Eucharist help!

[bpcatholic]

I have a question (as always ). I read in a book that Christ’s sacrifice was once for all and that Jesus offers himself over and over again. I get the impression at my parish that “sacrifice” and “offering” is the same thing, Christ offers himself only once. Who is correct? I ask because I am starting to question a lot of things at my parish.

Thanks!

 

[bpbasilphx]

A priest on EWTN once said something like this:

“Once upon a time, I filmed a TV show. It was broadcast twice. A woman told me afterwards, ‘I saw you on TV both times. You were better the second time.’ Now, I had filmed the show, and done it ‘once for all’. She simply saw it twice.”

To say it another way, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the SAME offering and sacrifice that is ETERNALLY pleaded in Heaven outside of time and unveiled is shown to us in time under the veils of bread and wine (as someone on CAF put it).

It is through the Eucharist that WE are made present at this unique offering made “once for all”.

Does this help?

 

[japhy]

I read in a book that Christ’s sacrifice was once for all and that Jesus offers himself over and over again. I get the impression at my parish that “sacrifice” and “offering” is the same thing, Christ offers himself only once.

A sacrifice has two parts to it: the immolation (killing) of the victim, and the oblation (offering) of the victim.

The bloody immolation of Christ happened once and once only upon the cross. Through the words of consecration at Mass, that same victim is made present again in an unbloody manner; it is one and the same sacrificial victim that is made present, but in an unbloody immolation. Just as the priest today by means of the words of consecration re-presents in an unbloody manner the victim on the altar, Christ himself *pre-*presented that same victim, which had yet to be physically immolated in a bloody manner on the cross, in an unbloody manner at the Last Supper.

The oblation of Christ the victim is perpetuated in eternity in heaven by the Lord’s continual intercession for us at the right hand of God, and it is perpetuated on earth by the offering of the Eucharist to the Father in the Mass. If you pay close attention to the words of the Eucharistic Prayer, after the consecration, the priest says something along these lines: “Father, calling to mind the death Your Son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and ready to greet him when he comes again, we offer You in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.” (Eucharistic Prayer III)

Here is some reading for you on this subject:

Council of Trent, Session XXII, chapter 1 (1562): “For having celebrated the ancient Passover which the multitude of the children of Israel sacrificed in memory of their departure from Egypt, He instituted a new Passover, namely, Himself, to be immolated under visible signs by the Church through the priests in memory of His own passage from this world to the Father, when by the shedding of His blood He redeemed and delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into his kingdom.” (chapter 1) “And inasmuch as in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner the same Christ who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, the holy council teaches that this is truly propitiatory and has this effect, that if we, contrite and penitent, with sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence, draw nigh to God, we obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid. For, appeased by this sacrifice, the Lord grants the grace and gift of penitence and pardons even the gravest crimes and sins. For the victim 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.” (chapter 2)

Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII (1947): “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 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; 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.’” (n. 68)

Mysterium Fidei of Pope Paul VI (1965): “The few things that We have touched upon concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass encourage Us to say something about the Sacrament of the Eucharist, since both Sacrifice and Sacrament pertain to the same mystery and cannot be separated from each other. The Lord is immolated in an unbloody way in the Sacrifice of the Mass and He re-presents the sacrifice of the Cross and applies its salvific power at the moment when he becomes sacramentally present - through the words of consecration - as the spiritual food of the faithful, under the appearances of bread and wine.” (n. 34)

Dominicae Cenae of Pope John Paul II (1980): “Thus, by virtue of the consecration, the species of bread and wine re-present in a sacramental, unbloody manner the bloody propitiatory sacrifice offered by Him on the cross to His Father for the salvation of the world.” (n. 9)

 

[Dolphincrc]

I have a question (as always ). I read in a book that Christ’s sacrifice was once for all and that Jesus offers himself over and over again. I get the impression at my parish that “sacrifice” and “offering” is the same thing, Christ offers himself only once. Who is correct? I ask because I am starting to question a lot of things at my parish.

Thanks!

Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:12). It IS once and for all.

What happens during Mass is that very SAME scarifice. Christ is not limited to time and space like we are. The Church has always understood the following prophecy as relating to this:

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering” (Malachi 1:11)

These words are quoted in the Mass.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Another way that I heard it explained is that time & space fold over each other and during the consecration part of the Mass we are spiritually present with Christ at Calvary as He offered Himself up for our sins. That is why the mass is so important. Each time it is performed, we are united with the sacrifice that our Lord made for us.