The Mass - A Sacrifice... but not a Re-Sacrifice? Huh?

Today I wanted to address one of the most incomprehensible aspects of Catholic worship when looking in from the outside.

The Catholic Church’s worship service is called “the Mass”.  As you may be aware, the Church regards the Mass as a sacrifice in which the offered victim is Jesus Christ.  In addition, most Catholic parishes celebrate the Mass multiple times per day.

With this in mind, many non-Catholics will be concerned that Catholics are attempting to sacrifice Jesus again and again.  In  fact, some will confront Catholics with the words from the letter to the Hebrews, which emphatically says that Christ was sacrificed ONCE for all.  However, when faced with those quotations, knowledgeable Catholics will look you in the eye and assert that the Mass does not “re-sacrifice” Jesus.

The mind reels.

What is going on there?  How can the Mass be a sacrifice, be something which is repeated, and yet not be a “re-sacrifice”?

That’s what we’ll explore today.



A Recap on Participation:

To understand how the Catholic Church’s teaching doesn’t violate the principle of non-contradiction, we first have to review a principle within Catholic theology called “Participation”.

I already covered it at length in my essay on Mary as “Coredemtrix”, but rather than give you a link, I’ll just copy the explanation here:

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The Principle of Participation:

Participation refers to how God allows us, as members of the body of Christ, to share in a prerogative which is proper to the Godhead.  These prerogatives are things which God possesses in principle, but we are given the privilege of sharing in a secondary way.

The first and most obvious example of this is our very existence.  Only God exists through His uncreated nature.  We also exist, but only because God sustains us in existence moment to moment.  In that sense we "co-exist" with God.

A second example is the status Christians have as adopted children of God.  Jesus is the Son of God by nature, but Scripture tells us we receive the status of sons and daughters from Christ in the sacrament of baptism:

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” - Galatians 3:26  

Another example, which follows from the previous one, is that our status as children of God means we are royal inheritors.  This is seen in Scripture when Saint Paul says we become “co-heirs” with Christ to the kingdom of Heaven:

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” – Romans 8:17

Lastly, the starkest example is given to us by Saint Peter, who says that by grace we become participants in the divine nature:

“By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature.” - 2Peter 1:4

A Loving Father, Not a Jealous Banker:

So to recap, each one of these prerogatives and attributes are things which God has in principle.  But at the same time, God isn't trying to jealously guard these things from prying human hands – as if His specialness is under threat.

Quite the opposite.  Jesus taught us to regard God is our Father, not as a paranoid banker.  As such, He wants to share good things with His children.  We have no right to any of these things by ourselves, but through a great act of condescension and generosity, God permits us to participate in these prerogatives as members of the Christ’s mystical body.  We ride His coattails, so to speak.

Some Christian traditions have so focused on man’s total depravity that they lose sight of the intimate transforming union with God which Christ draws us into.  This is a union so intimate that when Saul was persecuting the Christians, Jesus appeared to him and said:

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” - Acts 9:4  

This is because through our Baptism we are grafted into the body of Christ.  As Saint Paul says to the Corinthians:

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:1

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Moving On:

OK, now that we have seen that concept, we can apply in some ways that a relevant to the Mass.  But first we have one more piece of background to cover.


The Eternal Offering:

Let’s continue on by asking another question.

Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice to merit the salvation of the world outside Jerusalem in the year 33AD.  But how is that sacrifice presented to God the Father?

Well, for that answer we must go back to the letter of the Hebrews - the document that started this exploration.  The core narrative of the letter to the Hebrews is the superiority of the new covenant in Christ over the old covenant God made with the Israelites.

Specifically, the author notes that in the Old Covenant, a high priest would enter a sanctuary on earth and present a sacrifice which could not actually atone for sin.  This is contrasted with Jesus, who enters into the heavenly sanctuary and offers His sacrifice in the presence of God in eternity.  Hebrews says:

“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 

Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.” - Hebrews 9:24-26

So the offering of Jesus’ sacrifice to the Father is not something which occurs in time, but in eternity.  Thus, it can be said that for every point in time, Jesus is presenting this sacrifice before God.  It is happening now.  And now.  And now.  His intercession takes place in a single, eternal act.

Hebrews continues:

“Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.” – Hebrews 7:25-27

This is also observed by Paul in the letter to the Romans:

“Jesus who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” – Romans 8:34

What might this look like?

One clue appears in the book of Revelation.  Revelation records a vision which John the Apostle received while exiled on the isle of Patmos.  That vision thrust his mind into Heaven and showed him what was going on up there.  

In the early chapters he sees the worship which is occurring in Heaven.  He sees candles, incense, an altar, and….

“Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that was standing as though it were slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world.” – Revelation 5:6

This is the caught-on-camera moment of Jesus’ eternal intercession before the Father.  He stands as the lamb that was slain, presenting His sacrifice before the throne of God.

Now let’s ask another question:  What does this have to do with us?


Participation as Offerer:

This brings us to another very powerful form of participation.  This is mentioned in Saint Peter's first letter:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”– 1 Peter 2:9

Saint Peter says we are a royal priesthood.  That is to say, we participate in the priesthood of Jesus.  But what does that mean?  

Well, priests offer sacrifice.  The sacrifice Jesus offers as high priest is... Himself.  Therefore, the way we participate in the priesthood of Jesus must entail offering Christ's sacrifice in some way.  But how?

Glad you asked.

Jesus showed us how Christians would participate in offering His sacrifice at the Last Supper:

"And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the chalice after supper, saying, 'This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.'” - Luke 22: 19-20

Many people mistakenly think this language of "remembrance" implies nothing more than a mental exercise in which we call to mind what Jesus did for us.  On the contrary, the use of the word "remembrance" in this context is pregnant with sacrificial overtones.  Take, for comparison, the description of Cornelius' offerings in the book of Acts:

"And when [Cornelius] looked on [the angel], he was afraid, and said, 'What is it, Lord?' And [the angel] said unto him, 'Your prayers and your alms are come up for a memorial before God.'" - Acts 10:4

More specifically, the institution of the Mass at the Last Supper is meant to remind us of the establishment of the Passover in Exodus:

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.”  - Exodus 12:14 

So the bottom line is that the Mass is exactly what Jesus established it to be - the Church's participation in the eternal offering of Christ's sacrifice... which Jesus is presenting before the Father in Heaven.

Thus, the sacrifice itself remains singular - even if we instantiate our participation in that sacrifice at different points in time.  There may be many, many Masses, but each time the Mass is celebrated, what is really going on is a connection between time and eternity.  And the exact location of that connection is right… about ….

Participation in Being Offered:

This leads us to the other way in which we participate with Christ in the worship at Mass:  We participate as the sacrifice.

Jesus offered up His body on the cross.  Henceforth He has been presenting that sacrifice before God.  If your recall, we already saw how every Christian is incorporated into the body of Christ.  So when Christ presents Himself before the Father, by connection He is also presenting YOU.

We can see that reflected in the Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he says:

“I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” – Romans 12:1

Even if the music is bad and the preaching is dry, being at Mass means you are being presented before the throne of God.   This is why the author of Hebrews, when speaking of Christian worship, reminds his readers:

“You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. […] “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.”  - Hebrews 12: 22-24, 28-29

[Consequently this sheds light on why Saint Paul insists in 1Cor 11:27-30  that anyone partaking in the Eucharist must do so while in a right relationship with God.]

At the Mass you are like whales poking your head above the water.  This isn't your natural habitat, but somehow you are made for this place.  It is the only place you can breathe.

The One Sacrifice:

Let us return to the question that started this all.  The Mass is a sacrifice.  It happens over and over again.   Yet somehow it is not repeating the sacrifice.  How is this?

From our perspective we think the mass is repeated over and over again, but this is an illusion induced by our perspective.  What we have seen is that the Mass is actually an eternal reality which simply touches down in various locations in space in time.  But from eternity looking back you would see the real story...

There has only ever been one Mass.

Done wrapping your head around that?  Good.

All of this is well summarized by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states:

“The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and entire. She unites herself to His intercession with the Father for all men.  

In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value.  

Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with his offering.”  – CCC 1368

This is the meaning of Christian worship.

Thank you for joining me.