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Next: Latin Pronunciation Mass Page 2
The Way of The Cross.
The Sacred Liturgy of The Catholic Church is the Highest form of Prayer.
In Brief, on The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Sending.
(CCC1332;cf. 1088, 1382, 2192)
We participate in the Body of Christ and are all one (1 Cor. 10:17).
At Mass, Christ who is Head of the Body (CCC1547) is our unique High Priest (Heb.5:10; 6:20) offering himself as a sacrifice to the Father. Christ is both Priest and victim. His priesthood is made present in a special way in the Church. We offer ourselves at Mass, and unite ourselves with Christ's once for all (Heb.10:4) sacrifice at Calvary. The Mass is a representation or memorial reenactment of Calvary; an un-bloody sacrifice making Christ's Body and Blood sacramentally present, under the appearance of bread and wine.
We are not spectators at Mass; we participate in the Body of Christ and are all one (1 Cor. 10:17). Through the Mass we are at Calvary, uniting and offering ourselves with Christ, as He offers Himself to the Father. We personally participate, and are integrated, into the atoning death (1 Cor. 11:26) and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At Mass, we die to our sins, and offer ourselves, as a living sacrifice united with Christ's once for all sacrifice at Calvary. (Colossians 1:24 Ignatius, RSV) “Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.” Jesus, as head of the body suffered for the whole body which is the Church Each member suffers with the Head, and members share (merit) a common glory of the resurrection.
Applying the Fruits of Christ's Sufficient Sacrifice
Catholics believe in the sufficiency of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross for our redemption. At Mass we add our suffering to His, in order that the fruits of His redemption be applied to our souls, or to the souls of others. Christ's atoning sacrifice has infinite merit, transcending space and time. For example, "Jesus sojourned to the realm of the dead prior to His resurrection . . .. He descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there" (1 Peter 3:18, 19). For salvation to be applied to us, our communion (1 Cor. 10:16; 11:28-29) with Jesus Christ, our savior, must be a communion of body (John 6:35, 51). The priestly minister recites the words of institution of the Eucharist (Matt. 26:26-29) (Mark 14:25) (Luke 22:15-20) (1 Cor. 11:23-25) by our Lord, at the last supper. In the separate consecration of bread and wine (separating body and blood) by a Ministerial Priest (Holy Orders CCC1547), on an altar, there occurs the change of the entire substance of the wine into the Blood of Christ, and the bread into the Body of Christ. The appearance or “species” of bread and wine remain. We eat (Exodus 12:8, 46) (John 1:29) (1 Cor. 5:7) the “Bread” and /or drink the ”Wine” and have received communion.We celebrate Jesus alive, and mysterious, really present among us.
When we share the bread and wine, Jesus unites us with himself in his offering of himself to God, our Father. We offer ourselves to God, along with Jesus at Mass, as a "living sacrifice"... "so we, though many, are one body in Christ" ( Rom 12:1-5 ). When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus gives himself to us in the food of life; his Body and Blood, to help us grow in goodness and love, and be more like him. We receive the gift of grace. We join Jesus in praising our Father at Mass. We celebrate the memorial of his sacrifice, and we celebrate, too, Jesus alive and mysterious, really present among us ( 1 Cor 5:7 ) ( Heb 9:14; 9:24-28 ).Scholastic terms not found in the Bible
(The cup is associated with the covenant. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus drinks a final cup with the disciples until He drinks new wine in the Kingdom. See :“The Fourth Cup” by Scott Hahn) The scholastic term used to designate the unique change of the Eucharistic (John 1:28-30; 6:53) (Exodus 12:8, 46) (1 Corinthians 5:7) (1 John 5:16,17) bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is Transubstantiation. (CCC1376) Like the words purgatory, and Trinity (Matt 28:18-19) (CCC1023), the word Transubstantiation is not found in the Bible.A Kingdom of Priests. doctrine by Vote = Chaos.
Protestant, and other churches, not having a Bishop (Titus 1:5) (Lumen Gentium, 20), and not in union with (Peter) or his successor the Bishop of Rome, do not have a valid Ministerial Priesthood (CCC1142), and also do not have an altar on which a priest offers sacrifice. The Faith in Protestant Churches may be voted on, and therefore, amended or change. For example: At a Protestant Church, were I had lunch, I meet a women who could use a particular form of Contraception when she visited her husband in New York City. When the husband visited her, in this small town in Florida, she could not use that particular form of Contraception because the church members, within the same Protestant denomination, are more concervative and voted "No" on the matter. By vote, doctrine had changed, at this geographic location.Catholics recognizes that Christ made of His Church.a “kingdom of priests” (Rev.1:6, 5:10) and gives the faithful a share in his priesthood (1 Peter 2:4-5) (Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:6) through the Sacraments (CCC1210, 774, 1131) of baptism and confirmation (CCC784, 1119, 1546)
(Hebrews 5:4-6) “…No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. "And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
The Order or Manner of Christ’s Priesthood
Melchizedek: From the Hebrew meaning "King of righteousness” was King of Salem (Gen.14:18-20) who, on Abraham's return with the booty taken from the four kings, "bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, blessed him", and received from him "the tithes of all"
Christ is: "a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech" (Psalm 109:4) (Hebrews 7:6) order or manner (Gesenius), not after the manner of Aaron.(Read Book on Mass: Letter and Spirit : From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy, By Scott Hahn)