Do you really believe Catholic priests have the power to call the Lord Jesus down from heaven every day?

This is number five on Gendron’s list of “hard questions.” His question is based on an out-of-print book called Faith of Millions. Gendron wrote:

According to Roman Catholic priest John O’Brien in his book Faith of Millions, “The priest … reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man… Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.”

My short answer to this question is: NO, we do not believe Catholic priests have the power to command Jesus. However, we do believe Christ entrusted the apostles and their successors with His authority and charged them to “feed His sheep.” He commanded them to “DO this in memory of Me” and priests are following His command when they celebrate the memorial feast of the Eucharist.

What Gendron fails to realize is that not everything written by Catholic clergy or theologians is the official teaching of the Catholic church. There is no such wording in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (which may be why Gendron did not directly quote from the CCC on this point). The words of the Mass clearly show that the Catholic priest and the congregation ASK God to make the gifts on the altar holy by the power of His Spirit, NOT the power of the priest. Offering gifts on the altar to God is a very biblical concept that God Himself ordained and commanded His people in the Old Testament to do. The word “command” is used in the sentence but only in reference to following the command of Christ. This is what it sounds like at the Catholic Mass:

From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name. And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ASK you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.

Gendron then brings up the Catechism of the Catholic Church which IS the official teaching of the Catholic Church. It is interesting, however, that he directly quotes from a book that contains unofficial teaching but paraphrases from the CCC.

Over 200,000 times each day, priests throughout the world believe they re-present Jesus on their altars as an offering for sins of the living and the dead (CCC, 1371-1374). Again Catholics ignore God’s Word which declares that Jesus “having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation not to bear sin” (Hebrews 9:28). The Bible also tells us how and when Jesus will appear. He will return the same way he left, immediately after the tribulation with power and great glory (Mat. 24:27-30; Acts 1:11). By the authority of God’s Word we must conclude that the Eucharist is a false Christ.

Gendron again shows that he does not understand Catholic doctrine. The words of the Eucharistic prayer from the Mass clearly indicate that Catholics believe Jesus bore our sin only once and has reconciled us to the Father :

Father, calling to mind the death your Son ENDURED for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, and ready to greet him when he comes again, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and LIVING sacrifice. Look with favor on your Church’s offering, and see the Victim whose death has RECONCILED us to yourself.

We are not asking Jesus to bear our sins again, but rather offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to the Father for saving us from our sins. Over 200,000 times each day (from the rising of the sun to its setting), Catholic priests throughout the world (in every place) are offering the Bread of Life (a pure grain offering) as an offering of thanksgiving and praise. This fulfills a prophecy in Malachi:

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 1:11

My hard question for good Protestants is how does your church fulfill Malachi 1:11? Gendron says by the authority of God’s Word we must conclude that the Eucharist is false, yet, he fails to give Scriptural reference that would lead one to that conclusion. He lists Matthew 24:27-30 and Acts 1:11 but neither of these passages speak against the Eucharist. They speak of Jesus walking around on earth in human flesh. When Paul speaks of partaking of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, he speaks of the bread and cup as if they really are the body and blood of Christ.

While I realize that Gendron is a former Catholic, I suspect that he doesn’t really understand what the Eucharist is. The word Eucharist is a Greek word which means thanksgiving; the Hebrew word is Todah. An old Rabbinic teaching says: “In the coming Messianic age all sacrifices will cease, but the thank offering [todah] will never cease.” [Taken from the Pesiqta as quoted in Hartmut Gese, Essays On Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1981), 133] The Eucharist/Todah is a “thank offering” to give thanks to God for delivering us from the slavery of sin.

“When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once and for all on the cross remains ever present.” (CCC 1364)

The Eucharist parallels the Jewish Passover meal which God commanded the Israelites to celebrate their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This goes to back to the words of the Mass that I listed above where the priest says, “… at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.” Catholic priests are not commanding Jesus to come down from heaven, but rather following His command to “DO this in memory of Me.” The Mass is a memorial celebration much like the Passover meal. Just as the slain lamb is eaten at the Passover meal, so the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is eaten. His flesh is REAL food and His blood is REAL drink. His words, not mine…

I have a few recommendations on this subject:

1. Read the words of the Mass to see if the priest is commanding Jesus. Also, note that the Eucharist is offered as a memorial sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise.
2. Read the official teaching on the Eucharist from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A good place to start is the section titled “The Sacramental Sacrifice: Thanksgiving, Memorial, Presence.” CCC 1356-1381
3. Read this article that explains that explains the Todah sacrifice—From Jewish Passover to Christian Eucharist:The Story of the Todah.
4. Read this blog entry from Shellie at ProfoundGratitude.com about the book Faith of Millions that Gendron quoted. In the comment section, I thought Fred had an excellent point about the language that Father O’Brien chose in this book. Fred also quotes another passage from the book where Father O’Brien clearly makes the point that the power of the words of consecration derive their power from the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit NOT from the power of the priest.

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