The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-01

bleSSeu SdV1OT nlnSeiI we WOULD get another answer He would tell us that there He died out of his love for man. There He died as a sacrifice for man kind, willingly giving up Himself. The merit of Christs sacrifice is in ttlls that he was obedient unto death ana even unto the death of the Cross, tha, He did the will of the Father, willingly offering Himself.
 Hanging from the Cross our B1essec
 Savior performed the highest act of worship. He offered Himself as a
 Victim for mans sins and He did this
 of his own will so that he was the
 priest as well as the Victim, He was the one to offer as we'll as the one who offered, and so 1t is in the sacrifice Of the Mass.
 It will be the greatest mistake to look
 upon the Mass as mere dead offering. Christ Is present there as he was Oh
 Calvary. There too is He the priest
 according to the order of Melchisedech.
 It is Christ who begins and completes
 the Mass. It is Christ who by His
 of the priest changes the bread and
 wine into His Body and Blood. More over, He offers that Mass today with
 the same strong human love, with a
 deep sympathy and with the sense of
 mans need as those which inspired Him
 when He hung on the Cross.
 Too often we look upon our Saviour
 as a historical ersonage who lived 1900 years ago and who has disap-
 peared, passed forever from the lives
 of men, but He is ever living amongst
 us. He is ever animating His mysti- cal body, the church, and He is ever
 crying to us the merits of his sacred
 passion. The cross indeed is the cen ter. There once and for all were gained all the merits by which from
 the beginning to the end of time men
 had been and are to be saved. But in order that that light which springs
 from the cross may animate each sin
 ge responsible spirit, it must be indi
 vidually applied and individually ac
 cepted. This is the reason of the sac
 Rifice of the mass, this is the reason
 of the sacraments.
 In the sacrament of baptism Christ received the child of man as the chile
 of God. In penance He washes out the guilt of the contrite soul. In con firmation He gives strength to the Christian soul. In matrimony H. breathes into husband and wife { . higher conception of the nuptial bond , In Holy Eucharist He gives His yer. self to the soul that signs for eterna , life. In extreme unction He comfort the parting soul on it's journey int , eternity. In Holy orders He conse crates men to do His work. Under
 veil He continues those Divine 2 era i mental actions which He began and ir 7 stituted when He worked in Palestine
 He is forever the priest according t , the order of Melchisedeeh.
 > With this understanding of the mas r we can see how and why it satisfie |. the yearnings of the human soul ii s it's desire to pay to God an homag that is worthy and a worship that s fitting, because it is clear that wha e we offer to God in the sacrifice of tn e mass is offered in union with the D e vine Victim and the Divine Fries e Jesus Christ, and from that unio q alone does our offering derive it e value
 e Your soul, recognizing that to Go q is due this supreme worship desire l. to give it and yet aware of it's ow T unworthiness hesitates to sen dup it s praise in union with the Word of tn e Divine Victim and the Divine Fries e in the mass. No cantcle of g1or t can be sweeter before the throne d faith. Does your soul desire to e, t press its gratitude to God for the f; s vors and blessings He has bestowe @ and yet you fear because of your ow y- littlenes sto send up your tn; fszs l y union with those of the Divine Prie. d land Victim in the mass, they will g @ to heaven mightier than the masn n feat. Does your soul, perhaI B. steeped in gin despair of recetvin
 Gods pardon? Send up your plea $ the voice of the Divine Victim an le the Divine Priest in the mass and tf d answer will come as surely as it can 7 on Calvary: "This day shalt thou ,1 with me th Paradise" Does your sol -- desire Gods blessing for the futur l. and yet filled with its own unwortE ,f ness hisitate to ask? Send up vol
 appeal in the voice of the DiviI ,r Victim and Priest in the mass ar yc the answer must come, because u ,e Victim Himself has said: Whats le ever you ask the Father in My Nam ,a that He will give unto you" A ,k mans needs, all his longings, all h .v desires take on with the sacrifice "a the mass Divine character becau e. they are offered in union with u I, Divine Victim and the Divine Pries a, This is the reason fo rthe church Is. command taht you should share I, that mass on every Sunday.