1. “The Church is born of the
Paschal Mystery
and Eucharist stands
at the center.”
Understanding terminology: Paschal Mystery refers to the life, suffering, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2. Since the Eucharist stands at the center, as the
source and summit, flowing from the paschal
mystery, and continuing the saving
work of God,
we further our understanding of the
Eucharist by exploring the four major
theories of atonement or redemption.
Understanding terminology: Atonement means at-one and similar to redemption
refers to the saving action of Jesus to reconcile or restore our friendship with God.
Atonement/Redemption theories attempt to explain how our salvation was
accomplished by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

3. 1. Ransom/ Christ as Victor
The early church leaders explained
our redemption as a rescue or
liberation from Satan.
Christ was the ransom, freeing us
from the bondage of sin.

4. Ransom/ Christ as Victor
A variation of the ransom theory,
Christ as Victor was widely promoted
as a way to explain our salvation.
The risen Christ defeats death,
trampling death by death, and
restoring life by his risen life.

5. Ransom/ Christ as Victor
We are liberated from the slavery of
sickness and sin.
In Christ Victorious
Mercy triumphs over justice;
Love is greater than evil;
Life wins over death.

6. 2. Satisfaction
The theory of Satisfaction to explain redemption
was promoted by St. Anselm (about 1100 A.D.).
Due to the disobedience of our first parents,
Adam and Eve,
Christ in his perfect obedience on the cross,
satisfied the covenant of honor due to God, and
therefore restored our relationship with God.

7. Satisfaction
St. Thomas Aquinas ( 1250 A.D.) refined the
theory, adding that
Christ satisfied the justice due God
by suffering for (but not in place of) us
(we are co-workers in our redemption
and join our sufferings in union with Christ),
thereby satisfying the requirements
of the covenant and restoring
our relationship with God.

8. Satisfaction
In the theory of Satisfaction,
penance or punishment
is a corrective measure
towards restoration of the friendship
of God and us.
The theory tends toward a legal view of
atonement.

9. Satisfaction
A variation of Satisfaction,
Substitutionary Atonement or Penal substitution
championed by the Protestant reformers
promotes the idea the Christ was punished in
place of the sinner, ie. Substitution, satisfying
the demands of justice (and the wrath) of God,
so that God can forgive us.
Substitutionary atonement/penal substitution
is not part of Catholic faith and theology.

10. 3. Recapitulation/ Divinization
St. Irenaeus (200 A.D.) said,
“God became what we are
so that He might bring us
to what He is Himself.”

11. Recapitulation/ Divinization
The theory of Recapitulation describes the
sacrifice of the cross as an offering
that undoes or changes and restores us back to
the original plan.
We were originally meant for eternal life,
to be co-sharers in the work of creation,
and co-workers in the knowledge
of good and evil (Love).
By the Paschal Mystery, Christ has restored us to
our original relationship with God.

12. Recapitulation/ Divinization
Divinization explains that
“God became man,
so that we could be God” (St. Athanasius)
(in his energies and operations,
i.e. eternal life and love,
although we do not become God
in his essence and identity).

13. 4. Moral Influence
Our desires are provoked by the desires of others.
Christ, by his identification with the innocent victim
reveals the face of all victims.
The sacrifice of Christ saves us from the
scapegoating and violence that plagues humanity
and reorients our desires towards that which is
good and holy.
Thus, by Christ’s sacrifice, we are saved from
(being) sacrificed.

14. The Eucharist Continues
the Saving Work of Christ.
“The sacramental character of faith finds its
highest expression in the Eucharist. The
Eucharist is a precious nourishment for faith: an
encounter with Christ truly present in the
supreme act of his love, the life-giving gift of
himself (Pope Francis, #44 Light of Faith).”

15. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
"The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the event of
the Lord's passion and death, of which it is not only
a reminder but the sacramental re-presentation...
When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the
memorial of her Lord's death and resurrection, this
central event of salvation becomes really present
and “the work of our redemption is carried
out”. This sacrifice is so decisive for the salvation of
the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and
returned to the Father only after he had left us a
means of sharing in it as if we had been present
there (Saint John Paul II)."

16. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
Jesus’ gesture at the Last Supper is the ultimate thanksgiving to
the Father for his love, for his mercy.
“Thanksgiving” in Greek is expressed as “eucharist”. And that is
why the Sacrament is called the Eucharist: it is the supreme
thanksgiving to the Father, who so loved us that he gave us his
Son out of love.
This is why the term Eucharist includes the whole of that act,
which is the act of God and man together, the act of Jesus Christ,
true God and true Man.
Therefore the Eucharistic Celebration is much more than simple
banquet: it is exactly the memorial of Jesus’ Paschal Sacrifice,
the mystery at the centre of salvation.
“Memorial” does not simply mean a remembrance, a mere
memory; it means that every time we celebrate this Sacrament
we participate in the mystery of the passion, death and
resurrection of Christ (Pope Francis, audience Feb. 5, 2014).”

17. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
“He called the bread his living body and he filled
it with himself and his Spirit...
He who eats it with faith, eats Fire and Spirit...
Take and eat this, all of you,
and eat with it the Holy Spirit.
For it is truly my body and whoever eats it
will have eternal life
(Saint Ephrem)."

18. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
“Do not see in the bread and wine
merely natural elements,
because the Lord has expressly said
that they are his body and his blood:
faith assures you of this,
though your senses suggest otherwise
( Saint Cyril of Jerusalem).”

19. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
“For what is the bread? It is the body of Christ.
And what do those who receive it become?
The Body of Christ – not many bodies but one body.
For as bread is completely one, though made of up
many grains of wheat, and these, albeit unseen,
remain nonetheless present, in such a way that their
difference is not apparent since they have been made
a perfect whole,
so too are we mutually joined to one another and
together united with Christ
(Saint John Chrysostom)."

20. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
"In these signs (bread and wine),
Christ the Lord willed to entrust to us his
body and blood which he shed for the
forgiveness of our sins. If you have
received them properly, you yourselves
are what you have received...not only
have we become Christians, we have
become Christ himself
(Saint Augustine)."

21. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
"In the Eucharist the Church is completely
united to Christ and his sacrifice, and makes
her own the spirit of Mary. The Eucharist, like
the Canticle of Mary, is first and foremost
praise and thanksgiving. When Mary exclaims:
“My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit
rejoices in God my Saviour”, she already bears
Jesus in her womb. She praises God “through”
Jesus, but she also praises him “in” Jesus and
“with” Jesus. This is itself the true “Eucharistic
attitude (Saint John Paul II).”

22. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
"Mary is the great Believer who places herself
confidently in God's hands, abandoning herself
to his will. This mystery deepens as she
becomes completely involved in the
redemptive mission of Jesus (Benedict XVI,
Sacrament of Charity #33)"
"We become witnesses when, through our
actions, words, and way of being, Another
makes himself present (ibid, #85)."

23. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
“If you see love,
you see the Trinity
(St. Augustine).”

24. The Eucharist Continues the Saving Work of Christ.
"Christ has no body now on earth but
yours, no hands but yours, no feet but
yours, Yours are the eyes through which
to look out Christ's compassion to the
world. Yours are the feet with which he
is to go about doing good; Yours are the
hands with which he is to bless
(Saint Teresa of Avila).”