Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: conan@wish-bone.berkeley.edu (David Cruz-Uribe) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Capital Sins and Capital Virtues Message-ID: Date: 13 Nov 89 17:02:42 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Math Dept., UC Berkeley Lines: 41 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [This is in response to a dialog between Steve Dyer and me. I had thought that Catholics doctrine implied that a priest was performing a sacrifice during communion. Steve commented that although there are sacrificial aspects, it isn't sacrificing Christ again. The Mass is the same sacrifice as Calvary. I asked for clarification. --clh] Perhaps I can clarify the situation (or at least throw gas on the flames :-)). Just to be definitive, the following is an excerpt from the Decrees of the Council of Trent, (as quoted in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Mass, Roman"): Should anyone say that in the Mass there is not offered a true and genuine sacrifice or that to be offered means nothing more than that Christ is given us to eat, _anathema sit_... Should anyone say that the sacrifice of the Mass is only one of praise or thanksgiving, or but a bare commemoration of the sacrifice on the cross, and not propitiatory..._anathema sit_... Now, having stated definitively what Catholics don't believe, let me try and explain what we do believe. There is one unique sacrifice made for our sins--the sacrifice on the Cross. It cannot in any way be repeated. The mystery of the mass is that in it we are united with this event, across time and space. But we are not present as passive observers: the sacrifice of the mass comes when we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ, offering _ourselves_ through Him to the Father. This is possible only through God's grace, received in Baptism. One way of looking at this is our sacrifice is a renewal of our baptismal vows; however, I'm not confident this completely captures the depth of what is happening, since the sacrament is a sign of God's action, not ours. Well, I hope this clarifies the question--if anyone wants, I can look into this further. (Also the NCE article above is quite good.) Yours in Christ, David Cruz-Uribe, SFO