In what way is the Eucharist a sacrifice?

This is part one of a three-part series of questions-and-answers on the Eucharist. The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists at least twenty images and titles for the Eucharist, which tells us that its rich symbolism is inexhaustible. Let us not limit it to just our favourite symbol, but expand our mind and faith to include others so as to capture more of its richness.

Q: In what way is the Eucharist a sacrifice?

A: To understand the Eucharist as a sacrifice, it is important to understand something of what Jesus understood about sacrifice. That is to say, it is important to understand the Jewish practice of sacrifice. In Jesus’ time, all Jewish sacrifice took place in the Temple in Jerusalem. There were three forms of Jewish sacrifice: whole, burnt offerings, which were a gift to God; sin offerings, which involved policies about the use of the blood from the sacrifice for the reparation of the sin; and peace offerings, which the worshipper was allowed to eat as a guest of the Lord.

The Passover sacrifice is an extension of the third type. Recalling the night the angel of death passed over the homes of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, the paschal lamb was sacrificed every year in the spring at the Temple. The heads of households would take the lamb home to celebrate the seder meal with their families. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the Jewish community no longer had access to a sacrificial lamb because it could only come from the Temple. Very quickly, the matza or unleavened bread began to take on the symbolism of the passover lamb.

Jesus had identified his body with the bread used at the Last Supper and with the passover lamb. The Gospel writers no doubt emphasized these associations especially considering the Jewish practice of connecting the sacrifice with the bread. These associations give us a rich system of symbol and metaphor for fathoming Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

However, unlike the Passover lamb, which was sacrificed once a year, Jesus, the Paschal Lamb, died only once. In the Eucharist, when the bread and wine are broken and poured out, we are not re-sacrificing Jesus’ body and blood; we are, instead, participating in the one sacrifice, which has already happened but which transcends time and place. Jesus’ sacrifice is eternal and is present or actualized in every moment of history – past, present, and future. Our weekly memorial of that sacrifice allows us to be present to it, to make it real for ourselves. But more than that, our weekly Eucharist is a way for us to join ourselves with Jesus’ sacrifice so that, just as he is offered, we are also offered.

- taken from “Modern Liturgy Answers – the 101 Most-Asked Questions about Liturgy” by Nick Wagner, Pauline Publications