The Roman Catholic Sacrifice of the MASS

The sacrifice of the Mass is the very heart of Roman

Catholic faith. It is the most beautiful, the most

sacred part of Catholic worship. "lt is the secret of

her holiness and vitality." Saint Francis De Sales

said it is "the mainspring of devotion". According to

Pope Urban, if the angels could envy man anything, it

would be his power to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

Cardinal Newman called it "the greatest action that

can be on earth".

OFFICIAL CATHOLIC TEACHING

The Church of Rome teaches--(1) that at the Last

Supper, Christ instituted the Mass, a true, visible

sacrifice...; (2) that Christ bequeathed the Mass to

His Church...to be of avail for the remission of sins

and the punishment due them, and for the benefit of

the living and the dead; (3) that Christ established a

special priesthood for its celebration; (4) that

Christ, through the ministry of His priests, offers

Himself in the Mass as He offered Himself on the

cross; but that, whereas He offered Himself in a

bloody manner on the cross, He offers Himself in an

unbloody manner in the Mass; (5) that, this difference

apart, the sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice

as that of the cross, for there is the same Priest,

the same Victim and the same Offering. Rome teaches

that just as the sacrifice of Calvary was prefigured

in the Jewish sacrifices, so it is continued in the

Mass in its essentials as a sacrifice. Catholic

doctrine teaches that through the sacrifice of the

Mass a friend of God receives the appeasement of God's

anger, the extinction of the debt of temporal

punishment and the reception of blessings, which

include an increase of Sanctifying Grace. Through the

Mass, one's acts of adoration, praise, thanksgiving,

atonement, satisfaction and petition receive a new and

special efficacy. In the sacrifice of the Mass one is

said to receive, more surely than through any other

means, the grace of contrition in the hour of need,

the grace of more perfect sanctity, and all temporal

blessings not in conflict with one's spiritual well-

being.

FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED OF POPE PIUS IV

"I profess likewise that in the Mass there is

offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory

sacrifice for the living and the dead. And that in the

most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly,

really and substantially the blood, together with the

soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that

there is made a conversion of the whole substance of

the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of

the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic

Church calleth Transubstantiation, I also confess that

under either kind alone Christ is received whole and

entire and a true sacrament,"

THE COUNCIL OF TRENT

The canons of the Council of Trent on this subject

passed in session xxii. cap, ii are as follows:

1, "If any one shall say, that in the Mass there is

not offered to God a true and proper sacrifice, or

that what is offered is nothing else than Christ given

to be eaten, let him be anathema,"

2, "If any one shall say that in those words, This do

in remembrance of Me, Christ did not make the apostles

priests, or did not ordain that they themselves and

other priests should offer His body and blood, let him

be anathema."

3. "If any one shall say that the sacrifice of the

Mass is only of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare

commemoration of the sacrifice performed on the cross,

but not propitiatory or that it is of benefit only to

the person who takes it, and ought not to be offered

for the living and the dead for sins, punishments,

satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be

accursed,"

4, "If any one shall say that a blasphemy is ascribed

to the most holy sacrifice of Christ performed on the

cross by the sacrifice of the Mass, or the latter

derogates from the former, let him be accursed,"

PRONOUNCEMENT FROM VATICAN II

"At the Last Supper.,,our Saviour instituted the

Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did

this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the

Cross,,." p, 154, The Documents of Vatican II, Walter

M. Abbott, S.J.

CATHOLIC PROOF - TEXTS EXPLAINED

Malachi 1:11: "From the rising of the sun even to

the going down of the same my name shall be great

among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall

be offered unto my name, and a pure offering". Roman

Catholic authorities claim that this prophecy is

fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Mass, However, a

close look at the meaning of this verse indicates not

a literal, external offering, but a spiritual,

internal offering. David declared in Psalm 51:17 that

"the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;: a broken

and a contrite heart". Peter admonished the people of

God to offer up spiritual sacrifices (I Peter 2:5),

praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness

into His marvelous light (v. 9). The author of Hebrews

speaks of spiritual sacrifices as praise, thanksgiving

and alms-giving (13:15-16). The Christians in Rome

were admonished to present their bodies (i.e. their

whole being) as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

Catholic authorities say that the Hebrew word for

offering (mincha) refers to the unbloody sacrifice of

the Mass, but in I Samuel 2:17 the word mincha is used

in reference to a bloody sacrifice and in Isaiah 66:20

the company of God's people conistitutes the mincha,

One cannot, therefore, use this verse to substantiate

evidence in favor of the sacrifice of the Mass, Romans

15:16b: "...that the offering up of the Gentiles might

be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost..."

Again the offering of the Gentiles was a spiritual,

internal sacrifice, that of obedience in word and deed

(v. 18).

Genesis 14:18: "And Melchizedek king of Salem

brought forth bread and wine: and he was a priest of

the most high God". One cannot assume that this verse

speaks of a sacrifice offered to God, Melchizedek was

a priest of God and he brought bread and wine, not for

a sacrifice but for the refreshment of Abram and his

men returning from battle, Cyprian was the earliest of

the post-apostolic fathers to teach that Melchizedek

was a sacrificer but there is no Biblical reference of

Melchizedek offering sacrifice (see Hebrews 7), I

Corinthians 11:24b: "This do in remembrance of me",

Catholics are taught that in this verse Jesus was, in

effect, saying "As I have now offered My body and

blood under the appearances of bread and wine as a

sacrifice, so must you offer in sacrifice My body and

blood in every celebration of this sacrament", Rome

teaches that with these words Jesus made the apostles

priests and gave Himself as a perpetual victim whom

they were to sacrifice daily, It is estimated that

there are more than 200,000 sacrifices offered on

Roman altars around the world each day of the week,

What a perversion of the common expression "this do"

which in this context simply means that God's people

are to partake of the bread and wine as a reminder

(not a perpetuation) of Christ's atonement, John

19:30: "lt is finished". According to a Roman Catholic

priest, Richard W, Grace, in his book "The Sacrifice

of Christ", "These words do not declare that His

sacrifice was finished, but that He had finished His

former, normal, earthly life and was now fixed in the

state of a victim...He then began His ever lasting

career as the perpetual sacrifice of the "New Law",

According to Rome, the sacrifice of Christ was

completed on Calvary, but not finished, i.e. He must

be perpetually sacrificed in the Mass. However, it is

not the blood sacrifice of the Cross that is repeated,

but the so-called unbloody sacrifice of the upper

room, the sacrifice of His flesh and blood under the

appearance of bread and wine, It was "the shedding of

Jesus" blood that brought remission of sin, That

sacrifice was finished as He said and Hebrews 9:22

later tells us that apart from the shedding of blood

there ic no remission of sin. Therefore, what took

place in the upper room was not a sacrifice but an

explanation of the sacrifice that was to take place

and since admittedly, there is no blood in the

sacrifice of the Mass, it cannot be a sacrifice for

sin. John 6:54-55: "Whoso eateth my flesh, and

drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise

him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,

and my blood is drink indeed". Meat is to satisfy

hunger and in verse 35 Jesus said "he that cometh to

me shall never hunger", Therefore, to come to Him is

to eat, To drink is to satisfy thirst and again in

verse 35 Jesus said "he that believeth on me shall

never thirst". Therefore, to believe is to drink. No

one can say that here Jesus was establishing the

eating and drinking of a sacrifice for sin, especially

not after what he said in verse 63: "the words that I

speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life".

In Levitical law, not only was the blood never eaten,

but the sin offering was never to be eaten, Yet

Catholics believe that they really eat Christ's body

and drink His blood in their communion, If they insist

on a literal meaning in this verse, then they must

take literally the whole statement and also believe

that all who receive their communion are saved (will

live forever) and they do not believe that. Without

doubt, to consistently literalize this passage

involves some impossible interpretations for the

Catholic.

Matthew 26:26 and 28: "This is my body... this is my

blood". No one can deny that here we have figurative

language. Jesus did not say touto gignetai (this has

become or is turned into) but touto esti (this

signifies, represents or stands for), In another

passage He said "this cup is the new testament". For

one thing, "the cup" refers to its contents and

certainly neither the cup nor its contents constitutes

the new covenant, but symbolizes it. Throughout

Scripture we find similar metaphorical language: Jesus

referred to Himself as "the door" "'the vine", "the

light", "the root", "the rock", "the bright and

morning star" as well as "the bread", If I were to

show someone a photograph of my son and say, "this is

my son", they would not take these words literally,

The Scripture is written with such common language

that it is obvious to any observant reader that the

Lord's Supper was intended primarily as a memorial and

in no sense a literal sacrifice, In taking Biblical

statements literally, we must be sure that doing so is

consistent with the context and not in contradiction

to other clear teaching,

THE FINALITY OF CHRIST'S SACRIFICE

The Bible teaches that the priesthood of Jesus

Christ is unique: "Thou art a priest for ever after

the order of Melchisedek" Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews

7:17); "but this man, be-cause he continueth-ever

hath an unchangeable priesthood (i.e. it cannot be

transferred to another)" (Hebrews 7:3b and 24);

"there is... one mediator between God and men,

the man Christ Jesus" (l Timothy 2:5). There is an

obvious superiority in Jesus Christ, the one who is

approachable and can be touched with the feeling of

our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The human sacrificing

priesthood was weak and unprofitable being made up

of "many priests" and men of infi:mity, but Christ

was holy, undefiled and separate from sinners

(Hebrews 7:23 and 28).

Roman Catholicism teaches that her priests

dischar�e the priesthood of Jesus Christ, that they

are other Christs (Alter Christus). This explains the

extravagant adulation and exaltation heaped upon the

Roman priest. The French Catholic saint, J. B. M.

Vianney said that "Where there is no priest

there is no sacrifice, and where there is no

sacrifice there is no religion... Without the priest

the death and passion of our Lord would be of no

avail to us...See the power of the priest! By one

word from his lips, he changes a piece of bread

into a God! A greater feat than the creation of a

world." He also said "If I were to meet a priest and

an angel, I would salute the priest before saluting

the angel. The angel is a friend of God, but the

priest holds the place of God... Next to God

Himself, the priest is everything"! What

humiliation for Jesus Christ (the one who is to have

the preeminence in all things). All mankind must say

with John the Baptist "He must increase, but I must

decrease".

The epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the once

for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross, not a daily

sacrifice on altars. It cannot be argued exegetically

thiat the Mass is a real and true sacrifice of

reconciliation and that Christ still sacrifices

Himself daily by the hands Of the priest (Council of

Trent) as the Bible repeatedly affirms in the

clearest and most positive terms that Christ's

sacrifice on Calvary was complete in that one

offering. And that it was never to be repeated is set

forth in Hebrews, chapters 7, 9 and 10. There we

read: "Who needeth not daily, as those high

priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own

sins, and then for the peoples: for this he did

once, when he offered up himself" (7: 27). "...by his

own blood he entered in once, into the holy place,

having obtained eternal redemption for us"

(9:12). "...and without shedding of blood is no

remission... Nor yet that he should offer himself

often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place

every year with blood of others; for then must he

often have suffered since the foundation of the

world; but now once in the end of the world hath

he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of

himself...So Christ was once offered to bear the

sins of many; and unto them that look for him

shall he appear the second time without sin unto

salvation" (9:22-28), "By the which will we are

sanctified through the offering of the body of

Jesus Christ once for all. nnd every priest standeth

daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same

sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this

man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins

for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from

henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his

footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected

for ever them that are sanctified" (10:10-14), Dr.

Loraine Boettner, in his classic book "Roman

Catholicism", asks the reader to "Notice that

throughout these verses occurs the statement 'once

for all', which has in it the idea of completeness,

or finality, and which precludes repetition.

Christ's work on the cross was perfect and

decisive. It constituted one historic event which

need never be repeated and which in fact cannot be

repeated. The language is perfectly clear: 'He

offered one sacrifice for sins for ever' (lO: 12).

Paul says that 'Christ being raised from the dead

dieth no more' (Romans 6:9); and the writer of the

Epistle to the Hebrews says that 'By one offering he

hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified'

(10:14)...We are told that Christ has sat down as

token that His work is finished. Depend upon it,

He never descends from that exalted place to be a

further sacrifice upon Rome's altars or on any other;

for of such sacrifice there is no need. ...Thank God

that we can look back to what our Lord did on Calvary

and know that He completed the sacrifice for sins

once for all, and that our salvation is not dependent

on the whim or arbitrary decree of any priest or

church, Any pretense at a continuous offering for

sin is worse than vain, for it is a denial of the

efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ on

Calvary."

PAGAN ORIGIN

It is shocking for Roman Catholics to learn that

the proposal of the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice

was first made by a Benedictine monk, Radbertus,

in the ninth century and was the subject of many

fierce verbal battles by the bishops until Pope

Innocent III declared it an official Roman

doctrine in 1215 A.D. The very principles found in

the bloodless sacrifice of the Mass as it is in the

church of Rome today can be traced back through the

labyrinth of paganism to the fountain of

idolatry, ancient Babylon. Rome's most blasphemous

and massive religious fraud originated in Cha!dean

idol worship and will continue until the time of

the end when, according to Revelation 17 and 18, amid

the wonder and admiration of the world, Rome will

be judged with violence and be thrown down and shall

be found no more at all, for strong is the Lord God

who judgeth her.

HAS THE MASS REALLY CHANGED?

Today many are expressing hope that Rome is turning

toward Scriptural Christianity. Many are thrilled with

her changes while failing to realize that they are

only superficial. For example, the Church of Rome will

never reject the sacrifice of the Mass--just

streamline it enough to fool the unlearned in the

Scriptures (the power of God unto salvation to every

one that believeth). Pope John XXIII made it clear

that his church is bound "to all the teachings of the

Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still

shines forth in the Act of the Council of Trent and

First Vatican Council..." The Documents of Vatican 11,

Abbott, S.J.

CONCLUSION

Based on the authority of the Bible, we must

conclude that the Roman Catholic sacrifice of the Mass

is a mockery, a deception, a fraud an abomination

before God. As we have shown, it is not the same

sacrifice as that of Calvary regardless of what the

priests may say. Yet under the threat of eternal

condemnation, Catholics are forced to believe what

their church teaches, even though it contradicts the

Scriptures and reason. The Bible says to "come now,

let us reason together", but Rome demands that her

people accept as true that which they know to be false

and practice traditions of men which can never bring

them to salvation.

Because there are thousands of nominal Roman

Catholics who do not believe all that their church

requires, we are pleased to announce that they are not

Roman Catholic at all, for according to Pope Paul VI,

no one may claim to be a member of the Roman Catholic

church if he does not maintain fidelity to the

churches' magisterium (teaching authority). On August

24, 1977 he said "People who say they are part of the

Church and yet are not faithful remain outside".

Our earnest prayer and expectation is that our

beloved Roman Catholic friends will study the

Scriptures with an honest desire to know and obey

God's Word to us. The Holy Spirit will then convict

them with truth and give them the courage and

integrity to separate from false teaching (John 12:46,

I Timothy 6: 3-5, II Timothy 3:5, II Corinthians 6:14-

17, Ephesians 5:11, 11 John 10, Revelation 18:4) and

join fellowship with the truly born again believers in

Bible teaching, Christ honoring churches where they

can grow in grace and in the knowledge of our

wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Mission to Catholics

P.O. Box 19280

San Diego, Ca 92119

USA


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