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PART 8 - THE MASS - PRE AND POST VATICAN II The Universal Church has never had one standard form of celebrating the Mass. Various Eastern Churches all celebrated the Eucharist in styles different in great and small ways from what was common the the West, each using local languages. At the time of the Council of Trent, there were differences in missals used throughout Europe. In order the standardize the ceremonies of the Mass and as one means of reform in the face of the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent authorized the publication of a revised missal to be used by all western Catholics. First published in 1570, this Roman Missal is often called the Tridentine missal after the Council of Trent. It was in use, with few modifications, for nearly four centuries, until the revision following the Second Vatican Council. The Tridentine Mass held the piety of the people and established an ambience of prayer, awe, and mystery through practices many contemporary Catholics have all but...

PART 7 - LITURGICAL DEVELOPMENT For the first couple of hundred years, the concept gradually shifted from the concept of a meal to the final reality of a liturgical sacrificial celebration. Both views have always been held, but each has taken their turn being emphasized during different periods of Church history. As we have seen earlier, at the start of the Church, the idea of meal was the dominant view. Gatherings for the Eucharist included people bringing actual food, sharing it in a joyous gathering, and showing their charity by also feeding the poor. In the fourth century, the rise and defeat of Arianism caused many of the Church Fathers to stress the divinity of Christ in their sermons and theological writings. This caused Christians to begin to pray directly to Christ as a member of the Divine Trinity. This change in Christian worship also led to a change in the way it was referred to. Just as the usual name for Christian worship changed from Lord’s supper to Eucharist when the c...

PART 6 - THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRAMENT The Eucharist is a true Sacrament instituted by Christ” (De Fide) Christ is present in the Eucharist in a sacramental manner. Anyone who denies this is going head-on into one of the most serious difficulties, for he is forgetting that the Eucharist is a mystery of Faith. The Eucharist contains Christ in person, in a lasting manner. The Mass is a sacrifice, but it’s vitally important   to understand how the Mass is a sacrament as well. The Eucharist is a sacrament, therefore it is a sign and a symbol. The classic definition of a sacrament is “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” So, in order for a sacrament to be a sacrament, it must be a twofold reality. It must be an outward or visible sign, and it must convey an internal invisible thing (grace). If it does not have both, it is not a sacrament. That which appears to be bread is the sacrament of Christ’s Body. That which appears to be wine is the sacrament of Christ’s Blood. We ...

PART 5 - THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS TO THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS “In the Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice   on the Cross is made present, it’s memory celebrated, and it’s saving power applied. (De Fide)”   The Council of Trent teaches” Christ left a visible Sacrifice to His Church “in which that bloody sacrifice which was once offered on the Cross should be made present, its memory preserved to the end of the world, and its salvation-bringing power applied to the forgiveness of the sins which are daily committed   by us (D 938)”. The sacrifice of the Mass is the presenting again of the Sacrifice of the Cross, in so far as the sacrificial Body and the sacrificial Blood of Christ are made present under separate species, thus symbolically representing the real separation of the body and blood of Christ on the Cross. (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma). It is not a mere commemorative celebration; it is also a true and proper sacrifice. The sacrifice ...

PART 4 - UNDERSTANDING GROWS - THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE      Very early, those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah came to understand his crucifixion as a sacrificial death, an offering of himself to God, and because the Lord’s Supper commemorated his death as well as his triumph over death they began to view it as a sacrificial meal. The close relationship between the Last Supper and the feast of Passover suggested similarities   between the slaying of Jesus and the sacrifice of the paschal lamb.      In the New Testament, Jesus’ own words, and the way in which he instituted the Eucharist also show its sacrificial nature. Christ made His Body and His Blood present under separate forms and thus in the form of a sacrifice. The separate forms symbolically   represent the real separation   of the Body and Blood of Christ which was made in the Sacrifice of the Cross. Christ designates His Body a sacrificial Body and His Blood, sacrificial bl...

PART 3 - THE PLOT THICKENS - THE EUCHARIST AS THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST “The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a mystery of Faith” (Sent Certa) “If anyone denies that in the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist are contained truly, really, and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ, but says that He is in it only as a sing, or figure or force, let him be anathema” (Council of Trent, session 13, can. 1)      By the end of the first century, Christians were beginning to relate the presence of Christ in the Lord’s supper directly to the bread and wine that were used in the ritual meal. The development of Eucharistic doctrine was gradual. In the patristic period (100 - 450) there was remarkably little in the way of controversy on the subject, but the emphases were different in different parts of the Church. That the Eucharist conveyed to the believer the Body and Blood of Ch...

PART 2 - THE BEGINNING - THE EUCHARIST AS A MEAL      Anyone who attends the Eucharistic celebration, whether he be a believer or not, immediately realizes that it is a meal. This reminds us of the importance that Christ attached to meals during his mortal life; how He made them one of the greatest signs of His identification with the condition of men; how He gave important teachings in connection with meals, and how most of His apparitions after His resurrection were begun or concluded with a meal.      The evening before He died (the day before the feast of Passover), Jesus shared His last fellowship meal with his disciples. During the last supper, however, Jesus departed from the ritual in a few ways that Christians would long remember. He took the basin of water kept for the hand washings and washed His disciples’ feet as a sign that they should serve each other. When he broke the bread and gave it to his friends, he indicated that it was His body that ...