In the Sacrifice of the Mass Jesus makes us physically, as well as spiritually one with him.

Sunday, 6/18/17

Today we honor Jesus coming to us in the consecration of the Mass. There, in  checking on the words of the consecration, we see that they come both from the Gospel according to Luke and from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

Both of those documents were written in Greek, and then were translated into English for the Mass. And, both quote Jesus as saying: 

“This is my body which is for you,” and “This is my blood which is poured out for you.”

Now, Jesus was then speaking in the Present Tense, as though he were giving himself only at the Last Supper. However, the Greek Present Tense is often used for future events; and that would be in accord with the Catholic tradition which sees the Mass mainly as the prelude to the Sacrifice of the Cross. (The Mass then would be seen mainly as a way for providing the Eucharist for Holy Communion and for Adoration.)

However, if we see Our Lord’s words in Luke and Paul as being in a true Present Tense, then the Last Supper, and its repetition in the Mass, are an important part of  Christ’s one Sacrifice.

St. Augustan said that the Eucharistic Sacrifice consists in Jesus and us giving ourselves in total submission to God.  

That makes our Communions an integral part of the Mass. Jesus gives himself to us at that time so that we might be physically as well as prayerfully one with him in the Sacrifice of the Mass.