In this year of focused emphasis on deepening and renewing our faith in the Eucharist, we encounter the many facets that make up that faith. We begin, of course, with the basic reality. At Mass, following the prayers pronounced by the priest celebrant, the bread truly becomes the body of Christ and wine becomes His blood. This change is not merely symbolic but it reflects the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. “This is my body.” “This is the chalice of my blood.”

 

Our faith recognizes as well that the change from bread to body and wine to blood is lasting. It is not momentary or only during the course of the Mass, for example. For that reason, we are praying before the presence of Christ after Mass, either in Eucharistic adoration or before the tabernacle in our parish church.

 

Another element of our faith is that on Holy Thursday night, as Jesus instituted the Eucharist, He specifically linked it to the crucifixion and to His death on the cross. Jesus specifically said that the Eucharist is His body “which will be given for you” and His blood “which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 22:19-20). 

 

In a bloody manner, that is what happened the following day. Sacramentally but truly, that one sacrifice for our sins that took place in history on Calvary is re-presented, made present again in an unbloody manner, each time Mass is offered. In essence, spiritually we stand beside Mary at the foot of the cross and join ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice at every Mass.

 

But what exactly is a sacrifice? We use that term in common parlance of course. We say, for example, that I had to sacrifice to save up and buy a house. Or, we sacrificed to care for our aging parents in their final years. In that sense we speak of renouncing something or taking on a responsibility for a good act.

To understand how the Eucharist is a sacrifice is another matter however. Going back to the Old Testament, we read about sacrifices being offered to God as a part of religion. Abraham, for example, went off with Isaac to offer sacrifice to God. The Book of Leviticus gives detailed instructions for sacrifices to be offered to God.

 

Those sacrifices fulfilled the Divine command. They were not simply human inventions. However, they were precursors, pointing to the definitive sacrifice which was part of God’s plan. That was the sending of God’s Son to be the sacrifice that forgives our sins as Jesus told us.

 

The Council of Trent taught that the Mass is truly a sacrifice. It consists of four elements: a priest, a permanent and sensible object to be offered, the offering of the object or victim to God and the immolation or destruction of the offering. 

 

On Calvary, Jesus was the priest, designated by God to make the offering. He was also the victim, the object to be sacrificed. He willingly offered Himself to God on the cross. And like the Old Testament offerings of bulls and goats, He gave up His life, being destroyed to complete the sacrifice.

 

In the Mass, the sacrifice is offered by the priest called by God, configured to Christ and ordained by the Church. The bread and wine are the sensible and permanent objects. By God’s will they become the body and the blood of Jesus to be offered. They are offered to the Father and immolated by their permanent transformation and consumption.

 

In all of this, the Eucharist and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross are one. That is the profound and eternal reality in which we are called to participate by attending Mass and worthily receiving holy Communion.

 

In deepening and renewing our faith in the Eucharist we must include in that faith the recognition of the sacrifice of the Mass that is at the heart of the Eucharist.