Did the Prophet Malachi Forecast the Roman Catholic Mass?

Gleefully Killing Jesus, “not once, but a thousand times!”

Roman Catholics, in their attempt to justify one of their most egregious, if not blasphemous, rituals argue that it has biblical precedent stemming back to the prophet Malachi.

The Roman Catholic Mass, also known as “The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering. The terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, ‘sacrifice of praise,’ spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant” is believed to have been predicted by Malachi amid his condemnation of the Jewish priests in or around the time the Jews had been carried away into Babylonian captivity.¹

The specific verse, stripped from its context, is Malachi 1:11.

It states, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”

Prior to and after making his prediction, Malachi is ripping on the Jewish priests for their “polluted,” “blind,” “evil,” “lame,” or “sick” offerings that they glibly made to the Lord.

Malachi assured them that they had been rejected, that among the nations God’s name will be great, and that a pure offering will be made.

But, what is that pure offering? Is it killing Jesus again, and again, and again, ad infinitum?

Among the Roman Catholics the answer is a definitive “Yes!” and it is because they have misinterpreted Malachi 1:11, which accelerates their excitement.

According to The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church,

657 For participation in the mysterious priesthood and in the duty of offering satisfaction and sacrifice is not limited to those whom our High Priest Jesus Christ uses as His ministers to offer the clean oblation to the divine Majesty in every place from the rising of the sun to its setting (cf. Mal. 1.11); no, it is the duty of the entire Christian family, which the prince of the apostles rightly calls “a chosen race, a kingdom of priests” (1 Pet. 2.9), to offer expiatory sacrifice (cf. Heb. 5.3) not only for itself but also for the whole human race, in much the same way as every priest and “every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God” (Heb. 5.1).

So, it is not just a mandate for the priest(s) to kill Jesus, again, but everyone in “the entire Christian family.”

Everyone gets to kill Jesus again!

How is Jesus killed again, and again, and again? The late Reverend John A. O’Brien gives us the method. He wrote,

When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he 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…the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man — not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command…No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to the priest is that of “alter Christus.” For the priest is and should be another Christ (The Faith of Millions, 258).

Lately, I had a Roman Catholic cringe over that description. He even went to far as to lie about O’Brien’s credentials and standing in Roman Catholicism. When I pointed out O’Brien was a faithful Roman Catholic priest until the day of his death, he was well-respected, and lauded among his peers, the Roman Catholic suddenly disappeared and has not been heard from since.

But, be of good cheer, since killing Jesus is daily and communal, it is also something to be celebrated!

In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes almost 200 pages to the killing of Jesus, “not once, but a thousand times!” and calls it “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery.”

The real mystery, though, aside from celebrating something that the Bible tells us happened only “once to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28), is why anyone would entertain the thought that killing Jesus, repeatedly, is somehow tied to Malachi.

But, as is the case, again and again and again, “not once but a thousand times!” (and more), someone has stripped a Bible verse out of its context and built a theological mountain out it that completely contradicts the Bible.

Malachi 1:11, in other words, is not about killing Jesus, as “a pure offering,” but about the contrast between the putrid offerings that the Jews were, or had been, offering, and that of a “pure offering” to be offered by the nations, as well as the Jews, which amounts to a “sacrifice of praise” (Heb. 13:15).

It is something that both the Jews and Gentiles, alike, will offer one day, and that only because of Jesus’ offering of himself, once, whereby they are forgiven of their sin(s) and are enabled to worship God in the pureness of a holy conscience.

And that is something to be truly gleeful about, rather than offering up a bloodless “sacrifice” that offers no forgiveness (Heb. 9:22), and crediting an Old Testament prophet for something that he never intended.

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1330[↩]