LD 29 - What about the Mass?

Medieval Christians were taught that when the priest consecrated the bread and wine they changed into Christ's body and blood. In the supper, through the miracle called "transubstantiation," participants believed that they received Christ.

We deny that Scripture teaches transubstantiation. The biblical Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice in which "Christ is offered … daily by the priests" but a commemoration of the "one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which he himself accomplished on the cross once for all" (QA 80). Still, in the Supper, "What is eaten is Christ's own natural body and what is drunk is his own blood." While the elements remain bread and wine believers receives Christ through them.

Questions and answers 78–80 reveal the historic controversy over the differences between the Lord's Supper and the Catholic Mass. But, perhaps surprisingly, understanding the controversy can edify us today.