Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Importance of sacrifice Message-ID: Date: 13 Jul 90 08:04:09 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu > In the discussion on veneration of saints it has come out that in the > Catholic religion sacrifice is a central portion of the worship service-- > more central than prayer, perhaps. In what way is sacrifice important > to the Catholic? Sacrifice is viewed as the principal form that the worship of God should take. I can pray "to" a Saint, but I cannot offer sacrifice to one without committing idolatry. Historically, the early martyrs were often required by the Roman state to offer sacrifice to idols. They were martyred because they refused; they knew that sacrifice is to be offered to the true God alone. What a Catholic priest is for, in fact, is to offer sacrifice. No sacrifice, no priest; no priest, no sacrifice. A Catholic priest offers the Sacrifice of the Mass. That is the most important thing he does. Catholics believe that the Mass is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross, differing principally only in its unbloody manner. What is supposed to be going on in Catholic churches on Sundays is not principally the prayers, etc., offered by Catholics. It is principally the Sacrifice of the Cross, presented again by Jesus Christ to the Father, through the intrumentality of His human priests. Mass on Sundays is not something that Catholics do, it is something that Jesus Christ does, that we're present at. The Protestant Reformers felt unable to reconcile the once-for-all nature of the Sacrifice of Calvary with a Mass repeated again and again through time. The principal liturgical change of the Reformers was thus the removal of the sacrificial language from the Mass. This is one of the primary reasons why Rome does not recognize a priesthood among Protestant denominations; there is no sacrifice, which is the primary reason for the priesthood in the first place. Joe Buehler