Start page / Objections / The Eucharist
Verses cited for this objection: Rom. 6:8-10, Heb. 7:27, Heb. 9:12, Heb. 9:25-26, Heb. 9:28, Heb. 10:11-14, Heb. 10:18
Short answer
The Church teaches that Christ offered himself once on the cross, and that this sacrifice is not repeated, added to or multiplied. The Mass is that one sacrifice made present: the same Christ, the same victim, offered in an unbloody manner, so that the power of the cross is applied to us. Christians were calling the Eucharist a sacrifice in the first centuries. St. John Chrysostom, preaching on these verses of Hebrews, says it is the same sacrifice and not another.
Drafted from primary sources. Every quotation is checked against the page it links to. The objection describes the Mass as a repeated sacrifice. The Church's own texts speak of one sacrifice made present, so the timeline states the teaching in her words.
Where this teaching appears on the Offshoots timelines: October 1520, No sacrifice in the Mass; January 1523, The Mass as a memorial, not a sacrifice.
“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."”
“Consider the practice of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? … You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
“…but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. … He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.”
“But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. … For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.”
“He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name…”
“He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, This is My body. … And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and taught the new oblation of the new covenant; which the Church receiving from the apostles, offers to God throughout all the world…”
“And because we make mention of His passion in all sacrifices (for the Lord's passion is the sacrifice which we offer), we ought to do nothing else than what He did.”
“Then, after the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless service, is completed, over that sacrifice of propitiation we entreat God for the common peace of the Churches, for the welfare of the world … and, in a word, for all who stand in need of succour we all pray and offer this sacrifice.”
“What then? Do not we offer every day? We offer indeed, but making a remembrance of His death … For we always offer the same, not one sheep now and tomorrow another, but always the same thing: so that the sacrifice is one. … It is not another sacrifice, as the High Priest, but we offer always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance of a Sacrifice.”
“Thus He is both the Priest who offers and the Sacrifice offered. And He designed that there should be a daily sign of this in the sacrifice of the Church, which, being His body, learns to offer herself through Him.”
“As Ambrose says (commenting on Hebrews 10:1), "there is but one victim," namely that which Christ offered, and which we offer, "and not many victims, because Christ was offered but once: and this latter sacrifice is the pattern of the former. For, just as what is offered everywhere is one body, and not many bodies, so also is it but one sacrifice."”
“…that He might leave, to His own beloved Spouse the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that bloody sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the cross, might be represented, and the memory thereof remain even unto the end of the world, and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit…”
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner."”
“The Mass makes present the sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it. What is repeated is its memorial celebration, its "commemorative representation" (memorialis demonstratio), which makes Christ's one, definitive redemptive sacrifice always present in time.”