The Roman Catholic Mass Compared to the Traditional Lord's Supper

As a former Roman Catholic, I had trouble adjusting to the fact that the Lord's Supper was performed in the evening. As a Catholic, communion was distributed all day as long as a Mass concluded, it was even distributed to in the morning, afternoon and evening. I want to draw a line between the Roman Catholic Mass and the Lord's Supper. I want to present a difference in the practices of how the Roman Catholic mass is different from the Lord's Supper.

Roman Catholic Mass

The Roman Catholic Mass is supposedly a continuous, unbloody sacrifice for sins. When the priest offers the bread, he says, "My brothers and sisters, let us pray that this sacrifice may be made holy and acceptable.". That is, the Roman Catholic belief of the Mass is focused on offering the Mass for the forgiveness of sins because their salvation is by faith and works. That is rather than faith that produces good works, it is relying on both which is a contradiction to Romans 11:6.

The very doctrine of the Roman Catholic mass is said in "The Catechism of the Catholic Church" which says, "In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained. The Church and the world have a greed need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to got to meet Him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease. Because Christ Himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, He is to be honored with the worship of adoration."

The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent also says, "If anyone denies in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist are contained, truly, really and substantially the Body and Blood together with the soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ, but says He is only in it as a sign, or figure or force, let him be Anathema." This doctrine was the very justification to why Protestant Christians and Baptist Christians also met their doom along with everyone who rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation which says that while the bread and wine remain in appearance, the substance has changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The doctrine was introduced by Pope Innocent III on AD 1215 and anybody who opposed it were murdered by the Inquisition which was introduced in 1184 by the Council of Verona and ran by the Dominican Order.

The defense of the Roman Catholic apologist to the practice of transubstantiation comes from an out-of-context interpretation of John 6:53-56 to justify their practice without seeing through the hard sayings. However looking at John 6:49-50, the whole context is spiritual. What is also pretty hypocritical is that more often than not, Roman Catholics quote this verse of eating Jesus' flesh and drinking Jesus' blood but the Roman Catholic Mass does not have the members drink the wine but only the celebrant of the Mass. At the same time, it's very common for Roman Catholic apologists not to take things into context but out of context.

Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper on the other hand is the Biblical institution on how it was carried. The Apostle Paul wrote about the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:20-29 about the Lord's Supper. Here are some details we may want to think about how the Lord's Supper should be celebrated.

First, it was during the night. It's absurd that even some Baptist and Evangelical churches are celebrating the Lord's Supper in the morning. It's not the Lord's Breakfast, it's the Lord's Supper. The Roman Catholic Mass serves communion during the morning, afternoon and the evening which really makes it absurd that they read the passages from the Bible concerning the Lord's supper and the word "evening" was mentioned yet the ceremony is happening even when it's not the evening.

Second, it was all about the breaking of bread. I do find it absurd why some Baptists and Evangelicals are passing circular bread (not necessarily the Catholic host) instead of breaking bread which makes it no better than the priest to break the bread and pass circular wafers. While they may not be necessarily wrong with soteriology but they are wrong with ceremony. Jesus broke bread and in the Lord's Supper, broken pieces of unleavened bread were passed around to symbolize the broken bread. The pastor reads the passage and everyone partakes the bread together.

Third, the drinking of the wine must be included. Remember this wine is not alcoholic wine nor the Mass wine, it is from the Greek word "tirosh" or "juice that comes from the fruit of the vine", in short it's fresh grape juice. The early Church broke bread and drank the grape juice as part of the Lord's supper so it's absurd to remove the cup. While sanitation is a concern, however in the Baptist or Protestant Lord's supper, small cups filled with grape juice are given right after the communion. After reading the passage on the blood, everyone drinks the grape juice together.

Fourth, it is to be done symbolically that is to show the Lord's death until he comes and to as often as ye come. That is, there is no regular schedule and the Lord's supper is not only an evening affair, it is not really required weekly. Sacraments are defined as symbolism to where it is a picture of external grace or testimony or divine favor towards us. The word sacrament can still be used correctly to describe the Lord's Supper and Baptism. The Lord's Supper is not the literal body and blood but the spiritual presence of Jesus in in the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:29). When Jesus talked about His body and blood, it was all representative like when we use a picture to convey somebody but it is not that person.

Fifth, everyone who attends the Lord's supper must not only be confessing of sins but also not be living in sin. It becomes absurd to have a system like, "Confession on Saturday, Communion on Sunday and sin every day." because that is making a mockery of the Lord's Supper. To partake of the Lord's Supper for a believer is that they may have temporarily backslid and have not made things right with God. Although a Christian cannot live like the rest of the world but they can still fall into immorality or do something scandalous. It's not enough to repent of that sin, one must really live a clean life before partaking of the Lord's Supper otherwise it can result to weakness, sickness or even death.H