The Heart of Catholic Worship
For a devout Catholic, nothing is more sacred than the Mass. The Catechism calls the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life” (§1324). Its name, Mass, comes from the Latin missa, from the sending forth of the faithful at the end of the liturgy (§1332). Every Sunday, and in many churches every day, a priest stands at an altar, speaks Christ's words over bread and wine, lifts the host, and the people kneel.
Two doctrines stand behind that moment. The first is transubstantiation: that the whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ, so that Christ is present whole and entire and is to be adored. The second is the sacrifice of the Mass: that the Mass makes present the one sacrifice of the cross and offers it to God for the sins of the living and the dead.
The Roman Catholic doctrine that by the consecration the whole substance of the bread becomes the substance of Christ's body, and the whole substance of the wine becomes the substance of His blood, while only the appearances of bread and wine remain (Trent, Session 13, Chapter 4 and Canon 2; Catechism, §1376).
The Roman Catholic teaching that the Mass is a true and propitiatory sacrifice, one and the same as the sacrifice of the cross, in which Christ is offered in an unbloody manner by the ministry of priests for the living and the dead (Trent, Session 22, Chapters 1–2; Catechism, §§1366–1367).
Catholics do not believe that Christ dies again at each Mass, or that the Mass is a new sacrifice added to Calvary. They believe the one sacrifice of the cross is made present and its fruits applied. We must describe that accurately, and then ask whether Scripture teaches it.
This topic builds on The Lord's Supper, which sets out the memorial view and closed communion in full, and the Passover, which shows what the Supper fulfills.
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For Deeper Study
- Catechism of the Catholic ChurchAmazon The primary source for Catholic teaching today. Its article on the Eucharist runs from §1322 to §1419. Roman Catholic.
- The Canons and Decrees of the Council of TrentAmazon H. J. Schroeder, trans.A primary source. Session 13 (1551) defines transubstantiation and Session 22 (1562) the sacrifice of the Mass. Roman Catholic.
- The Lord's Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Until He ComesAmazon Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford, eds.Baptist scholars study the Supper in Scripture and history, including a careful chapter by Gregg Allison on the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist.
- The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and the Word of GodAmazon James G. McCarthyA former Catholic explains the Mass from Catholic sources and answers it from Hebrews and the Gospels.
- The Roman Catholic ControversyAmazon James R. WhiteAnswers Catholic teaching on Scripture and tradition, the papacy, the Mass, purgatory, and Mary from Scripture. White is a Reformed Baptist.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Lord's Supper
An ordinance of remembrance and proclamation of the Lord's death until He comes, observed by believers in the local church.
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