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that a thing is always in reality what it appears to be. Far from staggering in our faith, or disbelieving the real presence of Christ in the blessed Eucharist, because we do not see any visible appearances or distinctive marks of infinite majesty and grandeur about him; far from being incredulous, like Thomas, because we do not feel the print of the nails and the scars of the wounds in his sacred body, we should approach him like the wise men of the East with a lively faith, and offer him the gold of an ardent charity, the incense of fervent and devout prayer, and the myrrh of a mortified and penitential life; we should submit our reason to his infallible word, and believe upon his divine authority what we neither see nor comprehend, that we may be entitled to the blessed reward that he has promised in the Gospel to those who believe and do not see. Because thou hast seen me, said he to Thomas the Apostle, thou hast believed; happy they who have not seen and have believed, St. John, c. xx. v. 29.

O Divine Jesus, we therefore firmly believe that thou art really present in the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist; we believe that it contains thy sacred body and blood, accompanied with thy soul and divinity; we acknowledge these great truths; we believe these wonders; we adore the power that has wrought them; the same power that said, Let there be light, and light was made. We submit our senses and reason to thy divine authority; we praise and glorify thy infinite goodness, which hast prepared this Great Supper for the nourishment of our souls during the course of our mortal pilgrimage here on earth. Thy holy prophet David had just reason to cry out with extasy, in Ps. xc. Our merciful and gracious Lord hath made a memorial of his wonderful works, and hath given food to them that fear him. Blessed be thy name for ever." Accept our homage, O Lord, accept our most hearty thanks, and give us grace to receive this sacrament of thy love with such reverence and humility, such purity and faith, such contrition and devotion, as may be for thy honour and our own salvation, and prepare us for that eternal banquet of glory which is reserved for thy elect in the kingdom of Heaven. And which I wish you all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

On the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Christus dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro novis hostiam, et sacrificium Deo in odorem suavitatis.

Ephes. c. v. v. 2.

Christ loved us, and delivered himself for us an oblation and a sacrifice to God, for an odour of sweetness,

Eph. c. v. v. 2.

To offer sacrifice to the Supreme Being, in acknowledgment of his sovereign dominion over all creatures, has, since the beginning of the world, been always considered as a necessary duty of man, and an essential part of true religion, and the Almighty has vouchsafed to accept of oblations of this kind as an agreeable worship, when they were accompanied with the inward sacrifice of the heart and with faith in the promised Redeemer, who was to come in the plenitude of time. Hence Abel, Enos, Noe, Melchisedech, Abraham, Job, and other holy Patriarchs and servants of God, who lived under the law of nature, thought it their duty to raise altars to the honour of the Deity, and to sacrifice whatever they deemed fittest to express the humble sentiments and inward dispositions of their souls, and to testify the supreme homage which they owed the Divine Majesty. In the law of Moses, when the Lord himself was pleased to reveal to his chosen people the particular manner in which he was willing to be honoured and worshipped by them, he instituted a great variety of sacrifices, some of which were called Holocausts, or Whole Burnt Offerings; some Propitiatory, or Sin Offerings; others Thanksgiving Offerings; others Pacific, or Peace Offerings. But these sacrifices had no intrinsic virtue or efficacy in themselves, and were only acceptable to God in view of the great sacrifice of the new law which they prefigured. For this reason, St. Paul calls them weak and beggarly elements, types and empty shadows of the good things that were to come. Christ, our Divine Redeemer, by one, offering on the cross accomplished them all, and comprehended them all in the unity of his sacrifice, which is at the same time ¡an Holocaust, a Sacrifice of Propitiation, a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and a Sacrifice of Impetration, and by which he paid the full price of our redemption, cancelled the hand-writing of death that stood in full force against us, and perfected for ever them that are

sanctified, as the Apostle speaks. All other means of sancti. fication and salvation derive their force and efficacy from this great sacrifice which he offered on the cross; and it was to renew the memory of it, and to apply the fruits and merits of it to our souls, that he instituted the Eucharist and commemorative Sacrifice of the Mass, which he continues to offer daily on our altars by the ministry of the Priests of his Church; for his love for mankind was not contented with offering himself once upon the cross a bleeding victim for our sins, but he was willing also to leave his Church a continual sacrifice worthy of himself, that the same precious blood which he shed for our sake on Mount Calvary, might continue to the end of the world to cry aloud to Heaven from our altars for mercy and pardon in our behalf. With reason, therefore, the Apostle says, Christ loved us, and delivered himself for us, an oblation and sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness. In the sacrifice of the Cross he offered himself in a bloody manner; in the sacrifice of the Mass he offers himself in an unbloody manner; so that the sacrifice of the Mass is not a distinct sacrifice from the sacrifice of the Cross, but one and the self-same in substance, differing only in the manner of offering. In short, the Mass is a true and proper sacrifice, than which nothing is more ancient, nothing is more holy, nothing is more august in the Christian religion, and consequently, it is necessary to be present thereat, with great reverence, attention and devotion. Behold the whole plan of the following discourse and the subject of your favourable attention. Let us previously implore the divine assistance, through the intercession of the blessed Virgin, &c. Ave Maria.

Although a contrite and humble heart, fasting, prayer, alms deeds, and every good work that is done to honour God, may be called a sacrifice in a metaphorical sense, as St. Augustine observes, 1. 10. de Civ. c. 6. yet strictly and properly speaking, sacrifice is an external act of religion, or an outward offering of some visible or sensible thing made to God by a lawful Priest, to acknowledge the supreme dominion of God over all creatures, and to render him the homage that is due to his Sovereign Majesty. The same holy Doctor remarks, that all nations, however barbarous and savage, that ever acknowledged the existence of a Supreme Being, and all religions, whether true or false, have always looked upon sacrifice as the special prerogative of the Divinity, and the principal means to testify the total subjection and dependence of man, and the supreme worship he owes to God. St. Jerom also says, there never was a religion without a sacrifice, nor a church without priests, nor priests without altars, nor altars without a victim or oblation; religion, sacrifice and priesthood being so closely united, that the principal function of priests and the most solemn act of religion is to offer sacrifice to the Deity in some form or other. Can it then be supposed, that

Christ would leave his Church in the new Law without an essential part of religion, and destitute of the principal means of honouring God? Can it be imagined that he would abandon her, like the Jewish synagogue, which is without a priest, without a sacrifice, without an altar? No, my brethren. We have an altar, says the Apostle, Heb. c. xiii. v. 10, and consequently we have a sacrifice; we have the eucharistic and commemorative sacrifice of the Mass, which Christ instituted at his last supper, and which the Scripture mentions, Acts, c. xiii. v. 2. where we read in the Greek original, As they were sacrificing to the Lord, and fasting, &c. The acts of the martyrdom of St. Andrew the Apostle, which Natalis Alexander, and other learned writers maintain to be genuine, though contested by some, make mention of this sacrifice in the following words, which the Apostle said to his persecutors. I offer every day on the altar to the Almighty God an immaculate Lamb, whose flesh indeed is eaten, but the Lamb remains whole and entire. St Justin, St. Irenæus, Tertullian, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and other Doctors of the primitive Church, assert in express terms, that the Apostles learned from Christ to offer this sacrifice throughout the earth. St. Augustine, who flourished upwards of fourteen hundred years ago, assures us l. 16 de Civ. and in Ps. 109. that this sacrifice was then celebrated in the Church all over the Christian world. He informs us also, Libr. 9 Conf. that his mother Monica, at her dying hour, entreated him to offer it up at the altar of God for the happy repose. of her soul, from a persuasion that the souls of the faithful departed, are relieved by this sacrifice of our Mediator, as he speaks in Enchyr. c. 110. 1. de Cur. Mort. It was expedient and just that there should be such a sacrifice in the Christian Church, in order to join all the faithful together in the external duties of religion, to pay unto God the homage that is due to him, to give him thanks for all his blessings, to implore the forgiveness of our sins, and to obtain such favours and graces as we daily stand in need of. Prefigurative Sacrifices were required in the Law of nature and in the written Law of Moses, to represent the Sacrifice of the Cross and to prefigure the death of Christ, then to come; in like manner a Commemorative Sacrifice was required in the new Law, to be a standing memorial of the Sacrifice of the Cross, and to represent the death of Christ, now already past. This Commemorative Sacrifice is no more derogatory or injurious to the infinite value and efficacy of the Sacrifice of the Cross, than the Prefigurative Sacrifices of the old Law were; on the contrary, it honors it highly, as it serves to renew and perpetuate the memory of it to the end of the world, and to impart the benefit of it to our souls. Nay, it is the same in substance with the Sacrifice of the Cross, because it is the same victim, Jesus Christ, that is sacrificed in both; and the same High Priest, Jesus Christ,

who is the principal offerer in both. The only difference consists in this, that the Sacrifice of the Cross was a bloody sacrifice, because Christ then actually shed his blood and was really put to death; but the Commemorative Sacrifice of the Mass is an unbloody sacrifice, wherein the death of Christ is only mystically represented, and shewn forth on the altar by the separate consecration of the bread and wine, which denotes the real shedding of his blood, and the actual separation of his body and soul at his death.

Nothing is wanting here that is necessary to constitute a true

and proper sacrifice; neither victim, nor priest, nor altar, nor

oblation, nor consummation. It is an outward oblation of the body and blood of Christ under the visible forms of bread and wine; it is offered to God alone, and not to any creature in Heaven or on earth; it is offered for the four great ends of sacrifice; it is offered for the whole Church in its three different states, that is, for the Church triumphant in Heaven, in thanksgiving to God for the graces bestowed on the Saints in this life, and for the happiness they now enjoy; for the Church militant on earth, to draw down the blessings of Heaven on the faithful, and for the Church suffering in Purgatory, to obtain relief for them in their sufferings, and a speedy admittance to eternal glory. The oblation is here made by a lawful priest properly ordained, consecrated and authorized to officiate in Christ's name, and as his vicegerent, he being the chief priest or principal offerer as well as the victim that is offered; for, as it was Christ that offered himself, and that was offered upon the Cross, so in the like manner it is Christ that offers himself, and that is offered on the altar, by the hands of the officiating priest, who acts under him as his visible substitute, and who, therefore, when he comes to the consecration, wherein this sacrifice essentially consists, speaks and acts, not in his own name, or by his own authority, but in the name and person of Christ, saying, This is my body; this is the chalice of my blood. The oblation that is here made, is also accompanied with a real change and destruction of the inward substance of the bread and wine, and with a real presenting of the body and blood of Christ, our victim, under appearances which denote his real death. On the cross he actually died, and really shed his precious blood for our sake, his body being then mortal and passible; on the altar he can only admit of a mystical death, and of a mystical effusion of blood, his body being now glorious, immortal, and impassible. He is here really exhibited to his eternal Father under the two separate species, without any visible sign of life, motion, or action, and under the figure and appearance of death, as if he was really dead, according to what was shewn to St. John in the Apocalypse, when he said, I saw a Lamb standing, as it were slain, not actually or really slain, but as it were slain, or under the appearance of

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