The Holy Eucharist

5. What is the Holy Mass?

What is the Holy Mass?

The Holy Mass is

the Eucharis

t consider

ed as Sacrifice

.

What is a Sacrifice?

The destruction of a thing to show that God is the Lord, the

owner of all things.

In a sacrifice, a priest offers God a thing.

The priest offers the

sacrifice in our name, and as a

sign of submission to

God, of thanksgiving, of repentance

for our sins, and of asking

for help.

The sacrifice of the lamb

God wanted that a lamb

be sacrificed yearly in order to

celebrate the Passover Feast as a

remembrance of freedom

from Egypt.

The Jewish Passover

The Jewish people

celebrated yearly

their freedom

from slavery in Egypt in

the Paschal Supper.

The Last Supper of Jesus

Jessus wanted to spend His

Last Supper with the Apostles,

before leaving

this world to join His Father in HEaven.

Jesus institutes the Eucharist

In this Supper, Jeus explains that

He is the Lamb of God who will be

sacrificed for all of us in order to be freed from

sin. The wine is His Blood shed for us.

The Holy Mass is a sacrifice

• In ancient times, it was a priest who offered sacrifices

• Jesus is the priest who offers His sacrifice

• In the Old Testament, a lamb was the victim offered to God.

• In the Holy Mass, Jesus is the Victim (the one offered to God)

The bloody Sacrifice of the Cross is the same sactrifice

(unbloody) that is performed in the Holy Mass

It replaces and eliminates all the sacrifices offered in the Old Testament, before the

coming of the Lord.

The Sacririfce of the Cross is the basic and central sacrifice of our Christian

religion.

When we participate at Holy Mass, we receive the fruit of

the Lord’s Passion.

JEsus does not die agin when Mass is celebrated. Neither

does He suffer again all the

sufferings of His Passion. His

Passion and Death are made present here and now, but

they are not repeated.

In the Mass, Jesus’ Resurrection is made also

made present

This is why we say in the Holy Mass:

Christ has died, Christ is risen,

Christ will come again.

Christ has died means that the Mass is the memorial of the Lord’s Death on the Cross.

Christ is Risen means that the Risen Jesus is the one who celebrates the Holy Mass

Christ will come again means that we wait for the Lord’s

second Coming at the end of time.

Meanwhile, Jesus is present in the celebration of the Holy Mass until the end of time.

The end