An Unbloody Sacrifice
So after writing that last post I decided it might be a good idea to also make it known whats up with the Catholic faith: that we don’t sacrifice animals like the Jewish people did in the Old Testament (I’m not hating on Jewish people…I love Jewish people!). We believe that in the New Testament, Christ sacrificed Himself for us and left us with a memorial of that sacrifice, death, resurrection, and ascension.
That memorial we call: The Eucharist.
See that wafer thing? We believe that it substantially becomes the Body of the Lord. Then we receive it…i.e. we eat it. But it’s not that we’re crazy cannibals or anything, I promise! See, the accidents of bread remain. The accidents are the things that appeal to our human senses. So the bread will still look, taste, feel, and smell like bread (and you can’t really hear bread unless you are some kind of super crazy hearing person). The same goes with the wine. Once consecrated by a priest, the substance changes, and the accidents remain. If the accidents were to change as well, then you could call us crazy and throw things at us (like what happened in John, chapter 6, minus the throwing things). Only the substance changes. So, the reality is is that Catholics receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.
Pretty awesome, eh?
Oh, and don’t worry, we don’t “re-sacrifice” Christ or anything.
When our priests offer sacrifice at mass, it is not that they are “re-sacrificing” Jesus each time at mass but rather, the one sacrifice of Christ is re-presented. It is as if we are at the Cross on Calvary with our Lord. Then the priest leads us in prayers of thanksgiving and remembrance and finally, we receive the Sacred Body and Precious Blood of our Lord. How awesome the Holy Mass is!
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