Sect. 265The Eucharist a Sacrifice of PropitiationThe Eucharist a Sacrifice of Propitiation
I. The root of the word “propitiation” is prope, “near.” Hence its meaning, when applied to the relations between God and man, of “bringing together, making favourable.” A propitiatory sacrifice brings man nearer to God by satisfying for man’s sin, and obtaining for him God’s favour or grace. The law was “a bringing in of a better hope by which we draw nigh (ἠγγίζομεν) to God” (Heb. 7:19). The English word “atonement,” if the etymology “at-one-ment” is correct, beautifully renders the idea of propitiation. Man offers satisfaction for his misdeeds; God forgives, and restores the sinner to the communion of grace.
II. The sacrifice of the Mass has taken the place of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Hence it contains in itself alone all the efficacy and attains all the objects of the former institutions. Foremost among these was the sacrifice for sin. Primasius, a sixth century Father, commenting on Heb. 10, says, “Our priests offer daily to commemorate His death. And because we sin daily and require to be cleansed daily, He Who cannot die again gave us this sacrament of His body and blood, in order that, as His Passion was the redemption and absolution of the world, so also this oblation might be the redemption and cleansing of all who offer it in the true faith.” This a priori argument is fully confirmed by the words of the institution: This is My body “which is given for you;” My blood “which is shed for you, for many, unto the remission of sins.” The sense of the Church that the unbloody representation of the sacrifice on the Cross has the same propitiatory character as its prototype, is abundantly declared in all our Christian liturgies. Not one of them is without prayers for the remission of sins on behalf of the living and the dead, or without formulas declaring in set terms the atoning nature of the sacrifice. “In the book of the Machabees,” says St. Augustine, “we read that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But, even if nowhere we read this in the ancient Scriptures, we have for it the great authority of the universal Church which clearly adheres to this custom when, in the prayers, offered by the priest at the altar of God, commemoration is made for the dead” (De Cura pro Mortuis Gerenda, c. I, n. 3). St. Chrysostom refers this custom to the Apostles: “By Apostolic laws it is determined that in the venerable mysteries commemoration of the dead be made” (In Phil. Hom. 3, n. 4). The Council of Trent embodies the universal doctrine in the following canon: “If any one saith that the sacrifice of the Mass is only one of praise and thanksgiving, or the bare commemoration of the sacrifice offered on the Cross, and not also propitiatory; or that it only profiteth him who takes it, and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead, for punishments and satisfactions and other needs, let him be anathema” (sess. xxii. can. 3).
I. The root of the word “propitiation” is prope, “near.” Hence its meaning, when applied to the relations between God and man, of “bringing together, making favourable.” A propitiatory sacrifice brings man nearer to God by satisfying for man’s sin, and obtaining for him God’s favour or grace. The law was “a bringing in of a better hope by which we draw nigh (ἠγγίζομεν) to God” (Heb. 7:19). The English word “atonement,” if the etymology “at-one-ment” is correct, beautifully renders the idea of propitiation. Man offers satisfaction for his misdeeds; God forgives, and restores the sinner to the communion of grace.
II. The sacrifice of the Mass has taken the place of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Hence it contains in itself alone all the efficacy and attains all the objects of the former institutions. Foremost among these was the sacrifice for sin. Primasius, a sixth century Father, commenting on Heb. 10, says, “Our priests offer daily to commemorate His death. And because we sin daily and require to be cleansed daily, He Who cannot die again gave us this sacrament of His body and blood, in order that, as His Passion was the redemption and absolution of the world, so also this oblation might be the redemption and cleansing of all who offer it in the true faith.” This a priori argument is fully confirmed by the words of the institution: This is My body “which is given for you;” My blood “which is shed for you, for many, unto the remission of sins.” The sense of the Church that the unbloody representation of the sacrifice on the Cross has the same propitiatory character as its prototype, is abundantly declared in all our Christian liturgies. Not one of them is without prayers for the remission of sins on behalf of the living and the dead, or without formulas declaring in set terms the atoning nature of the sacrifice. “In the book of the Machabees,” says St. Augustine, “we read that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But, even if nowhere we read this in the ancient Scriptures, we have for it the great authority of the universal Church which clearly adheres to this custom when, in the prayers, offered by the priest at the altar of God, commemoration is made for the dead” (De Cura pro Mortuis Gerenda, c. I, n. 3). St. Chrysostom refers this custom to the Apostles: “By Apostolic laws it is determined that in the venerable mysteries commemoration of the dead be made” (In Phil. Hom. 3, n. 4). The Council of Trent embodies the universal doctrine in the following canon: “If any one saith that the sacrifice of the Mass is only one of praise and thanksgiving, or the bare commemoration of the sacrifice offered on the Cross, and not also propitiatory; or that it only profiteth him who takes it, and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead, for punishments and satisfactions and other needs, let him be anathema” (sess. xxii. can. 3).
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