The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and "It is finished."

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I tried explaining to some anti-Catholics that at the mass the priest is not offering a new sacrifice, but he is offering up the same sacrifice of Calvary. It didn’t seem to get through to them, they still think it goes against the finished work of Calvary. How can I answer this?
 
Here is a link to a talk given by Dr. Scott Hahn many years ago in a series titled Answering Common Objections. Click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll find three segments on The Blessed Sacrament. In this talk, he gives an superb explanation of this sacrament from the Old Testament all the way to “It is finished.” It’s about an hour and a half long, but worth every minute. I’ve listened to it several times and still get something I missed each time. Hope this helps.

ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?seriesID=54&T1=hahn

Joe
 
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RedDeathsMask:
I tried explaining to some anti-Catholics that at the mass the priest is not offering a new sacrifice, but he is offering up the same sacrifice of Calvary. It didn’t seem to get through to them, they still think it goes against the finished work of Calvary. How can I answer this?
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Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25: “Do this in memory of me.” Why say do it after His death, if it was “finished” on the cross?

Additionally, there are many Biblical foreshadowings of a Eucharistic Church. Our Protestant brethren verify that they are not orthodox to the precise extent they deny the Eucharist.

Most of the Biblical foreshadowings are achieved by a process called Identification by Juxtaposition, where bread or wine is served with some form of slaughtered animal, to tell us, “The bread is the same as the slaughtered one.”

Genesis 18:6-7: Bread rolls served with a slaughtered steer.

Genesis 21:14: Bread given with a “skin” to Hagar.

Genesis 27:13-14; 17, 25: Bread, wine served with slaughtered kids.

Genesis 40:20-23: Pharaoh’s baker – breadmaker – is killed, while the cup-bearer – the wine-serever, is raised-up, foreshadowing the death and resurrection of the bread-and-wine provider.

Exodus 12:1-20: Unleavened bread eaten with the blemishless Paschal Lamb.

Exodus 16:13-15: Manna is eaten in the morning after slaughtered quail flesh is eaten at night.

Exodus 29:38-42: Flour offered with lamb.

These foreshadowings of the Real Presence in the Eucharist go on and on and on.
 
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RedDeathsMask:
I tried explaining to some anti-Catholics that at the mass the priest is not offering a new sacrifice, but he is offering up the same sacrifice of Calvary. It didn’t seem to get through to them, they still think it goes against the finished work of Calvary. How can I answer this?
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A common deficiency in non-Catholic thought on this point is the failure to distinguish between Christ’s redemption as accomplished (at Calvary), and the redemption as applied (in the Mass). This is the key distinction to point out to non-Catholics. While Christ’s redemption was certainly accomplished on the cross (“It is finished”), that redemption must be supernaturally applied to the soul by God through the eucharistic sacrifice (“Do this”). The eucharist renders Christ’s one redemptive sacrifice present to us in the here and now, and the Holy Spirit applies its benefits to the soul in the reception of our Lord’s body and blood. So, while non-Catholics are admirably eager to emphasize Jesus’ redemption as *accomplished *at Calvary, they often fail to properly acknowledge its application in the Mass.

God bless,
Donald
 
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RedDeathsMask:
I tried explaining to some anti-Catholics that at the mass the priest is not offering a new sacrifice, but he is offering up the same sacrifice of Calvary. It didn’t seem to get through to them, they still think it goes against the finished work of Calvary. How can I answer this?
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Coincidentally, I just finished watching Fulton Sheen talking about this. The proof that the one Sacrifice can be presented at times other than Christ’s death on Calvary is that Christ himself presented the Sacrifice at the Last Supper. His passion and death had not even happened yet!

God works outside of time, and the Sacrifice can be presented to him at any time.

Peace.
John
 
john ennis:
Coincidentally, I just finished watching Fulton Sheen talking about this. The proof that the one Sacrifice can be presented at times other than Christ’s death on Calvary is that Christ himself presented the Sacrifice at the Last Supper. His passion and death had not even happened yet!

God works outside of time, and the Sacrifice can be presented to him at any time.

Peace.
John
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That’s the key. A lot of people seem to think that “eternity” is just a long time-line. It’s not. It is more like a total “present” without past or future: God is all “now.” Calvary was in “time” but Christ is outside of time, and everything he did on earth is with him in eternity. “Slain from the foundation of the world.”

So redemption is “finished” but the souls who have yet to be born are not yet “saved.” They are redeemed but must exercise faith to be saved. Distinguishing between redemption, justification, salvation and sanctification is critical.
 
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