| Mass is a Sacrifice
/ The Mass & Calvary
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"The
Mass has just the same value as Calvary." (St. John
Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
"The
Mass makes present the sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to
that sacrifice nor does it multiply it." (Pope John Paul II)
"In
the Mass there is offered to God a true sacrifice, properly
speaking, which is propitiatory for the living and the dead."
(Pope Pius IV)
"The
Mass is not an imitation, or a memory of Calvary, it is
identically the same sacrifice and differs only from Calvary in
appearance." (Fr. O'Sullivan)
"The
Eucharist is the perfect sacrament of our Lord's Passion, as
containing Christ crucified" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of
the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"When
you hear Mass, do you come in the same frame of mind as the
Blessed Virgin at Calvary? Because it is the same God, and the
same Sacrifice." (St. John Vianney)
"If
any one saith that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not
offered to God; or that to be offered is nothing else but that
Christ is given us to eat; let him be anathema." (Council of
Trent)
"By
virtue of its close relationship to the sacrifice of Golgotha, the
Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense, and not only in a
general way, as if it were simply a matter of Christ's offering
himself to the faithful as their spiritual food." (Pope John Paul II)
"The
Church constantly draws her life from the redeeming sacrifice [of
Christ]; she
approaches it not only through faith-filled remembrance, but also
through a real contact, since this sacrifice is made present ever
anew, sacramentally perpetuated [in the Mass]" (Pope John Paul II)
"There
is one Christ, not many offered by Christ and by us. For Christ
was offered once, and His sacrifice was the original of ours.
There is one body, not many, and so, wherever He is offered, the
sacrifice is one and the same with His." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of
the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"[S]ince
the Sacrifice [of the Mass] is offered everywhere, are there, then, a
multiplicity of Christs? By no means! Christ is one everywhere. He
is complete here, complete there, one Body. And just as he is one
Body and not many though offered everywhere, so too there is one
Sacrifice." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, c. 403 A.D.)
"...death
has not destroyed this Body which was pierced with nails and
scourged…this is the Body which was once covered with blood,
pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the
world, one of blood and the other of water…This Body He gave to
us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love." (St. John
Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, 4th century A.D.)
"If
any one saith that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice
of praise and of thanksgiving; or that it is a bare commemoration
of the sacrifice consummated on the Cross, but not a propitiatory
sacrifice; or that it profits him only who receives; and that it
ought not to be offered for the living and for the dead for sins,
pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be
anathema." (Council of Trent)
"'The
Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed' (1 Cor. 11:23) instituted
the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his body and his blood. The words of
the Apostle Paul bring us back to the dramatic setting in which
the Eucharist was born. The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the
event of the Lord's passion and death, of which it is not only a
reminder but the sacramental re-presentation. It is the sacrifice
of the Cross perpetuated down the ages." (Pope John Paul II)
"And
thenceforth, the Apostles, and their successors in the priesthood,
began to lift to heaven that 'clean oblation' foretold by Malachy,
through which the name of God is great among the gentiles. And
now, that same oblation in every part of the world and at every
hour of the day and night, is offered and will continue to be
offered without interruption till the end of time: a true
sacrificial act, not merely symbolical, which has a real efficacy
unto the reconciliation of sinners with the Divine Majesty."
(Pope Pius XI, "Ad Catholici Sacerdotii", 1935 A.D.)
"They, therefore, err
from the path of truth who do not want to have Masses celebrated
unless the faithful communicate; and those are still more in error
who, in holding that it is altogether necessary for the faithful
to receive Holy Communion as well as the priest, put forward the
captious argument that here there is a question not of a sacrifice
merely, but of a sacrifice and a supper of brotherly union, and
consider the general communion of all present as the culminating
point of the whole celebration." (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 1947
A.D.)
"I
wish to add something that is plainly awe-inspiring, but do not be
astonished or upset. This Sacrifice [of the Mass], no matter who offers it, be
Peter or Paul, is always the same as that which Christ gave His
disciples and which priests now offer: The offering of today is in
no way inferior to that which Christ offered, because it is not
men who sanctify the offering of today; it is the same Christ who
sanctified His own. For just as the words which God spoke are the
very same as those which the priest now speaks, so too the
oblation is the very same." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of
the Church)
"The august sacrifice of
the altar, then is no mere empty commemoration of the passion and
death of Jesus Christ, but a true and proper act of sacrifice,
whereby the High Priest [Christ] by an unbloody immolation offers Himself, a
most acceptable victim. to the Eternal Father, as He did upon the
cross. It is one and the same victim [Christ]; the same person now offers
it by the ministry of His priests, who then offered Himself on the
cross, the manner of offering alone being different. The priest is
the same, Jesus Christ, whose sacred Person His minister
represents." (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei")
"The
Victim [Christ] alone saves the soul from eternal ruin, the sacrificing of
which presents to us in a mystical way the death of the
Only-begotten, who - though He is now risen from the dead and dies
no more, and death will no longer have dominion over Him, for He
lives immortally and incorruptibly in Himself - is immolated for
us again in this mystery of the sacred oblation. For His body is
eaten there, His flesh is distributed among the people unto
salvation, His blood is poured out, no longer in the hands of the
faithless but in the mouth of the faithful. Let us take thought,
therefore, of what this sacrifice means for us, which is [a] constant
re-presentation of the suffering of the Only begotten Son,
for the sake of our forgiveness." (Pope St. Gregory I the
Great, Doctor of the Church, 6th century A.D.)
"We
therefore confess that the Sacrifice of the Mass is and ought to
be considered one and the same Sacrifice as that of the cross, for
the victim is one and the same, namely, Christ our Lord, who
offered Himself, once only, a bloody Sacrifice on the altar of the
cross. The bloody and unbloody victim are not two, but one victim
only, whose Sacrifice is daily renewed in the Eucharist, in
obedience to the command of our Lord: Do this for a commemoration
of me. The priest is also one and the same, Christ the Lord; for
the ministers who offer [the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass], consecrate the holy mysteries,
not in their own person, but in that of Christ, as the words of
consecration itself show, for the priest does not say: This is the
body of Christ, but, This is my body; and thus, acting in the
Person of Christ the Lord, he changes the substance of the bread
and wine into the true substance of His body and blood."
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"The
august [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the Altar is, as it were, the
supreme instrument whereby the merits won by the divine Redeemer
upon the cross are distributed to the faithful: 'as often as this
commemorative [Eucharistic] Sacrifice is offered, there is wrought
the work of our Redemption.' This, however, so far from lessening
the dignity of the actual sacrifice on Calvary, rather proclaims
and renders more manifest its greatness and its necessity, as the
Council of Trent declares. Its daily immolation reminds us that
there is no salvation except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
and that God Himself wishes that there should be a continuation of
[Christ's sacrifice on the Cross] 'from the rising of the sun till the going down
thereof' (Mal. 1:11), so that there may be no cessation of the
hymn of praise and thanksgiving which man owes to God, seeing that
he required His help continually and has need of the Blood of the
Redeemer to remit sin which challenges God's justice." (Pope
Pius XII, "Mediator Dei", 1947 A.D.)
"And
forasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the
mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody
manner, who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar
of the cross; the holy Synod teaches, that this sacrifice is truly
propitiatory and that by means thereof this is effected, that we
obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid, if we draw nigh
unto God, contrite and penitent, with a sincere heart and upright
faith, with fear and reverence. For the Lord, appeased by the
oblation thereof, and granting the grace and gift of penitence,
forgives even heinous crimes and sins. For the victim [Christ] is one and
the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who
then offered Himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering
being different." (Council of Trent, 1562 A.D.)
"This
sacrament is both a sacrifice and a sacrament. It has the nature
of a sacrifice inasmuch as it is offered up; and it has the nature
of a sacrament inasmuch as it is received. And therefore it has
the effect of a sacrament in the recipient, and the effect of a
sacrifice in the offerer, or in them for whom it is offered. If,
then, it be considered as a sacrament, it produces its effect in
two ways: first of all directly through the power of the
sacrament; secondly as by a kind of concomitance, as was said
above regarding what is contained in the sacrament (Q76,AA1,2).
Through the power of the sacrament it produces directly that
effect for which it was instituted. Now it was instituted not for
satisfaction, but for nourishing spiritually through union between
Christ and His members, as nourishment is united with the person
nourished. But because this union is the effect of charity, from
the fervor of which man obtains forgiveness, not only of guilt but
also of punishment, hence it is that as a consequence, and by
concomitance with the chief effect, man obtains forgiveness of the
punishment, not indeed of the entire punishment, but according to
the measure of his devotion and fervor. But in so far as it is a
sacrifice, it has a satisfactory power. Yet in satisfaction, the
affection of the offerer is weighed rather than the quantity of
the offering. Hence our Lord says (Mark 12:43; Luke 21:4) of the
widow who offered 'two mites' that she 'cast in more than all.'
Therefore, although this offering suffices of its own quantity to
satisfy for all punishment, yet it becomes satisfactory for them
for whom it is offered, or even for the offerers, according to the
measure of their devotion, and not for the whole punishment."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
Also
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Holy Eucharist (Gen'l. Info.)
| Holy
Eucharist (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
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Eucharist / Mass (Basics / Misc.) | Holy
Eucharist / Mass & Priests | The
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Reverence
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| Necessity
of Receiving the Holy Eucharist
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"Jesus
said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within
you.'" (Jn. 6:53)
"We
are bound to receive Holy Communion, under pain of mortal sin,
during Easter time and when in danger of death." (Baltimore
Catechism)
"We
are bound to go to Communion once a year, at Easter, each one in
his own parish; and also when in danger of death." (Catechism
of St. Pius X)
"Our God has given
Himself to be our food because man, condemned to death as he is,
can be restored to life only by this means." (Pope Urban IV)
"The
precept of paschal Communion begins to bind as soon As a child is
capable of receiving with the requisite dispositions."
(Catechism of St. Pius X)
"The
Eucharist is necessary to preserve the soul in the spiritual life
of grace; for the soul, like the body, becomes gradually
exhausted, if care is not taken to repair its strength." (St.
Jean Baptiste de la Salle)
"If
any one denieth that all and each of Christ's faithful of both
sexes are bound, when they have attained to years of discretion,
to communicate every year at least at Easter, in accordance with
the precept of holy mother Church; let him be anathema."
(Council of Trent)
"Can.
920 §1 Once admitted to the blessed Eucharist, each of the
faithful is obliged to receive Holy Communion at least once a
year. §2 This precept must be fulfilled during paschal time (the
Easter season), unless for a good reason it is fulfilled at
another time during the year." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"As
they thought it impossible that He should do as He said, i.e. give
them His flesh to eat, He shows them that it was not only
possible, but necessary: Then said Jesus to them, Verily, verily,
I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink His blood, you have no life in you (Jn. 6:53)." (St.
John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
[To
preachers of his order:] "And in every sermon which you give,
admonish the people concerning [the necessity of] penance, and
[instruct them] that no one can be saved unless he receive the
Body and Blood of the Lord (cf. Jn. 6:54). And when [Christ] is
sacrificed upon the altar by the priest and carried to any place,
let all the people, on bended knee, praise, glorify, and honor the
Lord God living and true. And you must announce and preach His
praise to all peoples in such a manner that at every hour and
whenever the bells are rung, praise, glory, and honor are given to
the all-powerful God through all the earth." (St. Francis of
Assisi)
Also
See: The
Holy Eucharist (Gen'l. Info.)
| Holy
Eucharist (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
| Holy
Eucharist / Mass (Basics / Misc.) | Holy
Communion [Pg.] | Frequent
Communion | Communion
Under Both Species: Is it Required?
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Importance of Being Catholic: Combating Religious Indifferentism /
No Salvation
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| Viaticum
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"Let the priest
always have the Eucharist ready, so that, when anyone fall sick,
he may take Communion to him at once, lest he die without it." (Pope St. Clement I)
"Can.
865 Holy Viaticum for the infirm is not to be deferred too much;
those who take care of souls should be sedulously watchful that
the infirm in full command of their senses partake in it."
(1917 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
850 It belongs to the pastor in accord with Canon 848, with due
regard for the prescription of Canons 397, n. 3 and 517, § 1-3,
to bring Holy Communion in the form of Viaticum to the sick,
wither publicly or privately." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
922 Holy Viaticum for the sick is not to be unduly delayed. Those
who have the care of souls are to take assiduous care that the
sick are strengthened by it while they are in full possession of
their faculties." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
911 §1 The duty and right to bring the blessed Eucharist to the
sick as Viaticum belongs to the parish priest, to assistant
priests, to chaplains and, in respect of all who are in the house,
to the community Superior in clerical religious institutes or
societies of apostolic life." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"It
is written (De Consecratione, distinction 12): 'It has come to our
knowledge that some priests deliver the Lord's body to a layman or
to a woman to carry it to the sick: The synod therefore forbids
such presumption to continue; and let the priest himself
communicate the sick.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Can.
867 § 1 The most holy Eucharist is licitly distributed on any day... § 4 Holy Communion can be distributed at any hour at which
Mass could be celebrated, unless a reasonable cause persuades
otherwise. § 5 But holy Viaticum can be administered at whatever
hour of the day or night." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
921 §1 Christ's faithful who are in danger of death from whatever
cause are to be strengthened by Holy Communion in the form of
Viaticum. §2 Even if they have already received Holy Communion
that same day, it is nevertheless strongly suggested that in
danger of death they should communicate again. §3 While the
danger of death persists, it is recommended that Holy Communion be
administered often, but on separate days." (1983 Code of
Canon Law)
"Can.
849 § 1 Any priest can bring private Communion to the infirm with
at least the presumed permission of the priest to whom custody of
the most Holy Sacrament is committed. § 2 Whenever Holy Communion
is privately administered to the infirm, the reverence and decency
that is due to such a holy Sacrament is to be carefully observed,
according to the prescriptive norms of the Apostolic See."
(1917 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
864 § 1 In danger of death, from whatever cause it arises, the
faithful are bound by the precept of receiving Holy Communion. §
2 Even if on that same day they have already partaken of Holy
Communion, it is nevertheless greatly to be recommended that they
be led to communicate again in a life
crisis. § 3 For as long as
danger of death remains, it is licit and decent that holy Viaticum
be administered many times on distinct days according to the
prudent council of the confessor." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
Also
See: Sacraments
at the End of Life | The
Holy Eucharist (Gen'l. Info.)
| Holy
Communion [Pg.] | Holy
Eucharist (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
| Holy
Eucharist / Mass (Basics / Misc.) | Necessity
of Receiving the Holy Eucharist | The
Holy Eucharist Should Be Handled Only By Priests | Communion
in the Hand: Why Not? | Lay
'Eucharistic Ministers': Why Not?
| Communion
Under Both Species: Is it Required?
| Mass /
Holy Eucharist Prayers | Extreme
Unction / Anointing of the Sick (Gen'l. Info.)
| Extreme
Unction (Anointing of the Sick) Basics / Misc. | Prayers
For Final
Perseverance / Happy Death | Suffering
& Death (Catholic Life Section)
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