This was sent to the Office of Family Life. There is such maturity and beauty in Javier’s words. As you read, remember the Mass is a participation in the Last Supper, the One, never-ending sacrifice….
The Last Supper, the Sacrifice of the Cross, and the Sacrifice of the Mass are all connected and inseparable. Each share the essential elements of a sacrifice, but their timelines meet outside of space and time. They come together as the perfect sacrifice, wholly pleasing to God.
The nature of a sacrifice requires several elements. The first element of a sacrifice is a visible gift. The gift must be offered as a victim for God alone. Only a proper, authorized person is permitted to make this oblation. The purpose of the sacrifice is to give homage, adoration, and thanksgiving to God and to atone for man’s sins. Lastly, the offering must be pleasing and acceptable to God.
Each of these elements of a sacrifice are present on the Cross. The visible gift is Jesus. He offered himself to God as a complete victim. He is slain and immolated for the sins of man. By His death, He merited salvation for humanity. Jesus, as the High Priest, was authorized to perform this sacrifice. Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross was acceptable to the Eternal Father.
In the Mass, Jesus is the perpetual victim as the visible gift in the bread and wine. Through transubstantiation, the bread and wine changes into Jesus’s Body and Blood. Antagonists may argue that the sacrifice is not valid since Jesus has been offered as a victim once before. However, when Christ is present on the altar at the consecration of the Mass, He is truly present anew as the victim of our salvation. Man’s sins have offended God greatly. Jesus’s suffering and death alone can satisfy God’s justice. Through the Sacrifice of the Mass, God is adored reverently and perfectly. This special oblation can only be offered by the authority of a Catholic priest. The Sacrifice of the Mass is identical to the Sacrifice on the Cross, only in an unbloody manner.
At the last supper, Christ commanded the Apostles, “Do this for commemoration of Me.” (56) Priests today, continue to offer Christ’s death in response to this command. At the Last Supper, Christ instituted Holy Orders. At that table, He gave His Apostles and their successors the power and authority to offer His forthcoming Sacrifice on the Cross anew in all future Masses.
The Last Supper, the Sacrifice of the Cross, and the Sacrifice of the Mass are the same sacrifice. They are all connected and cannot be separated. At the Last Supper, Jesus points to His future Sacrifice on the Cross. The Sacrifice of the Cross is commemorated at the Mass. The Sacrifice of the Mass remembers and commemorates the Sacrifice of the Cross. The sacrifices of the old, meet in the present moment and await the future.
Bibliography: Laux, John. MASS AND THE SACRAMENTS. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1934. Print
Here is what the Church and Scripture have to say…
CCC #1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” “And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner…this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.”
1 John 2: 2 He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
1 Peter 2:5…and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a hold priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:10 By this “will”, we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.