An Apologetical Explanation of the

Mass as a Sacrifice

Why is the Mass considered a Sacrifice?

[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  (Lk 22:19)

Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own; for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.  But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  (Heb 9:24-26)

I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”  And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!”  And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.  (Rev 5:11-14)

The Mass is a Sacrifice because it is a participation in the one Sacrifice of Christ, which is made present through the Eucharistic liturgy.

Christ died for our sins once and for all, and his one perfect Sacrifice atones for all our sins for all time.  Because of this, there is no need for the Temple sacrifices of the Old Law, where animals or goods of the harvest were burned in atonement.  Yet the Eucharistic liturgy of the Church—the Mass, or Divine Liturgy—remains a holy Sacrifice because it is a sharing in the one Sacrifice of Christ, which is re-presented, or made present among us, each time the Eucharist is celebrated.  (Cf. CCC 613-614, 1382, 1545)

When Christ consecrated the bread and wine at the Last Supper, he instructed his Apostles, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19).  The idea of remembrance, or memorial, in this context refers not to the mere calling to mind of a past event but rather a re-living, or a re-presentation, in a mystical way the event of Christ’s eternal Sacrifice on the Cross.  “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice on the cross…. The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice” (CCC 1366-1367).  (Cf. CCC 611, 1323, 1330, 1545, 1566)

The Mass is also called a Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for God’s creation, which he has given us.  (Cf. CCC 1357, 1359)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 1382.

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