Chapter IV

In the Holy Mass Christ Renews His Incarnation

In the preceding chapter the mysteries of holy Mass were but slightly touched upon; we will now take each in turn, examining it more closely and explaining it more fully.

The sublime mystery of the incarnation is the first to claim our attention. I will begin by adducing the testimony of the learned and pious Marchantius to prove that every time Mass is said the incarnation of the Son of God is renewed. He writes: “What is the Mass if not a forcible and complete representation, nay, renewal, of the incarnation, the birth, the life, the sufferings, and the death of Christ, and the redemption that He wrought?” With this statement, wonderful as it is, and almost past our comprehension, some persons will perhaps not agree. In order, therefore, to prove beyond doubt that it is true we will proceed to show, in this chapter, after what manner Christ becomes incarnate anew whenever holy Mass k celebrated.

We know how great, how vast, how inexpressible was the benefit God in His loving kindness bestowed on mankind when the Eternal Word, for the sake of man and of his salvation, came down from heaven, by the operation of the Holy Ghost became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and took upon Himself our human nature. This incomprehensible mystery it is which the priest adores when, in the Creed, at the words: Et incarnates est (“He was made man”), he does not merely bow his head: he bends his knee in reverent awe, returning thanks to the Giver of all good for vouchsafing thus deeply to abase Himself.

Holy Church in her wisdom has ordained that every year, throughout the season of Advent, all the faithful should meditate upon this infinite benefit, devoutly adore the mystery of the incarnation, and render thanks to God for His goodness, as is indeed our bounden duty. For in thus becoming incarnate Christ won for us.such great graces, in His human body He did and suffered so much for us, that eternity will not be long enough to render Him the thanks that are His due.

But, marvel of marvels, Christ did not content Himself with merely becoming man once for all. In order daily and hourly to renew and increase the satisfaction which His Eternal Father and the Holy Ghost have, before all time, derived from the contemplation of this mystery, in the fulness of His divine wisdom He devised and instituted the sublime mystery of the Mass, in which His incarnation is renewed as definitely as if in reality it again took place; nay, it does actually take place again, although in a mystic manner. For this we have the authority of the Catholic Church, for in the secret prayers for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost we read: “As often as the remembrance of this victim is celebrated, so often is the work of our redemption carried on.” The words are not: So often is the work of our redemption represented, but, So often is the work of our redemption carried on. And what is this work of our redemption but the incarnation, the birth, the passion, and the death of Jesus Christ? all of which are in reality accomplished and renewed every time the Mass is celebrated.

To this St. Augustine also bears testimony. “How great the dignity of a priest,” he says, “in whose hands Christ again becomes man! O celestial mystery, wrought in so marvellous a manner by God the Father and by the Holy Ghost through the instrumentality of the priest!” St. John Damascene says: “If I am asked how bread is changed into the body of Christ, I answer: The Holy Ghost overshadows the priest, and operates that in the elements which He effected in the womb ot the Virgin Mary.” Again, we find the same clearly stated by St. Bonaventure in these words: “God appears to do no less a thing when He deigns daily to descend from heaven upon our altars than He did when He came down from heaven and took upon Himself out human nature.” These remarkable words of the seraphic doctor, the meaning of which it is impossible to mistake, warrant us in asserting that Christ performs as great a miracle in every Mass that is celebrated as He did when He became man, more than 1800 years ago.

This is confirmed by the Ven. Alanus de Rupe, who puts the following words into the mouth of the Saviour “As I once became man at the sound of the angelic salutation, so in each Mass I again become man after a sacramental manner.” That is, as the Divine Word became flesh through the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost when the Ave Maria was spoken, so the same Divine Word, when the words of consecration are uttered, becomes man in the hands of the priest, in a different manner, it is true, but through the self-same divine power.

Here we may well exc^im with St. Augustine: “How great is the dignity of a priest, in whose hands God again becomes man!” How great, we may add, is the dignity of the Catholic, for whose salvation Christ Jesus daily in holy Mass again becomes man in a mystic manner! This enables us to understand what Holy Scripture says: “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.” (John 3:16) O sweet consolation for us miserable mortals to know that the love of our God for us is so great that every day He comes down from heaven again, and again becomes incarnate for our sake! How we ought to rejoice in the solace thus afforded us!

In the Imitation we find the following passage: “As often as thou sayest or hearest Mass it ought to seem” to thee as great, as new, and as delightful as if Christ, that same day first descending into the womb of the Virgin, had been made man.“(Bk. iv. ch. 2.) What inexpressible comfort it would afford us if Christ now for the first time became man, if we heard that the divine Child would be born of His holy Mother! Who but would hasten with joy to worship the Christ, to implore of Him grace and mercy? Then why, since He becomes man in a mystic manner upon our altars, do we not hasten no less gladly to hear Mass, implore no less earnestly His mercy and pardon? It is because we have no living faith, and consequently no true appreciation of this great gift of God.

We will now consider in what wise Christ renews His incarnation, and what are the wonders He works in this act. Our religion teaches us that when the priest holds the host in his hands previous to the consecration he holds nothing but a piece of bread; but as soon as he pronounces the words of consecration, at that same moment the host is changed by divine power into the true body of Christ. And since without blood the body cannot live, so the blood of Christ is also present in His sacred body. Thus in the place of the bread which a moment before the priest held in his hands he now holds Jesus Christ, the Son of the most high God. This is indeed a mystery exceeding great, a miracle beyond all understanding, in which not one alone but many and great ones are contained.

Is it not a wonder beyond all wonders that bread can become the real body of Jesus Christ, and wine His true blood? Is it not a wonder beyond wonders that although the bread and the wine are no longer present, the outward forms of both bread and wine remain? They retain the shape, the color, the taste they possessed before the consecration. Is it not a wonder beyond all wonders that these outward forms, or accidents, remain, independent of all else, and preserved only by supernatural means? It is no less a miracle than if all the walls of a house were to fall away, and the roof to re-remain suspended in the air without any support. Is it not a wonder beyond all wonders that Christ can reduce His human body into so small a compass as to be contained within a little host, nay, within the most minute particle of one?

All these and many other great miracles which will not be enumerated here are wrought by Christ in every

Mass at the moment of the consecration for our salvation. The benefits He thereby confers upon us are immeasurably vast. This was made known to St. Gertrude, as we read in her revelations. On one occasion when she was hearing Mass, just before the consecration, bowing down to the ground, she said to Our Lord: “O sweet Jesus, the work which Thou art about to accomplish is so inestimable, so surpassingly sacred and sublime, that one so abject and lowly as I am may not dare to look upon it. I will, therefore, take refuge in the lowest depths of humility, and there await my share of the salvation which this mystery is to bring to all Thy elect.” Thereupon Our Lord answered her: “If thou wert to direct all thy hardest labors and toils in My service to this end, namely, that this sacrifice, which is profitable for all Christians, whether living or dead, may have an effect proportionate to its great dignity, thou wouldst greatly assist Me in the work that I have to accomplish.”

In like manner we should consider, before the consecration, how extraordinary a miracle God works upon the altar for our salvation, and awaken within our hearts a lively desire that by our cooperation the sacrifice at which we are assisting may be for the greater glory of God, and for the good of the faithful. To this end we may pray in the words of St. Gertrude:

“O sweet Jesus, the work which Thou art about to accomplish is so sublime that one so lowly and abject as I am may not dare to look upon it. I will therefore take refuge in the abyss of my own nothingness, and will there await my share of the salvation which this mystery is about to bring to all Thy elect. Would to God, O sweet Jesus, that I could cooperate in this glorious work J How gladly would I spend all my strength and endure the heaviest toils in order that this sacrifice, which is offered for all Christians both living and dead, may be productive of results proportionate to its great dignity. I beseech Thee to grant Thy grace to all who say or who hear Mass, that they may offer the most holy sacrifice to Thy greater glory and for the benefit of all the faithful. Amen.”

We will now proceed to consider how vast is the authority conferred by Christ, not upon angels, but upon men, when He empowers the priest to perform the greatest of miracles with a few short words, to change the bread and wine into His sacred body and blood. Concerning this the Ven. Alanus de Rupe says: “So great is the power of God the Father that He could call the heavens and the earth into being out of nothing; so great is the power of the priest that he can call down the Son of God Himself to be a sacrifice and a sacrament, and can dispense to mankind by means of this sacrifice and this sacrament the treasures the Saviour won for them. Herein consists to a great extent the majesty of God, the joy of His blessed Mother; this forms the felicity of the blessed, the surest help of the living, the chief solace of the souls in purgatory.”

Wonderful and admirable indeed is the mighty power of the words of consecration, the renewal of Christ’s incarnation in the hands of the priest! Rejoice, moreover, and exult that we are privileged, in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, as we know on the authority of Christ Himself, to magnify our heavenly Father, to cause great joy to our blessed Lady and all tht saints in glory. Holy Mass is, besides, the best help of the living, the sweetest consolation of the departed.

Here, again, we may exclaim: “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” (John 3:16) God first manifested this unspeakable love to the world when He sent His Son from heaven to take upon Himself the nature of man. He now daily manifests anew this same love by sending His Son from heaven again to become man in the Mass. And as His first incarnation caused joy in heaven and brought salvation to earth, so is it with His daily incarnation upon the altar. By His first incarnation Christ earned treasures inestimable of divine grace: by the renewal of that incarnation He distributes those celestial riches to all those who say or hear Mass devoutly. The following example will illustrate this:

It is recorded in the annals of the Franciscan Order that blessed John of Alvernio was accustomed to say Mass with extraordinary devotion, so much so that he often experienced an ineffable sweetness almost too great for his frail powers to endure. On one occasion, when he had to sing the High Mass on the feast of the Assumption, no sooner had he begun the Mass than his soul was flooded with bliss so rapturous that he feared he should be unable to finish the function. It was as he anticipated. For when he got to the consecration, and the exceeding greatness of the love of Christ was borne in upon him, which impelled Him to come down from heaven to assume human nature, and which still continually impels Him to renew the same act in holy Mass, the heart of the good priest melted within him, his strength forsook him, and he was unable to finish the prayer of consecration. The father guardian, perceiving this, hastened to the altar with another father to assist him to finish the consecration. The other monks and the rest of the congregation were much alarmed, for they thought the priest had suddenly been taken ill. At length, putting a great force upon himself, he finished the words of consecration. And behold! the host he held in his hands was changed into the form of a smiling infant, and blessed John saw the divine Child as a newly-born babe resting in his priestly hands. At that moment so keen an appreciation was given him of the profound humility of Our Lord in becoming man for us, and daily renewing His incarnation, that this knowledge was too much for him, his forces gave way, and he would have fallen had not the father guardian and some of his brethren supported him in their arms. Nevertheless he contrived to proceed with the Mass until the communion. But when he received the consecrated elements he became completely unconscious, and had to be carried into the sacristy, where for some hours he lay like one dead. In fact the people already began to lament and bewail his loss. When he came to himself again, his brethren entreated him for the love of God to tell them what had happened thus to overwhelm him at the altar. Unable to resist their importunity, he answered: “When, immediately before the consecration, I thought upon the love of Christ, which once in time past induced Him to become man, and induces Him daily to become anew incarnate in holy Mass, I felt my heart melt like wax, and my limbs lose their power, so that I could not stand upright, or pronounce the words of the prayer. And when, by a great effort, I uttered them I saw in my hands no longer the sacred host, but a lovely child, the very sight of which pierced my soul and consumed my bodily strength, so that I swooned away, and fell into a sweet ecstasy of love.” This is what the father related to his pious hearers, to make known to them the unfathomable love of Our Lord to us poor sinners, since for us, and for our salvation, He daily renews the mystery of His incarnation, and imparts to us the fruits of that mystery in abundant measure.

From this incident it may be seen what joy comes down from heaven to earth when the source of all celestial felicity vouchsafes to descend upon our altars. Many a time have saintly souls tasted this bliss, and we too might have been privileged to taste it had we assisted at Mass with more devout recollection, more lively faith. We may also learn of what great profit to us is this renewal of Christ’s incarnation, since those who hear Mass are made partakers in the merits of His first incarnation. By this profound abasement of Himself He appeases the just anger of God, and averts the chastisement we deserve so well. We cannot thank Him enough for all the benefits He bestows on us; especially for this, that He has instituted holy Mass for our sake, and renewed in it not His incarnation alone, but also all the mysteries of His life and death. We can show Him our gratitude in no better way than by devoutly hearing Mass every day, or at least as often as we can, and offering it to the Most Holy Trinity in thanksgiving for the mercies we have received.

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