Christ and the Human Priest

The actual priest and bringer of the sacrifice in the celebration of The Holy Mass is Christ. However, he brings the sacrifice through a visible priest, that is, through an ordained human priest. This man in his priesthood possesses no other priesthood than that of Christ himself. He exercises Christ's invisible priesthood in a visible manner; utterly dependent on The High Priest, whose instrument and representative he is. In this way, Christ is and remains always the actual priest. He is the priest, not simply because he established The Holy Mass or commanded it to be offered, and not simply because The Holy Mass obtains its power and efficacy from Him, and not simply because He inspires and motivates priests and the faithful to celebrate and assist at Holy Mass, but primarily through the unmediated, personal offering of the eucharistic sacrifice. By the power of his godhood and of his humanity, Christ makes the sacrificial offering in every Holy Mass by changing the substance of bread and wine into that of his body and blood through the agency of the ordained priest. The sacrificial act of The Holy Mass actually takes place at this time of consecration. In every Holy Mass, however, it is Christ himself who effectuates the transubstantiation – "This is my body, This is my blood." In every Holy Mass he confirms his priestly disposition towards God and mankind, his complete surrender to The Father for the salvation of men. Although the ordained priest, the man, may be imperfect, although he may be weak or tainted with sin, although he may even stand with unclean hands before the altar, nevertheless the sacrifice that he offers will always remain the pure and undefiled sacrifice of Christ. For this reason the eucharistic sacrifice is always and everywhere a holy and immaculate sacrifice and has, like Christ's sacrifice on the cross, infinite value and infinite perfection.

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Christ the Sacrificial Priest

In the Holy Mass, Christ is the sacrificial offering and, at the same time, the sacrificial priest. On the cross and on the altar we have "one and the same Oblation and one and the same Priest" (Council of Trent). "Since the perfection was not attainable in the old testament because of the inadequacy of the levitical priests, it was necessary for another priest to come, our Lord Jesus Christ" (Council of Trent). In the Holy Mass, He who stands at the altar is the "holy, innocent, and undefiled high priest, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (Hebr 7:26). His prayer and sacrifice have unlimited, divinely great merit. Every sacrifice and prayer of a creature, whether on Earth or in Heaven, that is not incorporated in and made one with the sacrifices of this high priest, is devoid of substance - an empty shell lacking value and virtue before God.

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On the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

"In order to accomplish His work of eternal redemption (Heb 9:12), Christ willed to offer Himself once for all time on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice to the Father. His priesthood was not, however, intended to come to an end at His death. Therefore did He offer His body and blood in the likeness of bread and wine to God the Father at the last supper; by which He willed to bequeath to His church a sacrifice, through which the bloody sacrifice of the cross - which was to be made only one time - could be renewed in the present; the remembrance of which would be maintained, and the saving power of which would be directed to the forgiveness of sins commited by us daily, even unto the end of the world." (Council of Trent Sess. XXII, c.1)

So spoke the Council of Trent, which made explicit the connection between the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, the passover meal of the last supper and Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It declared the Holy Mass to be a "real and genuine sacrifice." That which is offered up to God in the Holy Mass is one and the same as that which was once sacrificed on the cross - namely Christ, the God-Man, a pure, holy, immaculate, and fully acceptable offering to God; an oblation of infinite value. Therein lies the exceedingly great dignity and value of the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, that in it we are able to bring Christ Himself as our offering to God; the living Christ with His divinity and His humanity, with His inner life of holiness, with His love, His prayer, His praise, and His atonement; with the infinite merits of His works on earth and with the overabundance of the beneficence and virtue of His glorified life in Heaven. The power to do so is imparted to us in Holy Baptism: for this are we baptized, for this are we Christians, so that with the priest, we are able to bring this most sublime oblation as a sacrifice before God, and thereby glorify Him in a most perfect and most truly worthy manner, so that we may thus completely fulfill the purpose of our existence.

The forms of bread and wine are essential for the completion of the eucharistic sacrifice, as they are necessary to make Christ's sacrifice in the Holy Mass into a visible sacrifice. "Human nature requires a visible sacrifice" (Council of Trent).

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