The Roman Catholic Sacrifice of the MASS
The sacrifice of the Mass is the very heart of Roman
Catholic faith. It is the most beautiful, the most
sacred part of Catholic worship. "lt is the secret of
her holiness and vitality." Saint Francis De Sales
said it is "the mainspring of devotion". According to
Pope Urban, if the angels could envy man anything, it
would be his power to offer the Holy Sacrifice.
Cardinal Newman called it "the greatest action that
can be on earth".
OFFICIAL CATHOLIC TEACHING
The Church of Rome teaches--(1) that at the Last
Supper, Christ instituted the Mass, a true, visible
sacrifice...; (2) that Christ bequeathed the Mass to
His Church...to be of avail for the remission of sins
and the punishment due them, and for the benefit of
the living and the dead; (3) that Christ established a
special priesthood for its celebration; (4) that
Christ, through the ministry of His priests, offers
Himself in the Mass as He offered Himself on the
cross; but that, whereas He offered Himself in a
bloody manner on the cross, He offers Himself in an
unbloody manner in the Mass; (5) that, this difference
apart, the sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice
as that of the cross, for there is the same Priest,
the same Victim and the same Offering. Rome teaches
that just as the sacrifice of Calvary was prefigured
in the Jewish sacrifices, so it is continued in the
Mass in its essentials as a sacrifice. Catholic
doctrine teaches that through the sacrifice of the
Mass a friend of God receives the appeasement of God's
anger, the extinction of the debt of temporal
punishment and the reception of blessings, which
include an increase of Sanctifying Grace. Through the
Mass, one's acts of adoration, praise, thanksgiving,
atonement, satisfaction and petition receive a new and
special efficacy. In the sacrifice of the Mass one is
said to receive, more surely than through any other
means, the grace of contrition in the hour of need,
the grace of more perfect sanctity, and all temporal
blessings not in conflict with one's spiritual well-
being.
FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED OF POPE PIUS IV
"I profess likewise that in the Mass there is
offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory
sacrifice for the living and the dead. And that in the
most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly,
really and substantially the blood, together with the
soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that
there is made a conversion of the whole substance of
the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of
the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic
Church calleth Transubstantiation, I also confess that
under either kind alone Christ is received whole and
entire and a true sacrament,"
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The canons of the Council of Trent on this subject
passed in session xxii. cap, ii are as follows:
1, "If any one shall say, that in the Mass there is
not offered to God a true and proper sacrifice, or
that what is offered is nothing else than Christ given
to be eaten, let him be anathema,"
2, "If any one shall say that in those words, This do
in remembrance of Me, Christ did not make the apostles
priests, or did not ordain that they themselves and
other priests should offer His body and blood, let him
be anathema."
3. "If any one shall say that the sacrifice of the
Mass is only of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare
commemoration of the sacrifice performed on the cross,
but not propitiatory or that it is of benefit only to
the person who takes it, and ought not to be offered
for the living and the dead for sins, punishments,
satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be
accursed,"
4, "If any one shall say that a blasphemy is ascribed
to the most holy sacrifice of Christ performed on the
cross by the sacrifice of the Mass, or the latter
derogates from the former, let him be accursed,"
PRONOUNCEMENT FROM VATICAN II
"At the Last Supper.,,our Saviour instituted the
Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did
this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the
Cross,,." p, 154, The Documents of Vatican II, Walter
M. Abbott, S.J.
CATHOLIC PROOF - TEXTS EXPLAINED
Malachi 1:11: "From the rising of the sun even to
the going down of the same my name shall be great
among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall
be offered unto my name, and a pure offering". Roman
Catholic authorities claim that this prophecy is
fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Mass, However, a
close look at the meaning of this verse indicates not
a literal, external offering, but a spiritual,
internal offering. David declared in Psalm 51:17 that
"the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;: a broken
and a contrite heart". Peter admonished the people of
God to offer up spiritual sacrifices (I Peter 2:5),
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light (v. 9). The author of Hebrews
speaks of spiritual sacrifices as praise, thanksgiving
and alms-giving (13:15-16). The Christians in Rome
were admonished to present their bodies (i.e. their
whole being) as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
Catholic authorities say that the Hebrew word for
offering (mincha) refers to the unbloody sacrifice of
the Mass, but in I Samuel 2:17 the word mincha is used
in reference to a bloody sacrifice and in Isaiah 66:20
the company of God's people conistitutes the mincha,
One cannot, therefore, use this verse to substantiate
evidence in favor of the sacrifice of the Mass, Romans
15:16b: "...that the offering up of the Gentiles might
be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost..."
Again the offering of the Gentiles was a spiritual,
internal sacrifice, that of obedience in word and deed
(v. 18).
Genesis 14:18: "And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought forth bread and wine: and he was a priest of
the most high God". One cannot assume that this verse
speaks of a sacrifice offered to God, Melchizedek was
a priest of God and he brought bread and wine, not for
a sacrifice but for the refreshment of Abram and his
men returning from battle, Cyprian was the earliest of
the post-apostolic fathers to teach that Melchizedek
was a sacrificer but there is no Biblical reference of
Melchizedek offering sacrifice (see Hebrews 7), I
Corinthians 11:24b: "This do in remembrance of me",
Catholics are taught that in this verse Jesus was, in
effect, saying "As I have now offered My body and
blood under the appearances of bread and wine as a
sacrifice, so must you offer in sacrifice My body and
blood in every celebration of this sacrament", Rome
teaches that with these words Jesus made the apostles
priests and gave Himself as a perpetual victim whom
they were to sacrifice daily, It is estimated that
there are more than 200,000 sacrifices offered on
Roman altars around the world each day of the week,
What a perversion of the common expression "this do"
which in this context simply means that God's people
are to partake of the bread and wine as a reminder
(not a perpetuation) of Christ's atonement, John
19:30: "lt is finished". According to a Roman Catholic
priest, Richard W, Grace, in his book "The Sacrifice
of Christ", "These words do not declare that His
sacrifice was finished, but that He had finished His
former, normal, earthly life and was now fixed in the
state of a victim...He then began His ever lasting
career as the perpetual sacrifice of the "New Law",
According to Rome, the sacrifice of Christ was
completed on Calvary, but not finished, i.e. He must
be perpetually sacrificed in the Mass. However, it is
not the blood sacrifice of the Cross that is repeated,
but the so-called unbloody sacrifice of the upper
room, the sacrifice of His flesh and blood under the
appearance of bread and wine, It was "the shedding of
Jesus" blood that brought remission of sin, That
sacrifice was finished as He said and Hebrews 9:22
later tells us that apart from the shedding of blood
there ic no remission of sin. Therefore, what took
place in the upper room was not a sacrifice but an
explanation of the sacrifice that was to take place
and since admittedly, there is no blood in the
sacrifice of the Mass, it cannot be a sacrifice for
sin. John 6:54-55: "Whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise
him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed". Meat is to satisfy
hunger and in verse 35 Jesus said "he that cometh to
me shall never hunger", Therefore, to come to Him is
to eat, To drink is to satisfy thirst and again in
verse 35 Jesus said "he that believeth on me shall
never thirst". Therefore, to believe is to drink. No
one can say that here Jesus was establishing the
eating and drinking of a sacrifice for sin, especially
not after what he said in verse 63: "the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life".
In Levitical law, not only was the blood never eaten,
but the sin offering was never to be eaten, Yet
Catholics believe that they really eat Christ's body
and drink His blood in their communion, If they insist
on a literal meaning in this verse, then they must
take literally the whole statement and also believe
that all who receive their communion are saved (will
live forever) and they do not believe that. Without
doubt, to consistently literalize this passage
involves some impossible interpretations for the
Catholic.
Matthew 26:26 and 28: "This is my body... this is my
blood". No one can deny that here we have figurative
language. Jesus did not say touto gignetai (this has
become or is turned into) but touto esti (this
signifies, represents or stands for), In another
passage He said "this cup is the new testament". For
one thing, "the cup" refers to its contents and
certainly neither the cup nor its contents constitutes
the new covenant, but symbolizes it. Throughout
Scripture we find similar metaphorical language: Jesus
referred to Himself as "the door" "'the vine", "the
light", "the root", "the rock", "the bright and
morning star" as well as "the bread", If I were to
show someone a photograph of my son and say, "this is
my son", they would not take these words literally,
The Scripture is written with such common language
that it is obvious to any observant reader that the
Lord's Supper was intended primarily as a memorial and
in no sense a literal sacrifice, In taking Biblical
statements literally, we must be sure that doing so is
consistent with the context and not in contradiction
to other clear teaching,
THE FINALITY OF CHRIST'S SACRIFICE
The Bible teaches that the priesthood of Jesus
Christ is unique: "Thou art a priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedek" Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews
7:17); "but this man, be-cause he continueth-ever
hath an unchangeable priesthood (i.e. it cannot be
transferred to another)" (Hebrews 7:3b and 24);
"there is... one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus" (l Timothy 2:5). There is an
obvious superiority in Jesus Christ, the one who is
approachable and can be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The human sacrificing
priesthood was weak and unprofitable being made up
of "many priests" and men of infi:mity, but Christ
was holy, undefiled and separate from sinners
(Hebrews 7:23 and 28).
Roman Catholicism teaches that her priests
dischar�e the priesthood of Jesus Christ, that they
are other Christs (Alter Christus). This explains the
extravagant adulation and exaltation heaped upon the
Roman priest. The French Catholic saint, J. B. M.
Vianney said that "Where there is no priest
there is no sacrifice, and where there is no
sacrifice there is no religion... Without the priest
the death and passion of our Lord would be of no
avail to us...See the power of the priest! By one
word from his lips, he changes a piece of bread
into a God! A greater feat than the creation of a
world." He also said "If I were to meet a priest and
an angel, I would salute the priest before saluting
the angel. The angel is a friend of God, but the
priest holds the place of God... Next to God
Himself, the priest is everything"! What
humiliation for Jesus Christ (the one who is to have
the preeminence in all things). All mankind must say
with John the Baptist "He must increase, but I must
decrease".
The epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the once
for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross, not a daily
sacrifice on altars. It cannot be argued exegetically
thiat the Mass is a real and true sacrifice of
reconciliation and that Christ still sacrifices
Himself daily by the hands Of the priest (Council of
Trent) as the Bible repeatedly affirms in the
clearest and most positive terms that Christ's
sacrifice on Calvary was complete in that one
offering. And that it was never to be repeated is set
forth in Hebrews, chapters 7, 9 and 10. There we
read: "Who needeth not daily, as those high
priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own
sins, and then for the peoples: for this he did
once, when he offered up himself" (7: 27). "...by his
own blood he entered in once, into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us"
(9:12). "...and without shedding of blood is no
remission... Nor yet that he should offer himself
often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others; for then must he
often have suffered since the foundation of the
world; but now once in the end of the world hath
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself...So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation" (9:22-28), "By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all. nnd every priest standeth
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified" (10:10-14), Dr.
Loraine Boettner, in his classic book "Roman
Catholicism", asks the reader to "Notice that
throughout these verses occurs the statement 'once
for all', which has in it the idea of completeness,
or finality, and which precludes repetition.
Christ's work on the cross was perfect and
decisive. It constituted one historic event which
need never be repeated and which in fact cannot be
repeated. The language is perfectly clear: 'He
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever' (lO: 12).
Paul says that 'Christ being raised from the dead
dieth no more' (Romans 6:9); and the writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews says that 'By one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified'
(10:14)...We are told that Christ has sat down as
token that His work is finished. Depend upon it,
He never descends from that exalted place to be a
further sacrifice upon Rome's altars or on any other;
for of such sacrifice there is no need. ...Thank God
that we can look back to what our Lord did on Calvary
and know that He completed the sacrifice for sins
once for all, and that our salvation is not dependent
on the whim or arbitrary decree of any priest or
church, Any pretense at a continuous offering for
sin is worse than vain, for it is a denial of the
efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ on
Calvary."
PAGAN ORIGIN
It is shocking for Roman Catholics to learn that
the proposal of the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice
was first made by a Benedictine monk, Radbertus,
in the ninth century and was the subject of many
fierce verbal battles by the bishops until Pope
Innocent III declared it an official Roman
doctrine in 1215 A.D. The very principles found in
the bloodless sacrifice of the Mass as it is in the
church of Rome today can be traced back through the
labyrinth of paganism to the fountain of
idolatry, ancient Babylon. Rome's most blasphemous
and massive religious fraud originated in Cha!dean
idol worship and will continue until the time of
the end when, according to Revelation 17 and 18, amid
the wonder and admiration of the world, Rome will
be judged with violence and be thrown down and shall
be found no more at all, for strong is the Lord God
who judgeth her.
HAS THE MASS REALLY CHANGED?
Today many are expressing hope that Rome is turning
toward Scriptural Christianity. Many are thrilled with
her changes while failing to realize that they are
only superficial. For example, the Church of Rome will
never reject the sacrifice of the Mass--just
streamline it enough to fool the unlearned in the
Scriptures (the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth). Pope John XXIII made it clear
that his church is bound "to all the teachings of the
Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still
shines forth in the Act of the Council of Trent and
First Vatican Council..." The Documents of Vatican 11,
Abbott, S.J.
CONCLUSION
Based on the authority of the Bible, we must
conclude that the Roman Catholic sacrifice of the Mass
is a mockery, a deception, a fraud an abomination
before God. As we have shown, it is not the same
sacrifice as that of Calvary regardless of what the
priests may say. Yet under the threat of eternal
condemnation, Catholics are forced to believe what
their church teaches, even though it contradicts the
Scriptures and reason. The Bible says to "come now,
let us reason together", but Rome demands that her
people accept as true that which they know to be false
and practice traditions of men which can never bring
them to salvation.
Because there are thousands of nominal Roman
Catholics who do not believe all that their church
requires, we are pleased to announce that they are not
Roman Catholic at all, for according to Pope Paul VI,
no one may claim to be a member of the Roman Catholic
church if he does not maintain fidelity to the
churches' magisterium (teaching authority). On August
24, 1977 he said "People who say they are part of the
Church and yet are not faithful remain outside".
Our earnest prayer and expectation is that our
beloved Roman Catholic friends will study the
Scriptures with an honest desire to know and obey
God's Word to us. The Holy Spirit will then convict
them with truth and give them the courage and
integrity to separate from false teaching (John 12:46,
I Timothy 6: 3-5, II Timothy 3:5, II Corinthians 6:14-
17, Ephesians 5:11, 11 John 10, Revelation 18:4) and
join fellowship with the truly born again believers in
Bible teaching, Christ honoring churches where they
can grow in grace and in the knowledge of our
wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Mission to Catholics
P.O. Box 19280
San Diego, Ca 92119
USA
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