THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

by Fr. O' Keeffe, 1891

"Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us,
an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness."--Ephes. v. 2.

The Catholic Church, my brethren, speaking through the Council of Trent,

as through a mouthpiece, commands her preachers, and all others having
the care of souls, to explain the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to their people
carefully and frequently. Our good Mother, the Church, has made this law,
my dear Christians, to the end that we may all know what a great treasure
God has left to us in this sublime Sacrifice of the Altar, and what great
advantages we may derive from a faithful and devout attendance thereat.
The same sweet love for men which pressed our Lord Jesus Christ, in the
first instance, to institute this adorable Sacrifice of the New Law, presses
Him, also, to desire that its transcendent nature and effects should be made
known to the whole world as fully and as clearly as possible. The Sacrifice
of the Mass is by far the richest treasure which Christ has left to His
Church. Yet, my brethren, there are many persons who treat it with
indifference, and take little or no pains to rightly understand its value, or the
manifold graces and blessings which it contains. Strange to say, while the
great mass of Catholics frequently meditate upon the infinite love of Jesus
Christ in instituting the Blessed Eucharist as a Sacrament, comparatively
few ever reflect upon His equally infinite love in instituting it, also as a
Sacrifice.

By sacrifice is meant: the external offering to God alone, of some sensible

or visible thing, made by a priest, or lawful minister; the partial destruction
or total annihilation of the victim being the acknowledgment of Almighty
God's supreme dominion over us, and our total dependence on Him.
Christian sacrifice cannot be offered to any one but to God alone.

The strongest instincts of nature, my brethren, prompt us to offer sacrifice

to the Deity as an essential and acceptable act of religion. Hence, from the
commencement of the world, all nations, even the most barbarous and
illiterate, have offered sacrifice of one kind or another to the divinities they
worshipped. In the Old Law sacrifices of divers kinds were frequently
offered to God.

Abel offered sacrifice of "the firstlings of his flock" (Gen. iv.); Noah "built an
altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered

holocausts upon the altar" (Gen. vii.); Melchisedech, "bringing forth bread
and wine," offered them in sacrifice, for he was "the priest of the Most High
" (Gen. xiv.); Abraham "came to the place which God had shown him,
where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had
bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood, and he
put forth his hand, and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. And, behold, an
Angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham, . .
. . Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou anything to him; now I
know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for
my sake. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram
amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for
a holocaust instead of his son" (Gen. xxii.). Elias, too, built an altar to the
name of the Lord . . . . "and laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in
pieces, and laid it upon the wood. . . . . And when it was now time to offer
the holocaust, Elias, the prophet, came near, and said: O Lord, God of
Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that Thou art the God of
Israel, and I Thy servant: and that according to Thy commandments I have
done all these things. . . . . And when all the people saw this, they fell on
their faces, and said: The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God" (3 Kings
xviii.)

The sacrifices of the Old Law were, some of them, bloody; others unbloody.
The bloody sacrifices consisted chiefly of lambs, oxen, and goats.
Sometimes, as in the case of our Lord's presentation, the victims were
birds: "They carried him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. . . . . And
to offer sacrifice, according as it is written in the Law of the Lord, a pair of
turtle-doves or two young pigeons" (Luke ii. 22 - 24). The unbloody
sacrifices were mainly of flour, and wine, and oil, etc. These ancient
sacrifices, though offered up by the hands of the holy Patriarchs, had no
intrinsic value of their own. They were but poor and weak elements, quite
incapable of cancelling sin, quite incapable of conferring God's grace upon
those who offered them, or upon those for whom they were offered. "For it
is impossible," says St. Paul, "that with the blood of oxen and goats, sins
should be taken away" (Heb. x. 4). Those sacrifices were but mere types
and figures of the true Sacrifice yet to come--that is, of the holy Mass--and it
was only as such that they were in any sense acceptable to God.
Compared with the Sacrifice of the Mass, they were but as vague shadows,
compared to the solid substance.
II. But, at length, the shadows and symbols have given place to the sublime
reality. Moved by an incomparable love for fallen man, the eternal Word of
God descended from heaven, was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us. He
came to offer Himself in sacrifice for our redemption. And, in that eventful

hour, all the ancient sacrifices were forever abolished. In view of that divine
Victim, they became displeasing (rather than pleasing) to God; the only
sacrifice He would consent to accept as worthy of Him was that of His
Eternal Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ speaking to His Heavenly Father on this
subject, says: "Sacrifices and oblations, and holocausts for sin Thou
wouldst not, neither are they pleasing to Thee which are offered according
to the (Old) Law. Then, said I: Behold, I come to do Thy Will, O God."
According to these words, St. Paul says: "Christ taketh away the first (or
ancient sacrifices) that He may establish that which followeth (that is, the
Sacrifice of the Mass). By the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of
the body of Jesus Christ" (Heb. x. 8--11).

The Mass, my beloved brethren, is the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ, which are really present upon our altars under the
appearance of bread and wine, and are offered to God by the priest for the
living and the dead. This sublime oblation is no new sacrifice in the Catholic
Church. The testimony of the holy Fathers, the sacred archives of antiquity,
furnish abundant records and proofs of its existence in the Church, since
the days of Christ and His Apostles. Nor, indeed, for more than fifteen
hundred years, was there found one bold or bad enough to deny it, until
Martin Luther, of dismal and execrable memory, raised his heretical voice
against it in the sixteenth century, and thus deprived himself, and millions
besides, of the many graces purchased for them by the Sacrifice of the
cross, and made applicable to them by Christ through the Sacrifice of the
Mass.

The latter was clearly foretold by the Prophet Malachy, when he declares to
the Jews, as the mouth-piece of the Most High (I, x. 11): "I have no
pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts. I will not receive a gift of your hand.
For, from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great
among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is
offered to my name a clean oblation." From this passage, my dear
Christians, we see that, from the period of our Lord's Crucifixion, the
sacrifices of the Jews were rejected; that a clean oblation was instituted in
their stead; and that this clean oblation was offered to His name among the
Gentiles throughout the whole world, from the rising of the sun to the going
down thereof. This, we know for a certianty, since the words of the Prophet
apply with striking force and exactness to the holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
and not to any other sacrifice on the face of the earth; not to the sacrifices
of the Jews, for God expressly declares, through Malachy, that He would
not receive a gift from their hands; nor to the Sacrifice of the Cross, for that
was offered up in only one place, and not "in every place." In a word, the
Prophet's description does not correspond with any sacrifice but the

adorable Sacrifice of our altars, which is verily "a clean oblation, offered up
in every place, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same."
Again, my brethren, the royal Psalmist calls Jesus Christ a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchisedech. Now, you must understand that
Melchisedech was a mysterious priest and king of the Old Law, who offered
sacrifice to God, only under the form of bread and wine.
"If, then, perfection was by the Levitical priesthood," says St. Paul, "(for
under it the people received the law), what further need was there that
another priest should rise according to the order of Melchisedech, and not
be called according to the order of Aaron? . . . . For he, of of whom these
things are spoken, is of another tribe, of which no one attendeth at the altar.
For it is evident, that our Lord sprung out of Juda, in which tribe Moses
spoke nothing concerning priests. And it is, yet, far more evident if,
according to the similitude of Melchisedech, there ariseth another priest,
who is made, not according to a carnal commandment, but according to the
power of an indissoluble life; for he testifieth : Thou are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchisedech" (Heb. vii. 11-18). The application of
this passage to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is so obvious, my brethren,
that it scarcely needs a word of further comment; for, in the Mass, Christ
shall invisibly be offered up in the Sacrifice forever; and shall, furthermore,
invariably offer Himself to the Eternal Father, therein, according to the order
of Melchisedech, that is, under the form of bread and wine (Ps. xix. 9). But,
let us even suppose that there were no Sacrifice of the Mass, and that (as
some non-Catholics maintain) the Psalmist referred in his remarkable
prophecy exclusively to our Lord's Sacrifice upon the Cross, do you not see
that Christ could not be rigidly called "a priest forever" upon Mount Calvary,
inasmuch as the Sacrifice of the Cross was offered by Him only once, and
in one place? Do you not see, also, that He could not there be declared "a
priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech," inasmuch as the
Sacrifice of Mount Calvary was not offered according to the order of
Melchisedech at all, not offered under the form of bread and wine, but
according to the order of Aaron, that is, in a bloody manner?

In the New Testament, too, we find clear and abundant proofs of the
Catholic doctrine, respecting the Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Matthew (xxvi.
26), describing the Last Supper, states that Jesus Christ "took bread, and
blessed, and broke, and gave it to His disciples: and said "Take ye and eat:
this is my body. And taking the chalice, He gave thanks, and gave to them,
saying: Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood!" Here, we see, dear
brethren, that Jesus offered Himself in sacrifice; His blood was represented
as separated from His body. Thus, it was mystically shed, though not
actually shed, for the actual blood-shedding took place afterward, when He

expired on the Cross. This change in the victim--namely, the body

represented under one form, and the blood under another, and both thus
apparently separated, one from the other, shows forth most strikingly the
death of our Saviour: "the Lamb is, as it were, slain" (Apoc. v. 6).
This same Sacramental separation, namely, the Body of Christ, under the
form of bread, and the Blood, under the form of wine, may be rightly said to
constitute a sacrifice, and, in reality, the Sacrifice of the Mass; or, in other
words, it is the Sacrifice of the Cross is an unbloody form, together with the
real infinite merits of the same, applied according to the intention of the
person who offers it. By giving us the Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus Christ
has lovingly put into our hands the golden master-key by which to possess
ourselves of the infinite merits which He purchased for us by the Sacrifice of
the Cross, and which He has left carefully locked up therein (as in a divine
treasurehouse), for our use and benefit. Hence the Mass is the real
application of the fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross, as well as the unbloody
repetition of that same sacrifice. "We, therefore, confess," says the Council
of Trent, "that the Sacrifice of the Mass is, and ought to be, considered one
and the same as that of the Cross, as the victim is one and the same,
namely, Christ our Lord, who immolated Himself, once only, after a bloody
manner, on the altar of the Cross. For the bloody and unbloody Victim are
not two victims, but one only, whose sacrifice is daily renewed in the
Eucharist, in obedience to the command of the Lord: 'Do this for a
commemoration of me' (Luke xxii. 19)."

In every Mass of our altars, dear brethren, the same Christ is, therefore,
contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who once offered Himself
in a bloody manner on the altar of the Cross. For the Victim is one and the
same, now offering Himself by the ministry of His priests (C. of Trent).
You see, then, that it was our Lord Jesus Christ who offered up the first
Mass, on the eve of His bitter Passion and Death; and it is He, also, who
offers up every Mass; for the priest who outwardly offers it is only the visible
minister of Christ; Christ Himself, is the Invisible Priest and Victim.
Wherefore, the Mass is the original, the self-same Sacrifice as that of the
Cross, only differing from the latter in the manner of its oblation. When our
Divine Lord had celebrated His First Mass at His Last Supper He gave
power and command to His twelve Apostles, present with Him on that
occasion, and to all their lawful successors--that is, the priests of the
Catholic Church, to offer up the same sublime Sacrifice until the end of the
world. " Do this," said He, "for a commemoration of me" (Luke xxii. 19).
Hence it is, that in the Mass, the priests take bread and wine, and by virtue
of the power of Christ, given unto them at their ordination, they change the
whole substance of the bread into the Body of Christ, and the whole

substance of the wine into His Blood; and no part or atom of either
substance remains (Con. of Trent; Sess. xiii. 2). The species, however, of
both the bread and wine remain unchanged; and this is ordained by our
Lord not only to exercise our faith, but also in order to veil the dazzling
splendors of His Divinity, which no mortal man can see and live. In every
Mass, the priest acts in the name of Christ, and uses the words of Christ.
Hence the words used at the moment of Transubstantiation, are: "This is
my Body--this is my Blood." And whilst the priest thus outwardly offers the
Sacrifice of the Mass, it is Christ Himself who really and invisibly offers it
through His chosen minister. Jesus Christ then is (as we have already said)
both Priest and Victim in this "clean oblation," foretold by the Prophet
Malachy, and the same He shall continue to be in each and every Mass that
is or will be offered until the end of the world.

Oh, my brethren, how shall we return due praise to God for thus deigning
to become incarnate, day by day, in the hands of His priests, as He did
once in the chaste womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary! How grateful we ought
to be for having the Mass celebrated in every land all the world over.
Wherever we go, we find ourselves at home.
ON THE ENDS FOR WHICH MASS IS OFFERED
"Do this for a commemoration of me."--LUKE xxii. 19.

The Sacrifice of the Mass, my beloved brethren, is offered up for four great
ends:
1. To give fitting, or, in other words, infinite praise and honor to Almighty
God. (a) The natural law, written in the heart of man, directs that every
inferior should pay homage to his superior; and, futhermore, that this
homage should be always in proportion to the rank and dignity of the
superior. Now, this being the case, we should pay to Almighty God, as the
Supreme Creator and Ruler of the universe, as our first Beginning and our
last End, infinite praise, infinite honor. Anything short of the infinite would
not be sufficient, nor would it be adequately worthy of His acceptance. But,
since all our human offerings, all our human acts, are, like ourselves, finite,
how can we offer any infinite gift to our good and merciful God?

If all the creatures of this world, no matter how rich, or beautiful, or

delightful they might be in themselves, were brought to the feet of Almighty
God, and laid there as an offering, they would not be worthy His
acceptance; for there is nothing worthy of God's acceptance except God
Himself. Jesus Christ, then, seeing this great want on the part of man, has,

in a marvellous excess of divine love, supplied it by offering Himself, a God

of infinite worth, to His Eternal Father in the Sacrifice of the Mass. In that
Holy Sacrifice, dear Christians, we can give infinite praise and honor to
God, by uniting ourselves to the offering made to Him on our altars by the
consecrated hands of His priest. Nay, more, by every Mass that we offer, or
get the priest to offer for us, by every Mass at which we assist, we can cooperate in the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our behalf; for, thereby
discharging our first and chief duty to God, we acknowledge our total
dependence on Him, and return Him fitting praise and honor. The
accumulated worship of the Saints and Angels in Paradise, of the
Archangels, the Seraphim, the Thrones, the Dominations, and the Powers,
is unspeakingly grand and pleasing to Almighty God; but it is, as it were,
nothing in comparison with the praise and honor given to Him by a single
Mass celebrated by a poor, obscure priest in some hidden corner of this
lower world. For the praise of all those celestial beings, great though it be,
is only finite, whereas the praise given by a Mass is infinite!
(b) The second great end for which we offer up the Sacrifice of the Mass, is
to make infinite satisfaction to God for the sins of His creatures. Happily, my
beloved brethren, we can all make sufficient satisfaction to God for our sins
by this sublime Sacrifice of the altar; and by this Sacrifice alone. For, as the
Sacrifice of the Cross satisfied the Divine Justice for the sins of the world,
so the Sacrifice of the Mass, and it alone, satisfies for the sins of those who
offer it, or cause it to be offered. And this it does, by applying to each of our
needy souls the infinite merits purchased by the Sacrifice of the Cross for
mankind in general. But here it must be carefully understood that the Mass
does not satisfy for our mortal sins immediately; it does not immediately
cancel such sins, as the Sacrament of Penance does, when properly
received. It cancels them only mediately, that is, it gives us actual graces
and helps, whereby our souls may be freed from their guilt at an early and
convenient time. And thus, by the Sacrifice of the altar, dear Christians, the
graces and merits, purchased by our Lord on Calvary for mankind in
general, are communicated to the individual souls for whom the Mass is
offered.

Who, then, can estimate the value or importance of having Masses offered
for your intention, or in behalf of the sinner? Who can enumerate the
benefits to be derived from frequent assistance at this adorable Sacrifice,
offering it up with the intentions of the priest? Who can adequately describe
the consoling clemency which God extends to us on account of the
Sacrifice of the Mass! "The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass," says St. Leonard of
Port Maurice, "is the true and sole reason of such stupendous clemency, for
in it we offer to the Eternal Father the Great Victim, Jesus Christ. This is the

sun of our Holy Church, which dissipates the clouds and restores serenity
to the heavens. This, indeed, is the celestial rainbow that stills the tempest
of the Divine Justice. For my own part, I am persuaded that, if it were not for
the Holy Mass, the world would have long since tottered from its
foundations, crushed beneath the enormous weight of so many
accumulated iniquities. The Mass is the ponderous and powerful supporter
on which the world rests--which keeps it from falling into horrid chaos. . . . .
Ah, indeed, if it were not for this Holy Victim (Jesus Christ), once offered for
us on the cross, and now daily offered on our altars, we, one and all, might
renounce all hope of heaven, and look on hell as our final destination"
(Hidden Treasure).
(c) We owe to God a debt of infinite gratitude for all the favors and
blessings, both spiritual and temporal, which He has bestowed upon us.

We are deeply indebted to Him for all those beautiful and priceless graces
which He has given us in the past, and still continues to give us in the
present. We are indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ for the wondrous love He
has displayed in the redemption of man; and, above all, we are indebted to
Him for the institution of the sacraments, for His Real Presence in the
Blessed Eucharist, and for His promise to abide therein, even to the
consummation of the world. What return can we make for all these favors?
What offering can we make, from our poverty, worthy of this all-bountiful
God? Well, brethren, we have in the Mass, and in it alone, an offering that
is worthy: "an oblation and a sacrifice to God, for an odor of sweetness"
(Eph. v. 2). In the Mass we offer to God His Divine Son, and that spotless
Victim being a gift of infinite value, our offering of gratitude to Almighty God
is thus an adequate return for all His favors.
(d) The fourth great end for which Mass is said, my brethren, is: to beg
Almighty God for all graces and favors, both spiritual and temporal, which
we require. We are all poor beggars in the sight of God. Like the Bishop of
Laodicea, we are all "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked " (Apoc. iii. 17). We need many things from God; and, owing to our
multiplied and enormous sins, we require specially a mediator to make
intercession for us with the Most High. And so, out of love for us (and in
spite of our utter unworthiness), Jesus Christ (O strange and marvellous
mercy!) has chosen to be our Mediator, and, even more, to be Himself our
Victim of propitiation in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Whether the priest be a
holy saint or an unworthy man, the intrinsic value of the Mass--because of
the Invisible Priest, Jesus Christ is necessarily infinite; although, according
to the teaching of St. Thomas, the application of the Sacrifice is of greater
or less efficacy in proportion to the disposition of the person for whom it is

offered. Christ, in the Mass, is "able, also, to save forever them that come
unto God by himself; always living to make intercession for us. For it was
fitting that we should have such a High-Priest--holy, innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (Heb. vii. 25,
etc.).

What, then, dear Christians, may you not expect through the Mass when
offered up for your intention? For, in every such Mass, Jesus Christ
earnestly implores for you all that you desire from His Eternal Father. Jesus
and the Eternal Father are one; therefore in the Mass, and through the
Mass, you are sure to obtain all that you rightly ask for, and much more in
addition. "Assuredly," says St. Jerome, "the Lord grants all the favors for
which we petition Him in the Mass, provided they be suitable to us; and
what is far more admirable, He very often grants us that for which we do not
petition Him, always provided that we place no obstacles to His holy
designs." St. Bernard, speaking of the intrinsic value of the Mass, says, that
"more is gained by one single Mass than by distributing all your substance
among the poor, or going on pilgrimages to all the most venerable
sanctuaries on this globe." St. Thomas, the Angelic Doctor, states that "the
Holy Mass contains all those fruits, all those graces, nay, all those infinite
treasures which the Son of God showered so abundantly upon His Church,
in the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross."

Since Almighty God has, then, vouchsafed to give us the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass, He has, with it, given us the means to obtain all good things. By
offering up a Mass, or by causing it to be offered for you, my brethren, it
may be said that, in a certain sense, you make God your debtor. For, in that
"clean oblation of the altar," you lovingly offer Jesus Christ to His Eternal
Father in sacrifice; and thereby you make Almighty God an infinite offering,
in return for the finite creatures He bestows upon you from His bounty, for
your use and benefit. Let us, then, my brethren, in all our undertakings,
make an offering of the Mass to God, and ask Him in that Holy Sacrifice for
all such favors, great or small, as we may need or desire. He cannot easily
refuse us, for it is the transcendent nature of God not to be outdone by us,
His creatures, in kindness or in generosity. We seek for many graces at the
hands of God. We stand in need of many blessings. Let us offer up the
Mass to obtain them. Let us offer it up to obtain the full forgiveness of our
manifold sins, both known and unknown. Let us offer up the Mass to obtain
the conversion of all poor sinners. Let us offer it up to obtain protection from
the many temptations of Satan. Let us offer it up, too, for all temporal things,
such as good health of body and mind, and success in our lawful business.
Let us offer up Masses for the sick and the dying that they may obtain the
grace of a happy death. And, furthermore, let us frequently offer up the

sublime Sacrifice of the Altar for all the souls suffering in Purgatory,
especially for those imprisoned therein through our fault, whether friends or
otherwise, that they may be speedily released from their pains, and joyfully
admitted into the presence of God in heaven.

My brethren, frequently assist at the Holy Mass. Remember there is no half

hour so well spent, as the half hour devoted to attendance at this Holy
Sacrifice. You know, of course, that the laity assisting at Mass, offer the
Sacrifice in union with the priest. Hence, the latter says at that holy time,
Orate fratres, etc.. "Pray, brethren, that my and your sacrifice may be
pleasing in the sight of God the Father Omnipotent." At Mass the people
should, as it were, hold up the hands of the priest when he takes the
consecrated host and the chalice and offers the great Sacrifice. Great
blessings descend upon those who join with the priest in devoutly offering
up this great sacrifice. No one should be stopping outside the church during
time of Mass. St. Gregory says: "A well-disposed man who hears Holy
Mass with due attention, is preserved in the way of rectitude, while grace
and merit increase in him; and he continues to make new acquisitions of
virtue which render him more and more acceptable to God." "Whoever
hears Mass devoutly every day," says St. Augustine, "shall be preserved
from a sudden death, which is the most awful weapon with which Divine
Justice punishes the sinner." But, my brethren, listen to the sublime
language of St. Leonard of Port Maurice on this subject: "Would that I could
ascend," says he, "to the summit of the loftiest mountain, and cry aloud, so
that the whole world might hear me exclaiming: 'Foolish, foolish people,
what are ye doing? Why will you not hasten to the churches to assist at
every Mass celebrated therein? Why will you not imitate those holy Angels
who, according to St. John Chrysostom, descend in thousands from the
heavens, when Mass is being celebrated, and array themselves before our
altars, covered with wings of holy awe, tarrying there during the august
sacrifice, in order to intercede more efficaciously for us, knowing well that
this is the most opportune time and most propitious occasion that can be,
for obtaining favors from heaven?"' (Hid. Treasure). And St. Leonard,
furthermore, adds the following very emphatic words--(they are the burning
words of a saint): --" Let me, on bended knees," he says, "and with hands
uplifted, implore all who read this little work on the Sacrifice of the Mass not
to close it till they have made a firm resolution of henceforth employing all
possible diligence in assisting at Mass, and causing to be celebrated as
many Masses as their means will permit, not only for the souls of the
deceased, but, also, for their own souls!" ( By a special rule of this Order,
St. Leonard was not allowed to accept any money for "saying" Mass. . If the
whole globe were of solid gold, it would not be a suflicient price for a Mass.)

Oh! my brethren, let us thank Almighty God a thousand times for His
unspeakable love toward us in having given to us in the Church the rich
treasure of the Mass! Let us ask Mary, the Crowned Queen of Heaven, to
thank our Blessed Lord and God, again and again, for His love for us,
individually, in thus, also, having made known to us the hidden riches of this
adorable Sacrifice, and the untold benefits we may derive from it, both for
time and for eternity! It is a precious mine of exhaustless wealth, a treasury
of grace, a perennial fountain of blessings; it is the sun and centre of the
whole system of true religion; it is the heavenly focus--inexpressibly loved
and lovely--in which are concentrated all the soul-saving rays of God's
beauty and royal splendor, of His glory and Majesty and Divinity. The Mass
is the miracle of miracles-- it is the mystery of God's deep, boundless, and
burning love for man!-- "Having loved His own, who were in the world," says
St. John the Evangelist, "He loved them to the end " (John xiii. I). Amen.