THE
P RTAL
November 2018
Page 3
P ortal Comment
Sacrifice or Meal?
Now that is the question!
Ronald Crane reflects on the Pilgrimage and Congress Adoremus
T he Mass
and Eucharistic Adoration have been a popular theme in Catholic circles recently. No
doubt the Pilgrimage and Congress, Adoremus, has much to do with this. There is no question that the
Adoremus experience was special. All present will remember it for a very long time. The crowds, the talks,
the friendships made, the worship, the adoration; the street procession, all impressed themselves upon those
who made the journey to Liverpool for those momentous days.
One of the speakers at Adoremus went so far as to
The service sheet for the Mass in the Metropolitan
Cathedral of Christ the King on the Sunday morning ask the question, “Is the mass a meal or a sacrifice?”
One was disappointed that the speaker could not bring
had this on page two:-
herself to declare that it is both, but that the meal
The Mass
leads us on to the sacrifice: and that the sacrifice is the
memorial of that made by Our Lord himself upon the
At the Last Supper, on the night he was
Cross. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs
betrayed, Jesus instituted the Eucharist, or the
1365 and 1366)
Mass, to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross
throughout the ages until he should come again.
In his excellent book Heaven and Earth in Little
Space, Mgr Andrew Burnham makes the point valid
The Mass is an act of thanksgiving to God for his
for all in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of
saving work; it is a sacred meal which nourishes
Walsingham, that the difference between the Anglican
us spiritually and anticipates the heavenly
Eucharist and the Catholic Mass is that in the former
banquet, and it is a holy sacrifice, making present
the Dominical Words (This is my Body: This is my
the one true sacrifice of Christ our Saviour.
Blood) take the congregation to the Upper Room and
the Last Supper. Indeed, in many Anglican Churches,
Roman Catholics believe that Jesus Christ
the Altar is adorned by a picture of that very Last
is truly present at the Mass; in the assembly
Supper. The sacrifice therefore is our sacrifice of praise.
gathered as the Body of Christ, through his
Word made present in scripture, but supremely
However, in the Catholic Mass, those very same
under the appearance of bread and wine. In
Dominical Words take the congregation through the
the Eucharist the body and blood, soul and
Upper Room and the Last Supper to the foot of the
divinity of Jesus Christ is wholly and entirely
Cross and Christ’s once for all sacrifice upon it. That
present. Strengthened by this sacred food, we go
“Once, only once and once for all” sacrifice is made
forth to build up the Body of Christ in this world,
present in the mass and upon that Altar all Christ’s
and to bring his healing and salvation to all peoples.
salvific work is offered to the Father.
Since becoming a Catholic when the Personal
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was brought
It saddens me that the Catholic Church ceases to
into being, I have heard many a talk about the mass. In stress this aspect of the mass, preferring the “nice”
many cases this has stressed the “holy meal” character doctrine of the memorial meal. Perhaps celebrating
of the mass. Even, on occasions stressing that the mass facing the people has something to do with it.
heart of the mass – the most important part – is our After all who was it said, “You worship what you look
reception of Holy Communion. If the word “sacrifice” at?” Could it all be part of the reduction of Catholic
is mentioned at all is often in the context of “our Christianity to making people “nice” rather than
sacrifice of praise”.
saving their souls?