Papal Retreat Meditates on Christ’s Sacrifice

(14 Feb 08 RV)The fifth day of Lenten retreat here at the Vatican further expanded on the theme of Christ as the Mediator of the New Alliance between God and humanity, by reflecting on Christ’s Sacrifice and the role of the Holy Spirit in the Pascal Mystery.

Retreat Master Cardinal Albert Vanhoye continued on from Wednesday’s reading of St Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, but in Thursdays’ reflections he underscored the meaning of sacrifice as revealed by the Apostle to the Gentiles.

In current terms the word sacrifice has negative connotations, he said, “yet in the religious sense its meaning is the opposite. Sacrifice does not mean deprivation, continued the Cardinal, it means rendering sacred, just as to sanctify means to render holy, and to simplify means to render simple. A sacrifice is a positive and fecund act of immense value”.

“Christ’s sacrifice encloses the entire Pascal Mystery, in short, death and glorification” continued the Cardinal, “without this glorification his sacrifice would have been incomplete, and the New Alliance would have failed, because Christ would never have reached God, or established the bond between our misery and the Holiness of God”.

The Cardinal pointed out that “in the Old Testament, the sacrificial act was seen as a means to change God’s disposition towards man, to gain his grace in exchange for gifts. Christian sacrifice turns this on its head, instead seeking to change the disposition of man towards God. To render the conscience of those who make sacrifices perfect and their hearts pure”.

Yet warned the Cardinal “religious aspirations are not enough to change the conscience of sinners”. “An effective mediator is required, who can reveal the road to communion with God to all sinners”.


In his second meditation Cardinal Vanhoye developed this reflection by pointing to Christ as a “worthy victim and capable priest, mediator of the New Alliance in the Last Supper”. A “worthy victim, because he was without the mark of sin, a capable priest because he was filled by the Holy Spirit”.

Thus concluded the Cardinal “when we celebrate the Eucharist and are called to communion, we receive this intense dynamism of love capable of transforming all events into occasions of victory for love”.