John O' Brien, Roman Catholic Priest in the Faith of Millions. | Hebrews 9:24-28 | Hebrews 10:11-13 |
When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors: it is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. Indeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows His head in humble obedience to the priest’s command. | 24For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. | Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. |
Thanks for the synopsis. The Bible keeps unmasking some of the unBiblical practices.
Well, that was badly put, because it is not a new sacrifice, and the priest does not bring Him down, per se.
So in John 6, starting at verse 25, Jesus reveals this truth, culminating in the line at verse 53 and 54: “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
After this, many of His disciples left. Note that Jesus did *not* call them back and explain that He was only speaking symbolically.
Given these words of Christ Jesus’, what can we learn? First, that it is necessary for our salvation to “eat His Body... drink His Blood.” Would He not have made some provision for this for future disciples?
Later, at the Last Supper, Christ said: “This is My Body... This is My Blood.” Then He told them to “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
He Himself consecrated bread and wine, saying “This is...” Now, Jesus is The Word, He is God. What He says **actually happens.**
Next He says: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Now, He has already said that it is necessary to eat His Body and drink His Blood to have life within us; clearly this is how that will happen. This is why later the Bible says “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (1 Cor 11:29)
“Not discerning the Lord’s Body...”
If the apparent bread and wine were merely symbols, how could they be discerned as the Body of the Lord? How could consuming them bring damnation to the partakers?
Remember that God is outside of time. Thus He can easily bring the one and only sacrifice of Christ on the cross to many places and times within time. The consecration is not Christ’s sacrifice done again; it is the same once-occurring sacrifice spread through time and space.
And the priest does not “bring” Christ to the altar; he just creates the circumstances by which the sacrifice is spread to the particular time and space.
“The Faith of Millions” is a rather antiquated apologetic or popular catechetical book. It is not an authoritative teaching document. You won’t find language like that in the decrees of Trent, or in the catechism of that Council, or in the 1983 catechism, or in Vatican II, etc.