Eucharistic Sacrifice as Anti-Violent Pedagogy

The Council of Trent teaches that the sacrifice of the Mass is identical to the sacrifice of Calvary, but with the crucial difference that the Mass is unbloody (nonviolent). By considering the Last Supper traditions and the theologies of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Bernard Lonergan, this article constructs an understanding of sacrifice as a transformative pedagogy. The sacrifice of the Mass allows us to reconfigure even terrible acts of violence within a nonviolent framework without denying their reality. This provides a crucial theological resource for responding to the scandal of clergy abuse.