II – THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE
282. The Eucharist is both sacrament and sacrifice.
283. Sacrifice is a visible gift, which is offered to God, in order to recognize and adore Him as our supreme Lord and Owner.
Sacrifice is to offer to God a sensible thing, and to destroy it in some way in recognition of His supreme dominion over all things.
Sacrifices can be offered to God alone.
From the beginning of the world there were sacrifices.
The sacrifices of the Old Law were a figure of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered by dying on the Cross.
In the New Law, the Holy Mass is the perpetual sacrifice, which represents that of the Cross and applies its merits to us.
284. Holy Mass is the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ offered on our altars, in memory of the sacrifice of the Cross.
285. The sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice of the Cross, because in it Jesus Christ Himself is offered and sacrificed, although in an unbloody way, that is, without suffering or dying as on the Cross.
The Mass, in its essence, is the same sacrifice of the Cross.
The difference is only in the way it is offered and in the purpose for which it is offered.
In the way. On the Cross, Jesus offered Himself with bloodshed.
At Mass, Jesus offers Himself without bloodshed; but this outpouring is represented mystically, inasmuch as, by virtue of the words of consecration, the Body is in the Host and the Blood of Jesus Christ is in the Chalice.
[More clear: It is Jesus, it is His Body, and it is His Blood, really. But the shedding of His Blood is what is mystically represented.]
In the purpose. In the sacrifice of the Cross, Jesus made satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and merited graces to save us.
These merits and satisfaction are applied to us by the means that He has instituted in the Church, the principal of which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The first and principal offerer of the Mass is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; the priest is the minister who, in the Name of Jesus Christ, offers the sacrifice to the Eternal Father.
Although in the Mass Jesus makes use of the priest, He is always the principal offerer: as one who gives alms by the hands of another, he is properly the one who gives alms and not the one he sends.
Jesus Christ instituted the Holy Mass when at the Last Supper He consecrated the bread and wine, and commanded the Apostles to do the same in memory of Him.
286. We offer the sacrifice of the Mass to God alone, although in it we also honor the memory of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints.
The Holy Mass, because it is a sacrifice, is offered only to God.
It is said that Mass is celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin or of the Saints, to thank God for the favors He has bestowed upon them, and to obtain more abundantly the graces we need through their intercession.
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Purposes of the Holy Mass
287. We offer Holy Mass to God for four purposes: 1. in adoration and praise of His Divine Majesty; 2. in thanksgiving for His benefits; 3. in expiation of our sins, and in suffrage for the souls in purgatory, and, 4. to implore His help in our needs.
The purposes of the Holy Mass are:
1. To adore and honor God, as much as His divine greatness deserves.
2. To appease God, as much as His infinite justice requires, to satisfy Him for our sins, and to offer Him suffrages for the souls in purgatory.
3. To give thanks to God for the immense benefits He bestows upon us.
4. To obtain from God all the graces we need.
We must honor God as much as His infinite greatness deserves.
Even if all created beings were to become tongues to praise God, and were consumed by His love as candles burning on altars are consumed, we would not give Him infinite honor, and the pure creature can only give Him limited honor.
In the Holy Mass we pay God an infinite honor, because it is paid to Him by Our Lord Jesus Christ in our name.
We must appease God as much as His infinite justice demands.
The malice of a single mortal sin is so great, that even if more tears of repentance were shed for it than drops of water contained in the sea, God would not be given the due satisfaction; for the offense is infinite.
In the Holy Mass, Jesus Christ Himself asks forgiveness for our sins and gives infinite satisfaction to God's infinite justice.
We should thank God for the immense benefits He does for us.
But our littleness is incapable of giving due thanks for even the smallest of the benefits that God bestows on us. In the Holy Mass, Our Lord Jesus Christ thanks for them infinitely in our name.
We must obtain from God all the graces we need.
From God comes all good, all grace for body and soul, for time and for eternity.
But, because we are miserable sinners, we deserve punishments rather than graces.
In the Holy Mass, Jesus Christ prays for us and gives us everything we need.
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The Fruit of Holy Mass and the Obligation to Hear It
The fruit of the Mass is general, special and very special.
The general fruit is for the whole Church.
It is special for the living or deceased for whom the Mass is applied and for those who attend it.
The most special one is for the priest who celebrates Mass.
There is nothing more holy, nothing that gives more glory to God, than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
A single Mass gives more glory to God than all the merits of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints combined.
Ah! If Christians knew what a Mass was worth, not only would they never miss it on feast days, but they would do everything possible to attend it every day.
There is an obligation to hear Mass every Sunday and holy day.
It is very convenient, very healthy, and very profitable to hear Mass every day.
The act that most pleases God and that most benefits our soul is Holy Mass accompanied by Communion.
To hear Mass every day is not to waste time, but to make the most of it very diligently.
Saint Isidore the farmer heard Holy Mass daily, and while he heard Mass, an angel guided the oxen that ploughed.
Many times there is not a lack of time to hear Mass every day, but the will to do so resolutely.
How many people could hear Mass daily, making the small sacrifice of getting up earlier!
Laziness robs them of a most precious treasure.
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Manner of hearing Holy Mass
To hear Holy Mass well, modesty on the outside of the person and devotion of the heart are necessary.
It is advisable to be on your knees throughout the Mass, except in the Gospels, where you must stand.
People who do not kneel even in the solemn act of Consecration and Communion, unless some illness prevents them from kneeling, declare that they have no religious education.
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Various ways to listen devoutly to Holy Mass
1. To unite from the beginning our intention with that of the priest, offering to God the Holy Sacrifice for the purposes for which it was instituted.
2. To accompany the priest in all the prayers and actions of the sacrifice.
3. To meditate on the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and to abhor with all our hearts the sins that were the cause of them.
4. To make sacramental Communion. Or at least spiritual when the priest receives Communion.
5. To pray the Rosary or other prayers. [A few years ago, while waiting for a Mass to end to hear the following Mass complete, I began to pray the rosary away from the people, but a priest told me that while the Mass is celebrated, the Rosary is not prayed. And he is right, since the Mass is so important, that even though we have arrived 15 minutes before it ends, we should hear it with reverence.]
To hear Holy Mass, a devotional book is very useful.
[Jesus Christ tells us in the Messages of Our Lady of the Roses that He wants the Latin Mass to return, and Our Lady wants us to use the little books that have the prayers in Latin and next to them the translation into our language.]
It is a very good thing to pray also for others while attending Holy Mass, for it is the most opportune time to pray to God for the living and the dead.
288. There are three principal parts of the Mass: the Offertory, the Consecration and the Communion of the priest.