Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cms@dragon.uucp Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Importance of sacrifice Message-ID: Date: 6 Aug 90 00:15:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 106 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [This continues the discussion on the sacrificial implications of the Catholic Mass. Joe Buehler, had commented that Protestant liturgy is unlike any traditional liturgy because it doesn't have sacrificial language. John Warren responded that it didn't because it went beyond the Fathers, back to the Bible, which did not say that the eucharist is a sacrifice, although it did talk about Christians giving money and themselves sacrificially. --clh] Romans 12:1, "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. Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." We offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and good works to be mingled with the one holy sacrifice of Christ in the Mass. Ephesians 5:2, "So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma." Hebrews 7:26, "It is 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 priest, 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." As OFM notes, our sacrifice is mingled with the holy, perfect sacrifice of Christ. Christ Himself need not ever die again, and certain does not in the Sacrifice of the Mass, rather we are joined in a mystical union to His Sacrifice. We physical touch the Sacrifice of Christ; we actually, tangibly feel the Gift. It is sacred beyond compare. Hebrews 10:26, "If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace?" 1 Peter 2:1-5, "Rid yoursleves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Gospel of John 6:51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world....Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." Interpretations of the Bible are often based on interpretations of the Church Fathers, who, being closer to the time when Jesus walked the Earth, are more likely to reflect the beliefs and practices of the earliest Christians than later theologians. Martin Luther had this to say: "But there is another misconception to be done away with which is much more serious and more specious, viz., the common belief that the mass is a sacrifice offered to God. This belief seems to be expressed in the words of the canon which speak of 'these gifts, these offerings, these holy sacrifices'; and, later, 'this oblation'. Moreover, the request is very definite that the sacrifice will be accepted as was Abel's sacrifice, etc. Then, too, Christ is said to be the victim on the altar. In support of these false views, there are many sayings of the holy Fathers, and the whol custom of the church as observed throughout the world. "We must resolutely oppose them all with the words and example of Christ, in spite of the fact that they are so strongly entrenched. For if we do not hold firmly that the mass is the promise, or testament, of Christ, as His words plainly show, we shall lose the whole gospel, and all its comfort. We must not allow anything to prevail contrary to these words, not even if an angel from heaven were to teach otherwise. Those words contain nothing about a good work or a sacrifice. Moreover, Christ's example is on our side. At the Last Supper, when Christ initiated this sacrament, and instituted this testament, He did not offer Himself to God, or perform any 'good work' for others. He took His seat at the table, He offered the same testament to each, one by one, and gave the same sign. Now the closer our mass resembles that first mass of all, which Christ celebrated at the Last Supper, the more Christian it will be. But the mass which Christ celebrated was extremely simple, without any display of vestments, genuflections, chants, and other ceremonies. If it was necessary to offer Himself as a sacrifice, then He did not institute it completely." Whew! No wonder Martin Luther was regarded as a heretic....an angel from heaven wouldn't convince him he was wrong. [Martin was alluding to Gal. 1:8, I think. John Warren goes on to quote a Druid saying "Truth against the World", which for him means Scripture over Church tradition, no matter how ancient. At this point cms also includes one of my comments, which points out that Protestant liturgy does indeed have sacrificial implications. The elements point to Christ's sacrifice, as do the words of the liturgy. If the Catholic concept is of not so much a new sacrifice, but that we are mystically brought into contact with Christ's original sacrifice, then the difference is not quite as drastic as might be supposed, though there is certainly still a difference. It seems that as elsewhere when dealing with eucharistic theology, the primary difference is in the degree of literalness with which we take Christ's presence. Catholics believe that Christ's body is physically present. It seems somehow consistent with this to see the Mass as involving the worshipper more directly in Christ's sacrifice. --clh] Sincerely, Cindy Smith emory!dragon!cms