What's Wrong with What's Wrong with Rome's Sacrifice of the Mass? By Mike Gendron

The Catholic Church teaches that the Mass is the same sacrifice that Jesus offered on Calvary's cross. It is said to be the source and summit of the Catholic life.

Well, here at least Gendron touches upon authentic Catholic teaching. Pope John Paul the Great refers to this very paraphrase statement in the opening paragraphs of his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, which is quoted from Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, which says “the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life.”

However, there are significant errors when the Mass is tested with the supreme authority of God's Word.

You will note here again that Gendron, as do many n-Cs assigns the Bible an authority that it nowhere lays claim to. Thus, as with all Sola Scriptura arguments it violates its own premise that everything for Christian life must be found within its pages. (See the CAF thread It’s NOT in the Bible, okay?)

1) The sacrifice of the Mass, which is repeated every day, is an outright rejection of the "cross work" of Jesus Christ. He is the perfect High Priest who offered Himself, the perfect sacrifice once, for all sin, for all time. His sacrifice completely paid the eternal debt for sin, totally satisfied divine justice, and finished the work of redemption. 

How can this be a rejection of Christ’s sacrifice? The church teaches us that, as a sacrament instituted by Christ Himself, it is a miraculous re-presentation of that same sacrifice offered by Our Lord through the ministry of the priest. Far from a rejection of it, it is an act of faithful obedience to the command of Jesus at the last supper when He tells us all “Do this in memory of me”. (See Luke 22:19 & 1^st Corinthians 10:16)

2) Sinful Catholic priests can never be exalted to the position of
mediator between God and man. Jesus Christ, who is God's perfect man and man's perfect God, is the only one qualified to mediate between sinful men and Holy God.

This is a specious remark that infers that Catholic priests are greater sinners than Gendron himself or any other Christian, nor is this what the Catholic Church teaches, since authentic Catholic teaching is that we are all sinners saved by the grace and mercy of God through the redemption Jesus’ sacrifice made possible.

If one follows out Gendron’s misinterpretation of Catholicism and even n-C Christian belief then no one should ever be able to intercede and pray for anyone else…not even themselves, which is not at all what the Bible teaches. (See Job 42:10, 2^nd Maccabees 3:1-40, & James 5:16)

If Gendron’s teaching is correct, then why do so many n-Cs readily intercede for those who respond to their altar calls. This prayer of intercession is certainly a form of mediation “between sinful men and Holy God.”

3) The Mass encourages idolatry as Catholics treat the sacramental elements of bread and wine with the honor and veneration that is due only to Jesus Christ. The Eucharist cannot be the physical presence of Jesus because He remains in heaven until His enemies are made His footstool.

This too is an unscriptural teaching, since 1^st Corinthians 11:23-30 says that anyone who receives the Eucharist while in mortal sin becomes guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, which flies directly in the face of Gendron’s inferred teaching that Christian communion is merely symbolic. (See The Eucharist IS Scriptural) Therefore it cannot be idolatry. Moreover, one has to wonder how Gendron and anyone else can hold to this unbiblical position when we know that Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, being God, can do anything He chooses as exemplified by all the miracles documented in the New Testament.

4) The human nature of Jesus Christ is violated. If His physical body can be present in thousands of places at the same time, it is not a body like ours and Jesus could not be our kinsman redeemer.

The logic here demonstrates a terrible faithlessness that flies in the face of the very Word of God. We know that Jesus has a human body just like ours, but yet we also know that He was seen by many people in many different places after the resurrection , so again, Gendron grossly misinterprets the very Bible that he claims as his final authority.

5) It's a deceptive and damning fabrication of the once perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It obscures people from the true meaning and power of the cross. It enslaves hearts and blinds people from the glorious light of the Gospel.

This is nothing more than Gendron spouting off specious a-C polemics in order to poison the minds of those who follow him. He cites no scripture here, nor does he cite even a Catholic teaching that would support this propaganda. Does this anger us as Catholics? It certainly could, but I believe it is more important to realize the diabolic nature of such tactics that (sadly) some gullible individuals will buy into simply because “the preacher says so…”

6) The sacrifice of the Mass keeps Catholics in bondage to their false religion not only in this life, but also in the next. Illegitimate priests are paid stipends for sin offerings to removal souls from the purging fires of a fictitious place called purgatory. 

Bondage? I do not feel in any way enslaved by my Catholic faith, do you? In fact, it has been an ever increasing blessed freedom in my life. A false religion? How can that be when we have shown, not only in this discussion, but it many others on Catholic Answers Forums and my own Apocalypsis  blog that Mike Gendron does not teach what the Bible actually says, but a gross misinterpretation and twisting of scriptures. What does the Bible say about that? 2^nd Peter 3: [16] As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

The attack on the priesthood is odd and specious, since even St. Paul speaks of his own ministerial priesthood in Romans 15:16.

No one pays for indulgences…that was Tetzel’s error and was quashed at the time of the Council of Trent and has not/will never happen again.

As for Purgatory being fictitious, that is also wrong since both the Jews and us Catholics share a Biblical and Traditional belief in it. You can read my research on it in my blog article Biblical and Jewish Traditional Beliefs About Purgatory

Take care my brothers and sisters in Christ and may the peace of the Lord be with you always.

Blackie