The new head of CDF's less than traditional teaching on the Mass


Too much fog in his head
If on the basis of Archbishop Ludwig Gerhard Mueller Dogmatik (Dogmatics), you want to find out what the Holy Mass is, the result will set your head on fire.

Archbishop Ludwig Gerhard Müller- the controversial Prefect of the Congregation - has several times expressed himself on the sacrificial character of Mass.

(Kreuz.net) But "whether his statements about the sacrifical character of the Mass are in harmony with the teaching of the Church, is arguable to say the least ". The website 'pius.info' illustrated this on 10 August. 

Where remains the sacrifice? 
Mons.  Müller addresses these questions in his rambling book "Catholic dogma: for the study and practice of theology," between pages 706 and 709.

He closely approaches theories of Father Odo Casel († 1948) which were rejected by Pope Pius XII. († 1958). Grandiloquently, he writes: 

"In the Eucharist the sacrifice of the Cross becomes present, both in its historical uniqueness as well as in its contemporary and no longer lost validity (joining of the dimensions of past, present and future). 

Since the real subject of the Eucharist is the same as the subject of the sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus brings himself to the memory, in the symbolic act established, of his community and communicates his presence. The Eucharist is not a subjective commemoration of the disciples, in which they remember Jesus.

The Eucharist is rather an objectively real memory: Jesus, brought to mind, makes himself present in word and celebration of the meal. Thus, he lets the disciples have a part in his self-abandonment to the Father in the Holy Spirit and in the koinonia / communion (intermediated by the Spirit) with the Father [...] " 


In the final analysis, just a meal 
The internet portal 'pius.info' makes the following criticism:

According to Mons.  Müller "the Eucharist appears to be actually a meal at which a sacrifice is considered." 

And ". A sacrificial act, there is no such thing as a new sacrifice of Jesus Christ" 

For "pius.info" this is a “reversal of Catholic doctrine, according to which the Mass is first a sacrifice, followed by and linked to a meal - the Holy Communion ".

Archbishop Müller's grandiloquent talk of the "objectively real memorial" goes back to Father Casel. He wanted – according to 'pius.info' – probably escape the condemnation of Trent that the Mass is no "mere memory".

Present instead of making present 
Mons. Mueller writes though: "The Eucharist is nothing more than the sacrifice of the Cross in the mode of his sacramental presence." But he obscures immediately. Because Jesus "through the eucharistic gifts to his Church as the incarnate, crucified and risen Son of the Father in spirit . [...] and thus makes the Church into what it is, the Body of Christ, " 

He does not know tradition 
In his book "The Mass - source of Christian life," Archbishop Mueller does admitedly mention the opinion that the sacramental character of the Mass consists in the separate offering of the body and blood of Christ. 

He dismisses this as a mere conception of individual theologians. It is the explicit teaching of Pius XII. 

It is significant that he does not use one word about the "Encyclical Mediator Dei". 

A thick thicket of blah-blah
Mons. Müller puts his own theory like this on page 125: 

"We therefore see the sacramental sign of Christ's sacrifice and the Church in re-presenting and commemorating proclamation of the saving acts of God (anamnesis).

This takes place under the mandate of Jesus Christ to this in the use of words of the Last Supper, when we in the words about the gifts (Eucharistic Prayer) actually enter into the dialogue of love between Father and Son in the Spirit and receive the benefit of the Eucharistic food, the love of God for us and can respond in their power to the loving God. 

The Mass is a sacrifice in the word of Christ, which is the Word of God to us and takes our response to God whilst he connects inseparably word and answer in his person." 

The Mass seems to be essentially according to 'pius.info' where the victim Christ is conceived and that because of the presence of Christ and the proclamation of his death is existent . On page 196 he writes that the "realisation of the sacrifice on the Cross […] through the Word occurs in a special way in the Eucharistic Prayer". 

Another structure 
The portal 'pius.info' summarizes the differences between the Catholic Mass and the Eucharist of the modernists. In the Mass, there is the structure. Oblatio (presentation) - Immolatio (sacramental slaughter) - consummatio (communion) 

In the celebration of the Eucharist, the following structure is revealed: "Blessing of the food" - "commemorative Thanksgiving" - "breaking of bread and eating."

Beneficial clarity
Compared to the theological fog spread by the Archbishop, the words of Pope Pius XII in 'Mediator Dei are of soothing clarity: 

"Now it cannot be over-emphasized that the eucharistic sacrifice of its very nature is the unbloody immolation of the divine Victim, which is made manifest in a mystical manner by the separation of the sacred species and by their oblation to the eternal Father. "

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