Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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SACRIFICE, NEW TESTAMENT
While Christ allowed the Mosiac sacrifice in his day, he predicted the end of the Temple and its worship (Mark 13:2; John 4:20-23). At the Last Supper, when instituting the Eucharist, he declared, "This is my body which will be given up for you; do this as a memorial of me . . . This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you" (Luke 22:19-20). Throughout the writings of St. Paul, Christ is identified as the Sacrificial Victim (I Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2) and further confirmed by the Catholic Epistles (I Peter 1:19; I John 2:2). The eternal nature of the Lord's Sacrifice is assumed (Revelation 13:8), and the whole letter to the Hebrews is about the high priesthood of Christ, who by his perfect obedience has "offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his place forever at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12-13). He is, therefore, the eternal priest who even now intercedes with his heavenly Father for a sinful humanity.
