Is the Mass a Sacrifice?

let's go back to the question about the mass this passage was another um point of controversy in the 16th century um with the protestant reformers especially with martin luther a lot of times catholics today when they talk about the protestant reformation they talk about the debates of the reformation will frequently focus on the debate over the real presence over transubstantiation for example right so there were different theories of the real presence at the time of the reformation you know um was it jesus's uh was he just spiritually present in the bread and wine like for example calvin might have argued or was there consubstantiation like luther argued where the bread and wine exist alongside uh the body and blood of christ that's wrong that and then what or is it transubstantiation like the council of trent taught which teaches that there's no more bread and wine there's no more substance of the bread and wine after the consecration all that remains is the appearance but that all that is present on the altar is jesus christ body blood soul and divinity so a lot of times our debates and today kind of rage around that or focus on that but in the time of the reformation if you read the reformers themselves you'll notice that one of the things they were actually most opposed to was not the idea of jesus's presence in the eucharist that isn't that is a major issue but it was the issue of whether or not the mass should be described as a sacrifice is the mass a sacrifice if you read martin luther on this he uses some of his most violent rhetoric to oppose and critique the idea of the mass as a sacrifice so listen to this quote this is from martin luther he wrote a tractate called the abomination of the secret mass he's always very bombastic in his titles and his language and listen to how he describes the catholic belief that the mass is a sacrifice he says this quote the priest offers up once again jesus christ who offered himself only once and he quotes here hebrews 9 25-26 that's our passage for today just as he died only once and cannot die again or be offered up again yet they meaning the catholic priests they go ahead and every day offer him up more than a hundred thousand times throughout the world they thereby deny both with their deeds and in their hearts that christ has washed sin away and has died and risen again this is such an abomination meaning the idea that the mass is a sacrifice this is such an abomination that i don't believe it could be sufficiently punished on earth if it rained pure fire from heaven the blasphemy is so great that it must simply wait for eternal hellfire that's from martin luther on the abomination of the secret mass so what luther is saying here is that the idea that the mass is a sacrifice is so blasphemous that even if it rained down fire from heaven upon all the catholic priests on every altar in the world it wouldn't be a sufficient punishment for the blasphemy it's just going to have to wait for them all to be eternally damned now tell me how you really feel marty i mean this is this is this is really strong rhetoric why is why is he so opposed to the idea that mass is a sacrifice well it's in the way he interprets the reading for today hebrews 9 25 to 26. see luther thinks that when we refer to mass as a sacrifice we're saying that the sacrifice of jesus on calvary wasn't enough that it wasn't sufficient that it wasn't enough to deal with human sin so we have to kill jesus we have to sacrifice him over and over and over again every time the mass is offered in order to take away sins so for him it's it's a denial of the efficacy of calvary to say that the mass is a sacrifice in the wake of luther's rejection of the mass as a sacrifice the council trent responded with its decree on the mass and on the eucharist in particular the doctrine it has a section called the doctrine cannons on the sacrifices mass and listen to how trent responded to luther's claim and said this the 16th century council trent quote and the divine sacrifice celebrated in the mass the same christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner and here it refers the reader to hebrews 9 27-28 on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner in quote and then again the catechism of the catholic church builds on trent in 1992 and develops it a little bit further and says this quote the sacrifice of christ and the sacrifice of the eucharist are one single sacrifice the victim is one and saying 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 offered in an unbloody manner this sacrifice is truly propitiatory that's catechism of the catholic church paragraph 1367 citing the council of trent the error of luther's argument that to call the mass of sacrifices blasphemy is that he assumes that the mass and calvary are two different sacrifices right that there was this one sacrifice on calvary and that the mass is another sacrifice that somehow has to add to the sacrifice of calvary but what trent and the catechism of the catholic church respond to that error by saying is no you misunderstand it there's only one sacrifice and that's the sacrifice of jesus christ but that one sacrifice of christ on calvary is made present in a different mode in the unbloody sacrifice of the mass right so calvary is a bloody sacrifice and the mass is an unbloody sacrifice but the sacrifice of the eucharist and the sacrifices of the cross are one single sacrifice now you might think maybe you're thinking well okay that sounds good but why why are they one single sacrifice how can you know by reading hebrews 9 in context because the context of hebrews 9 26 that jesus appeared once and for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and the context of hebrews chapter 7 where it says that he offers himself once and for all in hebrews 7 27 the context is his identity as a melchizedekian high priest who goes into the heavenly sanctuary to offer himself in the temple not made with hands in eternity once and for all time in other words the reason luther couldn't see how the mass could be a sacrifice is because he focused on calvary and forgot about the ascension he this is so important if you try to understand the paschal mystery right and you think it just has to deal with jesus's death and you forget about his resurrection and ascension you're going to miss the boat because what the ascension does the mystery the ascension does is it reveals how jesus takes the earthly sacrifice of calvary into eternity and once you understand that he takes that earthly sacrifice into eternity you can understand how now from heaven he can be made present his body blood his soul and his divinity on every altar throughout the world every day until the end of the ages until the end of time and unfortunately to this day people forget about the ascension you know we focus a lot on the death of good friday we focus a lot on even on the resurrection on easter sunday but we can forget that one of the central mysteries of the christian faith is the mystery of the ascension because as hebrews 9 reveals to us in that mystery of the ascension jesus fulfills the jewish feast of yom kippur and jesus inaugurates the new day of atonement that takes place not not in time but in eternity by offering himself to the father on behalf of humanity once and for all time and it's that heavenly eternal self offering that is going to be made present every time the sacrifice of the mass is offered on every altar throughout the world until the end of the ages [Music] you

Channel: Catholic Productions

Views: 38,115

Keywords: brant pitre, catholic productions, mass, sacrifice

Id: 6KXtkl91sVw

Length: 9min 5sec (545 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022