offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”
(10:10-11).
According to Protestants, by claiming that the Mass is a sacrifice, Catholics
are adding another sacrifice in addition to Christ’s. Therefore, Catholics
hold that Christ’s sacrifice was not sufficient, perfect or complete enough
to atone for all sin. Furthermore, by claiming that in the sacrifice of the
Mass Christ is being offered to the Father again and again, Catholics
“crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to
contempt” (Heb. 6:6).
The Catholic Church, however, does not teach that the sacrifice of the Mass
is another sacrifice in addition to Calvary or a re-crucifixion of Christ.
Rather, it is a re-presenting of Christ’s original sacrifice, making it present
to all Christians in all places and at all times. The sacrifice of Calvary and
the sacrifice of the Mass are one and the same sacrifice, only the manner in
which they are offered is different. The Council of Trent expresses it thus:
“And inasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the
Mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody
manner, Who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar
of the cross: the holy synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly
propitiatory, and that by means thereof this is effected that we obtain
mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid … For the victim is one and
the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who then
offered Himself on the cross, only the manner of offering being
different.”²
The sacrifice of Christ was accomplished once in time but to God it is an
event eternally present before Him. This we know from St. John’s words in
the Book of Revelation: “And all that dwell upon the earth adored him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was
slain from the beginning of the world” (13:8). In heaven, Christ still bears
the appearance of a victim: “And between the throne and the four living
creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had
been slain” (Rev. 5:6). The Mass slices through time and re-presents this
eternal sacrifice before us so all Christians may eat the flesh of the Eternal
Lamb after it has been slain.
2
Doctrine on the Sacrifice of the Mass, Session XXII, 1562.
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