Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/31

Rh belongs to the priesthood, he says, in union with Jesus Christ, who is the principal one that offers that sacrifice, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; thus declaring that he offers the sacrifice by the authority of the three Persons.

The priest afterwards recites the antiphon Introibo ad altare Dei ("I will go unto the altar of God"), and the psalm Judica me Deus ("Judge me, O God"). He implores the help of God against the enemies who are laying snares for him. Then expressing the pain that he feels of seeing himself, as it were, rejected by the Lord, he begs him to assist him with his light, and to console him with the graces that he promised by leading him into his tabernacle. Finally, he reproaches himself for indulging in fear, for why should he be troubled when he has with him his God in whom he should confide?

Innocent III. attests that the recitation before Mass of the psalm Judica me was the custom of his time, that is, in the twelfth century; and Cardinal Lambertini, afterwards Benedict XIV., assures us that it was recited before the eighth century. The psalm is concluded with the Gloria Patri. It was Pope St. Damasus who ordained that each psalm should be concluded in this manner. It is, however, believed that the Gloria Patri was introduced by the Council of Nice, or, as we are told by Baronius and St. Basil, even by the Apostles, the Council of Nice having added only these words, Sicut erat, etc.

Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini ("Our help is in the name of the Lord"). Affrighted by the grandeur of the act he is about to perform, and by the thought of his unworthiness, the priest asks God's help in the name of Jesus Christ; and acknowledging himself guilty, he accuses himself of his sins, not only before God, but before the Blessed Virgin and all the saints, who on the