Abstract

Dunn, Geoffrey D Older Catholics would have grown up hearing about the sacrifice of the Mass, while in the last fifty years we have increasingly spoken of the celebration of the eucharist. Of course, the eucharist is sacrifice, but it is other things besides, like meal and celebration, and the word 'sacrifice' is easy to misinterpret. For many of us the word 'sacrifice' conjures up thoughts of the killing and slaughter of animals or even people. It is true that the word can mean this, but it has a much broader meaning. To sacrifice something is to remove it from the realm of the everyday and hand it over or dedicate it to some other purpose. Thus, a bloodless sacrifice, like the libation or pouring out of wine, is the offering up of something for someone else's use rather than one's own. Naturally, the killing of a living victim ensures that one cannot change one's mind later on and take it back, especially when the burnt sacrificial animal has often then been eaten by those who had participated in or witnessed the ritual slaughter.