New Britain herald., 1915-03-10
COMMU NICATED.

 by the Rev. Harry Bodley, which ap peared in the Courant of Monday, l carries an allusion to the Catholic church with which the writer is ser iouSly at odds. When the rector of St. Marks declares that, "in the Ro man church the congregation has al most no part in the service-while priest and choir do all''-he is not only guilty of a glaring contradiction in terms, but gives expression to an opinion which is not only misleading, but erroneous.
 1 The essence of religion does not con- slst in the chanting of psalms nor in the singing of hymns, but in the act of sacrifice. There never was time | from the beginning of the world un- til now when external sacrifice was not regarded as an essential part of divine worship. The prophets de- clared that sacrifice would always be offered under the New Dispensation and that the abolition of the con- tinual sacrifice was to be the work and the sign of Antchrist. (Dan. c. 12.) The first formal effort to sup press it is one of the characteristics of the revolt of the sixteenth cen tury. Sacrifice consists of the in- m OlatioD of victim either by death, destruction or by some change re- garded as practically equivalent as an acknowledgemento of the supreme dominion of God over all creation and of our absolute dependence on Him.
 It must be offered by a person duly appointed and it can be offered to God alone. Thus one sees plainly
 
 but an action of a most solemn kind performed by a priest. An instru- ment is needed Abraham took with him sword and wood for the sac rifice. The sacrifices of the Old Law and the Sacrifice of the Cross were rot accomplished without the use of certain instruments. In the Mass neither a material sword or knife, nor wood and fire are required but certain sacred words ordained by Christ Himself form the sacrificial sword. "The word of God is living" says St. Paul, "effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword" (Heb. IV). - . Saint Ambrose says that "the words of Christ are an instrument effect ing what they represent" And Saint Gregory of Nazianzum, writing to a priest says (referring to the Mass), delay not to pray and to discharge thy embassy for us, when thou draw est down the Word by word, and using thy voice for a sword, dividest Cat the consecration) by a blood1ess cutting the Body and the Blood of the Lord" Ed. 171., Nor can this present any difficulty to a Christian who believes that by a word God ere ated all things and that His word Is omnipotent.
 The Mass then being an act of sac rifice performed by a priest, it is not necessary that the people, in order to assist and to participate in it. should either hear the prayers said by the priest handle and 1t were feel the sharpness of the sac rificial sword, which the priest alone is appointed to wield. It suffices that they deliberately associate them selves with the priest by their per sonal presence before the altar and with the sacrifice itself by their faith and devotion.
 The Mass then is an action, not mere form of prayer. It differs, therefore, essentially from all other formularies of devotion. such as morn ing and night prayers. Vespers, Rosary or Benediction. From not under standing this strangers like Rev. MT. Bodley who enter our churches once or twice in a life time, and are pres ent at the Mass, are beWildered by what they see and hear. They mo- tice vestments, lights, and a precise observance by the priest of formal and detailed ceremonial. They note that the priest uses the Latin tongue, and that most of the prayers are pro- nounced in so low a tone of voice as to be altogether inaudible. They are shocked because they think that the people ought to take part in the prayers and that they cannot even hear them. And they go away thinking it all so strange, and that, what with the Latin and the inaudible prayers and the ceremonies, they could never understand the Mass and that Catholics must be an odd people to like such a form of prayer. All this comes of not pretending the fact that the Mass is essentially action, not d mere form of prayer. True. the prayers said by the priest are in Latin, and many arc said in 8 low tone of voice; but so far as taking part in the Mass and deriving benefit from it are concerned, it mat ters little nothing whether one understands Latin or not, and there is no kind of necessity for one to hear or even to follow the words of the priest.
 Cardinal Newman who, by the way, entered the Catholic church because among other reasons, he did not find the Anglican service conducive to real religion, beautifully expresses this point under discussion. He says "The Mass is not a mere form of