In various other writings here, I have talked about sacrifice and the Catholic form of public worship called the mass. As we see at bbc.co.uk, we find why public prayer is important in Judaism ( the religion of which Jesus Christ, Catholics believe is the long awaited messiahs, to redeem Adam and Eve’s Original Sin and bring to fruition God’s promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation – the catholic nation): “praying in public affirms that a person is a member of a community, and when they do so, an individual puts themselves into the context of other jews, and to some extent puts their own particular situation aside to put the community first.” This is the Jewish perspective on public prayer and Christ said in Matthew 5:17 He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it.
When Christ changed something in the old law it was to make it “better” from God’s perspective. For Marriage the God of the Old Testament (the person of the Father in the one God of the blessed Trinity) said in Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” In more complicated language in Malachi 2:25 relates that God, in essence hates divorce. Despite these bible verses Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (between the above 2 verses chronologically) basically says a man can divorce his wife for any reason. But how does this line up with the fact that in Genesis God says they are one flesh? One flesh ripped apart, I think would kill both parties at least spiritually. So when Christ said in Matthew 19:4-9 in answer to the Pharisees question: “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”:
”. . .Have ye not read, that he who made man from the beginning, Made them male and female? And he said:
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh.
Therefore now they are not two but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined let no man put asunder.
They say to him: Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce and to put away?
He saith to them: Because Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so.
And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another commiteth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, commiteth adultery.”
He clearly points out, basically repeating my first illustrative quote above that Moses allowed divorce because the Jewish people were so hard of heart. Moses was evidently given some license and He permitted divorce. From the beginning, from Genesis, it was not so. God always wanted married couples to stay together for life and indeed if either remarried while the other was alive it would be adultery.
Christ only changed a few other things, like the definition of adultery, which according to his new definition included such things a pornography, in acts or letters of the apostles the custom of circumcision was not required of new converts, instead of scapegoating and the like for forgivness of sins Christ established the sacrament of confession, and to replace animal sacrifice He sacrificed himself with the efficacy to be renewed in the sacrament of the Eucharist in every Catholic mass.
My point above is that much specification as to what a priest should wear, how the garments are made, what the ornaments for the alter are and what the ceremonies should be, in the books of Leviticus and Numbers in the Old Testament, to me clearly indicates that God, from the first 5 books of the Bible, wants for man to honor him ceremonially. The Catholic church did not pull the fact that God preferred ceremony and ritual out of the air and God was emphatic with regard to exactly what he wanted from the Jewish people in that regard, especially with regard to sacrifice.
Saint Paul was a very educated Jewish rabbi from what I understand and he probably had a lot of input into the ritual of how God would be worshiped, which in-turn was incorporated in how the early Catholic church celebrated the first masses – the way Jesus Christ, the Father and the Holy Ghost wished to be worshipped under the new law interpreted through the church God established, the Catholic Church. It strongly evolved incorporating the things Christ wanted, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, until about the year 400. After the year 400 until about 1500 many different forms of the Holy Sacrifice of the mass matured at which time Pius V codified (in the papal bull Quo Primum), permanently, by which any priest could celebrate without any other permission, how the mass was to be performed under the title “Roman rite” with any rite older that 200 years old also being acceptable as a bulwark against the protestant heresy. In Hebrews 13:8 (the New Testament book which was arguably written mostly for priest/bishops in the Catholic church – the fulfillment of the Jewish religion by its messiahs to bring it to the gentiles as was advertised to happen in a few Old Testament books) it relates that “Jesus Christ yesterday, and to day; and the same for ever.” to me indicating if God wanted sacrifice, ritual and ceremony in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ is the second person of the Triune Godhead, He still wants it, in the New Age heralded by the New Testament, and once perfected not changed (think the prayer Our Father, you cannot improve on perfection, you may reinforce perfection with regard to the mass in the case of heresies, but it was codified, as mentioned earlier, as a bulwark against evil prelates -like those in the protestant reformation, which, like the Augustinian monk Martin Luther in Germany and the bishop Cranmer in England might try to corrupt the law belief (theology) of the Church by changing the mass, the law of worship – Lex orandi, lex credenda which translates to the law of prayer is the law of belief) .
The book “The Font of Truth” by Rev. Nelson W. Logal with a 1956 copyright from the Daughters of St. Paul of Derby N.Y. and an Imprimatur, I assume, of the same year, gives, in my opinion, a very good layman’s description of the core doctrine, regarding Necessity of Religion as well the relation of sacrifice and Calvary to the Holy Sacrifice of the mass, and the marks of the true Church of Christ. I will quote a description of the necessity of Religion and subsequently the mass and its relation to sacrifice in the following and put forth the description of the 4 marks of the marks of the true church of Christ in our next installment. The quote starts out:
Introduction
” You should have a clear idea of the nature of religion. What is religion? The word is loosely used today. Ideas on the nature of religion are extremely hazy.
The enemy of religion describes it as “the opiate of the people”. It is often pictured as being either a refuge from thinking or a substitute for though. Sometimes it is described as an emotional escape from the difficulties of life. Again, it is called a social cosmetic used to decorate the surface levels of life. Some people identify it with blind credulity or outright superstition.
Religion is no one of these things. It is, rather, the effort which men make to direct their lives to God. The word religion is taken from a Latin word – religare – which means “to bind together”. Quite obviously, religion concerns man and God. In religion, men endeavor to link their lives with God in terms of belief, love, better conduct, and worship. Belief enables them to unite their minds to God by accepting the truth which He reveals. Love focuses their hearts on God and prompts them to observe his laws. Belief and love of God express themselves in terms of worship. These essential relationships to God are called the three c’s of Religion: creed, code and cult. They constitute the essence of religion. Through them, men bind themselves to God.
One of two general approaches can be made to God. We can either make up our own religion, or we can follow a pattern of religion which has been revealed by God. The first approach to God is by way of natural religion; the second approach is by way of a supernatural or revealed religion.
A merely natural religion would suffice if God had not assisted men by divine revelation: but such is not the case. God has revealed the essential religious truths, laws, and ways of worship to mankind. Men may not despise these revelations in favor of their own preference. We must conform ourselves to God, rather than to expect God to conform himself to us. Since God has shown us “the way, the truth, and the life” which constitute religion, we must follow that way, accept those truths, and live the life that He expects us to live. A natural religion is not sufficient for man. Only a supernatural religion will do.
Christianity is a revealed religion. Christ was God. He spent His life teaching us how to worship God “in spirit and in truth”. He opened up the wide unknown horizons of religious truth. He clearly stated the basic laws of good living. He showed us how to worship God. The religion which He gave was the religion of God. It came from above – from God, not from below – from man. It is, therefore, a supernatural and a revealed religion centered in the person of Christ who is God. He is “the way, the truth, and the life”. And if we wish to unite our lives with God, we must do so by accepting the religion of Jesus Christ.
The Necessity of Religion
Religion, therefore, is not something to be accepted or rejected at random. It is vitally necessary if we wish to please God. This statement runs directly counter to the viewpoint of modern secularists who either ignore religion or reduce it to the matter of eccentric personal choice.
God’s existence argues to the necessity of religion. It is ridiculous for a man to profess his belief in God and to discount the necessity of religion. In effect he says, – “yes, God exists; but the matter ends there!”
But if God exists the matter does not end there! As creatures of God we are bound in justice to make a return to God for the benefits which we have received from Him. We make that return through religion.
God Himself insists on the necessity of religion. This insistence is one of the constant themes of Divine Revelation. Both the old and New Testaments are filled with God’s insistence on religion. The first three of the Ten Commandments stress this obligation. We are commanded to adore God in the First Commandment, to reverence His holy name to the second Commandment, and to render Him due worship in the Third Commandment. Those who deny the necessity of religion must be prepared to scrap the Ten Commandments and to reject the whole of Divine Revelation.
Such a sentiment is blasphemous. Those who ignore Divine Revelation in favor of some private whimsey of their own are guilty of despising God. They treat Him as an inferior. They set about instructing God instead of being instructed by Him. Their own personal opinions are exalted above the revealed truths of God.
The voice of human history points to the necessity of religion. There has never been a society without a religion of some kind. However dimly, men always and everywhere have recognized the need of religion. Such a universal fact can only be explained by the corresponding fact that religion is so necessary that men have never failed to recognize it.
Without religion the meaning of human life is wrapped up in obscurity. The fundamental question s about life and death which confront every thinking man or woman are unanswerable apart from religion. Christ alone gave a clear explanation of the why of human existence. Those who reject His explanation are forced to take refuge in the philosophical fog of a sneering cynicism, a bitter pessimism, or a pathetic hedonism.
Religion refines the nature of man. Our minds are enlarged by faith, our hearts are opened with love and hope, and our actions take on a greater significance as acts of worship. The irreligionist, on the other hand, experiences no one of these things. His mind is constricted by the world which he knows with his senses. His heart is closed to all else but self. His actions are emptied of lasting worth. He is a prisoner of the earth, living in a world confined by space. There is nothing to look forward to; nothing to look upward to; the grave is the only answer to human aspirations. Men without religion are men without a supernatural country, lacking religion, they lack everything that gives permanent meaning and value to existence.
. . .[All the ancient and natural religions realized the need for sacrifice and the Mass is a Sacrifice]
The Mass is a sacrifice. The word sacrifice is derived from two Latin words – sacrum and facere – which mean. “to do something sacred”. The word sacrifice conveys the idea of a sacred action.
The word sacrifice is used very frequently in daily life. When a person does something useful for another, especially when the action involves giving up something, he is said to make a sacrifice. We speak of parents sacrificing themselves for their children. A soldier killed in battle is said to have sacrificed his life for his country. Such common expressions bring out the basic idea of sacrifice – that of giving up something for the sake of another.
In religious usage, the word sacrifice is given a precise and definite meaning. It describes the act of offering a visible gift to God, which in turn represents the offering of oneself. The gifts selected for sacrifice usually have had a special relationship to the daily lives of the people who offered them. Thus expressing the idea of self-donation to God.
Men have inevitably recognized the suitability and necessity of sacrifice. Every religion from the most primitive to the most advanced has had some kind of sacrifice. These sacrifices usually have been offered by ministers specially dedicated to religious service because the offering of a sacrifice is filled with social as well as personal significance. The Old Testament contains many accounts of the sacrificial offerings of such men as Abraham, Melchisedech, Noah, and Moses. In the New Testament, the many sacrifices of the Old Law were replaced by the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
It is also interesting to note that most sacrificial offerings were destroyed in the act of sacrifice. The act of destruction signified that the gifts were given to God alone; they were not to revert to more common usages. The destruction of the sacrificial gift is called the immolation of sacrifice, just as the offering of the gift is called the oblation.
Bearing these facts in mind, we are ready to inspect the definition of a sacrifice. We may say that a sacrifice is the external offering of a sensible thing made to God alone by a legitimate minister, who either destroys or changes the gift according to a sacred rite in order to acknowledge in a special manner God’s supreme domination over man. The sacrificial gift expresses the fact that all things belong to God. The gift is usually selected from among the possessions of the people who offer the sacrifice to show that it represent and act of self donation to God on the part of the worshipper. The gift is presented to God as a symbol of the presentation of one’s self.
Such is the idea of sacrifice. The Old Testament, as we have seen, placed a special importance on the offering of sacrifice. But what about the New Testament? Did Christ offer sacrifice? Did He include the offering of sacrifice in the religion which he established?
Christ’s Sacrifice
Christ certainly offered a sacrifice. Furthermore, the sacrifice which He offered was that of Himself on the Cross. St. Paul clearly states this in his Epistle to the Hebrews 9:14:” He offered Himself an unspotted sacrifice to God.” In the very next chapter, St. Paul informs us that the sacrifice of Christ replaced the sacrifices of the Old Law (Heb. 10: 10-14): “we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once: and every priest indeed standeth daily ministering and often offering the same sacrifices which can never take away sin: but this man offering one sacrifice for sins forever sitteth on the right hand of God, for by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified”.
St. Paul teaches two truths in these passages:
1) Christ offered the Sacrifice of Himself to God.
2) this perfect sacrifice is the one sacrifice of the New Law.
These facts pose a problem in connection with the Mass. If Christ’s death upon the Cross is the only sacrifice of the New Testament, what are we to say about the Mass, which is also called a Sacrifice?
Evidently, the Mass must be essentially related to Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. It is. The Mass is not divorced from the sacrifice of the Cross. It is not a substitute for it . Above all, it is not a competitor to Christ’s sacrifice. Rather, it is a re-enactment of the sacrifice of the Cross made at the express command of Christ.
This may seem to be a rather far-fetched claim involving quite a leap into space and time. How can we claim that the Mass which was offered so calmly at the altar this morning in so many Churches re-enacts the bloody death of Christ on Calvary, which occurred over two thousand years ago? What possible connection exists between the two acts which are so different in manner, circumstance, and time?
The Last Supper is the connecting link between the Mass and Calvary. The Last Supper was essentially connected with the Sacrifice of the Cross, and the Mass I essentially connected with the Last Supper. Consequently, the Mass and Calvary are essentially related to each other. We shall look at these relations in their proper order.
First, the Last Supper was essentially related to the Sacrifice of the Cross. Christ anticipated Calvary at the Last Supper. His words clearly prove this: “This is My Body which SHALL BE delivered for you” (1 Cor. 11:24). The words “shall be delivered for you” clearly show that Christ was looking forward to the morrow on which His sacrifice would be completed on the Cross. The same use of the future tense appears in the words of Christ as given to St. Luke’s Gospel (22:22) “This is the chalice of the New Testament in My Blood which SHALL BE shed for you”.
The Last Supper and the death of Christ on the Cross are two essential parts of one and the same sacrifice. At the Last Supper, Christ offered Himself as the victim of the sacrifice on the Cross, He, as victim, was immolated, thus completing the one sacrifice. The Last Supper marked the moment of Christ’s oblation; the Cross marked the moment of Christ’s immolation. Clearly, the Last Supper and Calvary are two essentially related parts of the on sacrifice of the Cross.
Therefore, the Last Supper was a true sacrifice by reason of the intention of Christ. In it, He anticipated Calvary. At the Last Supper, he offered Himself in a liturgical and sacramental manner by changing the bread and wine into the substance of His own body and blood. The following day, on the Cross, this oblation, which He had made sacramentally the night before, became the completed sacrifice by his immolation in death.
The relationship between the Last Supper and Calvary is obvious. They are two parts of the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Christ, the priest, at the Last Supper offered himself as the victim for the sins of the world; on the Cross, the victim was actually immolated in death.
Secondly, the Mass is related to the Last Supper. The Last Supper is continued down through time in the Mass. This continuation was commanded by Christ. The facts as given in the Gospel bear this out. Consider them.
Christ called the apostles together on the night before He died in order to celebrate the Paschal Feast with them. After the Paschal ceremonies were concluded, He took bread into His hands, blessed it, broke it, and gave thanks saying: “This is My Body”. And then, He took a chalice of wine, blessed it, gave thanks, and said: “This is the Chalice of My Blood of the New and Eternal Testament, a mystery of faith which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins”. Then, He gave Himself to His Apostles in the form of bread and wine to eat and drink. He commanded them to do this as He has done: “Do this in commemoration of Me!” (Luke 22:19)
Now, where in Christianity do we find the Last Supper perpetuated according to the command of Christ? Quite obviously, only in the mass! Just as Christ consecrated bread and wine at the Last Supper and gave these to the Apostles to eat and drink, so in the Mass are bread and wine offered, blessed , and consecrated, ad given in the form of Holy Communion. The essential actions of the Mass do not differ from the actions of Christ in the Last Supper. the incidental ceremonies, which make the Mass seem more complicated than the Last Supper , have been added in the course of time to give the Sacrifice a setting of beautiful and instructive ceremonial, but they neither add to nor subtract from anything essential to it. The Mass continues the Last Supper down through time in accordance with the command of Christ. It is therefore essentially related to the Last Supper.
This fact brings us to the third relationship – that which exists between the Mass and Calvary. The Mass is as truly related to the Sacrifice of the Cross as was the Last Supper, for the Mass is a reenactment of the Last Supper. Therefore, when we assist at Mass, like the Apostles, we participate in Christ’s one and perfect sacrifice which He offered at the Last Supper and completed on the Cross. The bloody, physical sacrifice of Christ’s death on the Cross is sacramentally repeated in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass.
The Mass and the Sacrifice of the Cross are alike in three essentials. The victim is the same; the priest is the same; and the effects are the same. In both the Mass and on Calvary, the victim is Christ. Christ was physically present on the Cross. In the Mass He is sacramentally present beneath the veil of bread and wine. On the Cross, Christ as priest directly offered Himself as the victim to God, his Father. In the Mass, He makes this offering indirectly, through a priest of His Church. On Calvary, Christ won the graces of the redemption for all men. In the Mass, the graces of the redemption are applied to the souls of those who seek them.
While these three essentials – the victim, priest, and effects – are the same in the Mass and on Calvary, there are incidental differences. The mass differs from the sacrifice of the Cross in a manner in which it is offered. The sacrifice of the Cross was a bloody sacrifice which ended I the death of Christ. In the Mass, the sacrifice is an unbloody one. The death of Christ is represented in a sacramental manner through the separate consecration of the bread and wine which symbolizes the separation of His body and blood on the Cross.
The same identities will also be seen between the Mass and the Last Supper. In both, the priest is the same – Christ. At Mass, a human priest acts for Christ. In the Last Supper, Christ acted for himself. The victim is the same – Christ under the appearances of bread and wine. The effects – the graces of the redemption are the same. Even the manner of offering is the same. Christ is offered sacramentally under the sign of bread and wine.
There is but one conclusion. The Mass is the perfect sacrifice of the New Law. By it, the sacrifice of the Cross is continued down through time. Christ gave us the Mass at the Last Supper. It is continued in accordance with his express command, every time Mass is celebrated.
This explains the importance of the Mass in the Catholic Religion. It is the one true and perfect sacrifice of the New Testament. It is our Sacrifice. In the Mass we offer God the most precious gift of all – His own Divine Son. In making this sacrificial offering, we are able to offer ourselves to God in the person of Christ.
The distance between a parish Church and Calvary is not so great. Every time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in your parish Church, Calvary is brought into your neighborhood by this sacramental re-enactment of the sacrifice of the Cross. In assisting at this holy sacrifice, we are active participants in Christ’s great act of Sacrifice. We are as much a part of that sacrifice as were the Apostles at the Last Supper. The graces of the redemption flow into our souls through the Mass.
The sacrificial aspect of the Mass must always be remembered. The Mass is the one great sacrifice of Christ’s religion. At Mass we should be sacrificial minded, remembering that we are sharing in Christ’s Sacrifice. We should always offer ourselves to God in union with Christ. We are more than passive spectators. We are active participants in this Holy Act of Sacrifice. For this reason, the priest, during the offertory of the Mass, turns to the congregation and says: “Pray, brethren, that your sacrifice and mine might be acceptable to the Lord this day!”
There is no greater prayer and no greater act of worship than the Mass. It is the heart and center of our Religion, It opens up to men all the graces which Christ won for mankind on the Cross.”
This ends this week’s quote from Rev. Nelson W. Logal’s 1956 book entitled “The Font of Truth”, Published by the Daughters of St. Paul, on religion, sacrifice and the mass with another quote and a wrap up on this book review on in a future blog.
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 