Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Thomas Aquinas
Veneremur cernui:
Et ad antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Præstet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.
English Translation:
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might and endless majesty. Amen.
We have just worked our way through the five offerings from the perspective of the Hebrew worshipper, describing what was expected of them with their sacrifices. The book now turns to the priests and their responsibilities with these same five offerings (Leviticus 6:8-7:38). This section consists of nine paragraphs, neatly divided into three sections of three. The first deals with the perpetual burnt offering and the cereal offering, the second deals with the purification, reparation, and peace offerings, and the third with the prohibition of the ingestion of fat or blood, the priests’ portion of the peace offering, and a summary. The over-riding concern is what portions of the sacrifices were to be eaten and where.
What may well be foreign to the modern reader is the idea of sacred food, whether it be animal flesh or cereal/grain products. As we have said before, the animals must be perfect, and the grain/flour of the purist quality. Thus dedicated to the ritual, they pass from a clean state to a holy state (cf. chart in the post What is Holiness Anyway?). What is even more curious is the terminology used, they become “most holy” (Hebrew phrase qōdeš qodōšîm hû′ rendered “It is most holy). We see this in reference to the cereal offering (6:17), the meat allowed for the priests from the purification offering (6:29), the reparation offering (7:1,6), and though this term is not used for the peace offering, it is clear from the context its meat is understood as such.
The reader may notice that this term is used for the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary where the transcendent God YHWH is enthroned upon the wings of the cherubim mounted upon the ark of the covenant (qōdeš haqqodāšîm). Now it is true that this most sacred term is used elsewhere for other things most closely associated with the sanctuary, such as the altar of sacrifice (Exodus29:37), altar of incense (Exodus 30:10), the incense itself, and the utensils used (Exodus 30:29,36). It is even used for anything devoted to YHWH (Leviticus 27:28) and the actual service of the Levites who were in charge of moving the Tabernacle (Numbers 4:4, 19). But we cannot help wondering how something so simple as bread (Leviticus 21:22), and the quivering flesh of freshly slaughtered animals can be so closely associated with the golden “clean and neat” qōdeš haqqodāšîm where YHWH dwells.
In ancient Israel, to worship is to sacrifice, and for the sacrifice to be complete, it must be ingested. The meat from the sacrifice for the priests and, in the case of the peace offering, for the worshippers, as well as the portion of the cereal offering for the priests, was qōdeš qodōšîm, and had to be handled with great care, eaten in sacred space, and consumed within the allotted time so that it did not rot. We see this with the Passover lamb as well. The blood, of course was strictly forbidden to be ingested, was considered contagious in that it had the power to both sanctify if applied correctly, or to contaminate if not.
The burnt offering, the holocaust, was totally consumed by YHWH, a costly sacrifice transported into the spiritual realm of the invisible through sacred flame. This altar fire must never go out, symbolizing the fire of God’s love and zeal for His people (Leviticus 6:8-13). The ashes on the screen above must be properly disposed of outside the camp. As we have said above, YHWH shares all the other sacrifices with the priests, and with the peace offering, the people as well. Worship was an objective, communal act that had to be carried out meticulously. Still, it was very clear that it was not merely an act that did not have a corresponding subjective heart-response to God. Roland de Vaux makes this crucial point:
Sacrifice is the essential act of external worship. It is a prayer which is acted, a symbolic action which expresses both the interior feelings of the person offering it, and God’s response to this prayer. It is rather like the symbolic actions of the prophets. By sacrificial rites, the gift made to God is accepted, union with God achieved, and the guilt of man is taken away. But these effects were not achieved by magic: it is essential that the external action should express the true inward feelings of man, and that it should be favorably received by God. Failing this, sacrifice is no longer a religious act.
Ancient Israel vol. 2, Religious Institutions, vol. 2, p. 451.
It is essential for us today in our culture, which is awash in a sea of subjectivity with no real grasp of objective truth, and by extension, no innate appreciation for objective action in worship, to understand what is being said here. We must emphatically impress upon our hearts that this sacrificial system was so very much part of the fabric of Jesus’ life and that of His apostles, and the first generation of believers who were mostly Jewish. It was a “no-brainer” that Jesus fulfilled all these sacrifices, along with the Passover, which most naturally and directly led into the Eucharist. The Temple was destroyed, but its objective worship with the eating of the Sacrifice continues, and must continue, till the end of time.
How foreign it is to Protestants and the secular mind of the culture at large, to fathom all the meticulous actions of the priest around the altar, and the careful handling of holy things, especially the most sacred Body and Blood of Christ. Most Protestants jettisoned early on the altar from their worship, many favoring the pulpit, placing it front and center, emphasizing the preached word. Today, the evangelical culture has put aside the pulpit, no longer wanting to be preached at, and placed the band with drums and guitars front and center. To feel good is to worship. It is all about subjectively feeling connected to God. How far this is from true biblical worship! John Chapter 6 is conveniently ignored, and Gnosticism and the arch-heretic Marcion has done their damage.
Takeaway: Worship, like it was in the Old Testament, must be both an objective act centered around the sacrifice of Eucharist and subjectively felt to be thoroughly real and human, engaging both body and soul.
Questions:
- Explain how the 5 sacrifices and the Passover is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the Sacrifice of the Mass.
- Do you have any trouble fully embracing the objectivity of the Mass and all of the ritual of the Church? Explain.
Resources Used:
De Vaux, Roland. Ancient Israel, vol. 2 Religious Institutions. New York: McGraw-Hill Book company, 1961 English ed., p. 451,