The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-06-11
Sermons on Catholic Worship.

While the new sacrifice was to be
offered in all places.
Sacrifice of the Mass.
By. the universal clean oblation
there. can be meant nothing but the
sacrifice of the Mass, which Christ,
a priest forever after the order of
Melchisedech, offered first at the
Last Supper and offers daily from the
rising of the sun to the going down
thereof under the appearances of bread
and wine, through the ministry of His
priests. This sacrifice of the Mass is
the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice
OF the cross, because in both the priest
and the victim are the same, Christ
our Lord; and because both the sacri-
fee of the cross and the sacrifice of
the Mass were and are offered for the
same ends, viz, to offer condign adora-
ton to the infinite majesty of God, to
tender adequate thanks for the bless
ings bestowed upon mankind, to atone
for the sin of Adam and thus to redeem
US from the slavery of Satan and sin
and to obtain for us all blessings
The sacrifice of the Mass thus
equals in efficacy the various sacri-
fees of the Old Law, because it is
offered for the various purposes of the
various sacrifices of the Mosaic dis
pensation, holocausts or burnt offer
ings, offerings for sin, peace offerings.
The sacrifice of the Mass surpasses in
dignity the sacrifices of the Old Test
ament as much as the body and blood
of the Goldman excel the animals and
plants offered in sacrifice prior to the
time of Christ
The Ceremonial of Sacrifice.
,- This brief review of the history of
sacrifice brings us to our second
point: The ceremonial of sacrifice.
Under the unwritten law, or up to the
time of Moses, the father of the fam
lily offered the family sacrifice without
fixed ceremonial, as in the cases of
Cain, Abel, and Noe. Under the
law of Moses regularly consecrated
priests, Ueviticus, VIID offered up
the sacrifices in accordance with the
detailed and minute prescriptions of
a systematic ceremonial laid down by
God in the book of Leviticus. AT
the death of Christ on the cross, God
struck with horror at the shedding of
the blood of his Only-begotten Son
furnished the sublime ceremonial OF
the awful sacrifice. The veil of the
Temple was rent in two from the ton
even to the bottom to show that the
sacrifices of the Old Law had come
to an end. The sun refused to tighten
the unspeakahle tragedy by hiding his
Shining face; the earth, on which the
greatest crime of all the centuries
was then perpetrated, quaked with
terror at the thought that she had
/ been made the horrid scene of the
heinous misdeed; the stolid rock in
whose heart the cross was planted
was split asunder in an outburst Of
supreme Indignation; the nearby
graves voiced an emphatic profess
by opening their bosoms and givins
up their dead.
Who Fixed Mass Ceremonial?
Who fixed the ceremonial of thu
sacrifice of the Mass? At the Las
Supper Christ merely performed tn,
sacrifcial act of the Mass, leaving t,
His Church the determination of tn,
ceremonial. This first Mass had tn,
three constituent parts of our Mass
viz, first the offertory at which tn
bread and wine are prepared for tn,
sacrifice; second, the conservation a
which the bread and wine ar
changed into the body and blood O
Christ, and are offered up to Go,
in sacrifice; third, the communion a
which the body and blood of Chris
are partaken of as the fruit of tn
sacrifice. But the first Mass had non
of the present-day ceremonial. CO.
who had prescribed both the sacrific
and the ceremonial in the law @
Moses, determined merely the sacr
fetal part of the Mass and left it's Gel
emonial to be fixed by the churc
under the inspiration of the Hol
Ghost. Whatsoever thou shalt bin
upon earth, it shall be bound also i
heaven" Matt. XVI, 49, when tn
Spirit of truth is come he will teac
, you all truth and the thing
that are to come he will show you.
(John XVI, 49, The additional Ger,
monial part of the Mass is the GU
growth of the ceremonial of tn
synagogue to which most of the firs
J Christians had belonged. This Sc
| vice of the synagogue consisted simpl
/ in series Of hymns, prayer, reading
; and sermons, for which there was
carefully arranged order. At the GU
) set, when meeting for the "breakin
| of the bread or Mass, the Christian
) first held the former synagogue Sc
) vice. But by degrees the freer spir
of the New Law prompted them to il
> troduce new canicles, which shoul
give full expression to their Christia
> faith. Let the work of Christ" wa
t the Apostles command, dwell in yo
J. in it's fitness, and let it fill you
t Overlooking with wisdom; teach an
9 admonish one another in psalms an
: hymns and spiritual songs, singing wi,
Q your heart unto God in grace" 500
J too, Christian prayers, like the o.
r Father, found their place In the reg
n lar order of supplications, whilst 9th,
t ancient Jewish customs and praye
g were retained, for instance, the Gu
d tom of Confirming the prayers recit,