A traditional plank of Reformed polemical theology is the allegation that the Mass is idolatrous. But in our ecumenical age, there are Protestants who shy away from this allegation.
Is the traditional allegation on target, or is this a case of polemical overkill from a bygone era–which we should retire from active duty?
1.This issue is frequently discussed in connection with the sacrificial character of the Mass.
In theory, the Mass could be sacrificial without being idolatrous. So what’s the connection?
2.It involves a precondition: Of whom or what is the Mass sacrificial?
“It makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering” (CCC 1330).
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a3.htm
3.To meet this precondition, the Host must be an extension of the Incarnation. In effect, Jesus is reincarnated in every time and place the Mass is celebrated.
4.If the Host is, indeed, a virtual reincarnation of Christ, then it’s entitled to all the divine honors we owe to Christ.
If, however, the Host is simply a creature (i.e. bread and wine), then Catholics are worshiping the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25), which is classic idolatry.
5.This leaves the theology of the Mass subject to two grave impieties:
i) It incites the communicant to commit idolatry.
ii) It effectively denies the finality of the atonement.
In this post I’m not attempting to prove either allegation. I’m simply clarifying what’s at stake.
“When the priest announces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man – not once but a thousand times!The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest's command.
Of what sublime dignity is the office of the Christian priest who is thus privileged to act as the ambassador and the vice-gerent of Christ on earth! He continues the essential ministry of Christ: he teaches the faithful with the authority of Christ, he pardons the penitent sinner with the power of Christ, he offers up again the same sacrifice of adoration and atonement which Christ offered on Calvary. No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to the priest is that of alter Christus. For the priest is and should be another Christ.” (John O'Brien, The Faith of Millions, pg 255 – 266)
Now Steve, how could you possible call that idolotrous?
Although I would not profess to know anything about official Catholic teaching on Mass, it seems likely to me that a Catholic would just say it is a ritual whose focus is the remembrance of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Like the Passover custom under the OT.
ReplyDeleteAMC - the authoritative documents of the RCC state that the mass is not a mere memorial, but another sacrifice.
ReplyDelete"In this post I’m not attempting to prove either allegation. I’m simply clarifying what’s at stake."
ReplyDeleteHow about asking a former Protestant turned Catholic for clarification? Suggested people are Francis Beckwith or the Called to Communion folks such as Bryan Cross or Taylor Marshall.
Beckwith doesn't know enough about the position he formally claimed and even less about the one he claims to have returned to.
ReplyDeleteBeckwith doesn't know enough about the position he formally claimed and even less about the one he claims to have returned to.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, then he isn't alone.
AMC - the authoritative documents of the RCC state that the mass is not a mere memorial, but another sacrifice.
1362 The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.
1363 In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men.182 In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.
1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.183 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."184
1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."185 In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."186
1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.187
1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."188
Sincerely,
Troll (As described by Turretinfan)
To the question: Yes, it is idolatrous bread worship. An abomination.
ReplyDelete