Chapter XI

Holy Mass is the Most Excellent Burnt-offering

Under the Old Law there were four principal kinds of sacrifices: (i) The burnt-offering, in recognition of the supreme majesty of God; (2) the offering of praise and thanksgiving, in acknowledgment of the benefits received from God; (3) the peace-offering, or propitiatory sacrifice, to propitiate the divine favor; (4) the sin-offering, or expiatory sacrifice, to obtain forgiveness of sin and remission of the penalty of sin. Each one of these sacrifices had its own special ceremonial, and it was not permissible to offer sacrifices of a different nature in one and the self-same manner.

From the commencement of the world until the coming of Christ innumerable victims were offered to God Almighty, which from the testimony of Holy Scripture we know to have been acceptable to Him. According to the Mosaic law, the Jews were commanded to immolate daily two lambs of a year old as a burnt-offering, one in the morning, and one in the evening; on the Sabbath Day two were to be offered both morning and evening. At every new moon seven lambs, two calves, and one ram were prescribed for the burnt-offering, and the same number at Easter and Pentecost during seven consecutive days. At the feast of Tabernacles for a whole week fourteen lambs, thirteen calves, two rams, and one goat were to be offered. In addition to these costly sacrifices each individual brought an oblation on his own account, such as oxen, calves, sheep, lambs, rams, doves, wine, bread, incense, etc., to be offered according to one of the four ways above mentioned.

All this is stated here in order that those who read this book may know what costly and burdensome sacrifices it was obligatory upon the ancient patriarchs and Jewish priests in olden times to offer. Yet, notwithstanding the expense and trouble attaching to those sacrifices, they gave but little glory to God, and obtained no great reward for the persons who offered them. If, in spite of this, Holy Scripture tells us that these offerings were a sweet odor before God, the reason is this, because they were typical of the sacrifice of Christ. Hence we may learn how far happier we Catholics are than were the Jews of old, since Jesus, of His infinite goodness, has appointed for us a burnt-offering, the offering of which is attended with no difficulty, a sacrifice which of all others is most acceptable in God’s sight, which is a source of the greatest joy in heaven, the greatest profit to mankind, the greatest solace to the souls in purgatory.

If it were possible for any one person, with his own hand and with profound devotion, to have immolated and offered to God as a burnt-offering all the victims which have been sacrificed since the beginning of the world until the coming of Christ, that individual would doubtless have paid much honor to God, and caused Him much satisfaction. But the service rendered and the satisfaction occasioned would be in no wise comparable with the glory, the felicity, derived by the divine majesty from one single Mass. How can that be possible, O my God? This we shall understand when we hear what manner of burnt-offering the Catholic Church has in holy Mass.

The Christian burnt-offering is a visible, material oblation, which is offered to God only by a duly qualified minister, as an acknowledgment of His supreme dominion over all creatures. St. Thomas says: “By this burntoffering we testify that God is the primary source of all creation, the final end of all our felicity, the sovereign ruler of all things, Whom we adore, and to Whom, in evidence of our just subjection, we offer a visible victim, worthy of His august majesty.” These words explain briefly what a burnt-offering essentially is; this will be made plainer by what follows.

The burnt-offering is, by God’s ordinance, reserved for Him alone, for He says by the lips of Isaias: “I the Lord, this is My name; I will not give My glory to another.” (Isaias 42:8) Hence may be gathered the singular excellence of the burnt-offering, since it may be offered to no creature, not even to the Mother of God, or to any saint, without idolatry; to God alone may it be offered. God permits us to praise, to love, to honor, to invoke, His saints, but He has never given us permission to offer to them our sacrifice, the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The Council of Trent, speaking on this subject, says: “Although the Church has been accustomed at times to celebrate certain Masses in honor and memory of the saints, not, therefore, however doth she teach that sacrifice is offered unto them, but unto God alone, Who crowned them; whence neither is the priest wont to say: ’I offer sacrifice to thee, Peter, or Paul’; but, giving thanks to God for their victories, he implores their patronage, that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven whose memory we celebrate upon earth.” (Session xxii. ch. 3.) Thus the Church teaches us that the Mass cannot be offered to any saint, but that it may be offered to God for the greater glory of the saints.

We will now speak of the nature and character of the burnt-sacrifice in order that its excellence may be better understood. According to the Jewish ritual, in the burnt-offering all the flesh of the victim was consumed by fire, whereas in other sacrifices only a portion was burnt, the remainder being eaten by the priests and those who offered the oblation. The reason why the whole of the victim was consumed in the burnt-offering was to show that all things belonged to God, and must be offered in His service. In strict justice God has a right to demand the life of every man as He commanded Abraham to slay and sacrifice his son Isaac. He was, however, content with Abraham’s prompt obedience. In the law of Moses He commanded every first-born child to be sanctified to Him, saying: “They are all Mine.” (Exodus 13:2) He did not go so far as to require them to be immolated; it sufficed that the mother should present her child in the temple, and ransom it with money.

The only-begotten Son of God was accordingly presented by Mary, His Mother; and although she offered the customary oblation for Him, with this God was not satisfied: she had to offer Him again, to be tortured and put to death, in order that by His precious death all men might be released from the obligation of giving their life as a sacrifice to God. Concerning this St. Paul says: “If one died for all, then all were dead, and Christ died for all.” (2 Corinthians 5:14,15) For the life of Christ was far nobler than that of all men living; consequently His death was of more value in the sight of

God than the death of all mankind. And since Christ is thus offered up to God in every Mass that is celebrated, more glory is given to God, a greater act of worship is performed in one Mass than if every dweller upon earth laid down his life in honor of Him.

Gervase declares the holy sacrifice of the Mass to be of all acts of piety and devotion the noblest and the best. Why is this? Because in it we testify, not by word so much as by deed, that God has every right to demand from us the sacrifice of our life. Thus under the Old Dispensation the Jewish priest, at the time of sacrifice, was accustomed to say: “As I immolate this animal to the glory of God, so God, the supreme Lord, could, should He so will, destroy us all, one with another. Thus, when I slay this victim, it is to signify that it would only be His due were we to sacrifice our lives to His glory, and therefore I offer Him the life of this animal in the place of our own.”

In like manner Sanchez observes: “The homage we pay to God, the glory we give Him in holy Mass, is so great that no greater service, no greater honor, could be shown Him upon earth. For thereby we testify that in His sovereign majesty He is worthy that not the blood of calves and goats, but the most precious blood of His first-born Son, should be offered to Him in sacrifice.”

Meditate upon what these two learned men say respecting the value of holy Mass, and the infinite honor it enables us to pay to God Almighty. Ought we not to hasten with joy to Mass in order to unite with the priest in performing this highest act of homage to Him Who is our rightful God and Lord? For by neglecting to hear Mass for any frivolous reason we defraud Him of the honor we could, and ought to, have shown Him.

Hear, too, what Marchantius says: “What is holy

Mass but an embassy sent daily to the ever-blessed Trinity with a gift of priceless value, which we present to the three divine Persons in recognition of their dominion over all creatures, and of our dependence upon them? The life and death of Jesus Christ is a daily tribute paid to God, the Author of life and death, by the Church militant in cooperation with, and in presence of, the Church triumphant, in order that to Him, the Triune God, the highest honor may be paid by all His creatures, and that His might, His wisdom, His love, His endless perfections, shining forth in this mystery, may be duly honored by all. What can be more pleasing to the most high God than when heaven and earth unite to laud and magnify His wondrous power and majesty? “

This explanation of the true burnt-offering is so necessary that it ought to be taught to the people, and impressed upon them continually. Heaven and earth do indeed meet together in order to give to God, in holy Mass, praise and thanks worthy of Him. The holy angels carry our oblation on high, and present it before God.

But the chief honor which is given to God by the holy sacrifice of the Mass comes not from men nor from angels, but from Christ Himself. He alone can estimate aright the infinite greatness and grandeur of the divine majesty. He alone knows how infinite is the glory due to it. Therefore He alone, and none other, can pay to God honor worthy of His sovereign majesty, and this He does in every Mass that is celebrated. Although both angels and men can do much for the glory of God, it is as nothing in comparison with what Christ does.

Supposing the Turks were to conquer our country, and threaten us that, if we did not deny Christ, we should all be barbarously tortured and finally burnt alive. And supposing we all answered unanimously that we would rather suffer anything than be faithless to Our Lord, and submitted in a body to torture and death, would not this heroic deed be most pleasing to God, would it not tend vastly to His greater glory? Doubtless it would. And yet this glory would be trifling and insignificant in comparison with the glory which is due to the divine majesty. But when the first-born Son of God abases Himself to the dust before the Most Holy Trinity, when He makes Himself a worm and no man, and in this state of humiliation offers to God the highest reverence, the glory rendered to the Most Holy Trinity cannot be surpassed.

Meanwhile the Son of God gives Himself into the power of man, to be by him immolated as an innocent lamb in a mystical manner, and offered to the triune God as a true burnt-offering, thereby making it possible for us to perform an act of homage and of praise worthy of the Divine Majesty to Whom it is offered. Hence it follows that in this sacrifice alone have we the means of rendering such service, such glory, to God Almighty as. will be worthy of His sovereign dignity, and therefore well-pleasing in His sight. Had not Christ placed it within our power to offer this noblest of sacrifices, we should ever have remained debtors to God, and should have departed out of this world laden with guilt. What greater benefit could Jesus have bestowed on us, what greater love could He have shown us, than He did by instituting this superexcellent sacrifice? Do we not owe Him hearty thanks, and ought we not to avail ourselves of this means of obtaining the remission of our many and heavy debts? Let us endeavor to spare time from our other occupations to hear Mass frequently, and offer to God this most acceptable burnt-offering in payment of the debt we owe Him.

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