“[T]he Eucharist was regarded as the distinctively Christian sacrifice… Malachi’s prediction (1:10, 11) that the Lord would reject Jewish sacrifices and instead would have “a pure offering” made to Him by the Gentiles in every place was seized upon by Christians as a prophecy of the Eucharist” (Protestant early Church historian J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines)
Today, as it was since the beginning of Christianity, the Mass is recognized as a sacrifice. Aside from the Catholic Church, most of the Orthodox Christian Churches still understand the Mass as a sacrifice. In one of the very early Christian manuscripts (AD 70) that were beheld by Christians called the Didache, we read that the Eucharistic meal is referred to in Greek as “thusia”, meaning “sacrifice.” “Assemble on the Lord’s Day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his fellow is not to take part with you until they have reconciled, so to as avoid any profanation of your sacrifice. (Mt. 5:23-24). For this is the offering of which the Lord has said, ”Everywhere and always bring me a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a Great King says the Lord, and my name is a wonder of the nations.”” (Mal 1-11,14) (Didache 14)
This understanding of the sacrificial nature of the Mass are in the words of Our Lord at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” In Greek this reads, “touto poieite eis tan eman anamnesin.” Multiple times in the Old Testament the word “poieseis” is used to signify “you shall offer” or “sacrifice”. (See Exodus 29:38) The other word Our Lord uses is “anamnesin.” This again translates to a sacrificial context “memorial sacrifice.” The early Christians understood these terms in sacrificial tones.
St. Paul too makes clear of the sacrificial nature of the Mass when he makes stark comparisons to participation of the table of the Lord and that of demons: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? So what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, I mean that what they sacrifice, [they sacrifice] to demons, and not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.” (1 Cor. 14-16, 18-21)
Thus it follows that the early Church Fathers in their writings also too understood this sacrificial nature of the Mass. Of the many, this one is perhaps my most favorite:
“He took from among creation that which is bread, and gave thanks, saying, ‘This is my body.’ The cup likewise, which is from among the creation to which we belong, he confessed to be his blood. He taught the new sacrifice of the new covenant, of which Malachi, one of the twelve (minor) prophets, had signified beforehand… He makes it plain that the former people will cease to make offerings to God; but that in every place sacrifice will be offered to him, and indeed, a pure one, for his name is glorified among the Gentiles.” (St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr and friend of the disciples of the Apostle John, Against Heresies AD 189)
The Mass is the eternal offering of Christ to His Father on behalf of all of us! What a most pure and beautiful worship is the Holy sacrifice of the Mass!
I should like to end this section with a beautiful summation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the sacrificial nature of the Holy Mass:
0.V. THE SACRAMENTAL SACRIFICE THANKSGIVING, MEMORIAL, PRESENCE
1356 If from the beginning Christians have celebrated the Eucharist and in a form whose substance has not changed despite the great diversity of times and liturgies, it is because we know ourselves to be bound by the command the Lord gave on the eve of his Passion: “Do this in remembrance of me.”
1357 We carry out this command of the Lord by celebrating the memorial of his sacrifice. In so doing, we offer to the Father what he has himself given us: the gifts of his creation, bread and wine which, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ. Christ is thus really and mysteriously made present.
1358 We must therefore consider the Eucharist as:
– thanksgiving and praise to the Father;
– the sacrificial memorial of Christ and his Body;
– the presence of Christ by the power of his word and of his Spirit.