The Sacrifice of the Mass
The Eucharist is a true sacrifice, not just a commemorative
meal, as "Bible Christians" insist. The first Christians knew that it was
a sacrifice and proclaimed this in their writings. They recognized the
sacrificial character of Jesus’ instruction, "Do this in remembrance of
me" (Touto poieite tan eman anamnasin; Luke 22:19, 1 Cor. 11:24–25)
which is better translated "Offer this as my memorial offering."
Thus, Protestant early Church historian J. N. D.
Kelly writes that in the early Church "the Eucharist was regarded as the
distinctively Christian sacrifice. . . . Malachi’s prediction (1:10–11)
that the Lord would reject Jewish sacrifices and instead would have "a
pure offering" made to him by the Gentiles in every place was seized upon
by Christians as a prophecy of the Eucharist. The Didache indeed
actually applies the term thusia, or sacrifice, to the Eucharist.
. . .
"It was natural for early Christians to think of
the Eucharist as a sacrifice. The fulfillment of prophecy demanded a solemn
Christian offering, and the rite itself was wrapped in the sacrificial
atmosphere with which our Lord invested the Last Supper. The words of institution,
‘Do this’ (touto poieite), must have been charged with sacrificial
overtones for second-century ears; Justin at any rate understood them to
mean, ‘Offer this.’ . . . The bread and wine, moreover, are offered ‘for
a memorial (eis anamnasin) of the passion,’ a phrase which in view
of his identification of them with the Lord’s body and blood implies much
more than an act of purely spiritual recollection" (J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian
Doctrines [Full Reference], 196–7).
The Didache
"Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and
offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that
your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his
fellow is not to take part with you until he has been reconciled, so as
to avoid any profanation of your sacrifice [Matt. 5:23–24]. For this is
the offering of which the Lord has said, ‘Everywhere and always bring me
a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and
my name is the wonder of nations’ [Mal. 1:11, 14]" (Didache 14 [A.D.
70]).
Pope Clement I
"Our sin will not be small if we eject from the
episcopate those who blamelessly and holily have offered its sacrifices.
Blessed are those presbyters who have already finished their course, and
who have obtained a fruitful and perfect release" (Letter to the Corinthians
44:4–5 [A.D. 80]).
Ignatius of Antioch
"Make certain, therefore, that you all observe
one common Eucharist; for there is but one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and but one cup of union with his Blood, and one single altar of sacrifice—even
as there is also but one bishop, with his clergy and my own fellow servitors,
the deacons. This will ensure that all your doings are in full accord with
the will of God" (Letter to the Philadelphians 4 [A.D. 110]).
Justin Martyr
"God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the
twelve [minor prophets], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that
time presented by you: ‘I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I
will not accept your sacrifices at your hands; for from the rising of the
sun to the going down of the same, my name has been glorified among the
Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure
offering, for my name is great among the Gentiles . . . [Mal. 1:10–11].
He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us [Christians] who in every place
offer sacrifices to him, that is, the bread of the Eucharist and also the
cup of the Eucharist" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 41 [A.D. 155]).
Irenaeus
"He took from among creation that which is bread,
and gave thanks, saying, ‘This is my body.’ The cup likewise, which is
from among the creation to which we belong, he confessed to be his blood.
He taught the new sacrifice of the new covenant, of which Malachi, one
of the twelve [minor] prophets, had signified beforehand: ‘You do not do
my will, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice at your
hands. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is glorified
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and
a pure sacrifice; for great is my name among the Gentiles, says the Lord
Almighty’ [Mal. 1:10–11]. By these words he makes it plain that the former
people will cease to make offerings to God; but that in every place sacrifice
will be offered to him, and indeed, a pure one, for his name is glorified
among the Gentiles" (Against Heresies 4:17:5 [A.D. 189]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is himself
the high priest of God the Father; and if he offered himself as a sacrifice
to the Father; and if he commanded that this be done in commemoration of
himself, then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did,
truly functions in place of Christ" (Letters 63:14 [A.D. 253]).
Serapion
"Accept therewith our hallowing too, as we say,
‘Holy, holy, holy Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth is full of your glory.’
Heaven is full, and full is the earth, with your magnificent glory, Lord
of virtues. Full also is this sacrifice, with your strength and your communion;
for to you we offer this living sacrifice, this unbloody oblation" (Prayer
of the Eucharistic Sacrifice 13:12–16 [A.D. 350]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"Then, having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual
hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth his Holy Spirit upon the
gifts lying before him, that he may make the bread the Body of Christ and
the wine the Blood of Christ, for whatsoever the Holy Spirit has touched
is surely sanctified and changed. Then, upon the completion of the spiritual
sacrifice, the bloodless worship, over that propitiatory victim we call
upon God for the common peace of the churches, for the welfare of the world,
for kings, for soldiers and allies, for the sick, for the afflicted; and
in summary, we all pray and offer this sacrifice for all who are in need"
(Catechetical Lectures 23:7–8 [A.D. 350]).
Gregory Nazianzen
"Cease not to pray and plead for me when you draw
down the Word by your word, when in an unbloody cutting you cut the Body
and Blood of the Lord, using your voice for a sword" (Letter to Amphilochius
171 [A.D. 383]).
Ambrose of Milan
"We saw the prince of priests coming to us, we
saw and heard him offering his blood for us. We follow, inasmuch as we
are able, being priests, and we offer the sacrifice on behalf of the people.
Even if we are of but little merit, still, in the sacrifice, we are honorable.
Even if Christ is not now seen as the one who offers the sacrifice, nevertheless
it is he himself that is offered in sacrifice here on Earth when the body
of Christ is offered. Indeed, to offer himself he is made visible in us,
he whose word makes holy the sacrifice that is offered" (Commentaries
on Twelve Psalms of David 38:25 [A.D. 389]).
John Chrysostom
"When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon
the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the
people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still
among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?" (The Priesthood
3:4:177 [A.D. 387]).
"Reverence, therefore, reverence this table, of
which we are all communicants! Christ, slain for us, the sacrificial victim
who is placed thereon!" (Homilies on Romans 8:8 [A.D. 391]).
"‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not
communion of the blood of Christ?’ Very trustworthy and awesomely does
he [Paul] say it. For what he is saying is this: What is in the cup is
that which flowed from his side, and we partake of it. He called it a cup
of blessing because when we hold it in our hands that is how we praise
him in song, wondering and astonished at his indescribable gift, blessing
him because of his having poured out this very gift so that we might not
remain in error; and not only for his having poured it out, but also for
his sharing it with all of us. ‘If therefore you desire blood,’ he [the
Lord] says, ‘do not redden the platform of idols with the slaughter of
dumb beasts, but my altar of sacrifice with my blood.’ What is more awesome
than this? What, pray tell, more tenderly loving?" (Homilies on First
Corinthians 24:1(3) [A.D. 392]).
"In ancient times, because men were very imperfect,
God did not scorn to receive the blood which they were offering . . . to
draw them away from those idols; and this very thing again was because
of his indescribable, tender affection. But now he has transferred the
priestly action to what is most awesome and magnificent. He has changed
the sacrifice itself, and instead of the butchering of dumb beasts, he
commands the offering up of himself" (ibid., 24:2).
"What then? Do we not offer daily? Yes, we offer,
but making remembrance of his death; and this remembrance is one and not
many. How is it one and not many? Because this sacrifice is offered once,
like that in the Holy of Holies. This sacrifice is a type of that, and
this remembrance a type of that. We offer always the same, not one sheep
now and another tomorrow, but the same thing always. Thus there is one
sacrifice. By this reasoning, since the sacrifice is offered everywhere,
are there, then, a multiplicity of Christs? By no means! Christ is one
everywhere. He is complete here, complete there, one body. And just as
he is one body and not many though offered everywhere, so too is there
one sacrifice" (Homilies on Hebrews 17:3(6) [A.D. 403]).
Augustine
"In the sacrament he is immolated for the people
not only on every Easter Solemnity but on every day; and a man would not
be lying if, when asked, he were to reply that Christ is being immolated.
For if sacraments had not a likeness to those things of which they are
sacraments, they would not be sacraments at all; and they generally take
the names of those same things by reason of this likeness" (Letters
98:9 [A.D. 412]).
"For when he says in another book, which is called
Ecclesiastes, ‘There is no good for a man except that he should eat and
drink’ [Eccles. 2:24], what can he be more credibly understood to say [prophetically]
than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator
of the New Testament himself, the priest after the order of Melchizedek,
furnishes with his own body and blood? For that sacrifice has succeeded
all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were slain as a shadow of
what was to come. . . . Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations,
his body is offered and is served up to the partakers of it" (The City
of God 17:20 [A.D. 419]).
Sechnall of Ireland
"[St. Patrick] proclaims boldly to the [Irish]
tribes the name of the Lord, to whom he gives the eternal grace of the
laver of salvation; for their offenses he prays daily unto God; for them
also he offers up to God worthy sacrifices" (Hymn in Praise of St. Patrick
13 [A.D. 444]).
Fulgentius of Ruspe
"Hold most firmly and never doubt in the least
that the only-begotten God the Word himself became flesh [and] offered
himself in an odor of sweetness as a sacrifice and victim to God on our
behalf; to whom . . . in the time of the Old Testament animals were sacrificed
by the patriarchs and prophets and priests; and to whom now, I mean in
the time of the New Testament . . . the holy Catholic Church does not cease
in faith and love to offer throughout all the lands of the world a sacrifice
of bread and wine. In those former sacrifices what would be given us in
the future was signified figuratively, but in this sacrifice which has
now been given us is shown plainly. In those former sacrifices it was fore-announced
that the Son of God would be killed for the impious, but in the present
sacrifice it is announced that he has been killed for the impious" (The
Rule of Faith 62 [A.D. 524]).
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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