Volume II, Treatise VIII, Chapter XIV

Of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Havina already spoken of the sacrament of the altar, and of its effects as a sacrament, I shall now speak of it as a sacrifice. ’ The council of Trent orders preachers:and pastors of souls carefully to explain this to the people, that all may know how great a treasure God has left to his church, and that in consequence each may derive greater advantages from it. From the beginning of the world, at least from the date of sin, and even from that of the law of nature, there were always sacrifices; and it was always necessary they should be, both to appease God, and to give honour to his greatness and infinite majesty. Hence in the old law God instituted priests and sacrifices; but as this law was imperfect, so were the sacrifices also; for neither the priesthood of Aaron, nor the victims that were offered by him, were capable of sanctifying the people, or of blotting out their sins, “For it is impossible,” says the apostle, “that sin should be blotted out with the blood of bulls or goats.” (Hebrews 10:4) Wherefore it was necessary there should come another priest of the order of Melchisedech, and that he should offer another sacrifice, that should be capable both of appeasing God, and of sanctifying men; and this priest is Jesus Christ, who offers himself for them to his Father. St. Austin says that all the sacrifices of the old law were only a shadow or figure of this; and as we can express one and the same thing in different terms, and in different tongues, so this only and true sacrament was figured by this multitude of sacrifices in the old law. And God, says this holy doctor, ordained. them in so great a number, as well to make a great impression upon our mind by the number, as to take away by this variety the disgust and tediousness which the frequent repetition of the same thing is wont to excite. He ordained, moreover, adds the doctor, that they should offer beasts without spot, to give us to understand, that as victims ought not to have any spots that were offered to him, so it behoved him, who came to offer himself in sacrifice for us, to be exempt from all kind of sin. But if these sacrifices were then agreeable to God, as without doubt they were, yet they were so because by them it was acknowledged that there was to come a Saviour, who should himself become the true sacrifice. For as soon as our Saviour was come, they became displeasing to God, as St. Paul takes notice, in these words to the Hebrews, ‘‘ wherefore entering into the world,” he said, “thou wouldst not have victim or offering, but thou hast fitted me with a body. The sacrifices of propitiation for sins, are no longer pleasing to thee; and then I said, behold! I come, according as it is written of me, in the beginning of the book, that I may do thy will, O my God.” (Hebrews 10:5) God gave a body to his only Son, that he might do _ the will of his Father, by offering himself in sacrifice upon the cross for us; and immediately all the shadows and figures disappeared, on the coming of what they figured, and the ancient sacrifices ceased to be any longer pleasing to God.

Now this is the sacrifice which we have in the law of grace, and which is daily offered at mass. The only begotten Son of God is himself our sacrifice. ‘He offered himself for us to God, to be an oblation and a victim of sweet odour.” (Ephesians 5:28) These are not only holy thoughts, such as meditation furnishes; but are real truths, taught by faith. It is true that mass is a commemoration and representation of the death of Jesus Christ, as is signified by these words of our Saviour, “do this in remembrance of me;” (Luke 22:19), but it is true likewise, that it is not only a commemoration and representation of the sacrifice, in which he offered himself upon the cross to his eternal Father for our sins; but it is the same sacrifice that was then offered, and of the same value and merit. Nay more, it is not only the same sacrifice, but he who offers it now at mass, is the same who heretofore offered it upon the cross. So that as in the passion he was both priest and sacrifice; he is still upon our altars, the sacrifice and priest, who offers up himself to his eternal Father, by the ministry of priests, He that says mass does nothing else but represent the person of Jesus Christ. It is in his name, and as his minister, that he offers this sacrifice; and the words of consecration are a proof of this truth. For he says not, “this is the body of Jesus Christ; but he says, “this is my body,” as speaking in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the high priest that offers this sacrifice. Hence the royal prophet and the apostle St. Paul, style him, “priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.” (Psalms 109:4) (Hebrews 7:17)) Now it would be improper to call him “priest for ever,” if he had offered sacrifice but once: but he is very justly called so, because in effect he offers a perpetual sacrifice to God, and he will never cease to offer it to the end of the world. “Such a priest as this,” says St. Paul, “we ought to have, who was holy, innocent, without spot, separated from sinners, and elevated above the heavens; who did not stand in need, as other priests do, to offer victims for his own sins, and afterwards for the sins of the people;” but, “who during his life in the flesh, having with cries and tears offered prayers and supplications to him who could save him from death, was heard for his own consideration.” (Hebrews 7:26) We stood,in need of a priest who would be able to appease the wrath of God, not by blood of victims, as ordained by the old law; but by his own blood, and his own death and passion.

Let us here at present consider the wonderful wisdom of those means, which God has taken for the salvation of men, and which

- he has taken to render this sacrifice pleasing to God in every respect. For there are four things, chiefly to be considered in 8 sacrifice, as St. Austin justly observes, viz., the person to whom it is offered; he who offers it; what is offered; and for whom it is offered. The infinite wisdom of God, has here disposed things in such a manner, that he who offers this sacrifice, to reconcile us to God, is the same with him to whom it is offered; nay, more, it is he himself who is the~ sacrifice; and in fine, he is so united to those for whom he offers it, that he is the same with them also. This sacrifice is likewise of so great a price and value, that it has not only sufficiently satisfied the eternal Father for our sins and for those of the whole world, according to the words of St. John, “he is the propitiation for our sins; and not only for ours, but for those of the whole world;” (1 John ~ ii. 2), but it would be sufficient to satisfy for the sins of a million of worlds. It isnot only a sufficient satisfaction, as the divines and saints say, but it is a superabundant compensation; it is a payment that far exceeds the debt; it is a reparation of honour, which pleases the eternal Father, far more than the offence displeased him. So that as Jesus Christ is‘at the same time the sacrifice and the person who offers it, the sacrifice loses nothing of the value and merit by being offered by the hands of a wicked priest, and ceases not to be always alike profitable to those for whom it is offered; just as an alms, which though you distribute it by the hands of a wicked man, yet would not be the less good, nor less meritorious in your behalf. ‘This sacrifice,” says the council of Trent, “is the same with that which heretofore was offered upon the cross; it is the same host, and he who offered himself then, is the same who now daily offers himself by the hands of the priest. It is only the manner of offering which is different;” (Sess. xxii.), and this difference consists in this, that the sacrifice of the cross, was “a bloody one.” For then Jesus Christ was passible and mortal; and what is now daily offered upon our altars, “is unbloody;” because “¢ Jesus Christ being raised from death, can die no more, and death -has now no more power or dominion over him.” (Romans 6:9) Now the Saviour of the world, says the council, having offered himself a sacrifice for us upon the cross, was not content that this sacrifice should end there; but because he was “priest for ever,” he ordained that this sacrifice should for ever continue in the church; and as he was priest “according to the order of Melchisedech,” (Psalms 109), who offered to God bread and wine in sacrifice, he ordained that this sacrifice also should be offered under the species of bread and wine. Wherefore, “the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread,” says the apostle, “and giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples.” (1 Corinthians 11:23) Atthe very time that men sought to put him to death, he sought to give them life; and to adapt it to their capacities, he vouchsafed to leave to his spouse the visible church, a visible sacrifice; which should not only represent to us, and put us in mind of the bloody sacrifice of the cross, but should also have the same virtue, for the remission of our sins, and for our reconciliation with God, and which in effect should be the same sacrifice. Wherefore he consecrated his precious body and blood under the species of bread and wine, converting the bread into his body, and the wine into his blood; and under these species, he offered himself to his eternal Father. It was then, say the doctors, that the first mass was celebrated, and it was then also that he consecrated his disciples priests of the new testament; and by these words “do this in memory of me,” (Luke 22:19), he then commanded them and their successors in the priesthood, to offer this adorable sacrifice. Hence some look upon the feast of the blessed sacrament as the greatest of all those the church celebrates. For all the rest are only a representation and a commemoration of the mysteries, either of the incarnation, of the nativity, of the resurrection, or of the ascension, upon which feasts the Son of God does not make himself man again, nor begins anew his birth, nor raises himself anew, nor mounts again to heaven; but the feast of the blessed sacrament is not a simple commemoration and representation of this adorable mystery, but it is, in effect, a renovation of it, as often as the priest says the words of consecration; and the same sacrifice which was offered, when Jesus Christ died for us upon the cross, is daily renewed upon our altars,

Let us here consider how great the love of Jesus Christ was for man, and how much we are indebted to him. For he is not content to offer himself once a sacrifice for our sins upon the cross; but he vouchsafed to remain here below, to be offered in sacrifice, not only once, but as often as we wish—even every day to the end of the world, that we might have in him the most pleasing sacrifice that we could ever offer to his eternal Father for our sins, and the most valuable present we could make, to appease him. What would become of Christians without this sacrifice of propitiation? ‘¢ We should be treated as Sodom and Gomorrah;” (Isaias 1:9), and God would have punished us before this, according as our sins have deserved. The property of this sacrifice is to appease God, and it is this the apostle expresses by these words, “he offered himself to God for us, to be a victim of an agreeable sweetness.” (Ephesians 5:2) For as amongst men the consideration of a service or present obtains the pardon of an injury, so here the consideration of the present we make to God, and of the sacrifice we offer to him, is sufficient to appease him, and to induce him to look upon us with eyes uf mercy. Had you been at the foot of the cross, at the death of our Saviour, and that some drops of his most precious blood had fallen upon you, what comfort would you not have felt in your soul, and what hope of salvation, would you not conceive in consequence? A miserable wretch, the occupation of whose whole life was robbery, felt himself so filled with confidence at this sight, that on a sudden, from a public robber, he became a saint, and from the cross upon which he was nailed, he raised himself to the enjoyment of everlasting glory. Now the same Son of God, who then offered himself for us upon the cross, still daily offers himself for us upon the altars; and the sacrifice which daily is offered in our churches, is of as great price, and of as great virtue, as that which was consummated upon Mount Calvary. Hence, the church is accustomed to say, ‘‘that the work of our redemption is as often performed as we celebrate the commemoration of this victim,” (In orat. secr. Dom. ix. post. Pent.) the fruits and graces of the bloody sacrifice of the cross communicating themselves unto us by the unbloody sacrifice of the mass.

Moreover this sacrifice is of such inestimable value, that it cannot be offered but to God alone, as is remarked by the council of Trent, which says, that though it is the custom to say mass in honour of - the saints, yet it is not to the saints this sacrifice is offered. For the priest says not, “I offer to you, St. Peter, or I offer to you, St. Paul;” but only, “I offer to thee, O Lord.” Rendering thanks to God for those crowns and victories, which the saints have obtained by the assistance of his grace; and begging their protection, “that those whose memory we celebrate on earth would vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven.”

So that this adorable mystery is both a sacrament and a sacrifice at the same time, though there is a great difference between the qualities of a sacrifice and of a sacrament. It is a sacrifice, because it is offered to God by the priest who consecrates at mass; the essence of this sacrifice, according to all divines, consisting in the consecration of the body of Jesus Christ under the two species, and in the oblation which the priest makes of them; and the same words of consecration, which produce the sacrifice, serve also to make the oblation thereof. As the bloody sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered for us upon the cross to his eternal Father, was entirely accomplished at the same instant that our Saviour rendered up the ghost; so the sacrifice of mass, which is a true representation of that of the cross, and is in effect the same, is essentially consummated the same instant that the priest has pronounced the last. words of consecration upon the bread and wine. For then in virtue of these words, the body of Jesus Christ is in the host, and his blood in the chalice; and the consecration of the chalice being immediately made after that of the host, is a lively representation of the effusion of the blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross, and of the separation of his body and soul which followed this effusion. But after the consecration, and so long afterwards as the species of bread and wine shall remain—when it reposes in the tabernacle— when it is carried to sick persons, and when it is received at the holy table, it is then a sacrament only, and has not either the quality or virtue of a sacrifice. It is likewise to be observed, that inasmuch as itis a sacrament, like the other sacraments, it is salutary to him that receives it, and confers grace and the other advantages that are particularly annexed to this sacrament. But inasmuch as it is a sacrifice, it helps to salvation not only the priest who receives it, but also all those for whom it is offered. It is this the council of Trent declares, when it says, that Jesus Christ instituted this divine mystery for two ends; the one to serve as nourishment to the soul, in quality of a sacrament, and to maintain, fortify, repair, and renew in it, the life of the spirit; the other end is, that the church might have a perpetual sacrifice to offer to God in satisfaction for our offences, and in acknowledgment and thanksgiving for the graces and benefits we have received, and to obtain of him a remedy for our weakness, and his help and assistance both in general and particular necessities. But it is not only to the living, this sacrifice is salutary; it is so to those likewise, who died in the grace of God, and who expiate their sins in purgatory. Nay more, as the priest in saying mass, offers the sacrifice for himself and others; even so, those who-are present at it, may also offer it with him for themselves and for others. For as, when a city sends a present to a prince by its deputies, all the inhabitants have their share in the offer of the present, though there be but one of them who speaks on the occasion; in like manner, in the sacrifice of mass, though there be none but the priest who speaks, and offers the sacrifice, yet all presént fail not to have their share in it. It is true that with regard to the deputies of a city, each of them might speak, though there be but one elected to do so. But here it is not the same; because it belongs only to the priest, who is chosen by God, to consecrate and celebrate; but this does not prevent those who assist at this adorable sacrifice, from offering it up with him. It is this precisely the priest says in the words of the offertory, “pray, my brethren, that mine and your sacrifice may be pleasing in the sight of God the Father omnipotent;” and in those other prayers of the canon of mass, “for whom we offer this sacrifice, or for those who offer it unto thee.” This consideration ought to be a powerful motive to excite all men to assist at mass; and it is of this I shall speak more particularly in the following chapter.

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