Is this correct about Mass?

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Monica4316

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I just wanted to check my understanding…

so the Mass IS Calvary? like a re-presentation…

is the reason we call it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because the priest offers Jesus to the Father again, but it’s the SAME Sacrifice being offered as on the Cross??

is this exactly what the Church teaches? anything to add? thanks 🙂
 
Monica4316 said:
I just wanted to check my understanding…

so the Mass IS Calvary? like a re-presentation…

is the reason we call it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because the priest offers Jesus to the Father again, but it’s the SAME Sacrifice being offered as on the Cross??

is this exactly what the Church teaches? anything to add? thanks 🙂
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The priest does not offer Christ to the Father AGAIN; he makes the one and only offering of the Cross present for us in the here and now. Otherwise you seem to understand.
 
You got it.

There are those who like to think of it as a celebration and refer to it as such.
 
This is a quote from the Redemptionis Saracamentum:

All of the norms and exhortations set forth in this Instruction are connected, albeit in various ways, with the mission of the Church, whose task it is to be vigilant concerning the correct and worthy **celebration **of so great a mystery.

I only use this as an example that the word “celebration” is not necessarily a bad word and appears several times in these documents.
 
The priest does NOT offer Jesus to the Father again - that was done once and for all.
 
otjm said:
You are right - and some of them write official documents for the Church.
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By “celebration” they do not mean balloons and party favors; they mean a dignified and reverent presentation of the Mass with music and hymns that contribute appropriately to the dignity and solemnity of the occasion.
 
otjm said:
You are right - and some of them write official documents for the Church.
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:eek:

I know, right?

Some of them go to my church, too.

I was just pointing out that the Mass is a sacrifice and a celebration. The OP did not touch on it.
 
The definitive document on the subject is the Council of Trent’s Decree on the Sacrifice of the Mass, part of Session 22.

. . . 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 . . . 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. . . .
 
Monica4316 said:
is this exactly what the Church teaches? anything to add? thanks 🙂
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There are many aspects to the Mass. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:
1328 The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. the Greek words eucharistein139 and eulogein140 recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God’s works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.
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1329 The Lord’s Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem.141
The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread,142 above all at the Last Supper.143 It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection,144 and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies;145 by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.146
The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church.147
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1330 The memorial of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.
The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. the terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, “sacrifice of praise,” spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used,148 since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church’s whole liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the Sacred Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments. the Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.
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1331 Holy Communion, because by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.149 We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta)150 - the first meaning of the phrase “communion of saints” in the Apostles’ Creed - the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality,151 viaticum…
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1332 Holy Mass (Missa), because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God’s will in their daily lives.
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Chatter163 said:
The priest does not offer Christ to the Father AGAIN; he makes the one and only offering of the Cross present for us in the here and now. Otherwise you seem to understand.
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okay I see! 🙂
Suslar said:
The priest does NOT offer Jesus to the Father again - that was done once and for all.
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okay! I agree it’s the same Sacrifice, but the priest does offer it right? I’m trying to understand this quote:
Ad_Orientem said:
The definitive document on the subject is the Council of Trent’s Decree on the Sacrifice of the Mass, part of Session 22.

. . . 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 . . . 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. . . .
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10thCrusader said:
By “celebration” they do not mean balloons and party favors; they mean a dignified and reverent presentation of the Mass with music and hymns that contribute appropriately to the dignity and solemnity of the occasion.
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I found this quote:
The principal priest in every Mass is Jesus Christ, who offers to His heavenly Father, through the ministry of His ordained priest, His body and blood which were sacrificed on the cross.
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The Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross because in the Mass the victim is the same, and the principal priest is the same, Jesus Christ.
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ewtn.com/faith/teachings/euchb1a.htm

I think that’s what I meant when I said “offered again”… not sacrificed again, but that the eternal Sacrifice is being offered, of course it’s the same one, and it’s also Jesus who offers it through the ministry of the priest… am I understanding this? :confused: it’s the same Sacrifice, but in the Mass it’s unbloody
(a) On the cross Christ was offered in a bloody manner; in the Mass He is offered in an unbloody manner. On the cross Christ alone offered Himself directly; in the Mass He offers Himself through the priest, who is the secondary but true minister, dependent upon Christ.
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Of course it is the same Sacrifice 🙂 and Trent said - not just a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise, but for sins, since it’s the Sacrifice that’s at Calvary
CANON III.–If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a [Page 159] 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 the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.
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so it’s not just a commemoration, but the Sacrifice…

source for Trent quote: history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct22.html
 
Monica4316 said:
I think that’s what I meant when I said “offered again”… not sacrificed again, but that the eternal Sacrifice is being offered
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That’s how I understand it, but I’m not a theologian. As you pointed out, Trent seems to indicate multiple offerings, one bloody and many unbloody (which are all part of the same Sacrifice). Maybe the answer is that there is one *immolation *of the Victim, but multiple offerings?
 
Monica4316 said:
okay! I agree it’s the same Sacrifice, but the priest does offer it right? I’m trying to understand this quote:
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I think the answer you’re looking for is this: Jesus Christ Himself offers Himself at Mass, because when the priest saids the words of consecration, it’s really Our Lord speaking through Him. That’s why we traditionally describe priests as “altar Christus” – “other Christs.”

So at every Mass, Christ offers Himself to the Father the same as He did on the Cross, for our sins, but each Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not distinct/separate from the Sacrifice of Cavalry, but the same sacrifice continued throughout time.

I find the bold part difficult to understand, but it’s so beautiful and amazing I accept it anyway.

See my signature, btw.
 
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