I recently got involved in a discussion with a Fundamentalist who is trying to convert me. One of the topics that has come up is the Sacrifice of the Mass, which gives Fundamentalists and Evangelicals the willies. It gave me the willies too, in my Evangelical-detour days. The claim is that we are "re-sacrificing" Jesus, as if his one sacrifice was not sufficient. This is deeply offensive to them (as well it should be). I did much study on it. It required more study than it should have (meaning, the answer should have been articulated more clearly by the church) but I came up with an amazing answer. It is not a re-sacrifice of Christ, but a making present of the one sacrifice of Christ.
The Synod in Constantinople (Jan. 1156-May 1157) said:
"Today's sacrifice is like that offered once by the Once-begotten Incarnate Word; it is offered by him (now as then), since it is one and the same sacrifice."
The Council of Trent wrote: "In the sacrifice of the mass, Christ's sacrifice on the cross is made present, its memory is celebrated, and its saving power is applied."
The Legion of Mary Handbook (1985 edition, p. 135) put it quite eloquently: "The Cross was not worth more than the Mass, because the two are but one and the selfsame Sacrifice, time and space being pushed aside by the hand of Omnipotence."
You see, Christ was our Passover sacrifice. This is a reference to Exodus, where the Jews had to sacrifice and eat a lamb to protect them from the final plague, the death of the firstborn. Jesus is the Lamb of God, like the lamb of Exodus, who takes away the sins of the world and protects us from the angel of death. Now, the Jews in the Passover had to sacrifice a lamb, which was a type (as in image) of Jesus. But they also had to eat the flesh of the sacrificed lamb. Likewise, we, too, must eat of the flesh of the sacrificed Lamb of God in order to be saved from the angel of death. The Eucharist is the means by which the flesh of that one sacrifice is communicated to us for us to partake and so be saved.
No Jew in Exodus thought it sufficient to say "I claim the blood of this lamb over my sins." No — they had to eat the flesh of the lamb. So it is with us. The sacrifice of the lamb corresponds to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, while the consumption of the lamb corresponds with the Eucharist. If you look at it this way, it becomes clear that the sacrifice of the Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary, made present.
So when someone charges the Catholic Church with "re-sacrificing" Jesus in the Mass, now you can set them straight.
If you really want to freak them out, ask them about Malachi 1:11:
"For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts.
See, this can only be fulfilled in the Eucharist, since Jewish sacrifices are only offered in Jerusalem and the offering is made by Gentiles (literally, "the nations"). This verse was applied to the Eucharistic sacrifice by the Didache around 90 A.D. This and other early Christian documents consistently referred to the Eucharist as a sacrifice.
Now this has gone from a topic that gives me the willies to one of my favorite topics!
You comments were well written, true, and educational. I do take issue with one point, however. You say regarding the access to Church teaching on the matter that, "the answer should have been articulated more clearly by the church", because it required some research or extensive research.
I would like to suggest that it a gift, from someone or a group of people, to be given the chance to work at and labor for something as the Church does with some of its more complex and difficult ideas and truths. If someone is not willing to take the opportunity to delve and labor for certain ideas professed by the Church they are probably not ready for them and are better off waiting.
The Church need not burden itself with publicizing all of its ideas and principles. The Church does well enough getting their general message and way across to the public and if there is something not directly put across that is a gift, so that one may take the initiative with the Church as She does with us.