The Perpetuity of the Sacrifice

The Holy Mass is the Church service Christ instituted at the Last Supper and Peter was the Vicar of Christ appointed by Christ Himself to see the perpetuity of His Sacrifice - the perfect atonement - carried out once and for all on Calvary - but to be RE-presented for all days in His command to "Do this in remembrance of me."

If we can all agree that Christ is the Word of God made flesh, that the Word is God, that in the beginning was the Word, then start back in the Old Testament and you can begin your journey. Sacrifice...the perpetuity of the sacrifice is the common theme also of the Old Covenant - but didn't stop in the New Covenant. For Christ became the spotless Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. The Old Testament requirement of the sacrifice was that not only should the lamb die - but that the Israelites eat and consume the lamb.

This NEVER stopped in the New Testament. Christ, the Lamb of God, explicitly instructed His followers - John 6:43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[d] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit[e] and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

70Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

There is only One Church that claims this literal translation of John's Bread of Life discourse. The parallels of what Jesus says in John 6 about giving us His Body and Blood to eat and drink turned many away - they thought he was a kook. Then why didn't Jesus call them back and instead say, "It is not my literal flesh and blood, but it is 'like' my flesh and blood"? Don't we think the Savior of all mankind would go after those who found it hard to accept this teaching to clarify it? More succinctly, wouldn't Christ understand HIMSELF - that if HE were presented this teaching that it should need clarified in order to bring them back? Well, it didn't need clarification - because Old Testament history presents itself as the Word preparing the world for the New Testament Sacrifice of the Lamb of God - who takes away the sins of the world. And it isn't enough that the Lamb of God die - we must become One with the Lamb of God in eating His Body and Blood. As we partake of the common meal understood as the Body and Blood that Christ intended to be understood, in one heart and one mind, we become the Mystical Body of Christ. THIS IS THE CHURCH. This is the One-ness. Comm-union. Partaking of the SAME family Meal at the SAME family table with the SAME understanding of it all and what "Do this in remembrance of me" means throughout the whole of the Old and New Covenant. Ask yourself then, What Church did Christ have in mind and pray for in John 17? The same Church that will "Do this in remembrance" of Him.

Since the Eucharist is the centrality of the Mass - and the center from which Truth flows about everything else, it is the Lamb of God that is the cornerstone, the foundation, the Way, the Truth, and the Life - but again, just speaking about Him - reading about Him - is not enough. He wants us to consume Him - so through our Faith in Him as the spotless Sacrifice - He may consume us. This is the dialog that will change the course of division because the Lamb of God - that we must consume - is the foundation and cornerstone of the Church of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A response posted on Washington Post

Please feel free to correct me doctrinally - I posted a comment to an article on the Washington Post at:

The Bishops' Fear of Dissent

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As a ROMAN Catholic, we who try to be faithful to Church teaching on ALL matters, unlike pick and choose cafeteria Catholicism, find it awesome that the Hierarchy is finally standing up most courageously in defense of life. I am sure there are those with me who find it interesting that those claiming themselves as Catholic are uncomfortable.

But, the spirit of cafeteria catholicism goes way back and provides the fertile soil for dissent, heresy, and take your pick of any of the evils flourishing today seen as 'accepted' or 'a right'.

In John 17, Christ prays "The High Priestly Prayer" and in Christ's mind - He prayed first for the Church He founded in Matthew 16:18. Then He prays for the others who through "their word" believe in Jesus....THAT WE ALL MAY BE ONE.

Why? Why do we all need to be one? Strength in numbers. Strength in numbers to do what? The MAIN reason is so "that the world may believe that You sent Me." The second reason is because through strength in numbers, we are in the One Church worshipping the One God He intended to fight against evil in the spiritual warfare surrounding every soul on this planet.

So while all FAITHFUL Christians by their baptisms know that God sent His Son into the world, not to judge it, but to save it, lukewarm Christians and those of other faiths or no faith at all, can make the distinction of either what Christ really taught or who Christ was because their are 30,000 different churches worshipping different ways who ALL proclaim inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The answer to why we are losing this battle against evil; first, personal lack of conviction if a believer, or lack of faith if a non-believer - in Christ and what He really taught. Second, societies are falling apart because of the individual lack of convictions and faith projecting itself onto society as a collective 'societal lack of conviction or faith' Through unity we acknowledge there is One God the Father, One God the Son, One God the Holy Spirit...who evidently wants One Church to Worship IN UNITY the One Triune God SOOOO "that the world may believe that You sent Me."

If we, through our free wills, would aid in answering Christ's prayer of ONE CHURCH through the one worship God the Father logically intended for human history, we would have the strength in numbers to convict the world of Christ's divinity. The lukewarm would have the support they need to repent or leave. Non-believers, who through our common worship would be baptised and saved.

When Christianity - namely protestant Christianity - gets serious about the war against evil and defeating it, then it will turn to the Church Christ instituted, gave the Holy Spirit to, and graft itself back into the One Faith and One Fold most completely expressed through the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
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I really firmly believe that if we are to get serious about what Fr. Corapi calls "Immortal Combat", our first and foremost duty is to repair through evangelization, catechesis, and apologetics what was torn apart due to the Protestant Reformation. No matter however much reform was needed due to the HUMAN actions of those in positions of authority, The Mystical Body of Christ and it's mission did not need to be attacked by the reformers. The 'start your own church' mentality is the opposite of what God intends.

With that said, The Mystical Body of Christ is the Army of God in my eyes that we all need to do our part in repairing so "that the world may believe that You sent Me." For this world, under the dominion of the evil one, to believe in God's Son - we need ONE CHURCH, ONE FAITH, ONE FOLD. Division is a tactic of the devil and he's definitely had his day. The antidote is the strength in numbers of a united HUMBLE Church which has never been more important than it is in these obviously 'last days'.

May God bless you all -