The Perfect Sacrifice

Some years ago, when we had scaffolding up to deal with the dry rot in the roof of the church, we took the opportunity to move our large crucifix; from the side, hanging over the celebrant’s chair, to the centre where it now hangs over the main Altar.

It is essential that there is a visible image of Christ crucified to help us focus on why we celebrate Mass. The Mass is the perfect sacrifice, created by Jesus. Through the priest, we offer Jesus, Body and Blood, to the Father, just as Jesus offered Himself to the Father on the Cross. In an unbloody way, we make present Christ’s death and Resurrection and offer God our praise, sorrow for our sins, and deepest thanks.

A dear friend of mine, Ian Knowles, in 2017 created, with students from his Bethlehem Icon school, a beautiful Crucifix that now hangs in the nave of Litchfield Cathedral. The western-facing side shows a cross in flower: the figure of Christ, with St. Mary and St. John on Christ’s right and St. Chad and St. Werburgh on his left. The reverse side shows the torso of Christ. The four points contain the Greek letters and words associated with the Easter Liturgy: Alpha and Omega, Son of God, Victor. His design was inspired by the Anglo-Saxon ‘Rood’ legend, the flowering Cross as the Tree of Life — rooting the icon in the early English traditions of iconography.

The priest responsible for building Our Lady Immaculate Church, where I was a priest, insisted on putting a very large image of Mary on the back wall of the church, dominating the sanctuary. His successor wanted to move this and replace it with an image of Christ crucified. This didn’t go down well with the people. There was a great protest. When we re-ordered the sanctuary, a beautiful free-standing Crucifix was carved and now stands beside the Altar.

As Pope Paul VI says in his Profession of Faith (1963),

‘The Mass is a sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars.’

In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (para. 11), for Holy Thursday 2003, Pope John Paul II wrote:

‘The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the event of the Lord’s passion and death, of which it is not only a reminder but the sacramental re-presentation. It is the sacrifice of the Cross perpetuated down the ages.’

After the words of Consecration at Mass, we, the assembly, proclaim:

‘You are the Saviour of the World, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have redeemed the world.’