Cathal BarryThis sacrifice of Christ is unique as it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices, writes Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that the cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father’s hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemane, making himself “obedient unto death”.
Jesus prays: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…” (Mt 26:39). Thus, the Catechism notes, he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. “Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death.”
Above all, according to the Church, his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the “author of life”, the “living one”. By accepting in his human will that the Father’s will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for “he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”
(1 Peter 2:24).
Sacrifice
Christ’s death is the unique and definitive sacrifice, according to the Catechism. His death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of humanity and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores humanity to communion with God through the “blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Jn 1:29; Mt 26:28).
This sacrifice of Christ is unique, according to the Church, as it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time, it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience.
“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19). By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering servant, who “makes himself an offering for sin”, when “he bore the sin of many” and who “shall make many to be accounted righteous”, for “he shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53:10-12).
It is love “to the end” (Jn 13:1) that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction.
He knew and loved us all when he offered his life, the Catechism notes. Now “the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14).
Trent
No man, according to the Church, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all.
The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all, the Church teaches.
The Council of Trent emphasises the unique character of Christ’s sacrifice as “the source of eternal salvation” (Heb 5:9) and teaches that “his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for us”.