.6 What are the ends of the Mass?
Traditionally, the Church has taught four ends of the Mass.
It has been mentioned above that Christ himself is both offerer (through the priests) and offered. He commanded his apostles: "Do this in memory of me" (Luke 22:7-20; Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; I Corinthians 11:23-26). They are commanded to do it in His stead. The CCC (1410) affirms:
It is Christ himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The priest is not the main actor in the Mass, he is not the main character. He is Christ's servant, Christ's minister. It will be a great mistake for a priest to think that a Mass is "successful" because of his homily, or because he is able to make innovations. The Mass is not a performance. The Mass is a sacrifice, in which the priest is commanded not only to offer the sacrifice of Jesus' Most Holy Body and Blood, but is also commanded to do the same offering of his own self. This is a secondary meaning of "Do this in memory of Me." Before they celebrate this most sublime sacrifice, priests should be reminded of Jesus' words to the ambitious brothers James and John (Matthew 20:22):
"Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"
Saint Josemaria Escriva wrote in the homily "A Priest Forever" (In Love with the Church, 44):
We must remember that all of us priests, saints or sinners, are not ourselves when we celebrate Holy Mass. We are Christ, who renews on the altar his divine sacrifice of Calvary. In the mystery of the eucharistic sacrifice, in which priests fulfil their principal function, the work of our redemption is continually carried out. For this reason its daily celebration is earnestly recommended. This celebration is an act of Christ and the Church even if it is impossible for the faithful to be present. ...
The fact that the faithful attend or do not attend Holy Mass in no way changes this truth of faith. When I celebrate Mass surrounded by people I am very happy; I don't need to think of myself as president of any kind of assembly. I am, on the one hand, a member of the faithful like the others; but, above all, I am Christ at the Altar! I am renewing in an unbloody manner the divine Sacrifice of Calvary and I am consecrating, in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. I really represent Jesus Christ, for I am lending him my body, my voice, my hands and my poor heart, so often stained, which I want Him to purify.
2.1 New Covenant, New Sacrifice; New Priest and New Victim. The Letter to the Hebrews
The Letter to the Hebrews is an important reference for understanding the Sacrifice of the Altar. In the Letter we can distinguish five important sections (cf The Navarre Bible):
From this Letter, we can point out the following affirmations:
The Holy Mass, which is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross, is the one unique sacrifice of the New Testament, the New Covenant. It surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
2.2 Church: Offerer and Offered
Jesus Christ offers and is offered. The Church is the Mystical Body of Jesus. Hence, in every single Mass, the Church is also offerer and offered. The whole Church--on EARTH ("Church militant"), in PURGATORY ("Church suffering"), and in HEAVEN ("Church triumphant")--participates in every single Mass. The CCCC (281; cf CCC 1368-1372, 1414) says
In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, their suffering, their prayers, their work, are united to those of Christ. In as much as it is a sacrifice, the Eucharist is likewise offered for all the faithful, living and dead, in reparation for the sins of all and to obtain spiritual and temporal benefits from God. The Church in heaven is also united to the offering of Christ.
Saint Josemaria Escriva adds in the same homily cited above (cf In Love with the Church, "A Priest Forever" 44):
When I celebrate Mass with just one person to serve it, the people are present also. I feel that there, with me, are all Catholics, all believers, and also all those who do not believe. All God's creatures are there — the earth and the sea and the sky, and the animals and plants — the whole of creation giving glory to the Lord.
PARTICIPATION at Mass goes beyond singing with the rest, or doing the readings, or serving Mass. True participation requires the faithful to offer their entire lives, every single aspect of it, at the altar with Jesus. One may ask: "If Jesus' sacrifice is superior to all sacrifices, what is my offering compared to His? It is negligible. It is not necessary." Here, it is worthwhile remembering the multiplication of the loaves--even if our Lord Jesus Christ could have produced bread out of nothing, he instead asked the disciples what they had. Saint John reports in his Gospel (6:8-9):
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?"
Nonetheless, our Lord commanded them (Matthew 14:18):
"Bring them here to me."
That is what we do exactly in the offertory. We offer him the little that we have, knowing that once Jesus takes it into his hands, the Holy Spirit sanctifies it, and the Father accepts it, and its value multiplies. Human work (opus hominis) becomes God's work (opus Dei).
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become our spiritual drink.
Saint Peter (I Peter 2:4-5, 9) exhorts the early Christians:
Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a HOLY PRIESTHOOD to OFFER SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ... you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The Second Vatican Council, in the document Lumen Gentium (no 34), states:
For their work, prayers and apostolic endeavours, their ordinary married and family life, their daily labour, their mental and physical relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life if patiently borne-all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (cf I Peter 2:5). During the celebration of the Eucharist these sacrifices are most lovingly offered to the Father along with the Lord's body. Thus as worshipers whose every deed is holy, the lay faithful consecrate the world itself to God.
The CCC cites Saint Augustine's summary of this doctrine in point 1372:
This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for us in his Passion, to make us the Body of so great a head.... Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we who are many are one Body in Christ." The Church continues to reproduce this sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein it is evident to them that in what she offers she herself is offered [St Augustine, De civitate Dei, 10, 6: PL 41, 283; cf Romans 12:5].
2.3 Heart and Summit of Church Life and Christian Life
The Holy Mass is, therefore, the most important activity that a Christian can ever do. It is also the centre around which the life of the Church revolves. The CCC (1407) teaches:
The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church's life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.
The other sacraments and all other activities gravitate around the Sacrifice of the Altar. The CCC 1324, quoting Presbyterorum Ordinis (5) teaches:
"The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."
The CCC 1345 cites an early Christian work that shows that the Mass we celebrate in our days has the same basic content and structure as the Mass of the first centuries of Christianity.
As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families. St. Justin wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) around the year 155, explaining what Christians did:
On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place.
The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits.
When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things.
Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves . . .and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.
When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren.
He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: 'Amen.'
When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted" bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent. [St Justin, Apologia 1, 65-67: PG 6, 428-429; the text before the asterisk (*) is from chap. 67]
How is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist carried out? The CCCC (277; cf CCC 1345-1355, 1408) explains:
The Eucharist unfolds in two great parts which together form one, single act of worship. The Liturgy of the Word involves proclaiming and listening to the Word of God. The Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the presentation of the bread and wine, the prayer or the anaphora containing the words of consecration, and communion.
We will note that this two-step sequence follows the same order as the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (cf Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15) and the appearance before the two disciples of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Jesus begins by [1] teaching and explaining the Scriptures, then [2] takes the bread, blesses, breaks and gives.
Regarding this structure, Fr Sebastian Camilleri OFM (http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/oct2005p20_2095.html ) writes:
St Caesarius of Arles (470-542) was Papal Vicar for Gaul and Spain at a critical time for the world when the barbarian invaders were making inroads across the Roman Empire.
Writing to his flock, numbers of whom were newly converted barbarians or former followers of the heretic Arius (230-356), the venerable Archbishop gave them this good advice: "When you are at Mass, my dearest brethren, I beg you out of a Father's love, not to leave the Church before the Mass is concluded ... for if you reflect a little you will realise that the reading of the Scripture lessons is not the celebration of Mass.
"That is the Mass, when the offerings have been and when the Body and Blood of the Lord have been consecrated. You could read the Scriptures at home, or listen to others read them there. Whoever wishes to attend Mass fully for the profit of his soul, must with contrite heart and humble posture, remain in the Church until the Pater Noster has been said and the final blessing given."
The Archbishop of Aries here was stressing what was well known from earliest Christian times that the introductory part of the liturgy, made up of prayers, Scripture readings and the sermon Mass of the Catechumens, while important, could never be regarded as the whole Mass. The unbaptised catechumens were obliged to leave after the various Scripture passages had been proclaimed and explained.
The baptised faithful, he says, should wait for the central point of the liturgy, which is the Canon of the Mass or what is called the "Mass of the Sacrifice", including the Consecration, Communion and final blessing. Thus Word and Sacrifice are integral parts of the Mass.
St Caesarius could well have been addressing his remarks to some of us. These days, in the aftermath of the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, some misguided people, with little knowledge of Catholic tradition and practice, like some in Arles 1500 years ago, are attracted by the false notion that the most important element of the Mass consists of the Scripture readings.
This was the view of the 16th century Protestants, whose new churches did away with the altar and the tabernacle in the apse, replacing them with a huge pulpit from which the Scriptures were read and explained at great length by Bible preachers who had replaced the sacrificial priests of the Catholic Church.
Admitting with pleasure that in recent years many Protestant clergy, with due dispensation, have become Catholic priests with pride, one must always realise that a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, mocked the sacrificial aspect of the Mass and ridiculed the adoration paid to the Real Presence of Our Lord in the consecrated bread and wine, calling it "that thing that the priest held in his hands".
The consistent view of the Catholic Church has been that the revealed Scriptures form an integral part of the liturgical action, with Our Lord's presence in his revealed Word complementing his Real Presence in the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass.
Lessons from the Holy Scriptures have always formed part of the Mass. We know from the Apologia of St Justin Martyr (100-165) that they were drawn from the Old and especially the New Testament, followed by what our ancestors used to call Bidding Prayers, or what we call today Prayers of the Faithful.
3.1 Liturgy of the Word
We can outline it as follows (cf CCC 1348-1349):
A pause is observed after the reading to allow the faithful to reflect on what they have just read. It provides an opportunity to speak with the Lord about the message He wants to communicate with us at that moment.
3.2 Liturgy of the Eucharist
It goes as follows (cf CCC 1350-55):