281. In what way does the Church participate in the eucharistic sacrifice? (part 2 continuation)

281. In what way does the Church participate in the eucharistic sacrifice? (part 2 continuation)  

(Comp 281 repetition) In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, their suffering, their prayers, their work, are united to those of Christ. In as much as it is a sacrifice, the Eucharist is likewise offered for all the faithful, living and dead, in reparation for the sins of all and to obtain spiritual and temporal benefits from God. The Church in heaven is also united to the offering of Christ.

“In brief” 

(CCC 1414) As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.  

To deepen and explain 

(CCC 1371) The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who "have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified" (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1743), so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ: Put this body anywhere! Don't trouble yourselves about it! I simply ask you to remember me at the Lord's altar wherever you are (St. Monica, before her death, to her sons, St. Augustine and his brother; Conf. 9, 11, 27: PL 32, 775). Then, we pray [in the anaphora] for the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep, and in general for all who have fallen asleep before us, in the belief that it is a great benefit to the souls on whose behalf the supplication is offered, while the holy and tremendous Victim is present…. By offering to God our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, if they have sinned, we… offer Christ sacrificed for the sins of all, and so render favorable, for them and for us, the God who loves man (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5, 9. 10: PG 33, 1116-1117). 

On reflection 

(CCC 1370) To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven. In communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ. (CCC 1372) St. Augustine admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to an ever more complete participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we celebrate in the Eucharist: This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for us in his Passion, to make us the Body of so great a head.... Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we who are many are one Body in Christ" the Church continues to reproduce this sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein it is evident to them that in what she offers she herself is offered (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 10, 6: PL 41, 283; cf. Rom 12:5).  [END]

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