At a dinner party in 1950, Mary Flannery O’Connor [“Flannery” to her friends and now to countless appreciative readers], heard then-famous author [never heard of her before, fame is so fleeting] Mary McCarthy say the Holy Eucharist is a symbol. In her typical forthright honesty, Flannery said, for everyone to here, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.”
Flannery was no neophyte in theology and no slouch at symbolism. She knew exactly what was implied in saying the Eucharist is a symbol and she knew in detail the Church’s true teaching on the Eucharist. She knew and believed that the Eucharist is so much more than a mere symbol.
For many reasons, the same can be said about the statement that “The Mass is a meal,” if by this is meant it is only a meal, or merely a meal, or primarily a meal and nothing more.
After the Second Vatican Council, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was called and referred to by some as a meal. Often the word used was simply the word “meal” alone, not “sacred meal,” not “heavenly meal,” not “holy meal,” and not “sacrificial meal” (although such descriptive adjectives were sometimes used). Since the end of V II there has been a dramatic decline in the numbers of the faithful who believe, and for that matter are even aware of, church teachings about and related to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the recognition that it truly is a here-and-now in-the-present sacrifice. These include a stunning failure to believe in: the Real Presence as truly and actually being Jesus Christ’s physical body and blood, soul and divinity; the Mass as sacrifice; and the all (and only) male ministerial priesthood.
It is now beyond question that this decline is related to, and caused in part by, the widespread failure to teach the Mass as sacrifice and the doctrine of the Real Presence. This decline is undeniable as is the connection between the denied beliefs and the failure to proclaim the sacrificial nature of the Mass.
Protestant Deformers
Many Protestant deformers rejected the theology of the Mass as sacrifice. Many of them, including Martin Luther, said, contrary to church doctrine and tradition, that the Mass was not of divine origin, but was merely the work of some men in power in the church, and it could have no effect on one’s salvation. For many Protestants today the Eucharist is a fellowship meal, nothing more. The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England reject the Mass as a sacrifice: “Wherefore the sacrifice of Masses, in which it was commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the [living] and the dead, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.” None of these protesters eat the flesh of the Son of Man or drink His blood at any of their meals.
One anecdote bespeaks the decline in catholic belief in the Mass as the Holy Sacrifice and in the Real Presence. About a year ago I attended the First Communion of a relative in a very large parish some distance from where I live. As is typical in some, if not many, parishes now, the atmosphere before Mass, and also during the whole thing, was one of fiesta in church, phone calls, picnic and socializing. For the talk – it never rose to the level even of homily, let alone sermon – the priest asked the children who were going to receive Holy Communion what did they usually do in the last days of November each year (it was then mid-December). The responses were all about Thanksgiving Day. The priest focused on the meal, and asked who was present, what they ate, (several children got to describe the meal in detail), and what they did in terms of giving thanks. The priest seized upon the idea that everyone was thankful. The object of the thanks was never mentioned. He proceeded to say that receiving Communion would in future be like having a family pizza party every week.
Pepperoni, anyone? Extra cheese? It is not necessary to list everything about the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that was not said. As the night follows the day, in this case darkness following light, it is crystal why many such children will grow to reject the doctrine of the Real Presence and the church itself, and why their parents already do.
Catechisms
None of the various catechisms through history has ever stated that the Mass is a meal. The two most influential catechisms used over the years in America make it clear that the Mass is a sacrifice, not mere symbols, not a memorial dinner, not a mere meal.
Baltimore Catechism II (1941):
Lesson 34 On the Sacrifice of the Mass
- What is the Mass?
The Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ.
- What is a sacrifice?
A sacrifice is the offering of an object by a priest to God alone, and the consuming of it to acknowledge that He is the Creator and Lord of all things.
- Is the Mass the same sacrifice as that of the Cross?
The Mass is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross.
- How is the Mass the same sacrifice as that of the Cross?
The Mass is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross because the offering and the priest are the same–Christ our Blessed Lord; and the ends for which the sacrifice of the Mass is offered are the same as those of the sacrifice of the Cross.
- Is there any difference between the sacrifice of the Cross and the sacrifice of the Mass?
Yes; the manner in which the sacrifice is offered is different. On the Cross Christ really shed His blood and was really slain; in the Mass there is no real shedding of blood nor real death, because Christ can die no more; but the sacrifice of the Mass, through the separate consecration of the bread and the wine, represents His death on the Cross.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994):
At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’ (Catechism 1323; emphasis added).
What is This Sacrament Called . . . The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, “sacrifice of praise,” spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. (Catechism 1330; emphasis added).
Part II coming soon.
[A collection of short stories by your present author, Parabolas, has some thought-provoking tales; one in particular, “End Human,” foresaw a world without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.]
Very well written and well summarized analysis by Guy of the problem involving the post-Vatican II progressive deconstruction of Catholic belief in the Mass, the inherent meaning of transubstantiation, the Mass’ transcendent elements conferring grace, and its essential importance derived from Christ’s solemn command (“Hæc quotiescúmque fecéritis, in mei memóriam faciétis”).
I look forward to Part II!
I think a big part of the problem with this reduction of the Eucharist to mere meal is it risks the total “banal-ification” (I made that up) of the act. Why even bother going to Mass if all we are getting is a glorified museum-style set piece reenactment. We can do that at home.
The de-sacralization of Holy Communion by the V2 Modernists is of a piece with their overall strategy of destroying the hierarchical structure Christ established, replacing it with a horizontal model in which priests are no different from the rest of us. Thus, Communion as a “shared meal” and the near disappearance of the word “sacrifice” from the Missal. This was a necessary first step to the total elimination of any semblance of top-down Magisterial authority, which is to be replaced with subjective “truth” and a focus solely on this world, set in a structure which amounts to an ecclesial democracy.
If you think all of that sounds like what we’ve heard from Rome over the past 12 years or so, you’d be exactly right.
Pray and fast.
The encounter of Christ with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus was in the form of the Mass. The Liturgy of the Word followed by the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The disciples only recognized Christ at the breaking of the bread.
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The Last Supper was an incomplete Passover Seder. At the Passover Seder four cups of wine are consumed. Christ did the Institution of the Eucharist with the third cup, the Cup of Blessing. Christ did not consume the fourth cup at the Last Supper. He consumed the fourth cup on the Cross shortly before His death when He took a sponge full of wine vinegar on hyssop after which He said “It is finished.” This links the entire Passion and Death of Christ into one whole and entire act starting with the Last Supper. This was Christ’s hour.
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Christ’s New and Everlasting Covenant, on which the Church is founded, was linked to the Eucharist by Christ in the Institution at the Last Supper. The Eucharist is the living embodiment of this Covenant. Marriage is based on a covenant between the husband and the wife. The battle over marriage and worthy reception of the Eucharist is one over covenant and covenantal fidelity. Whether the Church and her members are capable of keeping their covenants, promises, vows, and oaths. If Satan can turn us into a church full of covenant breakers and/or people incapable of even making covenants to begin with this strikes a blow against Christ’s New and Everlasting Covenant and His salvific act on the Cross, which the Eucharist embodies. Satan is playing for all the marbles, and is using our sexual weaknesses against us to further his agenda. This is particularly true of the clerical abuse scandal. It’s a good thing that the Church already has the teaching about Donatism and the worthiness of the clergy, because this scandal is giving it an extreme workout.