I read an article by a Brother John Joseph for Ignitum Today asserting that the offering of the Baby Jesus by Mary and Joseph with the priest in the temple was a kind of Mass. Read: “Yet what was happening here at the presentation of Jesus was not merely an isolated event in the lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph—something much greater was happening… the first Holy Mass, or what can be called the Proto-Mass.” You can read the article here.
I posted a comment with the intent of asking for a clarification from the author or, better, a recantation. My comment:
For a Mass there must be a sacrifice. The Mass is an unbloody sacrifice because the victim assumed the glorified state in the two species, therefore He could not “die” on the table (altar). Body and Blood could not be separated (death) as they were in His mortal state during the passion. The priest’s words at consecration are those of Christ as, shall we say, executioner. The priest has the power to execute but the Victim takes over at the Consecration. The act is still sacrificial. Why? There is a separation of the species (accidents) of bread and wine.A Mystical death. not a bloody one of physical death The Living Victim becomes edible in the species of the two accidents..
