The one task of the Church is to make Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary, present to the world by means of the Sacraments and Charity.[1] The “source and summit” of the Sacraments and the Church's charity is the Most Holy Eucharist. (Lumen Gentium, 11) It is the Holy Eucharist, above all else, which constitutes the Church's greatest treasure. The reason for this greatness is twofold. First, it is Jesus Himself. Second, it makes sacramentally present His Cross such that it is one and the same sacrifice of the God man to the Father in the Holy Spirit, save the mode of offering.[2] In this paper I will attempt to show that the heresy by which the Eucharistic Sacrifice is denied and the Real Presence of our Lord is disavowed constitutes the Church's greatest challenge and the most serious threat facing her today.

Heresy and the Scandal of the Incarnation

From the very beginning, the Incarnation of the Λόγοs has been the primary object of heresy. The Incarnation is, simply said, the assumption of a human nature by the Eternal Word. This human nature is joined to the divine nature without “confusion, change, division or separation.”[3] The human nature possess its own soul and will. The New Testament already bears witness to this attack when it speaks, for instance, of the anti-Christ being him who denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (2 John 1:7). Nicaea I (325) defended the true Divinity of Jesus of Nazareth when it taught that he was “consubstantial with the Father.” Again, the Arian heresy was a direct attack on the reality of the Incarnation. At the Council of Ephesus (431) the Nestorians accepted the Divinity of Jesus Christ but only such that there were two Persons and consequently not a real assumption of a human nature by the Word. The Council of Chalcedon (451) definitively taught that there exists only one person with two natures, a human and a divine, in order to protect the Incarnation against the Monophysites. Constantinople II (553) taught the real human will of Jesus of Nazareth against the Monothelites who by there teaching imploded the human nature of Jesus Christ into the divine. Finally, the great struggle of the Eastern Church against Emperor Leo III led to the definitive approbation of the use and veneration of icons because the Eternal Word circumscribed Himself in the robe of our flesh such that He could be portrayed and venerated in Christian iconography. Nicaea II's (787) triumph over the Iconoclasts led to the Feast of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday of Lent, again, in defense of the Incarnation. This noble history of the undivided Eastern and Western Churches bears splendid witness to the true faith in the Incarnation. These battles against the Antichrist - he who denies Jesus Christ come in the flesh - the ancient enemy of the human race, that Serpent, did not come without cost. Christians, like Saint Paul, most always bear in their own bodies the marks – stigmata in the Vulgate – of Jesus Christ and do battle against evil. The cross of Christ will always be ours to carry in this world and we must not excuse ourselves from the pain of following the Lord. The task is ours until the Lord returns in glory to judge the living and the dead and, therefore, the Church is wrestling, “… not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) The great attack of the Evil One in our day, is on the Most Holy Eucharist. If the first millennium battled against the above mentioned heresies, then the second millennium’s struggle is against those who would deny the Incarnation by denial of the Most Holy Eucharist. The greatest gift a loving God could give His children, the Blessed Sacrament, is being stomped under foot – often literally – by enemies within and without. In the second part of this paper I would like to offer a suggestion as to the rise of this great Heresy by an examination of the notion of sacrifice.

Sacrifice: The Pre-ambulum Fidei Par Excellance

Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that sacrifice is a precept of the natural law.[4] So ubiquitous is sacrifice in the history of human culture and religion, that I would like to investigate two important questions: “What is sacrifice?” and "Why did God make sacrifice the means by which redemption is accomplished?"

A good definition of sacrifice may be found in the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia where one finds the following: “By sacrifice in the real sense is universally understood the offering of a sense-perceptible gift to the Deity as an outward manifestation of our veneration for Him and with the object of attaining communion with Him. Strictly speaking however, this offering does not become a sacrifice until a real change has been effected in the visible gift (e.g. by slaying it, shedding its blood. burning it, or pouring it out).”[5] Scott Hahn’s Catholic Bible Dictionary further develops this idea when he writes that sacrifices are, “… liturgical rites that give outward and public expression to man’s innermost devotion toward God. By means of Sacrifice man recognizes his total dependence upon God and acknowledges the supreme authority of God over his life.”[6] This dependence on God is normally embodied by the death of something held necessary or extremely important and valuable to man so that he may exercise the virtue of faith in God.

The pedagogy of God is one of gradual self revelation by which He prepares the whole of humanity to accept the life and love of Jesus Christ by means of His People Israel in the Old Covenant and through His new people, the Church, in the New Covenant. It was only natural then for God to use sacrifice, a precept of the natural law and therefore common to all men, to prepare the world for the Incarnate love of God, Jesus Christ. Abel and Cain both offered God their sacrifices (Gen 4). The practice of sacrifice in Patriarchal times is represented by objects such as altars, sheep and goats (Gen 4:4; 22:13), birds (Gen 8:20), crops (Gen 4:3), wine and oil (Gen 28:18; 35:14) and the bread and wine offered [sacrificed] by Melchizedek (Gen 14:18). In Mosaic times, on account of Israel’s idolatry of the golden calf, the nature of sacrifice changes from a non discretionary practice enacted by the father of each household to a discretionary one regulated by an annual calendar with religious feasts (Lev 23:4-44), enacted by the class of priests ordained by God; the Levites. This cultic circumscription by God on account of Israel’s idolatry led to the use of sacrifice not only to worship God as supreme, but also to protect Israel from idolatry.[7] The very act of Israel’s sacrifices became a repudiation of the Egyptian gods. The animals of Mosaic sacrifice, by the wonderful design and providence of God, were the Egyptian objects of worship and veneration. Mnevis was worshiped as a bull, Apis was a bull calf, Hathor was a cow and Khnum was a ram. The slaughter and destruction of these animals in public ritual sacrifice was a direct attack and repudiation of the Egyptian gods. This is why Moses asked Pharaoh for a three days journey to worship (Exodus 5:1-3). Moses knew that if the People of God sacrificed [worship] before the Egyptians they would be killed. “Will they not stone us?” (Exodus 8:25-26) Joshua knows the significance of Israel’s sacrifices (Josh 24:14) and Ezekiel is perfectly aware of the reality as well (Ezek 20:7). This sacrificial re-orientation given to Israel to cure its proclivity to idolatry - although disregarded by many modern scholars - was well known to Jewish and Christian antiquity.[8]

It becomes clear, besides the necessity for the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins (Lev 17), that God made sacrifice the means of salvation for two reasons. First, because it most perfectly makes man acknowledge God to be Lord of all and thus the most conducive human activity to the praise of God.[9] Second, it best protects man’s heart from the poison of idolatry.[10] The supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not only the perfect praise of God by the God man, but it was and remains the ultimate deterrent of idol worship. “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Cor 1:23)

“Protestant Christianity’s” Challenge[11]

The current rejection of the Sacrificial nature of the most Holy Eucharist and the Real Presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine by Protestants is not only the latest in a history of heretical attacks on the true faith in the Incarnation, it is the most dangerous yet. It is the most dangerous because it changes the religion of real participation in the God man’s sacrificial worship of the Father, in Spirit and truth on the wood of the Cross, into a cold, intellectually dry religion of the book whereby one “accepts Jesus” and foolishly tricks oneself into a psychological assurance of salvation based on the utterance of the God man’s name and an emotional sentiment which they call faith in the heart. I do not mean to disregard the possibility, for those who are invincibly ignorant of Christ’s Church, of having a right relationship with God and a real relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. I only want to highlight the heretical nature of their conception of justification.[12] This form of Christianity emptied of its substance - participation in the Cross of Jesus Christ through sacrificial worship - becomes the playground of endless novelties and tricks of the Evil One. Once the notion of sacrifice is displaced from the Christian religion, the Blessed Eucharist must also step aside.

In much of the secular world, there is great sacrifice [great crosses] – the pursuit of money and comfort by grueling hours of work, extended time away from family members, etc... - but there is no Jesus. In the Christian world, everyone wants all the “Jesus” they can get – fluffy homilies, health and wealth Gospel, “faith” sharing, Christian “outreach,” etc... - but no Cross. They want to live exculpated immoral lifestyles committing sins such as divorce and remarriage, pre-marital sex, avaricious materialism, etc... while still being “Christians.” They want Jesus without the Cross and the secular world endures all types of crosses but cannot stomach Jesus. Only the Blessed Eucharist unites the Person of Jesus as found in the words of Scripture with the reality of His Cross. A non-Eucharistic Christianity is a contradiction in terminis and this constitutes the great challenge of our day.

Conclusion

Only a Christianity which commits to know, preach and live, nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified can heal a world which is sick to its core. The tragedy of sin, into which we are all born, is healed and conquered by no other means than the cross of Jesus Christ. For God’s glory, the salvation of souls and the good of all men and women, we must return to the heart of our faith which is the glorious passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now if only we can believe that there is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday.

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[1] C.f. Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 22

“The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word.”

[2] The Council of Trent, Session XXII, Chapter II

[3] The Council of Chalcedon, Session V, October 22, 451

[4] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 85, a.1

[5] Catholic Encyclopedia (1917). C.f. entry under “Sacrifice”.

[6] Scott Hahn, Catholic Bible Dictionary, 794

[7] ibid 6; This will become an important insight in light of the God man and His self oblation to the Father on the Cross.

[8] In the Jewish tradition, see: Targum Onqelos at Exodus 8.21-22; Targum Neofiti at Exodus 8:21-22; Exodus Rabbah at 11.3

For the Christian tradition see: Saint Aphrahat, Demonstrations 15.6; Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 102, a.3; Nicholas of Lyra, Postilla super totam Bibliam at Exod 3.18

C.f. Scott Hahn’s article on “Sacrifice” in the Catholic Bible Dictionary for this understanding of Israel’s worship as a rejection of the Egyptian gods.

[9] C.f. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 556

Praise is that form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It is a completely disinterested prayer: it sings God’s praise for his own sake and gives him glory simply because he is.

[10] C.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113

“Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon." Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.”

[11] I put the phrase Protestant Christianity in parentheses for the simple reason that there is only one Church of Jesus Christ and someone is a Christian only to the extent that they participate in this one Body of Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that Reginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange did not use the traditional apologetic: God -> Christianity -> Catholicism. He would not recognize a distinction between Catholicism and Christianity, and I agree with this position.

[12] C.f. The Council of Trent, Decree on Justification, Canons: XII, XIII, XV, XVI