The Mass, sacrament and sacrifice
In the Last Supper, Jesus gave the apostles his body and blood to eat. In every Mass, Christ gives himself to us as spiritual food (Holy Communion). This is the sacrament of the Eucharist.
The Second Vatican Council confirms that Christ instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood at the Last Supper. “He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”
Commenting on this text, Pope St. Paul VI says: “These words highlight both the sacrifice, which pertains to the essence of the Mass that is celebrated daily, and the sacrament in which those who participate in it through Holy Communion eat the flesh of Christ and drink the blood of Christ, and thus receive grace, which is the beginning of eternal life, and the ‘medicine of immortality’ according to our Lord’s words: ‘The man who eats my flesh and drinks my blood enjoys eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day’ (Jn 6:55).”
To understand the Mass well, we should keep in mind all these aspects. Sacrifice and sacrament (with its two elements of presence of Christ and spiritual nourishment for us) pertain to the same mystery and cannot be separated from one another.
The Lord is immolated in an unbloody way in the Mass and he re presents (makes present here and now) the sacrifice of the cross and applies its salvific power at the moment when he becomes sacramentally present through the words of Consecration. He becomes the spiritual food of the faithful, under the appearances of bread and wine.
All these points should be considered to have a complete picture of the Mass.
• The Mass is the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated throughout the centuries.
• Christ is there –really, substantially present– under the forms of bread and wine.
• In the Mass, Christ the Lord, through the ministry of the priest, offers himself to God the Father and gives himself to the faithful as spiritual food. The faithful are associated with his offering.
• The Mass is an action of Christ himself and the Church.
• The Mass signifies and effects the unity of the people of God and achieves the building up of the body of Christ.
• The Mass is the summit and the source of all Christian worship and life.
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