the words: “Do this in commemoration of Me”, our Lord gave to the apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests of the Church, the power of changing bread and wine into His Body and Blood, and of distributing them to the faithful; so that, to this day, in the holy Mass, bishops and priests change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus when, speaking in His name, they pronounce the words: “This is My Body; this is My Blood.” The Sacrament, in which the Body and Blood of our Lord are thus present and received, is called the Most Holy Sacrament, because it is more holy than the other Sacraments; Jesus Himself, and not only His grace, being therein received.
The holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Our Lord did not give His Sacred Body and Blood, under the form of bread and wine, only to be received by His apostles; He offered them, first, as a sacrifice to His heavenly Father. That the most holy Sacrament is a Sacrifice is shown by the separation of the Blood from the Body, as also by the words of institution: “This is My Body, which is given for you", which is offered up for your salvation[1]. Our Lord therefore instituted the Most Holy Sacrament to be a Sacrifice, and commanded the apostles and their successors to continue to offer this unbloody Sacrifice, which we call the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Our Lord offered up the first Mass at the Last Supper, and in it we can distinguish the three principal parts of the Mass. First, “He took bread, gave thanks, and blessed it”: that was the Offertory. Then He said: “This is My Body — This is My Blood”, and by these almighty words changed the bread into His Sacred Body, and the wine into His Precious Blood: that was the Consecration. Finally, the apostles ate His Body and drank His Blood: that was the Communion.
Institution of the Priesthood. To offer sacrifice is the office of a priest, as you have already learnt in the Old Testament. When our Lord Jesus Christ, by His words: “Do this in remembrance of Me”, gave to His apostles the power to change the bread and wine, and to offer up the spotless Sacrifice of the New Testament, He instituted the priesthood of the New Covenant.
Institution of the New Covenant. Moses confirmed and consecrated the Old Covenant by the blood of victims. Our Lord refers to this
- ↑ In the Greek text of St. Luke (22, 20 ) our Lord’s words when He gave the chalice to the apostles bear the same meaning: “This is My Blood which is shed for you”, (not “shall be shed for you”). The shedding of the blood for them takes place here under the appearances of bread and wine; in other words, the blood is sacrificed blood. St. Paul’s account of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament conveys the same meaning. The passage (1 Cor. 11, 24) can be thus translated: “This is My Body, which is broken for you.” Now, on the Cross, the Body of our Lord was not broken (see chapter LXXV), therefore the word “broken” can only be understood of His Sacred Body, present under the appearance of bread.
