Sect. 262Institution of the Eucharistic SacrificeInstitution of the Eucharistic Sacrifice
I. The prophecy of Malachias received its fulfilment at the Last Supper, when Christ instituted the unbloody sacrifice of the New Testament. The four accounts given of the institution by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and by St. Paul, slightly differ in their terms, but convey the same meaning, viz. what Christ meant when He used those or similar expressions. We subjoin the various texts in the original Greek, and in the Vulgate and Rheims-Douay translations. From an analysis of them we shall prove that they clearly and convincingly express the institution of a true sacrifice.
Luke 22:20: “Τοῦτό το ποτήριον, ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἳματί μου, τὸ ὑπέρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον.”
“Hic est calix novum testamentum in sanguine meo, qui pro vobis fundetur.”
“This is the chalice, the new testament in My blood, which shall be shed for you.”
Mark 14:24: “Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον.”
“Hic est sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur.”
“This is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.”
Matt. 26:28: “Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν.”
“Hic est enim sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum.”
“For this is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.”
1. St. Luke evidently speaks of the effusion of the blood “as it is in the chalice.” “This chalice is shed,” as the Greek has it, can convey but one meaning: that the blood contained in the chalice is shed, at the present time, for you. The same blood was shed on the Cross, but not as contained in the chalice, in its sacramental state. Matthew and Mark do not use the same figure of speech as Luke. Instead of naming the cup to signify what it contains, they directly name the contents, “My blood.” The meaning, however, must be the same, as the three narratives report one and the same event. Hence they all refer to the blood as it is actually in the chalice, and all state that it is there shed for us, and unto remission of sins. Now, the shedding of blood unto remission of sins is a sacrifice, really and truly (cf. Book V. part iii. chap. 1). Christ commands the Apostles to do this for a commemoration of Him. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist, therefore, was instituted by our Lord as the perennial sacrifice of the New Law.
2. The words “for you, for many, for many unto remission of sins,” make it clear that the consecration of the chalice is a sacrificial action. But they are not the words of consecration. The words used to put the body and blood of Christ into the state of victim are these: “This is My body, this is My blood.” The sacrifice takes place when these words are uttered by the minister; what follows is but a declaration or explanation not essential to the sacrificial form.
3. By a natural association of ideas, “effusion of blood” and “sacrifice” have become, with the sacred writers, interchangeable terms. Instances abound: Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:14; Heb. and Apoc., passim. This usage suggests the question: How is the blood shed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice? Only in a mystical way. The real effusion took place once, upon the Cross, and cannot be repeated. But the bleeding victim of the Cross is made really present on the altar, under the appearances of bread and wine, and with the whole merit of the former sacrifice. The representation is made in a manner most fittingly representing the death of the victim, viz. the body and the blood, although inseparably united, are produced by a separate consecration and under separate species. The sacrificial words, like a spiritual sword, divide the Divine body and blood, and thus recall the memory of Christ’s death on Calvary.
II. The words used in the consecration of the bread afford the same proof of the real sacrificial nature of the Mass as those used in the consecration of the chalice.
1 Cor. 11:24: “Τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ σωμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κλώμενον.”
“Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis tradetur.”
“This is My body, which shall be delivered for you.”
Luke 22:19: “Τοῦτό ἐστὶ τὸ σῶμά μου, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον.”
“Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis datur.”
“This is My body, which is given for you.”
John 6:52: “Ὁ ἄρτος δὲ ὅν ἐγὼ δώσω, ἡ σάρξ μου ἐστὶν, [ἥν ἐγὼ δώσω] ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς.”
“Et panis, quern ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita.”
“And the bread that I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.”
In the received Greek text of St. Paul, the body of Christ, made present under the appearance of bread, is said to be “broken for us.” In the language of the Bible, “to break bread” is to give it as food. According to St. Paul, then, in the Eucharistic celebrations Christ is given us as food. The same meaning, therefore, attaches to the words of St. Luke, who reports the same sentence of Christ. Now, the words of Luke, “My body, which is given for you,” are identical in signification with those of Mark and Matthew, “which is given for you, for many unto remission of sins,” and, like these, they directly convey the idea of a sacrifice offered hic et nunc. This idea of an actual and present sacrifice is, however, not so much conveyed by the present tense of the verb (frangitur, “is broken, given”) as by the circumstance of being given “as food,” which only is true of the Eucharistic Sacrifice (cf. Franzelin, th. xi.).
I. The prophecy of Malachias received its fulfilment at the Last Supper, when Christ instituted the unbloody sacrifice of the New Testament. The four accounts given of the institution by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and by St. Paul, slightly differ in their terms, but convey the same meaning, viz. what Christ meant when He used those or similar expressions. We subjoin the various texts in the original Greek, and in the Vulgate and Rheims-Douay translations. From an analysis of them we shall prove that they clearly and convincingly express the institution of a true sacrifice.
Luke 22:20: “Τοῦτό το ποτήριον, ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐν τῷ αἳματί μου, τὸ ὑπέρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον.”
“Hic est calix novum testamentum in sanguine meo, qui pro vobis fundetur.”
“This is the chalice, the new testament in My blood, which shall be shed for you.”
Mark 14:24: “Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον.”
“Hic est sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur.”
“This is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.”
Matt. 26:28: “Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν.”
“Hic est enim sanguis meus novi testamenti, qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum.”
“For this is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins.”
1. St. Luke evidently speaks of the effusion of the blood “as it is in the chalice.” “This chalice is shed,” as the Greek has it, can convey but one meaning: that the blood contained in the chalice is shed, at the present time, for you. The same blood was shed on the Cross, but not as contained in the chalice, in its sacramental state. Matthew and Mark do not use the same figure of speech as Luke. Instead of naming the cup to signify what it contains, they directly name the contents, “My blood.” The meaning, however, must be the same, as the three narratives report one and the same event. Hence they all refer to the blood as it is actually in the chalice, and all state that it is there shed for us, and unto remission of sins. Now, the shedding of blood unto remission of sins is a sacrifice, really and truly (cf. Book V. part iii. chap. 1). Christ commands the Apostles to do this for a commemoration of Him. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist, therefore, was instituted by our Lord as the perennial sacrifice of the New Law.
2. The words “for you, for many, for many unto remission of sins,” make it clear that the consecration of the chalice is a sacrificial action. But they are not the words of consecration. The words used to put the body and blood of Christ into the state of victim are these: “This is My body, this is My blood.” The sacrifice takes place when these words are uttered by the minister; what follows is but a declaration or explanation not essential to the sacrificial form.
3. By a natural association of ideas, “effusion of blood” and “sacrifice” have become, with the sacred writers, interchangeable terms. Instances abound: Acts 20:28; Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:14; Heb. and Apoc., passim. This usage suggests the question: How is the blood shed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice? Only in a mystical way. The real effusion took place once, upon the Cross, and cannot be repeated. But the bleeding victim of the Cross is made really present on the altar, under the appearances of bread and wine, and with the whole merit of the former sacrifice. The representation is made in a manner most fittingly representing the death of the victim, viz. the body and the blood, although inseparably united, are produced by a separate consecration and under separate species. The sacrificial words, like a spiritual sword, divide the Divine body and blood, and thus recall the memory of Christ’s death on Calvary.
II. The words used in the consecration of the bread afford the same proof of the real sacrificial nature of the Mass as those used in the consecration of the chalice.
1 Cor. 11:24: “Τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ σωμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κλώμενον.”
“Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis tradetur.”
“This is My body, which shall be delivered for you.”
Luke 22:19: “Τοῦτό ἐστὶ τὸ σῶμά μου, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον.”
“Hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis datur.”
“This is My body, which is given for you.”
John 6:52: “Ὁ ἄρτος δὲ ὅν ἐγὼ δώσω, ἡ σάρξ μου ἐστὶν, [ἥν ἐγὼ δώσω] ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς.”
“Et panis, quern ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita.”
“And the bread that I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.”
In the received Greek text of St. Paul, the body of Christ, made present under the appearance of bread, is said to be “broken for us.” In the language of the Bible, “to break bread” is to give it as food. According to St. Paul, then, in the Eucharistic celebrations Christ is given us as food. The same meaning, therefore, attaches to the words of St. Luke, who reports the same sentence of Christ. Now, the words of Luke, “My body, which is given for you,” are identical in signification with those of Mark and Matthew, “which is given for you, for many unto remission of sins,” and, like these, they directly convey the idea of a sacrifice offered hic et nunc. This idea of an actual and present sacrifice is, however, not so much conveyed by the present tense of the verb (frangitur, “is broken, given”) as by the circumstance of being given “as food,” which only is true of the Eucharistic Sacrifice (cf. Franzelin, th. xi.).
Seção 92% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.