The Mass

[TheCosmicGospel]

Is the Mass the re-sacrifice of Christ or not?

I understand this to be the Lutheran position of what Catholics do. Why do we claim this? And if this is the case, then why do Catholics hold to it as nothing more than we Lutherans do, a re-attachment to the one perfect sacrifice?

Just what does the Catholic catechism teach on this that is so objectionable to Lutherans?

Cheers,
Cosmic

 

[DaRev]

Is the Mass the re-sacrifice of Christ or not?

I understand this to be the Lutheran position of what Catholics do. Why do we claim this? And if this is the case, then why do Catholics hold to it as nothing more than we Lutherans do, a re-attachment to the one perfect sacrifice?

Just what does the Catholic catechism teach on this that is so objectionable to Lutherans?

Cheers,
Cosmic

In Roman Catholic teaching, the "Mass" is the "un-bloody sacrifice" of Christ made at every occasion of the Mass. This is the teaching:

Although the Sacrifice of the Mass and Jesus' Sacrifice on Calvary are the SAME, there are important DIFFERENCES in these two actions of Christ. On the Cross, Our Lord offered Himself in a BLOODY MANNER; whereas, in the Holy Mass, He offers Himself in an UNBLOODY MANNER. This in no way implies that Jesus' Blood is no longer present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It simply means that Jesus chooses to act in a different way at Mass than He did on the Cross.

1366 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 the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.

This teaching is contrary to Scripture where Hebrews 7:27 states, "He (Jesus) sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself."
Also Hebrews 9:28, "Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people."
Also Romans 6:10, "For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all."
And Hebrews 10:10, "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Jesus does not offer Himself for resacrifice over and over as the RCC teaches. His was a perfect sacrifice once for all.

Also, the RCC holds to the work of the Mass, that being the participation in the liturgy of the Mass as being a cooperation in the sacrifice of Christ for the benefit of the participant, ex opera operato. In other words, those who participate in the liturgy of the Mass are "working out their salvation". Again, this is contrary to Scripture that tells us that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone and not by works.

Lutherans do not object to the term Mass. The Augustana XXIV states "Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence." What has been corrected is the teaching that the Mass is sacrificial (from us to God). It is in fact sacramental (from God to us), it is Christ's body and blood, sacrificed once for all on Calvary, now offered by Him to us.


...and I don't know what you mean by "a re-attachment to the one perfect sacrifice".

 

[TheCosmicGospel]

I guess I was in this fog because of something I read. I wish I knew how to cut and paste here. Where is that paste button? LOL

It is from William Putnam in the Jack chick thread in GT.

"Now if there is one thing the CC teaches, it is the sufficiency of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross that endures once and for all. The Mass is a reenactment of that very same sacrifice, not an act that puts Him on the cross and sacrifices Him again and again." - WP

I find it interesting to see the attachment to the cross in both Romanist and Reformed theology but not among Lutherans. I think this is the point you made too in seeing one as sacrificial and the other sacramental.

Mueller makes his points too in regard to the "sacrifice of the Mass" by which Christ's body "is continually offered up in an unbloody manner for the sins of the living and the dead." You can see how the camps talk past eachother.

Do Catholics still receive only the bread? Or do they now get the wine too?

Hope your season of Lent goes well.
Cosmic

 

[DaRev]

Do Catholics still receive only the bread? Or do they now get the wine too?

In some churches, the cup is made available to those who wish to receive it.

 

[KimLCMS]

As I understand it now, RC churches offer both the bread and the wine. They say it is not necessary to partake of both because the blood is contained in the body and the body in the blood.

 

[rd151]

What is interesting, is our Lord offered both the cup and the bread to his disciples.Not just the bread.The Catholic church changed the presentation of the hosts as receiving one species as being enough, later in their church history.Which Jesus never taught one species was ok, nor the early church for that matter.

 

[BigNorsk]

No one really knows when Communion in one kind became the thing to do in the Catholic church. I suspect it was one of those pietistic things the early church was so infected with. And yes, Catholics still go against the words of Christ and only receive the bread.

Anyway, there can be some talking past each other, but I think what has really happened is that we see the Catholics changing their explanations and terms over the years trying to make them more pallatable.

Of course they weren't the only ones to change their words. As was already pointed out the reformers with their necks in the noose pleaded in the Augsberg Confession that they retain the Mass, and later, in the Smalcald Articles do not hold back that they abolish it even going to the extent of showing how the Mass was the foundation of all kinds of errors in the church, and even calling the Mass the tail of the dragon. Certainly not a term of endearment. See: http://www.bookofconcord.org/smalcald.html#mass

Catholics while moderating their words have not gone from their basic teaching that the Mass is a work of man that gives grace. Effectively teaching salvation through works for the living, and release from the abomination of purgatory for the dead.

The whole thing is intimately tied in with indulgences, relics, pilgrimages, and the worship of the saints.

The article on justification and the Mass of the Catholics are incompatible. You can have one or the other, but not both.

Marv

 

[ricg]

I agree. While it cannot, in my opinion, be denied that there's a connection between the sacrament and cross, the RCs cross the line by trying to inject man into God's sacrifice for sins. I see communion as analogous to the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifice on the people of the new Israel. The sprinkling continues through the Church, but the sacrifice for sins was Jesus' alone, and occurred once in history the moment Jesus said "it is finished" and gave up the ghost. Our royal priesthood offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving, not for sins.

I also have noticed that the RCs seem to have backed away from the old rhetoric. It used to be common to hear the term "unbloody repetition." Now it is said to be a perpetuation of one sacrifice, presumably to get around the Scripture the Rev quotes. I also listened to an old video of Bishop Fulton Sheen explaining the "sacrifice of the mass" in which he claimed that we participate in the sacrifice of Christ by participating in the mass. There's a website where you can download his old show. I didn't save it to favorites, but you can probably google for it. The whole idea that we participate in our salvation (and that of others) by means of sharing in Jesus' sacrifice is the epitomy of what is wrong that denomination.