and I just want to relate something

that's been happening in the last three

or four months I've had a friendship

rekindled that goes back to the 70s a

classmate named Chris we went to high

school and graduated in 75 he was the

valedictorian

he was also you know a regular masculine

Catholic and so in the cafeteria I don't

remember this but he basically swears

that this happened frequently I would

sit down and after small talk I would

launch into a sort of you know we're in

the New Testament do you find the

sacrifice of the mass and you know he

recounted this to me recently because

about eight years ago we saw each other

for the first time in decades at an

airport and he's like oh Scott you'll be

happy to know that I'm an evangelical

Bible Christian

and I said Chris I'm not sure whether

you'll be happy or not to know that I'm

an evangelical Bible Catholic he was

beyond startled so he had to sit down in

about ten minutes I had to kind of spill

the beans I had to get out as much as I

could and then of course we just

exchanged business cards and started

calling each other

irregularly at that point I want to make

a long story short I basically shared

with him what the father shared with me

along with this other theologian who I

began to study carefully

his name is Ratzinger perhaps you've

heard of him about 27 years ago I began

devouring this man's work and it really

struck me as being so similar to what

I've been reading in the father's

Ratzinger makes a point that for me

proved to be decisive that this idea you

know where do you find in the New

Testament the sacrifice of the mass you

know non Catholics would not point to

the mass as the sacrifice but to what

Calvary Calvary's the sacrifice and

would we disagree of course not

Calvary is not only a sacrifice but the

supreme sacrifice of all times but

Ratzinger was the one who stated the

obvious that I had never seen before

when he pointed out that nobody's

standing at Calvary on that day Good

Friday

would have gone home and to describe

their experience in terms of a sacrifice

why not because it took place outside

the walls it took place far from the

temple where there were no altars there

were no priests stressed in vestments

there was no sacrifice what they would

have gone home and recounted would have

been nothing more than a Roman execution

plain and simple

in great brutality - so the question

became for me and then for Chris how

does a Roman execution suddenly get

transformed into a sacrifice that all

Christians agree on and the supreme

sacrifice that retires all the animal

offerings to boot and I pressed Chris

the same way Ratzinger had pressed me

because it's not something that is

easily answered especially when we

remember that most all of the early

belief

were Jewish Christians who simply lacked

the categories to translate a Roman

execution into the supreme sacrifice and

I pointed out to him again what

Ratzinger had shown me namely that it

had happened very early through the work

of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of

the Apostles as we find for instance

perhaps earliest of all in Paul's letter

to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 5

verse 7 what does Paul announce Christ

our Passover lamb has been sacrificed

for us therefore let us keep the feast

and in the subsequent chapters 6 through

11 he goes on to describe that feast in

terms that we recognize as the Holy

Eucharist especially by the time he gets

to chapter 11 Christ our Passover lamb

has been sacrificed is what really

opened my eyes to see that the only way

the early church could interpret an

execution as a sacrifice on Good Friday

was by rewinding the tape by taking a

giant step and looking at what happened

on Friday in the light of what Jesus did

on Thursday what was he doing in the

upper room with his disciples on Holy

Thursday he was celebrating the Passover

of the Old Covenant one last time but

that's not all he was doing he was

fulfilling fulfilling it as the lamb but

he wasn't just fulfilling it as the Lamb

of God said to retire the Passover he

was transforming the old into the new

the Passover of ancient Israel became

the Eucharist of the New Covenant and so

the disciples in the midst of this

familiar liturgy which they had

experienced since childhood suddenly

hear something strange sort of out of

the rubrics What did he say this is my

body which will be given for you is that

written down anywhere

no he just added it this is my body

which will be given up what kind of

rhetorical insertion is that and near

the end of the meal they heard something

else and that is this is the cup of My

Blood the blood of the New Covenant

could be translated New Testament kind

idea thinking and the Greek can go

either way the blood of the New Covenant

the New Testament poured out for many

for the remission of sins do

this in remembrance of me and again they

must have been scratching their heads

wondering what is he talking about what

is he doing what is this new rhetoric

this additional ritual and I suspect

they were wondering even as they left

that night and walked with him to the

Garden of Gethsemane I don't think they

realized what he was really saying or

doing even the next day only with the

illuminating grace of the holy spirit -

they realize later on he wasn't just

adding a little bit of rhetoric or

ritual he said what he meant he meant

what he said this is my body which will

be given up for you that's how he was

fulfilling the Passover of the old as

the true lamb that's how he was

transforming it into the Passover of the

new by instituting the Eucharist and so

when he says this is the cup of My Blood

the blood of the new covenant the New

Testament that chalice contained why no

longer it contained Christ himself

and so with the help of the Holy Spirit

these early believers realized that the

Eucharist is what transformed Good

Friday from being a mere execution to

becoming the culmination and climax of

what the new Passover and I can tell you

this much if the first Mass wasn't a

sacrifice then Calvary is only an

execution only if the first mass was a

sacrifice can we understand the belief

of the first generation that transformed

an execution into the supreme sacrifice

that fulfilled all previous animal

offerings the Eucharist is what

transforms Calvary into the sacrifice

its inseparably one and the same self

offering and just as Holy Thursday

transformed Good Friday from being a

brutal execution to a divine sacrifice I

want to propose that Easter Sunday is

precisely what transformed that

sacrifice into a sacrament

something that the Apostles with the

power of the Holy Spirit could do in

remembrance of him because that's who is

really present in the mass it isn't the

battered body of Jesus corpse hanging on

the cross gasping for air and then

finally dying it's one on the same

sacrifice and it's the same body only it

is the resurrected body of Christ it is

the ascended body it is the glorified

deified sacred Humanity of Christ that

is present in our Tabernacles on our

altars on our tongues whenever we

receive this heavenly pass over this

Paschal sacrifice precisely because it's

a Passover we don't have to figure out

well is it a sacrifice or is it a meal

because what was the Passover in the old

as well as the new it was a meal but

only a meal second it was a sacrifice

first and foremost which was ordered to

the sacrificial communion of the

Passover meal and so Luke 22 in giving

us the institution of the Holy Eucharist

is what illuminates the mystery of the

Cross showing us that Jesus wasn't

simply the victim of Roman and justice

and violence he was the victim of divine

love he didn't lose his life on Friday

if in fact he gave it to them and us on

Thursday and he did or as Saint Thomas

Aquinas would say it isn't how much he

suffered on the cross that saves us

rather it's how much he loved because

suffering in itself doesn't save it

doesn't satisfy divine justice but love

by itself is not enough either

to paraphrase again Pope Benedict

suffering without love is unendurable

but love without suffering is mere words

or feelings

how do you express love how do you prove

true love how do you perfect and purify

love through suffering and what does

love do to suffering it transforms it

into a sacrifice the offering of Christ

the self sacrificial offering in the

Holy Eucharist that Luke describes in

chapter 22 is precisely what transforms

the brutality and the violence of Jesus

own personal suffering on Good Friday

into the holiest sacrifice of all but

not one that he offers so that we don't

have to but precisely one that he offers

so we can by receiving the Holy

Eucharist in love we can offer up our

meager sufferings and unite them to

Christ's redemptive sacrifice as some of

you who are cradle Catholics have told

me over the years you know if you

stubbed your toe or if you miss the bus

you know what was the refrain in the

domestic liturgy from your mom offer it

up and it isn't just you know pietistic

rhetoric it is a Eucharistic mystery

because the love that we receive becomes

our own the sufferings that we endure

can be transformed by that love into a

holy sacrifice and in the process we now

have a capacity not to win arguments

with non Catholics but to win brothers

and sisters in Christ