The two-fold consecration show forth the body and blood of Christ under the separate signs of bread and wine, and thus can be seen as visible signs pointing to the separation of His body and blood in death.
Pius XII developed this idea in his encyclical Mediator Dei:
“According to the plan of divine wisdom, the sacrifice of Our Redeemer is shown forth in an admirable manner by external signs which are symbols of His death…The Eucharistic species under which He is present symbolize the violent separation of His body and blood and so a commemorative showing forth of His death which took place in reality on Calvary is repeated in each sacrifice of the altar, because by distinct representations Christ Jesus is signified and shown forth in the state of victim.”
The Eucharistic Liturgy makes Christ’s Sacrifice present in its essential reality. The Liturgy of the Eucharist makes really present the same priest and the same victim, offering Himself to the Father for us with the same dispositions with which He once offered Himself on the Cross. We thus share at the same time in Christ’s unique sacrifice on Calvary and in His eternal offering of that sacrifice in the heavenly sanctuary.
The faithful can thereby join in offering Christ and themselves in union with Him to the Father. The very reason for renewing the sacrifice of Christ under sacred signs is so that we the faithful may join with Christ in offering His sacrifice and ourselves in union with Him to the Father.
Some people object that the sacrifice described here is not real because the immolation is not real but is only shown forth in sign. However, this objection loses sight of the fact that all sacrifice is in the order of sign. This objection obscures the fact that the essential element of sacrifice is not, per se, the slaying of the victim but the ritual act of offering that signifies the human person’s worship of God as Creator and Lord.
Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching
No comments:
Post a Comment