Sacrifice of the Cross and the work of Redemption(3) - 10th Sunday after Pentecost (7- 28- 2024)
by mode of Sacrifice and of Redemption(buying-back)
My dear faithful, we have been talking about the topic of the Sacrifice of the Cross and the work of Redemption, through sermons starting from 2 Sundays ago.
- On the first week, it was about the creation of man and the fall of man.
- Last week(2nd week), it was about the 2 modes by which this Sacrifice worked our salvation.
1. The first mode was that of merit. Through this, Our Lord re-obtained His life and we also can have this life of God through uniting ourselves to Christ as His members of the Mystical Body. This mode is the most important and fundamental.
2. The second one was the mode of atonement. By participating the atonement of Christ, we avoid the eternal punishment and we can have hope for our reconciled realtionship with God.
Today we will talk about the remaining two modes : by the mode of Sacrifice, and of Redemption.
3. Sacrifice
Let us begin with the mode of Sacrifice. Sacrifice is an immolation of sensible thing in order to show our recognition of God's honor and our subjection to Him as Supreme being. Through offering sacrifice, man fulfills his fundamental duty towards God and God bestows His graces and blessings in response which helps man to keep the life of grace in himself.
Over the last two sermons, we learned that Adam caused the problem of loss of divine life and the problem of sin in mankind, and Christ's death on the Cross was the solution to these two problems. Besides these two aspects, Adam's sin has also the failure of offering due sacrifice to God. By observing the commandment of God not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, he could have shown his recognition of God's supreme honor and his subjection towards Him by his act of obedience, but he did not make it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ offered the best and most perfect sacrifice to Godby His passion and death on the cross -through offering His own life by His act of obedience.
Sacrifice aims at establishing the proper order and relationship between God and creatures and maintaining this order. Our Lord's sacrifice accomplished this mediation of union between God and mankind in the highest degree.
1) To whom (sacrifice is offered) :
Every sacrifice is offered to God. Our Lord, however, is Himself God. "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30) The offerer and the one to whom it is offered are united (such that it's meaningless to try to measure the distance between them).
2) the offerer (of sacrifice) :
The offerer of sacrifice is a mediator between God and men. To the degree that this mediator belongs to the both parties, the degree of mediation (of union) is determined.
Our Lord is the offer of the Sacrifice of the Cross. Christ is God and man, so He belongs perfectly to both parties.
3) the victim (thing offered)
The effect of mediation also increases when the degree of unity between the offer and the victim.
Our Lord offered very Himself(His life) on the Cross. He was the priest(offerer) and at the same time the victim of the sacrifice.
4) For whom (it is offered)
This sacrifice was offered for mankind. But Our Lord is true man, so we can see the relation of unity (between Him and mankind) in this regard.
Christ suffered all His passion and death in His passible(‘sufferable’) body thereby offered the greatest & most precious sacrifice for mankind. We, who are His members, can also participate in this Sacrifice of His through the sacrifice of Mass. By our participation in mass, we offer it together with Christ who is the Head of His Mystical Body, and we fulfill our fundamental duty to offer our sacrifice to God.
4. Redemption
The next mode is the Redemption. Here, we use the word as meaning 'buying back', 'paying the debt'.
When someone steals a thing or money, there are two factors to consider: the guilt of stealing, and the loss which he has to compensate.
We already talked about the topic of guilt in the sermon in the second week, so we will focus on the issue of the debt.
As a punishment for Adam's sin, God allowed mankind to be under the consequences of sin. Mankind's slavery to the devil is one of them. This was the judgment from God's justice as a punishment and debt of man, which man had to pay off in order to be freed from this slavery. Even in human society, a debtor cannot enjoy his life freely as long as he is bound to pay off the debt, sometimes up to the point of property seizure.
What mankind lost was the life of God which was given freely when first men were created. Men have to repay this in order to have his complete salvation. If he fails, all his things including his life are put under the justice of God. He cannot escape the destiny of eternal punishment.
How can we pay off this debt? By what can we pay? It is the blood of Jesus Christ.
- Blood is a symbol of life in a living being, and at the same time it is the very essential element for its life. The shedding of blood is equivalent of offering one's life. By this reason, shedding of the victim(of animal) was part of the sacrifice in the Old Testament.
- Our Lord paid off the debt of mankind by shedding all His blood through His passion and death. Now, by this, mankind can be freed from the slavery of Satan thereby redeemed in full sense.
There is one thing which we should not overlook at this point. In order for us to have this effect of redemption in us, we must be united to Christ as His members.
Blood circulates only within a living being. Without becoming the member of this living being, it is impossible to have that life, which is participated by the circulation of blood over the members. Concerning this point, it would be helful to look at the prayer of consecration over wine :
"This is the chalice of my blood ... which shall be shed for you and for many..."
Let us focus on the word 'many' which is used instead of 'all'. It is true that Our Lord shed His blood for numerous souls who will be saved by their being united to Him, but this doesn't mean that all the souls will be saved without their doing anything. Therefore, to say that "Any one can be saved as long as he believes in Jesus and trusts in (or, relies on) His merits." is false and an error. This statement seems good at first glance, in the sense that it considers the faith in God as important thing and it fosters the hope of one's salvation, but it can cause a detriment to one’s salvation and irreverence to God by the false understanding on the economy of salvation.
My dear faithful, let us remind ourselves what we learned about today.
- Man fulfills his fundamental duty towards God by offering sacrifice. Mankind has been failing in this since the fall of Adam, but thanks to the Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross we can offer the greatest sacrifice to God.
- Our Lord shed all His blood in order to redeem mankind who had to pay off the debt of sin, and we must be unitied to Him in His Mystical Body in order to have this effect of redemption over us. Let us have great love and devotion towards the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in whose honor we have been dedicating this month of July.
Christ offered His life once, but in this one act of offering there were many things involved which solve the problems of sins of mankind. Based on this deeper understanding of the Sacrifice of Christ, with our deeper gratitude towards Him, let us offer our daily sacrifices to God in union with Christ the High Priest in the mass. Amen.
