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Index > Mass Index| The Sacrifice Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. The purpose of our present
meditation is to explain how the Mass is the sacrifice sacrament
of the Eucharist. Again, we will draw on the churchs teaching on
the Mass, especially focusing on definitions from the Council of
Trent in the sixteenth century. We will also examine Pope Pius
XIIs teachings on the mass, upon which the Second Vatican
Council built its base document on Eucharist liturgy. The
Council of Trent and the Mass We have been drawing on the
churchs teaching at Trent mainly because during the sixteenth
century so many Eucharistic dogmas were not only questioned, but
openly denied. The teaching of the Council of Trent is teaching
of the churchs previous 1500 years, but sharpened and clarified
in order to respond to the widespread Eucharistic challenges in
the sixteenth century. If there was one dominant feature in the
writings of Luther, Cal