Sacrifice of Mass: Offertory, Consecration,thanksgiving

Rev. Rama Coomaraswamy

CREED AND CULT IN THE POST-CONCILIAR CHURCH
A STUDY IN AGGIORNAMENTO (part 8)

IS THE NOVUS ORDO MISSAE A SACRIFICE?

Traditionally, the Sacrifice of the Mass is divided into the Offertory, the Consecration (which occurs during the Canon) and Communion. The new 'mass' has only two parts: The Liturgy of the word by which scripture and not the Logos - the Word made Flesh - is meant, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, a word acceptable to Protestant theology because its translation is 'thanksgiving'.

'Accept Holy Father, Almighty eternal God, this unspotted host which I, thy unworthy servant, offer Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offenses and negligences and for all here present; as also for allfaithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may avail both me and them for salvation unto life everlasting.'

What a marvel or doctrinal precision. Along with the actions of the priest it makes it clear that what is offered is the 'spotless host' or victim. Second, the propitiatory nature of the Mass is explicit - it is offered for our sins. Third, it reminds us that the Mass is offered for the living and the dead; and fourth, that it is the priest who offers the sacrifice as a mediator between man and God.

It will be argued that one of the Offertory Prayers was retained in the Novus Ordo Missae - the 'Prayer of Humble Petition' as it is called in the Anglican service which also found no objection to its retention. But this changes nothing. In the Novus Ordo Missae, interpreted literally, all that is offered is the bread and wine. Moreover the prayers used are in the plural indicating that not the priest, but 'the People of God' who are making the offering. It will also be argued that in the offering of the Host the priest says 'It will become for us the bread of life', but as Father Burns, one of America's most conservative Novus Ordo priests, pointed out this can as well be understood as referring to the bread we eat each day, often called 'the staff of life'. It also includes the phrase 'for us' which Crammer insisted denied the sacramental principle ex opere operato - that the Consecration occurs regardless of the disposition of the participants. The same comment can be made with regard to the phrase 'it will become our spiritual drink' Once again, as the Ottaviani Intervention put it:

'The three ends of the Mass are altered; no distinction is allowed to remain between Divine and human sacrifice; bread and wine are only 'spiritually' (not substantially) changed... Not a word do we find as to the priest's power to sacrifice, or about his act of consecration, the bringing about through him of the Eucharistic Presence. He now appears as nothing more than a Protestant minister.'

When we come to the Canon, the absence of any offertory allows it to be understood in an entirely Protestant sense. This is true even when Eucharistic Prayer No 1 is used - more so in the others. Moreover, as in the Lutheran service, the words of consecration are said as part of a historical narrative - the Institutio Narrationis - and nowhere is the priest instructed that he must say them in persona Christi. Thus a serious doubt arises as to whether any Sacrifice occurs at all. Let us again listen to the words of the Ottaviani Intervention:

'The words of consecration, as they appear in the context of the Novus Ordo (in Latin) may be valid according to the intention of the ministering priest. But they may not be, for they are so no longer ex vi verborum (by the force of the words used), or more precisely, in virtue of the modus significandi (way of signifying) which they have had till now in the Mass. Will priests who, in the future, have not had the traditional training and who rely on the Novus Ordo to do what the Church does', make a valid consecration? One may be permitted to doubt it.'

We have already seen how the post-Conciliar Church has obfuscated the need or efficacy of Christ's Passion for salvation. It is only logical that in creating a new rite, the Sacrifice - the unbloody Passion or our Lord - should also be obfuscated. And so it is that immediately after the presumed Consecration the faithful proclaim, not that Christ is on the altar - excuse me, 'table' - but rather that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.' This is the Mystery of the post-Conciliar faith. As the Ottaviani Intervention notes, 'the Real Presence of Christ is never alluded to, and belief in it is implicitly repudiated'.

Many however argue that Paul VI made the sacrificial natureof the Novus Ordo Missae clear in the General Instruction which accompanied its promulgation. Let us turn to his words and see how he defines his Mass:

'The Lord's Supper is the assembly or gathering together of the People of God, with a priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason the promise of Christ is particularly true of a local congregation of the Church: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst'.

An extraordinary statement. Note first of all that the priest's role is one of presiding. What does a 'president' do? He sits at the head of an assembly and helps them to perform their duties. And who is it that celebrates the rite? It is the 'People of God'. And what do they do? They celebrate the memorial or the Lord. And what is achieved? Nothing more than is achieved when I gather my family together for family prayers. Paul VI modified his 'General Instruction to the Roman Missal' after the Ottaviani Intervention. He said that he did so to make things more clear, but at the same time he stressed that the original contained no doctrinal errors and that the modified form implied no change in doctrine. He made absolutely no changes in the rite itself. In essence, he resorted to still more equivocation in an attempt to make things sound more orthodox. This is illustrated by the following passage which was appended to the one I just quoted:

'For in the celebration of the Mass which perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross, Christ is really present to the assembly gathered in his name; he is present in the person of the minister; in his own word, and indeed substantially and permanently under the Eucharistic elements'.

The new phraseology changed nothing, for, in the plain understanding of the words, Christ is no more present in the eucharistic elements than he is in the congregation or the minister. Searching the rest of the document provides little clarification. One does come across occasional references to 'Sacrifice', but always 1n an ambiguous context such as the 'sacrifice or praise and thanksgiving'. made central, and indeed infamous by Cranmer and Luther. To again quote the Ottiaviani Intervention:

'By a series of equivocations the emphasis is obsessively placed upon the 'supper' and the 'memorial' instead of on the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Calvary.'

And so we are brought to the words of consecration which Paul VI] described as 'singularly new', as the 'greatest innovation' he had made, as a change that was 'amazing and extraordinary' and as a 'mutation' (Documents on the Liturgy). This last word 'mutation' is most significant. In biological terms it implies a genetic change and hence something fundamental. In theological terminology with reference to sacramental forms, as for example, in, the works of Father Capello, it implies a substantial change of meaning. (A mutation which changes the meaning of the sacramental form would render it invalid. In case of doubt, the form becomes doubtful.) Remember, the words used in the traditional rite, and indeed, in all the 76+ forms (in innumerable rites and languages such as Aramaic, Arabic, Greek, etc.) of the rite that the Church recognizes as valid, with the exception of the phrase 'Mysterium fidei', are ascribed to Christ Himself and are said to have been given us, unlike most of the other Sacraments, 'in specie' or in the precise form in which they were to be used. To change them implies an audacity and presumption almost beyond belief. I have placed the two consecratory forms side by side for your consideration. I would call your attention to some of the changes:

Sacrifice of Mass: Offertory, Consecration

Thanksgiving - Mysterium fidei