Catholic Practices & Redemption (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

Redemption and the Mass

• For Catholics, the Mass is both a re-enactment and a celebration of the redemption brought through Jesus’s death

• Catholics believe that when they participate in Mass, they:

  • Accept Christ’s redemption

  • Have their sins forgiven

  • Come closer to Christ and have their relationship with God restored

  • Are given the power and grace to resist the temptation to sin in the future

• The Mass has two key parts 

  • The liturgy of the word

  • The liturgy of the Eucharist

Liturgy of the Word

• This is the part of Mass that contains readings from the Bible

• There are at least two readings, with one taken from the gospels

• The readings remind Catholics that God has guided his people through the ages

• The gospel readings remind Catholics of how Jesus showed God’s love through his words and actions

Liturgy of the Eucharist

• This is the part of the Mass that contains the blessing of the bread and wine in the Eucharistic prayer

• Catholics believe that the bread and wine become the Real Presence of Christ’s body and blood when they are consecrated

• Believers share in this offering when they eat and drink the bread and wine in Holy Communion

• During the Eucharistic prayer, the priest reads out the words of Jesus at the Last Supper

• Catholics carry out Jesus’s command to eat and drink in remembrance of him to:

  • Join in with Jesus’s offering of himself on the cross

  • Be part of the “new covenant”, the new relationship between God and humanity created by Jesus’s redeeming work

    • Unlike an Old Testament covenant, which involved repeated sacrifices, Jesus’s sacrifice was a one-time event that brought everlasting salvation

  • Join in with the celebratory meal that binds them to God through Jesus

    • This reminds them that the Last Supper was a celebration of the Passover. Just as the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt, so they are saved from slavery to sin

• When Catholics receive the consecrated bread and wine in Holy Communion, they believe they are receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ

  • They are given power and God’s grace to help them live a good life and follow Jesus’s teachings 

  • They are brought as close to Christ as possible. Jesus taught that he would live in them, and they would have eternal life

• At the end of the Mass, Catholics receive a blessing from the priest and a call to share the presence of Christ in the Eucharist with everyone they meet

Different Christian understandings of the Eucharist

Catholic understanding of the Eucharist

• For Catholics, the Mass is the source and the summit of Christian life (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324)

• It is the source of Christian life because: 

  • It is a life-giving event. Receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion gives life to the believer’s soul

  • Christian spirituality all flows from the Eucharist (it is the source of it)

• It is the summit of Christian life because: 

  • It is the highest form of prayer, re-enacting the offering of Christ on the cross

  • It celebrates the most important event in Christian history

  • All Christian action should be directed towards it

  • Every other sacrament is linked to the Eucharist

Orthodox understanding of the Eucharist

• Orthodox Christians have a very similar understanding of the Eucharist to Catholics

• The Eucharist is central to their liturgy

• Orthodox Christians believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

• Differences from the Catholic Church:

  • Eucharist is called the Liturgy

  • There is more symbolism and ritual

  • The consecration takes place behind the iconostasis (Holy Doors), which symbolise the gateway between heaven and earth. What happens is considered too holy for the congregation to see (and a privilege for the consecrated priest). Christ is offered on the “heaven” side but received by believers on the “earth” side

Anglican understanding of the Eucharist

• Some Anglicans (Church of England) share the Catholic belief in the Real Presence

• Other Anglicans believe that the bread and wine become holy, but only represent Christ being received (consubstantiation). It is the spirit of Christ that is received in Holy Communion

• Christ is present in the hearts of the believers

Protestant understanding of the Eucharist

• Different denominations have different views about the Eucharist

• Many nonconformist Christians believe the Eucharist is a memorial of the Last Supper and see it as symbolic only

  • They see Christ as being present in the Bible readings, which are the Word of God

• Quakers and the Salvation Army do not celebrate the Eucharist. They see the whole of life as a sacrament and so do not celebrate any sacraments

  • They believe that Christ is present in the Spirit amongst the people gathered

Prayers in the Mass and Adoration

• For Catholics, the Mass reflects their belief that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ

• Christ is truly present in the consecrated bread and wine (the Real Presence), and so they are referred to as the Blessed Sacrament

• The Youth Catechism explains that Christ is present in the Eucharist using these words

The Words of Institution and Agnus Dei

• The Words of Institution are the words the priest says to consecrate the bread and wine

• They are the same words Jesus said at the Last Supper

Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me” (Eucharistic prayer II)

• Although the bread and wine still look the same, Catholics believe they are transformed when these words are said

• The words “this is my body” rather than “this symbolises my body” mean that Catholics believe in the Real Presence, not in a symbolic one

• Agnus Dei means "Lamb of God” in Latin

• The Agnus Dei prayer is said just before Holy Communion

• The prayer is a reference to the Passover, when God commanded the Jews to mark the door of their houses with lamb’s blood so the Angel of Death would “pass over” it and nobody would be killed

  • The sacrifice of a lamb saved the Jews

  • Jesus is the new Lamb of God, whose sacrifice saved everyone by destroying sin and death

Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction

• Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the bread and wine means that they treat it with great reverence and respect

• Some Catholics only receive communion on the tongue as a sign of respect

• At the end of Mass, any consecrated hosts not received as communion are placed in the tabernacle. They are known as the “reserved sacrament” and are a focus for the prayer known as Eucharistic Adoration

• Catholic churches also have Benediction. Benediction means blessing 

  • This is a service when a consecrated host is displayed in a large holder called a monstrance

  • People can see and worship the Real Presence of Christ

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