Passion Sunday
On the Fittingness of Sacrifice in Worship

“If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer sanctify the unclean unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ,... cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

There is infinite difference between the Old and New covenants but common to both is the idea of sacrifice.  This should be no surprise.  Sacrifice is an essential part of our present reality.  It is a basis in objective nature; it is part of the religious sense within man; it is commanded by God in His covenants with man.

We will speak on the fittingness of sacrifice in worship.

First, what is sacrifice?
Simply taken, sacrifice is the offering made of one thing which is destroyed for the sake of another; taken in a religious sense, sacrifice is the offering made of a material thing which is destroyed by a duly appointed minister to affirm the supremacy of God over creation and man’s subjection to Him.

Sacrifice has two essential elements: an offering (oblation); and a destruction (immolation).

How is sacrifice expressed?
In nature, there is the general idea of sacrifice, i.e. the mineral gives itself to the plant, the plant to the rabbit, the rabbit to the fox; in this exchange, one thing is offered then destroyed in order to preserve the life of another.

In rational man, there is a higher order of sacrifice, the religious sacrifice.  Indeed, it accords with the religious nature of man to pay homage to his God by sacrifice.  So pagans throughout time and place, offer sacrifice although sometimes it is wrongly expressed i.e., Canaanites burning their children to Moloch.  More in accord with man’s sensibilities, Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel, offered first fruits of the land to the Lord(Gen.4:3,4); Noah, who survived the Flood, and Abraham, whom God chose to be the father of many nations, both built altars to the Lord (Gen.8:20;13:18); Melchesidek, king and high priest of Salem (later called Jerusalem), offered an unbloody sacrifice of bread and wine (Gen.14:18).

Besides sacrifice in nature and within the religious sense of man, sacrifice is also given man by divine command.  Among the many sacrifices commanded by God to the Israelites one especially stands out: the Paschal Sacrifice.  Moses, divinely selected to free the Israelites from slavery, directs the first Passover Sacrifice wherein every Hebrew household was required to slay a lamb, sprinkle its blood upon the doorpost, and eat the lamb (burning any remains) so that the Angel of Death would ‘pass-over’ that household, sparing the firstborn. 

God commanded the Passover Feast to be repeated annually and to be kept with an everlasting observance (Ex.12:14).  When the children asked, ‘what is the meaning of this service?’ the fathers were to respond, ‘It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians and saving our houses.’ (Ex.12:26-27)

To help Moses free Israel from bondage to Pharaoh, the Lord appoints Aaron, the Levite, (Ex.4:14) and thence the Levitical priesthood arises. (Ex 28) After Israel’s liberation, Aaron and his sons are chosen to be high priests; Moses consecrates their hands for the office of priesthood; these men receive offerings of various animals which they kill, first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people.  These bloody sacrifices were offered in praise to God, forgive sin, commemorate covenants, celebrate harvests, express thanksgiving... and practiced until the death of our Savior.

Sacrifice as expressed in the New Law.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, ends only the bloody aspect of sacrifice; now, the same Victim continues to be destroyed mystically, by the separate consecration of the bread and wine; this same Victim continues to be offered under the appearance of bread and wine.

Again, Jesus Christ offered Himself once in a bloody manner; now He offers Himself in an unbloody manner both on earth and in heaven.

In heaven, our Savior presents His sacred humanity continually to God the Father, petitioning His mercy; on earth, He offers Himself under the appearance of bread and wine on our altars, beckoning our friendship,... so that He might feed us with His divine life... “unless you eat My Flesh you have no life in you.” (Jn 6:54)

Thus, the Catholic Mass is a sacrifice which commemorates an event in history as well as a means of perpetuating that Sacrifice for our benefit; this same Sacrifice accords with nature (one thing dies to give life to another); It accords with man’s religious desire to sacrifice to His God; It heeds the divine command: “Do this for a commemoration of Me.” (Lk 22:19)

Now some Christians will disagree with this idea.  Indeed, the average Protestant dismisses the necessity of penance in the Christian warfare and the necessity of perpetuating the sacrifice of Christ with the same dismissive “Once for all” mantra.

But we could ask him, “is it not fitting that if sacrifice is found in nature wherein one life dies to preserve another; if pagan cultures exhibit an natural impulse for sacrifice in religious ceremony; if in both Old and New Testament worship sacrifices are divinely commanded... if all this is true, it is not fitting that some manner of sacrificial worship continue beyond Christ’s death on Calvary?      

In today’s Gospel Christ asks the Jews, “Which of you will convict me of sin?”  The Jews cannot accuse Him of any sin, so they call Him names, ‘Thou are a Samaritan and has a devil.’ Our Lord is neither; He alone is the Truth, the Spotless one; He alone is able to satisfy for the sin of Adam... as St. Paul bears witness, ‘If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer could sanctify the flesh of the unclean, how much more will blood of Christ cleanse the soul.’  

Catholics the world over now receive this saving Blood every time they receive the Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  Until the end of the world, the Pure oblation from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered for the redemption of men as the prophet Malachi promised,  “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting, My name is great among the gentiles and in every place there is sacrifice to My name, a clean oblation. (Mal.1:11)