Sacrifice, as was possibly mentioned some time in this blog (or at least should have been), is the supreme act of religion. But we need an in-depth description of sacrifice in its proper sense to investigate all its implications and past religions practices bearing on the Catholic holy sacrifice of the mass. To insure it is complete we will take an excerpt from Fr. Gihr book The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: Dogmatically, Liturgically and Ascetically Explained by Rev. Dr. Nicholas Gihr, published by B. Herder Book Co. St. Louis Mo. Copyright 1902 Joseph Gummersbach, minus the Latin exemplification, mostly through footnotes. With regard to Sacrifice in the Proper Sense from this book we have the following quote:
The interior acts and affections of the virtue of religion, that is, of adoration, thanksgiving, petition and satisfaction, manifest themselves in many ways, but find their supreme and most solemn expression in sacrifice. Sacrifice is a special act of divine service, and, as such, differs essentially from all other acts of worship. To form a correct idea of sacrifice, we must inquire what is properly meant by sacrifice, and in what its essence consists. By sacrifice we understand the offering of a visible object, effected through and change, transformation of destruction thereof, in order effectually to acknowledge the absolute Majesty and Sovereignty of God as well as man’s total dependence and submission.
Among the requisites of sacrifice, the gift and its presentation as well as the object and meaning of the exterior act, chiefly deserve consideration.
1. Sacrifice is the offering of a visible object; hence, in the first place, a visible gift is necessary as an offering to God. This gift ought to correspond to the object in view, and should, therefore, be selected with due regard thereto. Consequently, the offering most appropriate to God is that which is the noblest in the visible creation – human life. Wherefore Christ, in order to present the most perfect sacrifice, offered His precious life on the Cross, according to the will of His Father. In every other case the father did not wish that human life should be sacrificed to Him, but rather contented Himself with the interior offering of the heart and its symbolical expression – namely, with the presentation of irrational creature substituted for human life and offered in its stead.
*footnote: This substitution for man and human life is, as seen in the rite of the Old Testament for the offering of sacrifices, expressed and commanded in the clearest manner (compare the ceremony of laying hands on the head of the animal to be slain, – the sacrifice of the two goats on the great Feast of Atonement). Recall also the sacrifice of Abraham. The patriarch was commanded to sacrifice his only son Isaac: but, in accordance with the will of God, he took a “ram and offered it as a holocaust in place of his son” (Gen. 22:13). The Fathers teach the same.
It is at once evident that especially the living and inanimate things which serve directly for the support of man, and thus may represent his life, may be appropriately substituted as offerings for man himself. Before Christ such offerings consisted, for example, of lambs, heifers, doves; bread, wine, oil, salt, incense.
As such gifts were offered to give honor to God, it is self-evident that they had to be as perfect as possible, without blemish or defect. In as far as sacrifice is an external act of worship, its value depends chiefly on the dignity and interior dispositions of the person who offers; the value of the fift presented also contributes to make the sacrifice more acceptable to God. Hence when proper sentiments animate the heart, only precious gifts will be selected as offerings fo an action so exalted and holy. On the other hand – to make choice of indifferent, trifling or imperfect objects as offerings is a sign that the proper spirit of sacrifice and respect for the Divine Majesty ar wanting (cf. Mal. 1:7-8)
2. Not every gift offered to God is a sacrifice. It greatly depends on the way and manner of offering. – Some change or destruction of the gift must take place to constitute a sacrifice. An entire destruction of the gift, or such as is at least morally equivalent, pertains essentially to the idea of sacrifice: hence its outward form. Whatever has not been liturgically transformed, v.g. destroyed, cannot be a real sacrifice (sacrificium), but is only a religious gift (oblatio), essentially different from a sacrifice. Thus we find in all sacrifices mentioned in Holy Writ, that there was ever some mode of destruction or dissolution, appropriate to the nature of the matter of the sacrifice. Thus, the animals were slain and their blood spilled on the altar, incense was consumed by fire, and wine was poured out. The intrinsic and more weighty reason why such a transformation, or destruction, of the gift is requisite for the act of sacrifice, lies in the peculiar meaning and in the special object of sacrifice.
3. Sacrifice, that is, the transformation of the gift offered, is intended to represent symbolically that God possesses absolute authority and dominion over all things – and, consequently, that man is essentially dependent upon God, belongs and is subject to Him and, therefore, that he is bound and is ready to give and dedicate his life entirely to God. God is the Supreme Ruler, infinitely holy, the primal source of all being, and the last end to which all being should return, “that He may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). And now how could this grandeur and sovereignty of God over all that is and tha can be outside of Him, be more appropriately expressed than by the destruction of a visible object, as is done in sacrifice? How could man’s dependence on and obligation to serve God be more suitably made apparent than in sacrifice, wherein a tangible, material object, is destroyed in the place of a human life?
If the exterior rite of sacrifice is in reality to have the above meaning and be a worship acceptable to God, them it must also be and expression of the interior and spiritual sacrifice, and be animated and vivified by the essential sentiments of sacrifice. – “the visible sacrifice,” says St. Augustine, “is a holy sign of the invisible offering.”
Hence the offering up of sacrifice essentially aims to glorify God as the absolute Lord and supreme legislator of all creatures, and this is to adore God. This meaning is inseparably connected with sacrifice; it holds the first place, and is ever and act of worship due to God alone, – an act of adoration. – With the main object, thanksgiving and petition are naturally combined, inasmuch as the gift is presented also to honor and acknowledge God as the omnipotent and merciful Dispenser of all good gifts, that is, to show one’s self grateful for benefits received, and to supplicate for new graces. – In consequence of the fall of man, sacrifice assumes the additional characteristic of atonement. It is offered to express the need and desire of appeasing the irritated justice of God and of being thereby freed from sin and its punishment. Atonement for sin committed is made by sacrifice, inasmuch as the offended majesty of God is glorified, in order to restore to God the honor of which He had been deprived and to make satisfaction for the injury done to Him. The destruction of the offering is especially suitable to this end. How could sinful man more worthily and more strikingly acknowledge himself deserving of death on account of his fault, and, willing to undergo death in satisfaction for it, them when, by the laying of his hands on the victim, he transfers to it his sims, and slaying it and shedding its blood, offers it to God instead of his own life?
History shows us atonement as always accompanying adoration and holding the rank next to it in the idea of sacrifice. The first and greatest want and desire of fallen man was to appease the anger of an offended God, to obtain mercy and forgiveness for sin; hence it is quite natural that among the guilty, unredeemed generations living before Christ the character of atonement should have ben impressed in a marked manner upon their sacrifices. In whatever necessity sinful man presents himself before God, whether to adore, to thank or to petition Him, his first and deepest conviction is that he is a poor sinner, unworthy of being heard and answered by God; hence it is most natural that precisely in the most ardent acts of worship, such as sacrifice, he will always, and at the very start, feel deeply conscious that he is laden with sins and debts to God. How could he, a sinner, more worthily acknowledge the Divine Majesty of the infinitely holy and just God, show his gratitude towards Him in a more appropriate way, and approach Him with greater confidence of being heard?
It is for this fourfold end that sacrifices are offered: hence there are sacrifices of adoration, of thanksgiving, of petition and of propitiation. These divisions are not made according to the exclusive object of Sacrifice, but only with reference to its predominant end. This means only that in the rite of celebration and in the intention of the person offering, one of these ends is chiefly intended, without, however, excluding the others. Every sacrifice has in itself a fourfold signification: it serves at one and the same time to glorify the Divine Majesty (sacificium latreuticum); to return thanks for benefits received (sacrificium eucharisticum); to petition for new benefits (sacrificium impetratorium); and finally, to satisfy for sin and its punishment (sacrificium propitiatorium).
4. In so far as sacrifice has a symbolical meaning and is a constituent part of public worship, it must positively be instituted by a legitimate authority. The sacrificial service of the Old Law was regulated by God Himself in its most minute details; in the New Law the essential elements and features of worship proceed directly from Jesus Christ – hence, first of them all, sacrifice, which constitutes the fundamental and central of divine service. Neither to the Synagogue nor to the Church did God Impart the right or the power to institute sacrifices: in His infinite mercy He Himself condescended to prescribe the sacrifices by which He would be honored and propitiated. No mere man, but our Divine Saviour alone could institute so sublime and so excellent a Sacrifice as we possess in the Holy Mass.
5. Sacrifice is an act of worship which can not be performed by anybody but a priest. He alone who has been especially chosen, called and empowered, that is, only a priest can and may perform the office of sacrifice. Sacrifice and priesthood are inseparably connected: no sacrifice can exist without a priesthood, and not priesthood without a sacrifice. A special priesthood is, therefore, required by the very nature of sacrifice, which, as a public, solemn act of worship, must be performed in the name and for the welfare of the religious body by a duly authorized person. – Consequently, it is highly proper that only he who is, at least by his office and dignity, especially separated from sinners and sanctified, would present himself in sacrifice as mediator between and offended God and sinful man. “For every high priest taken from among men,” so writes the Apostle, “is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb. 5:1). _ It is clear that it belongs to God, alone to bestow the honor of the priestly vocation and office, and to determine “who belong to Him, and the holy He will Join to Himself, and they whom He shall choose shall approach to Him” (Num. 16:5).
6. Nor is it less evident that for the celebration of so holy and solemn an act of worship it is especially becoming to make choice of a sanctified place; such a place, where sacrifice is offered, is called and altar. Wherever sacrifice and priesthood are found, there also is always and altar.
7. From the above it follows that sacrifice is the most exalted and perfect manner of honoring God, and, therefore, excels all other acts of worship. It also constitutes the principal act, and is the centra point of the whole divine service. In this all agree that man by the offering of sacrifice tenders to God the highest possible honor and homage. In sacrifice the interior adoration of the Divine Majesty attains its fullest expression. Sacrifice is essentially an act of adoration, and, therefore, always includes the acknowledgment of the divinity of Him to whom it is offered. It is among all acts of worship the prerogative of God, and may be offered only to the one true God. To offer it to a creature, even to the greatest saint or the most exalted of the angels, would be heinous idolatry. _ At all times sacrifices have been offered to God, to acknowledge in the most perfect and solemn manner His sovereignty, to express gratitude for favors, to implore fresh blessings form Him and especially to avert the scourges of His avenging justice. *footnote: Many theologians assert that sacrifice is strictly required and commanded, by the very law of nature, that it is a natural necessity. Others do not grant this, but say that sacrifice is only in an eminent degree in accord with the law of nature, i.e., that it corresponds to the law of nature; that not only the interior but also the exterior worship of God is assuredly commanded by the natural law, but that this obligation may be fulfilled by performing other acts, for example, by vocal prayer, by the joining of the hands and the bending of the knees. Doubtless, sacrifice is necessary in order to make exterior worship perfect. The Church teaches that human nature calls for a visible sacrifice. . .
The above quote brings into clear, exact and concise focus what sacrifice in the ages before Jesus Christ, especially in the old law of the Old Testament meant and consisted of. As the supreme act of worship everyone knew they should carry it out. As the Catholic Church believes all religions have some part of how God wishes to be worshiped. These things were known, I assume, through ancestral memory from the earliest times possibly back to Adam and Eve. Even the Aztec human sacrifice had it partially correct, on how God wanted to be worshiped with “human sacrifice,” just not completely correct or correct in how He wanted complete human sacrifice (not just body consumed but a living body consumed in zeal and performance of his Word sacrificing not only his or her physical self, but their emotional self, their mental self and their spiritual self until God himself called them to heaven in death, natural, violent or as a martyr), with all of how he wanted to be worshiped and what he wanted man to believe, being contained perfectly and completely in the new law, the New Testament completing, clarifying and correcting the old law of the Old Testament. The perfect sacrifice was Jesus Christ, but He was all Human and all God (the all God part being the partial missing from the Aztec’s human sacrifice which was the infinite component that could only be supplied by God in atonement fir humanities offense to the divine dignity of God, Adam and Eve violating the only law (Genesis 2:16-17) given by an all-good Being who created us with infinite power out of nothing) and the only unique appropriate sacrifice to atone for man’s offense through Adam and Eve.
From Martin Luther we hear that man, having sinned, is like dung and we can never be more, but God covers us with snow to make us appear better if we just have faith. (https://dwightlongenecker.com/luther-and-snow-on-dunghills/#:~:text=Luther%20and%20Snow%20on%20Dunghills%20Somewhere%20or%20other,underneath%20we’re%20still%20a%20pile%20of%20steaming%20shit.. ) But this faith without works led some of Luther’s followers to ignore their fellow man and concentrate only on themselves. Some of them become experts in quoting and knowing the Bible but not acting on and spreading the gifts they have received from a loving God. Some literature I have read goes so far as to say they ignored the plight of widows and orphans in violation of James 1:27. But James 2:14-26 relates faith without works is dead. And with regard to the commandments of God In Mark 12:30-31 we can see that faith is really covered in the “first overall commandment” of “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and the “second and final overall commandment” is “Love your neighbor as yourself,” ”No other commandment is greater than these” (Berean Standard Bible).
As mentioned above and by God himself (Psalm 51:16-17) “For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it: You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” God does not want physical sacrifice. Old Testament sacrifices are only a representation, a type, of what He actually wants “a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart. . .” What God wants is to devote our whole lives to Him through following His two Commandments: 1) Love God with your whole being and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31), the 10 commandments being a more granular clarification of these 2 all-encompassing commandments. If, as the Aztecs did, you sacrifice a human, if it had any effect, it would only be to show adoration to God and acknowledgement of His supreme authority. It would do little if anything to change the world He created to make it better. As Catholics we are called to make the world better for our fellow man and help him see the goodness of God and bring Him into God’s family to make things better for all that live on earth and lead our fellow men and women to eternal happiness.
But Sacrifice is an integral part of the holy sacrifice of the Roman Catholic Mass (thus its inclusion in the common reference to it before 1968 – the holy sacrifice of the mass), the defining ritual of the Catholic religion, for though it, we join with the bloody sacrifice offered once with infinite efficacy which is done in remembrance of it. But just like everything involving Jesus Christ, there is a more profound effect of the holy sacrifice of the mass, Jesus Christ is brought back body blood soul and divinity, what Catholics define as the “real presence.” Not symbolic presence or consubstantial presence both of which are believed by some protestant sects. Consubstantial presence (https://www.britannica.com/topic/consubstantiation ) being that Jesus Christ is present with the bread and wine and of course symbolic presence meaning Jesus Christ is not really present at all only symbolically present or in some circles present with the bread and wine, the bread and wine not being actually his body. By real presence Catholics believe, as stressed in John 6:47-70, that the bread and wine changed by the consecration is actually God/Jesus (3rd person of the Blessed Trinity) that look like wine and bread. Though they look the same their essence has changed. What was bread and wine is now Jesus Christ, something only God could accomplish. Though this is an act of faith which must be believed by a true followers of Christ – Catholics, that a validly consecrated priest/bishop (the only actual clerical ranks, cardinals being bishops who can elect the bishop of Rome – this most senior elected bishop, St. Peter’s successor, in charge of leading the Catholic church during a particular stretch of time usually ending with his death, being called the pope, and the lowest rung of this Apostle/God selected hierarchy being priests) can consecrate, red wine and unleavened wheat bread to transform it into the body blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. This transformation into the real presence of Jesus Christ is called transubstantiation, i.e bread and wine’s substance or essence is changed. This is why true Catholics are so careful with the disposition of the consecrated bread and wine.
What is important about the bread and wine being Christ actual body and blood is the fact that his real actual physical body actually becomes part of us along with his spirit and divinity (sanctifying grace) so that we are truly sons and daughters of God having absorbed a part of the real Jesus Christ!
Thanks to Jesus Christ coming into this world and bringing us the gospel, the good news of God, animals and moreover humans do not have to die to fulfil a religious obligation to God. If people, like St. Francis of Assisi, have a problem hurting animals, the holy sacrifice of the mass only requires them to consume bread (or if they have an allergy through special permission, consume just wine) to fulfil their religious obligation of sacrifice to God. God is most interested in that they should use their lives to improve the lives of other humans, not only in their families but at their jobs, and in that way fulfil the rest of their religious obligations to God. This is of course is in addition to the mandatory weekly offering of the holy sacrifice of the mass on Sunday and daily prayers. He wants us to use our talents and let those consume us, figuratively, to devote our entire being to His service through not only our religious adoration of him at the mass every Sunday, in which He shows his infinite love by being not only the sacrifice once performed in bloody form on calvary, but coming back to earth, really and truly in the Eucharist, in body, blood, soul and divinity. But as stated earlier, He clearly also wants us to use our talents in service to the universe He created and all who live there to create a happy and enjoyable life for all creatures and spread God’s word and how to worship Him, to our fellow sentient beings – humankind, so that they may live for eternity with God in unspeakable happiness (1 Cor 2:9).
Not only does the ability to enter heaven given to us by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross but the ability to have our sins forgiven by a priest (John 20:21-23). Now many non-catholic Christians say you can go straight to God, by praying to him to have your sins forgiven. This is true only in the case of lesser sins which we call venial sins. For mortal sins, which cause the “death of the soul” or a break with friendship with God, you can only have your sins forgiven by a priest, unless you offer “perfect contrition,” that is only because you have offended God and for absolutely no other reason, if it is tinged with fear of hell, the contrition is not perfect. The passage from the gospel of St. John in the first part of this paragraph, Jesus Christ gives his apostles and their successors the power to forgive sins, even with imperfect contrition, through true contrition of some type is mandatory.
Why would you want to risk your immortal soul on a possible imperfect contrition? God knows what is in your heart, so you can’t fool Him. After you are baptized the first time, which technically, as I understand any human can do, all your sins are forgiven, but it can only be done once with effect, to have all your sins forgiven and make you a child of God by another human being. You can not really baptize yourself, unless it is one of 2 very special cases, that you want to join the Catholic Church and studying for your baptism you somehow die before you accomplish it or you die as a martyr in defense of the faith before you can be baptized with the intention to be baptized. Theoretically, also, people that are perfectly ignorant of Christ and his church may be saved if they live a perfect life according to their conscience. This is how people not Jews and not Catholic (Catholicism being the fulfilment of the Jewish religion) are “saved.” But the event that allows this is still Christ’s death on the cross. All the Old Testament people of God that faithfully practiced the Jewish religion went to heaven after Christ died on the cross. He went to where their souls existed and brough them to heaven with Him, He being the first “human” to “merit” heaven. The terms “merit” and “human” are very mysterious concepts in regard to the God-Man Jesus Christ and our human understanding, their nuances which I have touched on in other blogs. In this type of sacrifice, a human or an animal, is not physically wasted, but the full physical, emotional, mental and spiritual being, especially in a human, is completely used, to honor God by making the world a better place and bringing clearer knowledge of him here through our words and actions. This is what I think is embodied in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 in saying “pray without ceasing.” We offer up all we do concentrating on doing the best we can to make God’s wish to produce the best world for our fellow man a reality. We Catholics must burn, consumed like fire, offering a sacrifice of our life with a zeal and with action to serve God’s will, to make the world a better place for our fellow man and to bring all our fellow humans back to him for an eternity of happiness. This is the consuming sacrifice God wants from each and every man and woman and how we should raise our children to be.
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 