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State of the question. In this third article St. Thomas asks
whether Christ's passion operated by way of sacrifice. He begins by
presenting three difficulties. It seems that it did not: (1)
because the truth must correspond with the figure; but in the
sacrifices of the Old Law, which were figures of Christ, human
flesh was never offered; nay, such sacrifices were considered
impious; (2) sacrifice is a sacred sign; but Christ's passion is
not a sign, but the thing signified by other signs; (3) those who
killed Christ did not perform any sacred act or offer sacrifice, but
rather did a great wrong.
Several heretics de facto denied that Christ's passion was a true
sacrifice. (1) Pelagius, Abelard, and Hermes considered it to
be evidence of great love and the most sublime example of heroism, such
as martyrdom. (2) The Socinians said that Christ was a priest
only on Ascension Day and then He offered sacrifice only in heaven,
interceding with the Father for us. (3) The liberal Protestants
and Modernists deny Christ's priesthood, and they see in His death
only a most noble example of fortitude of soul, as in
martyrdom.[1916] But martyrdom is not in itself strictly
speaking a sacrifice, for it is not an elicited act of latria, but of
fortitude, and not all martyrs are priests.
Catholic doctrine. It is of faith that Christ is a priest and that
He offered Himself on the altar of the cross, a sacrifice in the true
and strict sense. The Council of Ephesus teaches that Christ is
"our High Priest and Apostle, who offered Himself for us as an
odor of sweetness to God."[1917] Likewise the Council of
Trent declares that Christ "offered Himself once on the altar of the
cross to God the Father by means of His death, there to operate for
them [men] an eternal redemption."[1918]
Scriptural proof. It is explicitly revealed that Christ offered a
true sacrifice on the cross. Already in the Old Testament the
prophet says of the innocent and just servant of Jahve: "Surely He
hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows.... He was
wounded for our iniquities; He was bruised for our
sins."[1919] He was therefore a victim for us; but He was
also a priest offering Himself for us to reconcile us with God, for
it is said: "If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see
a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in
His hand... and He shall see and be filled."[1920]
In the New Testament we read: "Christ hath loved us, and hath
delivered Himself for us an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an
odor of sweetness."[1921] "Christ our Pasch is
sacrificed."[1922] "Him, who knew no sin yet He hath made
sin for us [victim for sin], that we might be made the justice of
God in Him."[1923] "Whom God hath proposed to be a
propitiation, through faith in His blood,"[1924] which means a
propitiatory victim. Again the Apostle says: "Being now justified
by His blood."[1925] And also: "Christ gave Himself for
us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to
Himself a people acceptable."[1926]
St. Paul treats especially of Christ's priesthood in the following
texts: "Having therefore a great high priest that hath passed into
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God."[1927] "For every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men... that he may
offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins."[1928] "But
Christ... neither by the blood of goats, nor of calves, but by
His own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats... sanctifies such as are
defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto
God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?"[1929] "Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of
many."[1930] "For by one oblation He hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified."[1931]
Testimony of tradition. Both the Greek and Latin Fathers have
commented on the above-mentioned texts from Scripture, such as St.
Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius, Origen, St. Cyprian, St.
Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John
Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Ambrose, and St.
Augustine.[1932] Two famous testimonies of St. Augustine are
quoted by St. Thomas in the present article.
Theological proof. St. Thomas shows that Christ's voluntary death
was truly a sacrifice and the most perfect of all sacrifices. He
proves this by saying: "A sacrifice properly so called is something
done for that honor which is properly due to God, in order to appease
Him. But Christ offered Himself up for us in the
Passion,[1933] and this voluntary enduring of the Passion was
most acceptable to God, as coming from charity. Therefore it is
manifest that Christ's passion was a true sacrifice."[1934]
In this proof we find verified the definition of sacrifice as already
explained by St. Thomas,[1935] in that it is, strictly
speaking, the offering of a sensible thing by a priest made to God by
means of a real, or in some way, change of the thing offered in
testimony of God's supreme dominion, and our subjection to Him.
Thus Christ truly offered Himself to death by not repelling His
killers, and after He was struck, by not preventing death, which He
could have done.[1936]
Therefore His voluntary death differs from simple martyrdom, as
Father Voste observes, who says: "The martyrs differ from Christ
because, as a general rule, they were neither priests nor, strictly
speaking, sacrificed themselves, for they were not free either to die
or not to die, nor underwent death by some sacred rite, and their
death was not an elicited act of religion, but an act of fortitude
whereby they chose in preference to lose their life rather than deny the
faith."[1937]
In fact St. Thomas, referring to St. Augustine,[1938]
shows that the sacrifice of the cross, which was prefigured by the
sacrifices of the Old Testament, was the most perfect of all
sacrifices. For a sacrifice is more perfect, the more the priest is
united with God to whom he offers it, with the victim which he
offers, with the people for whom he offers it. But Christ, who is
priest as man, cannot be more united with God, for He is God; nor
with the victim, for He offers Himself; nor with men, who are His
members. For St. Augustine says: "That the same one true
Mediator reconciling us with God through the peace-sacrifice might
continue to be one with Him to whom He offered it, might be one with
them for whom He offered it, and might Himself be the offerer and
what He offered."[1939]
The sacrifice of the cross is offered on account of four ends,
namely, adoration, petition for graces to be obtained, reparation for
offenses, and thanksgiving. So it is also with the Sacrifice of the
Mass, whereby the fruits of the sacrifice of the cross are applied to
us.
Reply to first objection. St. Thomas shows beautifully how the
sacrifice of the cross surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old
Testament which prefigured it, and he quotes St. Augustine's
wonderful text.
Reply to second objection. The sacrifice of the cross, typified by
the ancient sacrifices of the Old Testament, signifies Christ's
immense love for us, and also the necessity for us to mortify the flesh
and refrain from sin.[1940]
Reply to third objection. Christ's passion on the part of His
killers was a crime and a deicide; on Christ's part suffering
willingly out of love, it was the most perfect of all sacrifices.
Hence the very slaying of Christ does not have to be renewed
sacramentally in the Sacrifice of the Mass, but in the Mass "the
victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of
priests, who then offered Himself on the cross."[1941]
Particular opinion. In recent times Father Maurice de la
Taille[1942] conceived the notion that the Last Supper and the
voluntary death of Christ on the cross are two component parts of the
same sacrifice. At the Last Supper, Christ as priest offered
Himself to be immolated on the cross, and on the cross, however, He
was actually immolated and forever retains His state as victim.
However, if it were so, then Christ's voluntary death on the cross
would not be a sacrifice in the strict sense, but only a part of the
sacrifice. But this seems to be contrary to the traditional teaching,
which, even irrespective of the Last Supper, considers the passion
and death of our Lord as a most perfect sacrifice, and as such is
explained by St. Thomas in the present article and elsewhere without
any reference to the Last Supper.[1943]
Truly Christ's oblation not only continues throughout the Passion,
but is expressed sensibly by these words of Christ: "Father, into
Thy hands I commend My Spirit. And saying this, He gave up the
Ghost."[1944] These are, so to speak, the words consecrating
the sacrifice on the cross. This sacrifice is eminently a ritual,
since as it is the thing signified in all ritualistic sacrifices, and
inasmuch as it is the perfect fulfillment according to God's eternal
preordination of the entire cultus of the Old Testament, a
fulfillment that will ever afterward be commemorated by the Sacrifice
of the Mass until the end of the world.
Hence this new theory does not seem to be in harmony with what the
Council of Trent says about the Last Supper and the cross not being
two complementary parts of one and the same sacrifice, but two
sacrifices. The Council says: "Our Lord, though He was about to
offer Himself on the altar of the cross unto God the Father... by
means of His death..., in the Last Supper, on the night in which
He was betrayed, that He might leave to His own beloved spouse the
Church, a visible sacrifice, whereby that bloody sacrifice, once to
be accomplished on the cross, might be represented..., He offered
up to God the Father His own body and blood under the species of
bread and wine."[1945] This text distinguishes between
"offered" and "about to offer, " and the sacrifice of the Last
Supper is called "unbloody, " whereas the sacrifice of the cross is
called "bloody."
Hence the traditional teaching must be retained whereby, even
irrespective of the Last Supper, Christ's voluntary death on the
cross was not only a part of the sacrifice, but a true and even most
perfect sacrifice, and solely of itself fully sufficed. The
Resurrection and Ascension strictly speaking add nothing to the
redemptive value of the cross, but are a visible manifestation that the
sacrifice on Calvary was ratified and accepted by the Father for our
redemption.
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