Chapter XXIII
The Manner and the Measure in which the Priest and the Angels Pray for Those Who are Present at Holy Mass
Pious persons are often heard to complain that they feel no devotion and are much troubled by distraction in prayer. No better counsel can be given to them than to go diligently to Mass, and unite their prayers to the prayer of Christ and of the priest; thus their imperfect petitions will be made perfect, as a copper coin is gilded by being immersed in molten gold. Prayer that is offered in union with the holy sacrifice, as Fornerus says, far surpasses in value all other prayers, however long, however fervent. The reason of this shall be expounded in the present chapter for the encouragement of the reader.
The priest is bound to pray for the people, and offer the Mass to Almighty God for their salvation. Supplications for those who are present form a part of the Ordinary of the Mass, and must not be omitted. Moreover, all the collects, the secret prayers, and the concluding prayers, and all others which are written in the plural, are said in the name of the congregation and for their benefit. Each one who is present at Mass may be assured that those prayers are offered for him, and will profit him as much as if there was no one else in the church but the priest and himself. But in order that every one may know what and how many are the petitions offered on his behalf they shall be mentioned singly here.
First of all the clerk, in the name of the people, says the Confiteory or general confession, and the priest gives the absolution to all present: “May Almighty God have mercy upon you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting. Amen.” “May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of all our sins. Amen.” When the priest goes up to th? altar, he prays for himself and the people, saying: “Take away from us, we beseech thee, O Lord, our iniquities, that we may be worthy to enter with pure minds into the holy of holies, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.”
The Kyrie eleison, the Gloria in excelsis, as well as all the collects, are likewise recited by the priest for himself and for the congregation. He often turns to the people, saying: “Dominus vobiscum ” (“The Lord be with you”). In this salutation, which is repeated eight times, he wishes for them spiritual welfare and salvation. For if God is with us, we have His grace, His blessing, His assistance, His mercy. In the Creed the priest makes public profession for himself and for us all of the faith that is in us, the faith in which we desire to live and hope to die.
At the offering of the host he says: “Accept, O holy Father, almighty, eternal God, this immaculate host, which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offences, and negligences, and for all here present; as also for all faithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may be profitable for my own and for their salvation, unto life eternal. Amen.” At the pouring of the wine and water into the chalice he says: “O God, Who, in creating human nature, didst wonderfully dignify it, and hast still more wonderfully renewed it, grant that, by the mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divinity Who vouchsafed to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord,” etc.
At the offering of the chalice he says: “We offer to Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching Thy clemency that, in the sight of Thy divine majesty, it may ascend with the odor of sweetness for our salvation, and for that of the whole world. Amen.”
After the washing of hands he says: “Receive, O Holy Trinity, this oblation, which we make to Thee in memory of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of the Blessed Mary, ever virgin, of blessed John the Baptist, of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, of these and of all the saints, that it may be available to their honor and our salvation, and may they vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven whose memory we celebrate on earth. Amen.”
After this follow the secret prayers, which are full of meaning, and are recited in a low voice for the salvation of the priest and the people. They are generally three in number, sometimes five; on great feasts there is only one. In the preface the priest, raising his voice, praises God in his own name and that of the faithful, and calls upon all who are present to magnify God, saying: “The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let as give thanks to the Lord our God. For it is meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God. Through Christ Our Lord, through Whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominations adore, the powers do hold in awe, the heavens and the virtues of the heavens, and the blessed seraphim do celebrate with united joy. In union with whom we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst command our voices also to be admitted with suppliant confession, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”
After the preface follows the canon of the Mass, which is read in a low voice; from this only a few prayers, intended for the congregation, shall be taken. At the Memento the priest says: “Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy servants, men and women, N. and N.” He then prays silently for those for whom he intends to offer up that Mass, or who have been particularly commended to his prayers. Afterwards he proceeds: “Be mindful, also, O Lord, of all here present, whose faith and devotion are known unto Thee, for whom we offer to Thee this sacrifice of praise, or who offer it up for themselves, for their families and friends, for the redemption of their souls, for the hope of their safety and salvation, and who pay their vows to Thee, the eternal, living, and true
God.
These words have been commented upon in the following manner: “Learn from this, O Christian, that thou needest not distress thyself if on account of thy poverty thou canst not have Mass said for thyself, or for thy friends, whether living or dead. For the Mass which thou dost hear is offered by the priest for thy intention; and he prays God to give to thee and those for whom thou dost ask the merits of this holy sacrifice according to thy devotion and thy desire.”
After the Memento a solemn commemoration is made of the glorious and ever-virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ; of the apostles, martyrs, and saints, to honor their memory and entreat that by their merits and prayers we may be defended by the help of the divine protection. Then, spreading his hands over the oblation, the priest says: “We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously to accept this oblation of our service, as also of Thy whole family; dispose our days in Thy peace, command us to be delivered from eternal damnation, and to be numbered in the flock of Thy elect, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.”
After the elevation of the chalice he says: u Wherefore, 0 Lord, we, Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed passion of the same Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, His resurrection from hell and glorious ascension into heaven, offer unto Thy most excellent majesty, of thy gifts and presents, a pure host, a holy host, an immaculate host, the holy bread of eternal life, and the chalice of everlasting salvation.
“Upon which vouchsafe to look with a propitious and serene countenance, and to accept them as Thou wert graciously pleased to accept the gifts of Thy just servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and that which Thy high priest Melchisedech offered to Thee, a holy sacrifice, an immaculate host.”
Bowing down profoundly, he proceeds: “We most humbly beseech Thee, Almighty God, command these things to be carried by the hands of Thy holy angel to Thy altar on high, in the sight of Thy divine majesty, that as many of us as, by participation at this altar, shall receive the most sacred body and blood of Thy Son may be filled with all heavenly benediction and grace. Through the same,” etc.
After this comes the commemoration of the dead, when the priest offers the holy Mass for the souls for whom it is said, or those for whom he intends to pray. He then proceeds: “And to us sinners, Thy servants, hoping in the multitude of Thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy apostles and martyrs, into whose company we beseech Thee to admit us, not considering our merits, but freely pardoning our offences.”
He next recites the Pater noster for himself and all the faithful, and at the conclusion of it he prays that we may be delivered from all evils, past, present, and to come, and through the intercession of the blessed and glorious
Mary, ever virgin, Mother of God, together with the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and Andrew and all the saints, by the assistance of divine mercy we may be always free from sin and secure from all disturbance.
The Agnus Dei is repeated three times: “Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.” The short prayers which immediately follow are said by the priest for himself alone, but the last collects, or post-communion, are said for the congregation as well. The concluding prayer runs thus: “O Holy Trinity, let the performance of my homage be pleasing to Thee; and grant that the sacrifice which I, unworthy, have offered up in the sight of Thy majesty may be acceptable to Thee, and through Thy mercy be a propitiation for me and all those for whom I have offered it. Through Christ,” etc. Finally, the priest gives the sacerdotal blessing to the people in the name of Christ and the authority of the Church, and reads the last gospel.
Here the reader will see all the prayers which the priest says on his behalf, when he assists at holy Mass. The cogency of these prayers cannot be doubted, for they were composed by St. Peter and other holy popes, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to Whose operation they also owe their sacred character and their unfailing efficacy. The priest does not indeed pronounce them as coming from himself; he speaks in the name of Christ, in the name of all Christendom, whose envoy he is, for the Catholic Church, that is, the great body, of the faithful, depute the priest, as their chosen ambassador, to ascend for them the steps of the altar; they commission him to present their petitions to God whilst celebrating the great act of worship; to negotiate with Him the all-important business of their welfare in time and in eternity. With what forms and with what words he is to hold communication with God is prescribed by the Church, and embodied in the ritual and prayers of the missal.
Now when the priest, placing himself in the presence of God, goes up to the altar, God the Father does not regard him as a sinful man, but as an ambassador, fully empowered by His Church to treat with Him. He therefore listens to what he has to say, He refuses no reasonable request that he puts forward. Nay, more, He esteems him as the representative of His only-begotten Son, for the priest personates that Son at the altar; he wears the garments of His passion; he utters in His name the words of consecration: “This is My body. This is the chalice of My blood.” And since the priest is thus Christ’s representative, his supplications have the more weight with God; in fact Christ Himself presents them to His heavenly Father. Moreover, because the priest at the altar does not merely offer prayers, but an oblation of infinite value, nothing less than the consecrated body and blood of Christ, God the Father cannot refuse to accept his offering. He cannot reject his prayer. Wherefore do thou unite thy feeble, imperfect petition to the prayer of the priest, and, together with that prayer, it will be carried up to heaven, transformed and ennobled. In this wise does the priest help thee to pray, and what thou lackest in devotion will be amply supplied by the potency of his intercession.
Whether All Masses are of Equal Value
Here it is necessary to distinguish between the victim and the sacrificial act. The victim is the same in all Masses, none other than Jesus Christ Himself, and so far all Masses are equally good, equally precious. With regard to the sacrificial act, the offering of the victim, the more devoutly the priest says the Mass the more acceptable to God is the sacrifice he offers, and the more abundant are the graces it brings down from above, both; upon the priest who celebrates the Mass and the individual for whom he offers it.
We find a confirmation of this in the writings of St Bonaventure, who says: “All Masses are equally good, as far as Christ is concerned; but as far as the priest is concerned, one may be better than another. Therefore it is more profitable to hear the Mass of a good priest than of an indifferent one.” Cardinal Bona also corroborates this opinion: “The more holy and pleasing to God,” he says, “a priest is the more acceptable are his prayers and oblations; and the greater his devotion the greater the benefit derived from his Mass. For just as other good works performed by a pious man gain merit m proportion to the zeal and devotion wherewith they are performed, so holy Mass is more or less profitable both to the priest who says it and to the persons for whom it is said according as it is celebrated with more or less fervor.” This is the reason why in the Mass the priest frequently beseeches God graciously to accept his oblation, and to vouchsafe that it may be conducive to his own salvation and that of the people.
How the Angels Pray for us during Holy Mass
It is impossible to deny or doubt that the angels are present at holy Mass. The Catholic Church teaches it, and the psalmist does the same when he says: “He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” (Psalms 90:11) From this we know that they go about with us everywhere, that they are to us ministering spirits, as St. Paul says (Hebrews 1:14), ever ready to help us. Oh, how delighted they are to accompany us to holy Mass! How eagerly they do all they can to keep us from inattention or irreverence! We know at least that there are as many angels in the church as there are people, because every one has his guardian angel at his side to aid him in his prayers and to adore with him Christ present upon the altar. Wherefore see that thou ask thy guardian angel to hear Mass with thee and for thee, and in thy name to worship the divine victim, to offer Him to God, to implore His grace. Thus what is wanting on thy part will be made good by him, and the holy sacrifice will be more acceptable to God Almighty.
Besides the angels guardian, thousands of celestial spirits from the higher choirs of angels assist at Mass, reverently worshipping their Lord and God in this sublime mystery. It was revealed to St. Mechtilde that three thousand angels from the seventh choir, the thrones, are ever in devout attendance around every tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. Doubtless a much greater number are present at holy Mass, which is not merely a sacrament, but also a sacrifice.
St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, gives us to understand that the angels assist at holy Mass. He says: “You are come to the company of many thousands of angels, and to Jesus the mediator of the New Testament.” (Hebrews 12:22,24) This text is most applicable to holy Mass, where Christ is present, exercising the office of a faithful mediator, and with Him many thousand angels. When at Mass, therefore, we can take David’s words upon our lips, and say: “I will sing praise to Thee, O Lord, in the sight of the angels: I will worship towards Thy holy temple, and I will give glory to Thy name.” (Psalms 137:1,2) For then we are kneeling in the midst of angels, surrounded by thousands of bright spirits, who are hearing Mass with us, and praying earnestly for us. And knowing this, we shall do well to recall the admonition of St. Chrysostom:
“Forget not, 0 man, in what company thou art at the lime of this solemn sacrifice. Thou standest amid cherubim and seraphim and other exalted spirits of high rank.” Let us beware, then, lest we grieve these celestial powers by our want of devotion.
That the angels pray for us St. Chrysostom states in the most explicit manner: “When the priest at the altar offers the stupendous and sublime sacrifice, the angels stand beside him, and all around the altar are ranged choirs of heavenly spirits, who raise their voices in honor of the victim Who is immolated. Thus it is not lowly mortals alone who call upon God: the angels kneel before Him, the archangels plead on behalf of men. It is their most accepted time; the sacred victim may be said to be at their disposal. Through Him they urge their petitions. We may imagine them speaking in this wise: ’ We pray, O Lord God, for those whom Thy Son loved so tenderly that for them He suffered death; we plead for those on whose behalf He shed His precious blood; we implore grace for those for the sake of whom He offered His sacred body upon the cross.” How cheering for us to know that the holy angels pray so earnestly during Mass for all who are present, that they implore mercy for us poor sinners. For the supplications the angels proffer are much more potent than those which we mortals send up to heaven, for the angels are inflamed with the love of God, they behold Him face to face, they speak with all the devotion of their pure hearts. Consequently they obtain what they ask of God more readily than we do, with our cold, careless petitions, so full of distractions. Wherefore if thou dost unite thy prayers during Mass to those of the angels they will together with them pierce the clouds, and will obtain a favorable hearing more certainly than if thou didst offer them at home and alone.
Not only are the angels present at the holy sacrifice, they offer it with our prayers to Almighty God. St. John tells us this in the Apocalypse: “An angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.” (Apocalypse 8:3,4) These words tell us plainly that the angels hover around us in the church, receiving from the lips of the faithful their pious prayers and delivering them to one of the most exalted of their number, that he may carry them to heaven and present them like fragrant incense upon the golden altar which stands before the throne of God. Kindled by him, they rise up as a sweet and agreeable odor in the presence of the Most High.
That this offering of our petitions is chiefly made during holy Mass is sufficiently indicated by the words; “The angel stood before the altar”; for why should the angel stand before the altar unless the holy sacrifice was offered upon it? And why should he place the sweet incense of the prayers of the saints upon it if he did not at the same time with the incense bear upwards the sacred victim? For to that and no other altar does the sacrificial victim rightly belong, and there it is daily placed, according to the prayer the priest recites at the consecration: “We most humbly beseech Thee, Almighty God, command these things to be carried by the hands of Thy holy angel to Thy altar on high, in the sight of Thy divine majesty.”
All this proves that the holy angels with joy bear on high the sublime mysteries, together with the prayers offered during the time of their celebration, and offer them to the ever-blessed Trinity as an odor of sweetness. It is evident, then, that the prayers we send up at the time of Mass, when we pray with the holy angels, surrounded by thousands of angels, are of far more efficacy than those which, with equal devotion, we utter at home. Wherefore let us do what in us lies to hear Mass daily, that our prayers may be carried up to heaven in the angels’ pure hands, and we may beseech the Most High to receive them graciously, and pardon our indevotion for the sake of the devotion of the celestial spirits to whom we associate ourselves.
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