Why is a recurring Eucharist necessary?

[sthudium]

As a Protestant (who is now in RCIA), I was taught that Passover was a time when the Jews sacrifice a lamb for atonement. However, this sacrifice no longer needs to be repeated, because Jesus was sacrificed, and this one-time sacrifice replaces all of the other recurring sacrifices.

My Protestant friends tell me that Catholics repeat Jesus’ sacrifice at each Eucharist, and that this is not necessary, because Jesus died once for our sins?

However, I wonder whether Jesus is actually sacrificed at Eucharist. Maybe the Eucharist serves some other purpose. And if it serves another purpose, maybe the Eucharist is truly needed. What is that purpose?

Consider a bank account, which must be replenished with additional funds to cover expenses. In this analogy, the bank account could be our justification, the credits could be each Eucharist, and the debits could be our daily sins. Our salvation is secure when the bank account is in the black. This analogy would be the way Protestants understand the Catholic view of salvation. But is it how Catholics see salvation? Do Catholics view the Eucharist as an atonement for our preceding sins?

 

[FrancisPio]

Another interesting point is the Our Father:
“Give us this day our daily bread”.

This statement is a bit of a mystery. Remember that the apostles were still finding out about Jesus. Was he simply talking about bread or about the eucharist? Many theologians believe Jesus was talking about the eucharist here.

 

[sthudium]

Thanks, for your responses, Brittany and (name removed by moderator).

If the Eucharist is not a re-sacrifice, but, rather, a re-presentation of the sacrifice, why do we need this re-presentation? I suspect Protestants don’t understand that, and so think of the Eucharist as a re-sacrifice. If they understood why the recurring re-presentation is necessary, they might not be so negative.

 

[pianistclare]

For the graces it gives so that we can move through the week with the strength to avoid sin.
Also, it is a sublime form of worship.
It is the source and summit of our faith as followers of Christ.

 

[sthudium]

Thanks pianistclare.

In other words, the Eucharists protects us from committing future sins. But Protestants think that future sin is not relevant, once-saved, always-saved. They say that we avoid sin to please God. And if you don’t want to please God, well, you were never saved.

So, why do we need to avoid sin?

 

[pianistclare]

Think about it.
Once “saved” do people in other churches continue to commit sin? Yes. Does that offend God? YES. In fact, a mortal sin cuts off our relationship with God as it is a grave matter, such as adultery, murder, what not. Surely you don’t think that God does not desire repentance and a return to holiness from people?
We can
t afford to view it as a “once and done” thing. That would essentially give everyone a pass.
The world would be in a terrible state and we would not merit eternal life if that were the case. We have to cooperate with God, not just give Him a nod.
Good question, welcome to the fora.

 

[sthudium]

Thanks, again, pianistclare. I think the Jewish ceremonies were used to remain in God’s covenantal family. Likewise, we avoid sin to remain in God’s family, and thus remain heirs to his heavenly inheritance. I think we forfeit that inheritance if we choose to disobey God and sin.

Is this the correct interpretation?

 

[Todd_Easton]

The Eucharist is one of the sacramental ways we can participate in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The first way is the sacrament of Baptism, where Original Sin and all our past sins, both serious and minor sins, are forgiven. For our repented serious sins committed after Baptism, there is the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). For our repented minor sins, there is the sacrament of Eucharist. The Eucharist is repeated because we repeatedly commit minor sins that need to be forgiven.

 

[pianistclare]

Basically. But the Mass and Eucharist is a communal meal. By being there and participating fully int he prayers offered by each other and the priest we unite ourselves in a special way with other Christians.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all those Jewish Covenants with God. When you love someone, you be with them as often as you can, and we believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

 

[sthudium]

I think:

Protestants avoid sin because they are already in God’s family, a membership they cannot lose.

Catholics believe one can choose to leave that family. To retain membership, one must behave like a family member, obey the Father, make amends for wrongs, and repair relationships. The Eucharist is the family meal, which strengthens familial bonds.

Is this interpretation correct?

 

[sthudium]

What I am seeing here is that the Eucharist is “communion,” not sacrifice. Eucharist is a deeper communion with God, not atonement for sin. Part of that “communion” is sharing Jesus’ work on the cross, “taking up the cross” for the forgiveness of the world, just not ourself. We join Christ in his endeavor, as a family member helps another member.

Is this correct, or is there some personal atonement in the Eucharist as well?

 

[Crocus]

What I am seeing here is that the Eucharist is “communion,” not sacrifice. Eucharist is a deeper communion with God, not atonement for sin. Part of that “communion” is sharing Jesus’ work on the cross, “taking up the cross” for the forgiveness of the world, just not ourself. We join Christ in his endeavor, as a family member helps another member.

Is this correct, or is there some personal atonement in the Eucharist as well?

We read in the book of Hebrews that the old sacrifice was made by the appointed priest in atonement for his sins and the sins of the people.

Christ is the High Priest of the new covenant whose sacrifice is one and final for the forgiveness of sin.

The sacrifice of the mass makes us present to that one sacrifice. We share in our common faith the sacrifice of thanksgiving in communion with each other (and brothers and sisters throughout the world).

 

[Todd_Easton]

There are certainly communal aspects of the Eucharist but it is a lot more than that. As can be seen in St Paul’s apparent comparison of the Eucharist celebration with the sacrificial paschal feast of ancient Israel in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and his partial comparison in 1 Corinthians 10:14-21 of the Eucharist (“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” verse 16) with the sacrificial worship of the Lord by ancient Israel and with the sacrificial worship of idols by pagans, the Eucharist is the Christian form of sacrificial worship. Generally-speaking, in sacrificial worship, a priest offers a food sacrifice to a deity on a table dedicated to the deity, i.e., the deity’s altar, and offers a drink sacrifice to the deity in a cup dedicated to the deity and then would-be worshippers, who wish to express their partnership with the deity, eat of the sacrifices, i.e., partake of the food offered in sacrifice on the deity’s table and drink of the drink offered in sacrifice in the deity’s cup. Remember, in the Bible, the expressions “the altar of the Lord,” upon which priests offered sacrifices to the Lord, and “the table of the Lord” or “the Lord’s table” are synonymous. (See, for instance, Malachi 1:7,12)

 

[Gorgias]

As a Protestant (who is now in RCIA), I was taught that Passover was a time when the Jews sacrifice a lamb for atonement.

Uh-oh. There are distinct problems with that statement…!

The Jews didn’t commemorate Passover each year “for atonement”! (Actually, Yom Kippur is the “Day of Atonement”.) Perhaps your teachers were getting the two confused?

In fact, the Jews were commanded to commemorate Passover (and the feast of the unleavened bread) each year, as a remembrance of the way that God saved them from death to slavery and gave them life in His Promised Land:

This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever. (Ex 12:14)

You must observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. (Ex 12:17)

[Moses said], ““You will keep this practice forever as a statute for yourselves and your descendants. Thus, when you have entered the land which the LORD will give you as he promised, you must observe this rite. When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean?’ you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice for the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he delivered our houses.” (Ex 12:24-27)

In fact, celebration of the Passover wasn’t just requested or recommended: if a Jew failed to celebrate it, he was cut off from the Jewish community!

anyone, a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food will be cut off from the community of Israel. (Ex 12:19)

[The LORD said to Moses], “anyone who is clean and not away on a journey, who yet fails to celebrate the Passover, shall be cut off from the people, for not presenting the LORD’s offering at the prescribed time. That person shall bear the consequences of this sin.” (Numbers 9:13)

So, celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and of Passover isn’t “for atonement”, but “in celebration of God’s salvation”!

(You can see where I’m going, right…? )

… and that’s precisely what the Eucharist is: the re-presentation to God of an unbloody sacrifice, in which we share in the celebration of the act of God that saves us!

So, your friends are partly right and partly wrong: Jesus’ sacrifice does take the place of the Passover remembrance! But, just as the Passover was in place to be remembered, over and over again, so too is the re-presentation of Jesus’ sacrifice to the Father for our salvation! One “eternal celebration” is made perfect in Jesus and replaced with the other!

 

[sthudium]

In fact, the Jews were commanded to commemorate Passover (and the feast of the unleavened bread) each year, as a remembrance of the way that God saved them from death to slavery and gave them life in His Promised Land:

So, celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and of Passover isn’t “for atonement”, but “in celebration of God’s salvation”!

(You can see where I’m going, right…? )

If I’m correct, you are saying that Christians are, like the Jews, commanded to celebrate the Passover. If so, I’m troubled because you also say that failure results in being cutting off from the community. Does that mean that Protestants, who don’t celebrate the Passover as Eucharist are cut off and thus not eligible for salvation?

 

[Gorgias]

If I’m correct, you are saying that Christians are, like the Jews, commanded to celebrate the Passover.

No; Christ commanded us to “do this in remembrance of me.” So, the celebration of the Eucharist is what we’re commanded to do, and not the celebration of Passover

Does that mean that Protestants, who don’t celebrate the Passover as Eucharist are cut off and thus not eligible for salvation?

I would say ‘no’. In particular, those who were never Catholic, and were raised in a Reformation Christian community, cannot truly be held responsible to the things their forebears eschewed. (The founders of those communities, though, who broke from the Church? Hoo boy… )
The Church teaches, with respect to non-Catholic Christians, in the Vatican II document Lumen gentium, at paragraph 15:

The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter. For there are many who honor Sacred Scripture, taking it as a norm of belief and a pattern of life, and who show a sincere zeal. They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, the Son of God and Saviour. They are consecrated by baptism, in which they are united with Christ. They also recognize and accept other sacraments within their own Churches or ecclesiastical communities. Many of them rejoice in the episcopate, celebrate the Holy Eucharist and cultivate devotion toward the Virgin Mother of God. They also share with us in prayer and other spiritual benefits. Likewise we can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them too He gives His gifts and graces whereby He is operative among them with His sanctifying power. Some indeed He has strengthened to the extent of the shedding of their blood. In all of Christ’s disciples the Spirit arouses the desire to be peacefully united, in the manner determined by Christ, as one flock under one shepherd, and He prompts them to pursue this end. Mother Church never ceases to pray, hope and work that this may come about. She exhorts her children to purification and renewal so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the earth.

 

[sthudium]

So Gorgias, if I am correct, you are saying:

1. God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the Passover as a remembrance that God saved them from the Egyptian bondage. Passover is not for atonement.
2. Jesus commanded the Christians to celebrate the Eucharist as a remembrance of His sacrifice (for our salvation from the bondage of sin and death.) This is not a repeated sacrifice for atonement. And, it supersedes and replaces Passover.

In a way, the Eucharist seems to be still repeating the Passover, but differently, as the remembered salvation is different. And did Jesus command that the Eucharist be repeated over and over, or only at the Last Supper?

Furthermore, others speak of the grace that we receive during Eucharist, which strengthens us for living the Christian life. Just as the Passover lamb strengthened the Israelites for their journey out of Egypt, the Eucharist is a meal that strengthens Christians for avoiding the bondage of sin.

Am I correct?

This leaves us with Todd_Easton’s post about repentance:

The Eucharist is one of the sacramental ways we can participate in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The first way is the sacrament of Baptism, where Original Sin and all our past sins, both serious and minor sins, are forgiven. For our repented serious sins committed after Baptism, there is the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). For our repented minor sins, there is the sacrament of Eucharist. The Eucharist is repeated because we repeatedly commit minor sins that need to be forgiven.

Is Todd saying that Eucharist does atone for repented minor sins? Is this like the indulgence praying the Rosary incurs. This would seem to conflict with what Gorgias has been saying.

 

[Brendan]

My Protestant friends tell me that Catholics repeat Jesus’ sacrifice at each Eucharist, and that this is not necessary, because Jesus died once for our sins?

Imagine that you have a time machine. You go back at witness the Cruxifiction. It moves you greatly. So much so that you go back again to witness it once more. And you bring a few friends the time after that.

So far, you have witnessed the Sacrifice of Christ many times. But how many times did his Sacrifice happen?

 

[sthudium]

Imagine that you have a time machine. You go back at witness the Cruxifiction. It moves you greatly. So much so that you go back again to witness it once more. And you bring a few friends the time after that.

Ah, yes… an analogy that I think would help many understand re-presentation.

 

[dallas_r]

As others have said, we are not “re-sacrificing Christ”. It is necessary to have a recurring Eucharist because Jesus says in 1 Corinthians 11:24 …“This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus tells us to re-present His sacrifice in memory of Him.