Oct 31 Thu
How can Jesus' sacrifice be my sacrifice?
In every Mass, as in the Last Supper, the mystery of transubstantiation takes place. This occurs when the priest pronounces the words of the Consecration.
In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the Mass is set in sharp opposition to pagan sacrifices. The real presence is declared, and the comparison of the two worships highlights the sacrificial character of the Mass. For St Paul, the Eucharist is the sacrifice of the Lord’s body and blood, and is the sacrifice of Christians.
St Paul starts by insisting on the Christians in Corinth to abstain from any manifestation of idolatry (1 Cor 10:14‑21), specifically from the banquet that usually followed the pagan sacrifice. He states the reason: A sacrifice and the banquet that follows it are closely related. To share in the banquet is, in effect, to participate in the sacrifice. St Paul offers two examples to bring this point home:
(1) He reminds them of the sacrifices of Israel. In these, the people shared in the victim offered by eating a part of it.
(2) He makes clear what happens in the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist: “The blessing‑chalice that we bless is a Communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a Communion with the body of Christ.” This affirmation, in this context, implies that by taking Communion we also participate in the sacrifice of Christ.
The principal Victim of the sacrifice, then, is Jesus Christ, but the faithful, to exercise their ‘baptismal priesthood’ fully, should unite their sacrifice to his, and thus offer themselves also to God the Father.
The Mass requires all Christians to reproduce in themselves the sentiments that Christ had when he offered himself in sacrifice: sentiments of humility, adoration, praise, and thanksgiving to the divine Majesty. It requires them also to become victims, as it were; cultivating a spirit of self‑denial according to the precepts of the Gospel, willingly doing works of penance, detesting and atoning for their sins. It requires all of us, in a word, to die mystically with Jesus Christ on the cross, so that we may say with the same apostle, “With Christ, I hang upon the cross.”
The unity of believers, centered on the Eucharist, is one clear precept of Christ. The disciples of Jesus faithfully executed this command, persevering in prayer and assembling to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice, together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, all having but one heart and one soul.
Mary’s participation in Christ’s sacrifice is unique. Standing at the foot of the cross, she actively cooperated with the redemption accomplished by her Son. She stood “suffering deeply with her only‑begotten Son and joining herself with her maternal spirit to his sacrifice, lovingly consenting to the immolation of the Victim to whom she had given birth; in this way, Mary faithfully preserved her union with her Son even to the cross.” She was associated with Christ in the sacrifice of the cross and the same sacrifice is made sacramentally present in every Mass. Thus, Mary is present in a mystical manner in every Mass.
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