Please Explain the Sacrifice of the Eucharist!

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I do understand what the Church says about the Eucharist and transubstantiation. However, no matter how many different videos, articles, and tracts here on Catholic Answers I read, I cannot grasp the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist at Mass.

To explain further, the New Testament is clear that when Jesus died on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice was made once and for all and that no other sacrifices would be needed in the future. It was a perfect sacrifice.

I also understand the Catholic Church does NOT teach that we are re-sacrificing Jesus at the Mass because Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross 2,000 years ago. But, the Catholic Church also teaches that the Eucharistic feast is not only a memorial meal, that transubstantiation is present, and that we are, in some way, re-offering Jesus in an unbloody sacrifice at the Mass.

I just can’t wrap my head around the theology of this re-offering at the mass. Can someone please explain this aspect of the Eucharist (its sacrificial nature at the Mass)? I need it explained in plain terms…I have read the official Catholic doctrines on this and even watched the videos on Catholic Answers, but honestly, I find those explanations confusing and I believe they do a poor job of explaining how there can be one perfect sacrifice when Jesus was on the cross and yet a re-offering every single week.

Obviously, evangelicals hold the view that the Eucharistic meal is essentially a memorial only, a sacrifice in the sense that we are saying thanks to God…but not a sacrifice in the way the Catholic Church teaches. I have read their arguments, and while I do believe the Early Church Fathers believed in the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, I have yet to find a really clear response to the evangelical argument that there is only one sacrifice, the one on Calvary, so why do Catholics re-offer Jesus each Sunday? Help here would be great!
 
The priest, by Jesus’s command “do this in memory of me” …which to the jews meant “make it fully present again”…is able to RE-present the one eternal sacrifice.

God is outside of time and all times are present to Him now…meaning adam and eve are sinning, Rome is becoming a world power, Christ is on the cross, God is at Your death!, etc etc …all at once. There is no concept of time for God…He is simply Is-ing…being…that’s why He made Himself known to His people as …“I AM”. All times are present. So, the priest is able to step into eternity at the mass by Jesus’s command and bring us to calvary!

It’s a sacrifice that is ALWAYS before the father…the priest allows us to enter into the present of God and His very presence at Calvary!

This is why you will see the priest kneel before the tabernacle as He approaches the alter during mass, he then kisses the alter and from that point foward at mass…in a sense…the tabernacle dosen’t exist…you don’t see him giving it reverence until after communion again. This is because, as mass begins…the alter is the place the victim is offered and all our attention is on the alter…the cross of calvary made present at mass. After mass, the priest and the people continue to reverence the tablenacle by genuflecting and such.

I hope this helps

God bless!
 
+JMJ+

Just think of each and every Holy Mass as a time machine in which you are transported to Calvary during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
 
In the past some people believed the sun died in the evening, and that a new sun was born the next day. We later discovered its the same sun, its just shown to us at specific hours. Well, the Eucharist is similar. Same Jesus always. We are not sacrificing him again. We simply are made present in that moment, in which he gave us his Body and Blood to eat/drink.
 
“What then? Do we not offer daily? Yes, we offer, but making remembrance of his death; and this remembrance is one and not many. How is it one and not many? Because this sacrifice is offered once, like that in the Holy of Holies. This sacrifice is a type of that, and this remembrance a type of that. We offer always the same, not one sheep now and another tomorrow, but the same thing always. Thus there is one sacrifice. By this reasoning, since the Sacrifice 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 is there one Sacrifice.” (Homilies on Hebrews 17, 2[4]; 17, 3[6] (403 A.D.))

- St. John Chrysostom
 
jinc1019 said:
we are, in some way, re-offering Jesus in an unbloody sacrifice at the Mass.
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Well… we aren’t really “re-offering”: we’re participating in the offering that Jesus made of himself to the Father.
no matter how many different videos, articles, and tracts here on Catholic Answers I read, I cannot grasp the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist at Mass.
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I just can’t wrap my head around the theology of this re-offering at the mass. Can someone please explain this aspect of the Eucharist (its sacrificial nature at the Mass)?
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while I do believe the Early Church Fathers believed in the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist, I have yet to find a really clear response to the evangelical argument that there is only one sacrifice, the one on Calvary, so why do Catholics re-offer Jesus each Sunday?
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Sixteen years ago this summer, my nephew & godson was born. As I sat, awestruck, at the foot of the bed where my sister-in-law lay, I was dumbfounded by the trust and love that they had for me as my brother lifted my nephew and placed him in my arms. For just a brief moment, as I stared into his eyes, I realized what ‘love’ is. Then, having experienced that moment of the sheer joy of the gift of life, I offered him back to his father.

Every year, at his birthday, I remember that moment. What I wouldn’t give to experience that moment again! No matter how awesome the memory is, it doesn’t hold a candle to having actually been there and having experienced it in person!

Each time I go to Mass, and receive Jesus, I really and truly join with Jesus; and, with him, I participate (in my own, small, human way) in his offering of his very self to his Father. It’s not like it happens again and again: I’m reliving an event that happened once – but an event that’s eternal, so it never ends – and I get to share it, if only for a moment.

Yep… that’s what it is… 😊 :yup:
 
I get my head round this by seeing it as - I am at the foot of the cross, 2000 years ago, at every Mass.
 
read this book or listen to the CD and it will explain it in such a clear way you will be amazed!!!

Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist! by Brant Pitre



The CD is from lighthouse catholic media which you can buy or download for a few bucks at Lighthousemediacatholic.com I listened to the CD and was amazed at how clear it is and I re listened to it 6 more times with my friends and family - I ended up reading the whole book which helped so so so much and if you want an easy way to understand this get that CD and or the Book!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WJgjCJjAL.SL500_AA300.jpg
 
Hi, the best thing for you to do would be to attend Mass, pray and believe that the host and the wine at the consecration are the body and blood of Christ. Go to mass with your troubles if you have some, and don’t hold back in telling Him about them. Pray to Him as though He were the only One in the church, and believe that He is there waiting just for you to arrive to visit Him. Go to communion, and then compare yourself before and afterwards. In time you will notice and God will explain it to you and make Himself known to you. 🙂

Hi sorry, my answer would only apply if you are already Catholic. Otherwise you will have to just read the theology. :o
 
mab23 said:
read this book or listen to the CD and it will explain it in such a clear way you will be amazed!!!

Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist! by Brant Pitre

http://static.trinityroad.com/prod/250/jesus-jewish-roots-eucharist-1111553.jpg

The CD is from lighthouse catholic media which you can buy or download for a few bucks at Lighthousemediacatholic.com I listened to the CD and was amazed at how clear it is and I re listened to it 6 more times with my friends and family - I ended up reading the whole book which helped so so so much and if you want an easy way to understand this get that CD and or the Book!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WJgjCJjAL.SL500_AA300.jpg
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How do I buy just that CD? They only seem to offer a CD a month and I don’t want that.

Thanks.

I’ve read the book and recommended it to many but I would like to listen to this CD in my car.
 
jinc1019,
A few months ago, the franciscanfriars channel on YouTube posted videos from a priests’ retreat. Fr. Ben Luetdke gave a talk that explains some of what you’re asking about. You can find the video here:youtube.com/watch?v=BZH6i3wJ-Wk

He covers a lot in that one talk, but basically the first 10-12 minutes I think are what you’re after.

And there’s a video from the Franciscan University of Dr. Scott Hahn explaining how the Last Supper and the Crucifixion are connected. You can find that one here:youtube.com/watch?v=VJhE51rHKLQ He explains it far better than I can.

God Bless!🙂
 
Crux_Sacra said:
jinc1019,
A few months ago, the franciscanfriars channel on YouTube posted videos from a priests’ retreat. Fr. Ben Luetdke gave a talk that explains some of what you’re asking about. You can find the video here:youtube.com/watch?v=BZH6i3wJ-Wk

He covers a lot in that one talk, but basically the first 10-12 minutes I think are what you’re after.

And there’s a video from the Franciscan University of Dr. Scott Hahn explaining how the Last Supper and the Crucifixion are connected. You can find that one here:youtube.com/watch?v=VJhE51rHKLQ He explains it far better than I can.

God Bless!🙂
Click to expand...
Scott Hahn is very helpful in understanding the Eucharist he also has a CD on lighthouse Catholic Media call the 4th cup which is really interesting especially if you are having discussions on the Last Supper being a Passover and when the finish of the Passover was since it was different since the lamb to be Sacrificed was our Lord and savior!
 
Excellent theological sources. I assure you I have read all of your posts and will continue to read them…I think what all of you have posted is excellent and gets right to the point. This post is precisely why I keep coming back to the Catholic Answers Forums.
 
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