THE SACRIFICE AT THE MASS ON THE CROSS : Only in the Church of Christ whose earthly head is the Pope does there exist a realization of man's need, rooted in his very nature, to acknowledge God's sovereignty and expiate man's offenses against him. The Mass, the sacrifice of Christ, is the sacrifice of Christ's Church, the sacrifice of us Christians.

I. BIBLE   II. JESUS CHRIST   III. THE TRINITY   IV. THE INCARNATION   V. REDEMPTION   VI. MOTHER OF GOD   VII. ONE TRUE RELIGION   VIII. THE TRUE RELIGION   IX. FAITH   X. MYSTERIES IN RELIGION   XI. THE SACRAMENTS   XII. THE TRUE MASS   XIII. ORDO MISSAE   XIV. THE EUCHARIST   XV. CONFESSION   XVI. MARRIAGE   XVII. SAINTS   XVIII. HEAVEN   XIX. PURGATORY   XX. HELL   XXI. THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS   XXII. THE ADORABLE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS   XXIII. THE PASSION OF CHRIST   XXIV. THE PRECIOUS BLOOD   XXV. THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS   XXVI. CATHOLIC HOME LIFE  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

THE SACRIFICE

       THE SACRIFICE

  AT THE MASS                                      ON THE CROSS

                 v. We adore Thee O, Christ, and we praise Thee.

                      R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou has redeemed the world.

CHAPTERS

  I- INTRODUCTION MASS
III- THE ESSENCE OF THE MASS
V- THE FRUITS OF THE MASS
VII-THE LITURGY OF THE MASS

II - THE EXISTENCE OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
IV- THE MINISTER OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
VI- THE HISTORY OF THE MASS
VIII- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

I. THE INTRODUCTION

   We have seen that the Eucharist is perfected as a sacrament not, as in the case with all the other sacraments, through its use by men or in its application to men, but in the very consecration of the sacramental species: by the divine power of the sacred formulas, the substance of bread is totally changed into the substance of Christ's body and the substance of wine into the substance of his blood. In this manner the celebration of the Eucharist is an image representing Christ's sacrifice on the cross, which was accomplished in a bloody manner by the physical separation of his sacred body and blood. Thus also this ceremony (together with the preparatory and accompanying rites traditionally called the Mass) is itself a sacrifice: "By the consecration traditionally of this sacrament sacrifice is offered to God."

(l) Sacrifice, as we have seen, is the principal external act of the virtue of religion, that special virtue whereby man gives to God, insofar as in him lies, the honor owed to his singular excellence. (1) St. Thomas, III, Summa,q. 82,a. 10.
   In recognition of God's supreme authority and dominion and man's dependence, a gift is offered which represents ourselves, and the victim so offered is changed or destroyed in some manner to express the totality of the giving of ourselves and of the reparation man desires to make for his sin. Thus sacrifice, the external and sensible representation of man's interior immolation to his God, springs from the very nature of things, from the necessary and essential relationship existing between the Creator and his free and intelligent creature. Even had there been no revelation from God, man would have been impelled to make sacrifice, as we read of Cain and Abel doing in the Old Testament, as the anthropologist discovers in the history of religions.
  

Yet it is a fact and a most powerful apologetic argument for the existence of the one true Church-that today true sacrifice is offered only in the Church of Christ. Jewry, Islam, the various Protestant sects have no sacrifice at all, nor is it offered by the great oriental re religions. Degraded forms of sacrifice may be found in certain primitive pagan religions, but these rites are offered to strange gods, not to the one true God. Only in the Church of Christ whose earthly head is the Pope does there exist a realization of man's need, rooted in his very nature, to acknowledge God's sovereignty and expiate man's offenses against him. The Mass, the sacrifice of Christ, is the sacrifice of Christ's Church, the sacrifice of us Christians. To obtain a clearer understanding of this sacrificial aspect of the sacrament of the Eucharist we shall concentrate on four points: its existence (Section 2); its essence (Section 3); its minister (Section 4); its fruits or effects (Section 5). So much could be said about this tremendous mystery of God's love which is the Mass that we can obviously but touch the surface of the matter, speaking only of the most essential points; but it is hoped that, through the liberal use of the Church's official teaching, the main features can be sufficiently outlined and the student thereby inspired to search for himself these deep things of God, a study whose fruits of grace will merit his attention throughout his life.
  

But besides these essential elements there are other things to consider. Christ himself gave the Church this precious jewel, his living memorial, which makes present in our midst his sacrifice on the cross and provides a sacred banquet imparting eternal life. But while the essential elements of the Mass are contained in the Last Supper and bequeathed to the Church, the Church herself has seen fit to provide, over the course of the centuries, a setting for them worthy of so priceless a heritage. The prayers and ceremonies of the Mass which constitute this setting are not, however, precisely the same at all times and in all places. Better to understand the Mass, therefore, we shall briefly see something of its historical development (Section 6) and examine the theological aspects of the liturgy with which the Church surrounds Christ's sacrifice and ours(Section 7).

fonte:http://thetruemass.org/mnu2/XXI.php