Posted on 01/19/2022 4:17:47 PM PST by ADSUM
What else should you do, besides having a lot of faith, if you want to attend Holy Mass well? You should identify yourself with Christ. You should remember the Scriptures and have "the same mind" "that he had on the cross (cf. Phil 2:5). The same mind which means the same purposes. What purposes did Jesus have on the cross? What was he concerned about? We can sum up his ends or purposes as four: to give glory to God the Father; to thank him; to make up for the sins of men; and to ask him for graces for us. If each time you go to Mass, you try to live at least one of these four purposes, you will attend Holy Mass well.
The Holy Mass is the holiest thing we have here on earth. Why? Because it is the action of Christ. The main thing in the Mass is not what is read from the Holy Scriptures, even though this is the word of God and should be listened to as such.
The main thing in the Mass is not what the priest preaches in his sermon nor what the people do or sing. The main thing is what Christ does.
And what does Christ do in the Holy Mass? He offers himself for us, as he offered himself on the Cross. He sacrifices himself for us. That is why we say that the Mass is the same Sacrifice as that of the Cross renewed in an unbloody manner on the altar.
On the altar just on the Cross, Christ offers his body and blood for us. The difference is that on the Cross his body and blood were visible to the eyes of those who were present, while in the Mass they are hidden under the appearances of bread and wine.
But they are really present. This is the great fact. In each Mass, Christ is really present and renews the Sacrifice of the Cross.
https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-mass-explained.html
The Mass Explained
An excellent article that comments on parts of the Mass and explains the reasons for our worship of God as we stand at the foot of the Cross with our Blessed Mother.
Love for the Mass
“A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ.”1 To love the Mass is a guarantee for salvation. But to love the Mass does not mean just being present and no more.
It means to be present with faith and devotion. It means to take part in the Mass, realizing what it is: the Sacrifice of the Cross renewed on the altar; and realizing that when we go to Mass, we go, as it were, to Calvary.
And that we should be present there, like our Blessed Lady beside the Cross, in loving contemplation of Christ who offers himself lovingly for each one of us.
So when Christ said his final words on the cross at Calvary, “it is finished”, according to the Roman church it really wasn’t, as he is re-sacrificed thousands of times every day wherever masses are conducted.
A “sacrifice” without blood is merely a useless killing.
The blood is what makes the atonement. If there is no blood shed, then there is no atonement, no forgiveness.
An unbloody sacrifice is an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms.
And if the mass is an unbloody sacrifice, then why do Catholics say that the eucharist contains the body and blood of Jesus?
Where’d the blood come from if it’s an unbloody sacrifice?
FWIW, no one, not anyone can “make up” for men’s sins.
Forgiveness is the only option because the wages of sin is death and the only way someone can “make up” for sin is to die for their own and that can’t pay for it otherwise Christ would not have had to come to earth to die for us, in our place.
Very interesting and well written. Thank you!
You’re 100% right on the fundamental point that we can’t save ourselves.
I guess the “bloody” versus “unbloody” question arises from what Our Lord said at the Last Supper. This is what the Apostle Paul recorded in I Corinthians 11 (as you know):
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
What Our Lord said, He said. As we’re told in Scripture, He didn’t say, “this is like my body” or “this is something like the new testament in my blood.”
No matter what we “think” about that, there is no doubt that He went to Calvary the following day and gave His body and His blood for the salvation of those who believe.
What I am saying here is that there is a distinction (bloodless versus bloody) between what happened at the Last Supper and what happened on Calvary, and you are right to note it.
What I think Catholics believe (I haven’t been one that terribly long, so please do not consider my views expressed here as correct or authoritative) is that the re-enactment of the Last Supper (un-bloody) in the Mass becomes, due to the power of Our Lord, not of any priest or anyone in the congregation, a re-presentation of what took place at Calvary (yes, when the blood of Our Lord was definitively, once and for all, shed for our salvation).
Yes, you are right that this could not be done by anyone who is merely human to “make up” for anyone’s sins. Only Our Lord Himself could do this.
I 100% don’t want to get into a dispute over this but rather want to acknowledge that the basic point you were making is a correct one, and that’s why I went to the trouble of trying to outline, however imperfectly, what the “Catholic” view of this might be.
Thanks to you for bringing up this issue, and blessings to you and yours.
If people are readers, they need to read “A Biblical Walk Through the Mass” by Sri. (Great book!)
Christ is NOT re-sacrificed. His ONE sacrifice is remembered through re-presentation.
Look up the word “transubstantiation” — transfer of substance. The bread and wine remain bread and wine, but their substances are change to the body and blood of Jesus Christ through the words and actions of the priest as Christ’s representative.
The pagans did it first, before Jesus / God With Us was born. Worked to solidify membership in pagan rites, so why not have it part of the Catholicism rituals. But Jesus established the remembrance on the night He was betrayed, and He didn’t violate the commands from God regarding cannibalizing.
However, a metaphor does not require the us of the words “like” or “as”.
Jesus said He was the door, the good shepherd, the light. He never used like or as in those times, but people understood them to be a metaphor.
So it’s certainly not unreasonable to conclude that “This is my body/blood” is as much a metaphor as His other statements about being a door, light, or a shepherd.
Additionally, there is a huge weight of Scripture that forbids the consumption of blood, before the Law was given, within the Law, and again reiterated after the Day of Pentecost. The blood was always to be poured out for atonement in any sacrifice ordained by God. It was NEVER to be consumed.
That alone lends credence to thinking that the comparison of the body to bread and the blood to wine is not to be taken literally.
During the Last Supper, as they were celebrating it, what Jesus was doing was explaining the meaning of the different elements and what they pointed to. In effect, He was saying, I’m going to have my body broken and that’s what breaking this bread represents in the Passover meal. This is the reason you did this.
What do you think was finished?
Obviously, Jesus instructed his disciples to preach the gospel and baptize so that all would know and love God. This was just the start and will continue until the 2nd coming.
Do you think the work of Jesus to have all join Him in Heaven is finished?
Do you recall that Jesus told us: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 23:19?
“When people get enthused about God, they want to praise him, they want to adore him. Jesus Christ, with his humanity, gave perfect glory to God the Father from the cross, and he continues to do so from the altar. If you unite yourself to him, you will be offering a perfect sacrifice of adoration and praise.”
What do you think was finished?
Obviously, Jesus instructed his disciples to preach the gospel and baptize so that all would know and love God. This was just the start and will continue until the 2nd coming.
Do you think the work of Jesus to have all join Him in Heaven is finished?
Do you recall that Jesus told us: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 23:19?
“When people get enthused about God, they want to praise him, they want to adore him. Jesus Christ, with his humanity, gave perfect glory to God the Father from the cross, and he continues to do so from the altar. If you unite yourself to him, you will be offering a perfect sacrifice of adoration and praise.”
All are subject to the original sin of Adam that subjected all to death of the body. The soul continues to live after death.
Baptism forgives original sin and personal sins at time of Baptism.
Jesus delegated the authority in the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation to Catholic priests to forgive sins.
We are expected to repent and reject our sins and change our ways away from sins. We are required to do penance for our sins for the forgiveness. We can also seek forgiveness of the temporal punishment for sins either before we die or in Purgatory.
Penance is a supernatural moral virtue whereby the sinner is disposed to hatred of his sin as an offense against God and to a firm purpose of amendment and satisfaction. The principal act in the exercise of this virtue is the detestation of sin, not of sin in general nor of that which others commit, but of one’s own sin. The motive of this detestation is that sin offends God: to regret evil deeds on account of the mental or physical suffering, the social loss, or the action of human justice which they entail, is natural; but such sorrow does not suffice for penance. On the other hand, the resolve to amend, while certainly necessary, is not sufficient of itself, i.e., without hatred for sin already committed; such a resolve, in fact, would be meaningless: it would profess obedience to God‘s law in the future while disregarding the claims of God‘s justice in the matter of past transgression. “Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities…. Cast away from you all your transgressions… and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit” (Ezech., xviii, 30-31
https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/penance
The catholicism trained mind CAN have it both ways. Duplicity is their hallmark dontchaknow.
Yes. I agree. A wonderful video with great enthusiasm.
https://ascensionpress.com/collections/a-biblical-walk-through-the-mass
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