STAND FAST IN THE FAITH
(A Weekly Instruction specially written for the N.Z. Tablet by ' Ghimel.') THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS EXPLAINED: I—THE DOCFRINE The Sacrifice of the Mass is the perpetuation of the Sacrifice of the Cross, and therefore the heart of Catholic worship. Its central act is the Consecration, but in order to surround with fit reverence that moment of our Lord's coming upon our altars, and at the same time to teach, us how to pray and make us understand something of the deep love of our Saviour that daily flows in endless streams from this Sacrifice, the Church has poured out her heart in beautiful prayers and significant ceremonies. A series of articles will now be devoted to an explanation of these prayers and rites, in the hope that the Mass will be better understood and loved. A love of the Mass is a sure test of a man's faith, and that love will be deepened by knowledge of and familiarity with the prayers composed or sanctioned by the Church herself and consecrated by age. But first a word of explanation about the nature and objects of the Mass. A sacrifice in the strict sense is the offering of a sensible thing, through a lawful minister, to God in order to adore Him, thank Him for His favors, obtain pardon of our sins, and ask for graces— a word, to express our recognition of the Creator's dominion over the works of His hands. The Sacrifice of the Christian reb'gion, the Sacrifice of the Mass, is the offering by Christ as the Head of the human race of His own Body and Blood under the appearance of bread and wine in acknowledgment of the Creator's dominion and as an act of homage due to His sovereign Majesty. This Sacrifice was instituted and offered for the first time at the Last Supper, when our Saviour offered His mortal Body under the appearances of bread and wine to His Father. It was consummated on the Cross. The Sacrifice of Himself by our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross is, of course, infinite in its efficacy, for the Person offering it is divine; but it does not in every instance produce all the effect upon men's souls of which it is capable. It is the divinelyappointed means of salvation, but men are not saved without the co-operation of their free will and require to have the instruments of salvation placed, so to speak, in their hands. Furthermore, our Saviour offered this Sacrifice not only for those who were present at the scene of Redemption on Calvary, but also for the millions of the great human race in all its centuries and generations yet to come. To meet this state of things our Lord in His loving mercy gave the first priests, the Apostles, and their successors, the power, and imposed on them the obligation of renewing for all time the Sacrifice of His own Body and Blood that He offered once for all on the Cross. 'Do this for a commemoration of Me' (St. Luke xxii. 19). ' For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until He come' (1 Corinthians xi. 26). The Sacrifice of the Cross with ita astounding manifestation of the prodigality of Divine Love was to be ' shewn forth,' re-enacted daily in the midst of the world's busy life, in order that the fruits and efficacy of the Passion might be brought home to, the fruits of Christ's Precious Blood fall upon, every Christian souk And it is our Lord Himself Who renews at our altars His sacrificial death on Calvary, ' His profession of perpetual service,' for He is ever and always the ' Great High Priest,' the chief celebrant of every Mass ; the priest—His representative, His instrument —but lends Him his lips and hands. He does not merit or satisfy for the sins of men afreshall that was done in the Mass celebrated at the Last Supper and completed on the Cross: He merely applies to the souls of men, according to the ' disposition and co-operation of each individual soul,' the merits and satisfactions there and sets up in our midst a lasting memorial of His redeeming death. When we consider the
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New Zealand Tablet, 10 April 1913, Page 3
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718STAND FAST IN THE FAITH New Zealand Tablet, 10 April 1913, Page 3
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