What is the Mass?

Catholics worship God in a variety of ways, but the main communal worship is the Liturgy of the Eucharist or the Mass. As far back as the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's epistles, we find the Christian community gathering to celebrate the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist.

The Church teaches that the Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary, which is misunderstood by some. The Catholic Church does not teach that the Mass is a re-crucifixion of Christ, who does not suffer and die again in the Mass. The Church believes that Christ's death is once for all. Through his intercessary ministry in heaven and through the Mass, Jesus continues to offer himself to his Father as a LIVING sacrifice.

In the catacombs in Rome, the tombs of martyrs were used as alters for the earliest forms of the Mass. Very early on, the Church saw the Mass as a mystical reality in which the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is renewed. In response to Protestant sects who denied that the Eucharist is anything more than a memorial, the Council of Trent (1545-63) said that "The same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner" in the Mass.

The Old Testament predicted that Christ would offer a true sacrifice to God using bread and wine. In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest, offered sacrifice under the form of bread and wine. Psalm 110 predicted that Christ would be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek," that is offering a sacrifice in bread and wine. The Mass meets this need.

The Church Council Vatican 2 explains the Mass in these words:  "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the eucharist sacrifice of his body and blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us". (Sacrosanctum Concilium  47).

The Mass is a memorial and a sacrifice. The Mass is the Church's way of fulfilling Christ's command at the Last Supper, to "Do this in remembrance of me." As a memorial of the Last Supper, the Mass is also a sacred banquet, in which we participate in our presence and our role in the liturgy and through the reception of Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ.