The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-03-06

understand what this Offering is that
daily make of Myself for the saliva
ton of the faithful; it surpasses the
comprehension of Cherubim and Sera-
phim and all the hosts of heaven
| This, then, is the first great truth
about the Holy Sacrifice that we must
master and make our own: that it is
Christ Himself Who, in the person of
His Vicar, offers up this Sacrifice.
Let us Them says a learned writer
on this subject, lay this to heart, and
consider we'll of what great profit it is
for us to hear Mass, because in the
Holy Mass Jesus Christ offers Himself
up for us, and places Himself as a
mediator between the Divine Justice
and the sins of mankind, and either
altogether averts, or at least arrests,
the chastisement which is the due
penalty of our daily offences"
How we should value the Mass;
what efforts and sacrifices we should
make to assist at it as freqent1y as
possible, did we but realize in some
degree the stupendous nature of the
Holy Sacrifice.
Christ Himself the Victim. -
Christ is not merely the Offerer,. He
is also the Victim offered in the Mass.
"Who is the Priest" asks st. Angus
tine, but that one Priest who is both
the Victim and the Priest?" And st.
Chrysostom says: Christ was and is
both Priest and Victim: He is the
Priest according to the Spirit, the Vic
tim according to the flesh. He is
both the Sacrificer and the thing sacri-
feed" 1tF
Christ as Man has two separate
modes of existence-His natural mode
of existence, as He is in heaven, where
His Sacred Humanity, ever united as
1t is with the Divinity, is the object
of the worship and ecstatic contempla-
ton of the blessed, and His Sacrifcial
or Sacramento mode Of existence
which began at the Last Supper, and
is perpetuated in the Mystery of the
Altar. Now it is not necessary for the
purposes of sacrifice that the victim
should be physically slain. 1t suffices
that a change takes place that. may
morally be called destruction. This
is what occurs at the moment of Con
secration. Christ lays aside His
natural mode of existence and as
sumes the saerificial, as a Victim upon
the Altar, under the appearance of our
daily food. although by the Conse-
Grafton" says De Lugo Ode Euch. Disp.
49,, Christ is not substantially
destroyed, He is nevertheless de-
stroyed in SO far as He takes upon
Himself an inferior condition, con
Edition unsuited to the human uses of
a human body, condition in which
He becomes capable. of being received
as food. This change is sufficient for
a true sacrifice Il
= In this mode of existence, though a
perfectly living, conscious Victim, He
cannot naturally either walk, or move,
or speak, or manifest in any way the
attributes of His Humanity
Now this entire sacrifice of the
power of exercising, all or any of the.
functions of a human being Ito. say
nothing of the absolute concealment of
the Divinity is an act of the most
amazing and profound humility. In
the stable at Bethlehem He lay help
less in His Mothers arms. Yet far
more helpless does He lie within the
tabernacle or between the fingers of
the priest at Mass. In His. lifetime in
this world, and in His death upon the
Cross, He concealed His Divinity; in
His Sacramento Life upon the altar
even His Humanity is hidden from our
sight. The angels in heaven tremble
at the splendour of His glorified HUI
manity; they are lost in utter wonder
at the sight of His abasement on our
affairs.
And thus, more pOwerless and help
less than He was of old in Bethlehem,
He offers Himself to His Eternal Fa-
Their to draw down, by the very depth
of His profound humiliation, priceless
blessing on the human race, present
ing Himself in His incomprehensible
humility as an object of ineffable de-
light and admiration to the heavenly
court.
The second circumstance, therefore,
that gives such supreme. value to the
Mass is the fact that it is Christ Him
self, the Man-God, Who is the Victim,
and Who not merely offers Himself,
but all the merits of His Life and Pas
sion and Death, to His Eternal Father.
Hence in itself the Mass is clearly a
sacrifice of infinite value,
The Sacrifice of the Mass Identical
With That of the Gross.
The Sacrifice of the Mass is not
merely a commemoratfon of the Sacri-
fee of Calvary-"Do this in conf
memoration of Met is also identi-
cal with it, though differing in. some
of its surrounding circumstances. The
points of identity are, 1st, that in both
Sacrifices the principal Offerer is the
same. namely, Jesus Christ our Lord;
End, in both Sacrifices the Victim is
the same: there is one and the same
| Victim, una eademque hostia, and the
same Offerer, idem offerens, says the
Council of Trent. The points of diff
1 ference are merely such as regards
the manner of offering. They are
1st. That ION the Cross the Sacrifice
of Christ consisted in the bloody offer
ing of His Life and Divine Self to an
actual death; on the altar it consists
also in the offering of His holy Hui
manity, but in an unbloody manner, to