The Mass, the nature of this sacrifice.
by VP
Posted on Sunday February 27, 2022 at 12:00AM in Sermons
The Holy Eucharist, inasmuch as it is a Sacrifice, is called the Mass.
The Mass was instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, simultaneously with the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The table of the Supper-room was the fist altar on which the Saviour celebrated the first Mass and distributed the first Communion: it was there that He elevated His Apostles to the dignity of priests of the new Law, saying to them: Do this for a commemoration of me; that is to say, celebrate as I have done the holy sacrifice of the Mass in memory of my Passion. The Mass has three principal parts: the Offertory, the Consecration and the Communion.
The Sacrifice of the Mass is substantially the same as that of Calvary, but differs from it as regards the manner of its immolation
1. It is the same in substance, since there is the same Victim and same principal Priest: Jesus Christ, the priest visible on Calvary, invisible and hidden in the minister at the altar; Jesus Christ, the victim visible on Calvary, invisible and veiled under the Sacrament of the Altar.
2. It differs from it as regards the manner of immolation: for (1) on Calvary Jesus Christ was immolated in a bloody manner; on the altar in an unbloody and mystical manner by the separation of the two species which, being consecrated separately, represent the blood of Jesus shed and separated from His body. In the Mass, Jesus Christ is in the eyes of His Father what He was on the Cross; His wounds and His blood cry for mercy. (2) On the Cross Jesus Christ offered Himself without the ministry of any other priest; on the altar He offers Himself as the principal Priest, but by the ministry of a secondary priest. (3) On the Cross He immolated Himself visibly; on the altar invisibly under the appearances of bread and wine. (4) The Sacrifice of the Cross was offered as the price of our redemption; that of the altar as the means of applying to us that redemption. (5) The Sacrifice of the Cross was offered but once; the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered every day, and shall continue even to the consummation, to the end of time.
What would not have been our happiness, my brethren, if, knowing Jesus Christ as we now know Him, we should have been with the Blessed Virgin, when the Saviour immolated Himself on the cross for the salvation of the world! And this is our happiness every time we devoutly assist at the Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us, therefore, redouble our fervor and devotion at its principal parts, especially at the Elevation; then, with the eyes of faith, let us behold Jesus Christ raised on the cross and spilling His blood in love for us.
