I'm legitimately curious, so hopefully we can all keep a calm demeanor on this.
Given the below scriptures how does the Catholic teaching that Christ is sacrificed over and over again, through the eucharist according to the council of trent, become reconciled with scripture that clearly states Christ's sacrifice was for once and all time, being sufficient just once?
Please use scripture for responses. Thank you!
Hebrews 9:25-26
Hebrews 10:10-14
At first glance those verses do seem to repudiate the Mass. I will grant you that, but I think that if you read through Hebrews carefully and study the OT sacrificial system, you will see that the OT priests would offer multiple sacrifices, time after time, for the same sinful acts that occurred in the past. This was because the blood of animals was insufficient to completely atone for a single sin that was committed in the past. Our Lord's sacrifice on the cross is greater than the OT sacrifices because it is more than sufficient to atone for any particular sin. Once the merits of our Lord's passion are applied to any particular sin, the sin is forgiven. No more sacrifice need be offered for it (putting the issue of purgatory aside for the sake of simplification). I think if you read through Hebrews carefully you will see that this is the main point that the author makes in those verses. But if you just pull them out of context, sure, I can easily see how people would think that they repudiate the Mass.
To consider the Catholic perspective, I think you have to consider the question of "when" the merits of our Lord's passion are applied to any particular sin. Some folks believe that when a person says the Lords prayer in earnest (or some other action manifesting a "saving faith"), the merits of our Lord's passion are instantly applied to all of that person's sins "past, present, and future." But Catholics do not see that in Scripture. For example, in chapter 10 you see the following:
"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?"
At least to me, those verses do not make sense if we assume that all sins (past, present and future) are forgiven at the instant one is "saved". Why talk about there being no sacrifice remaining for sins if we go on sinning deliberately, if all of a person's future sins have already been forgiven?
So if you believe, as Catholics do, that not all sins, "past, present, and future" are forgiven in an instant when the person is "born again", the question then becomes, when are the merits of our Lord's passion applied to the sins that he commits after he is born again? The theology here is pretty complicated and I do not fully understand it, to be honest, but generally speaking, this is where the Mass comes in. The Sacrifice of the Mass sacramentally re-presents our Lord's sacrifice on the cross to the Father, as a remembrance of his past suffering. *This is my own speculation* but perhaps it is a bit similar to saying "Father, please remember your son's sacrifice on the cross, and do not seek vengeance for the sins the Afra committed today." This is basically ongoing, because we continue to commit sins daily. To be precise, this is what Trent states:
Forasmuch as, under the former Testament, according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, there was no perfection, because of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood; there was need, God, the Father of mercies, so ordaining, that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech, our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate, and lead to what is perfect, as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the cross unto God the Father, by means of his death, there to operate an eternal redemption; nevertheless, because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the last supper, on the night in which He was betrayed,--that He might leave, to His own beloved Spouse the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that bloody sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the cross, might be represented, and the memory thereof remain even unto the end of the world, and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit,--declaring Himself constituted a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered up to God the Father His own body and blood under the species of bread and wine; and, under the symbols of those same things, He delivered (His own body and blood) to be received by His apostles, whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament; and by those words, Do this in commemoration of me, He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood, to offer (them); even as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught.
Now, what you want to know is, where do you see all of that in Sacred Scripture? Perhaps other Catholics will disagree with me, but I do not see it explicitly spelled out in Sacred Scripture. I think the full teaching cannot be found outside of Sacred Tradition, but you can certainly find strong allusions to the above in Sacred Scripture.
For example, you see here that our Lord continually intercedes on our behalf, in order to save us:
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
What intercession is it that our Lord makes for us as a priest, in order to save us?
Here you can see that our Lord continues to offer sacrifice in heaven:
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
What does our Lord offer as a priest? What is his more excellent ministry in heaven?
AND
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
For example, in verse 23 above, why does the author state "sacrifices" (plural) and not "sacrifice" (singular)? What are the better "sacrifices" (plural) that are offered in heaven?
At least to me, all of the above allude to the idea that Jesus continually offers sacrifice on our behalf, to appease the Father for the sins that we continue to commit daily.
Now, as for exactly how what is going on in Heaven relates to the Mass here on Earth, I do not know. Someone with a better grasp on the theology of me will have to explain that. But in general sense I think there is a connection between Mass here on Earth and Jesus's intercession in heaven. Perhaps that is why the Eastern Christians refer to the Mass as the "Divine Liturgy".
The above will not convince you of course, but it should at least give you something to think about.
