Works and Prayers of a Fils Prodigue

I’m having a debate on the Zboard (www.zboardreborn.net) with Dustin and some my other protestant brothers and sisters. Dustin has taken the typical (although understandable) approach of questioning the “re-sacrificing” of Christ in lieu of Hebrews 10:10-14. He also questions the ability of Christ to offer Himself prior to Calvary. I’d like to document my (rather inadequate) responses to his questions:

Dustin –

I’m going to try to answer all these questions, although it may take me a while and may be insufficient to a mind such as yours. I’m also going to try to meet with a priest here on campus who studied at Rome and is brilliant. He’s a bit of a liberal, but I think he could help with our discussion. I’m going to be pulling from Scriptures, from “Radio Replies” by Fathers Rumble and Carty, and probably from “The Fourth Cup” by Scott Hahn. Some Church Fathers, too, maybe.

To deal with your first question – whether the sacrifice of Christ is completed. Well, you would have to square Hebrews 10:10-14 with the image given by St. John in Revelation:

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth; 7 and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; 9 and they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

In this image, Christ – “the lamb who takes away the sin of the world” – is seen “as though slain.” Christ is eternally before the Father as a slain lamb – not weak or effeminate, but entirely efficacious in offering Himself to the Father.

But, to pull from Scott Hahn’s “The Fourth Cup” a bit, your conclusion is very incomplete if Christ is to be a Passover sacrifice. Was it ever sufficient for the lamb simply to be offered, or was it not to be consumed also? If the lamb, after being sacrificed to God, was not eaten – then your firstborn were dead. In the same respect, Paul writes “Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed and now let us celebrate the feast” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). This Feast is the Feast of His Body and Blood, the eating of His Flesh which brings us to eternal life because it brings us into his “eternal life,” given finally on the Cross. Given the strong language of Paul and of the Evangelists about the nature of this feast, it seems highly dishonest to soften it into simply a commemoration instead of an actual feast, in which Christ’s flesh is “meat indeed.”

As for your question about the Last Supper, good question! I think there are a couple of issues with it, though – first off, there is no reason to assume that God could not be both in the substance of the Bread and in his physical Body. As St. Augustine says, “how was Christ carried in His own hands? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, ‘this is my Body’” (Exposition on the Psalms, #33:1:10) Christ, as God, may carry Himself and offer Himself.

But, I think the better answer is Hahn’s approach in “The Fourth Cup.” Hahn cites that the Passover meal had 4 cups, three of which were offered in the upper room. However, the liturgy (which included 3 cups, psalms, then the fourth cup) was left incomplete and is only finished by the offering of the Cross. And as we’ve seen, that sacrifice – that ONE sacrifice, not many – is continually present before the Father. Hahn’s explanation is more eloquent and more in-depth, and I’d recommend you read it here: http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~vgg/rc/ap…ahn/m4/4cp.html

St. John Chrysostom also offers an explanation of the Passage***:

“What then? do not we offer every day? We offer indeed, but making a remembrance of His death, and this [remembrance] is one and not many. How is it one, and not many? Inasmuch as that [Sacrifice] was once for all offered, [and] carried into the Holy of Holies. This is a figure of that [sacrifice] and this remembrance of that. For we always offer the same,  not one sheep now and to-morrow another, but always the same thing:  so that the sacrifice is one. And yet by this reasoning, since the offering is made in many places, are there many Christs? but Christ is one everywhere, being complete here and complete there also, one Body. As then while offered in many places, He is one body and not many bodies; so also [He is] one sacrifice. He is our High Priest, who offered the sacrifice that cleanses us. That we offer now also, which was then offered, which cannot be exhausted. This is done in remembrance of what was then done. For (saith He) “do this in remembrance of Me.” (Lc 22,19). It is not another sacrifice, as the High Priest, but we offer  always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance of a Sacrifice.” (Homily XVI. Hebrews 9,15–18)

But still, it offers an explanation which is that the Eucharist was instituted in the Upper Room and completed upon Calvary. But more importantly, as C.S. Lewis writes, “Christ did not say ‘take and understand,’ but ‘take and eat.’” This was clearly a mystery to the Apostles, as we see in John 6 where they refuse to leave Christ, although everyone there was confused and repulsed by Christ’s honest and blunt words. There is no doubt that the Eucharist remains a mystery, but it is one clearly instituted by Christ, taught by the Apostles, and witnessed by the Church Fathers.

As for cannibalism, well, if you already know the discussion about accidents and substances, then you know the answer. But, I’ll quote St. Augustine again:

“You ought to know what you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That Bread which you see on the altar, consecrated by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what the chalice holds, consecrated by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ. Through those accidents the Lord wished to entrust to us His Body and the Blood which he poured out for the remission of sin…” (Sermons, #227)

Dustin, I’m not sure I understand how this practice could be demonic, considering that it was lucidly instituted by Christ as not only a commemoration but a “feast” which must include the eating of “[His] flesh.” You strain credulity when you suggest that, as early as Justin Martyr, the Didache, or St. Ignatius of Antioch – really, as early as St. Paul (52-63 AD) – the Church had already fallen into apostasy by preaching the Real Presence.

I know this explanation is short and meager – but I hope it will answer, at least in part, the questions you offered. As I said, I will go to a priest and discuss it further, and relay his answer. But this is what I’ve come up with so far.

***
So that St. John Chrysostom’s words about remembrance are not misconstrued, here is a clarification of his position on the Real Presence:

“When you [the Body of Christ] set before you, say to yourself: ‘Because of this Body I am no longer earth and ashes, no longer a prisoner, but free: because of this I hope for heaven, and to receive the good things therein, immortal life, the portion of angels, converse with Christ; this Body, nailed and scourged, was more than death could stand against… This is even that Body, the blood-stained, the pierced, and that out of which gushed the saving fountains, the one of blood, the other of water, for all the world.’… This Body has He given to us both to hold and to eat; a thing appropriate to intense love.” (Homily on First Corinthians 24:4)

“For what is the bread? The Body of Christ. And what do they become who partake of it? The Body of Christ.” (Homily on First Corinthians 24:2)

Through the mass, we “proclaim Christ’s death until he returns,” so it is of course commemoration – but it is more than that. It is not only remembrance, but doing as well. It is partaking in the sacrifice which is necessitated.