The Living Sacrifice

 Christ’s sacrifice on the cross redeemed man  It is the ONLY sacrifice to do so  Christ gave us the Eucharist for 2 reasons  So we could have an acceptable sacrifice for the Father  So we might have eternal life

 The Mass is the same sacrifice  Since there is only one sacrifice  It is a “re-presentation” of the sacrifice on the cross  Allows the one sacrifice to continue for all of time  Jesus is the victim of Calvary and the Mass  He is present under the appearances of bread and wine  Jesus is the priest of Calvary and the Mass  Priest celebrates the Mass in persona Christi ▪ In the person of Christ  Jesus is offering His sacrifice of the cross to the Father in Heaven right now ▪ The priest makes this offering present on earth for us to partake in ▪ We should offer ourselves to God along with the offering of His Son

 Jesus’ sacrifice of the cross truly occurs at every Mass  The Mass is also a memorial  Allows us to remember Christ’s sacrifice  “Do this in memory of Me”  But it is not only a memorial  Also allows us to remember His resurrection ▪ Each Mass is a “mini-Sunday”

 Mass is the perfect prayer  Prayer has 4 ends (purposes)  4 Ends of the Mass  Worship  Thanksgiving  Make up for sins  Petition

 Mass is the act of supreme worship  Christ’s greatest gift to the Church  He gave us an offering that is truly acceptable to the Father - Himself

 Eucharist = “Thanksgiving”  Greek  We have much to thank God for  Most notably, that He gave us His Son to save us for our sins ▪ We thank Him for this by offering Jesus back to the Father

 Need to make satisfaction for sins  Reparation = make up for  Agnus Dei  “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us… grant us peace”

 Petition: Asking for what it is that we need  Mass is our best means of petition  We obtain grace for ourselves and others