Thank you for this series. I have been sharing the essays with my fellow RCIA catechists. This short and concise explanation of the Bloodless Sacrifice has profoundly touched my soul, and I will pass i along to the Elect who will be baptized on Easter Vigil.
Such a beautiful article Dr. Kheriaty. Thank you so much. Yes, we don't go to mass to celebrate, we offer ourselves there at the foot of the cross. And, thank heaven our Lord also gave us the sacrament of confession.
As a Catholic I question your emphasis on the suffering of the flesh body. I do not doubt that some Catholics arrive at the Eucharistic celebration with that view in mind, but does it really reflect the faith? There are two views, I suppose, that one could have regarding the crucifixion: 1) the horrific bloody punishment inflicted for blasphemy by the keepers of the O.T., the Sadducees, or 2) the failure of this barbaric treatment as shown in the Resurrection that revealed the true nature of Jesus and the God he proclaimed. If one stops at the first, or even places an emphasis on the first, I fear the testimony of Jesus Christ was in vain. We are left with our attention on the wrong God. Instead, the Eucharistic celebration should or even must carry one through the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Mass, if it is truly the Blessed Sacrament must lift one up in THE REAL PRESENCE of the resurrected Christ. Anything short of that is a maudlin rite that is rightly criticized. The Christ that one infuses during the Eucharist is not a dead and bloody Christ, but rather the Jesus Christ who continues to live, as a REAL PRESENCE, in our lives. A celebration of the dead flesh body that does not carry us profoundly into a new awareness of the spiritual existence we share in the Body of Christ is not the powerful Blessed Sacrament I know.
Thank you for this series. I have been sharing the essays with my fellow RCIA catechists. This short and concise explanation of the Bloodless Sacrifice has profoundly touched my soul, and I will pass i along to the Elect who will be baptized on Easter Vigil.
Such a beautiful article Dr. Kheriaty. Thank you so much. Yes, we don't go to mass to celebrate, we offer ourselves there at the foot of the cross. And, thank heaven our Lord also gave us the sacrament of confession.
As a Catholic I question your emphasis on the suffering of the flesh body. I do not doubt that some Catholics arrive at the Eucharistic celebration with that view in mind, but does it really reflect the faith? There are two views, I suppose, that one could have regarding the crucifixion: 1) the horrific bloody punishment inflicted for blasphemy by the keepers of the O.T., the Sadducees, or 2) the failure of this barbaric treatment as shown in the Resurrection that revealed the true nature of Jesus and the God he proclaimed. If one stops at the first, or even places an emphasis on the first, I fear the testimony of Jesus Christ was in vain. We are left with our attention on the wrong God. Instead, the Eucharistic celebration should or even must carry one through the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Mass, if it is truly the Blessed Sacrament must lift one up in THE REAL PRESENCE of the resurrected Christ. Anything short of that is a maudlin rite that is rightly criticized. The Christ that one infuses during the Eucharist is not a dead and bloody Christ, but rather the Jesus Christ who continues to live, as a REAL PRESENCE, in our lives. A celebration of the dead flesh body that does not carry us profoundly into a new awareness of the spiritual existence we share in the Body of Christ is not the powerful Blessed Sacrament I know.
Bloodless except that His Precious Blood is present. "Unbloody sacrifice" is the traditional description.