Eucharist (6): The Mass's Objective and Operation
Jesus Christ instituted this admirable sacrifice, testimony of His love, in order to leave to the Church a visible sacrifice, adapted to the very nature of man, which represents the bloody sacrifice consummated one time only on the Cross. In this way, it perpetuates the memory of the sacrifice of the Cross until the end of the world and applies to us salutary virtue for remission of the sins we commit so often.
“And taking bread, He gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me” (Lk. 22:19).
“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. And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me.
In like manner also the chalice, after He had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until He come” (I Cor. 11:23-26).
The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is especially represented in the Mass by the double consecration of the bread and the wine done separately. It realizes the real separation of the Body and the Blood that Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the bloody death that He experienced on the Cross. The Mass is not a pure and simple representation of the sacrifice of the Cross; it is the same sacrifice of the Cross renewed. There is only one and the same victim, the same priest who is offered on the Cross and who is offered now by His ministers; only the mode of oblation differs, the sacrifice of the Mass being unbloody.
(Sources: Gasparri/Saint Pius X – FSSPX 04/08/2019)
