Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/41

Rh anticipation to the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, into which the bread and the wine are soon to be changed; hence they are called unspotted sacrifices. Innocent III. refers these last words to the purity of the heart and of the body with which the priest should celebrate Mass: "We call them by this name because of the purity of heart and of body with which the priest should offer them." But this is rather a spiritual and mystical reflection, the proper explanation is that which precedes it above.

The Holy Sacrifice is, before all, offered for the Catholic Church by praying to God that he may preserve her in peace, may defend her, maintain her in unity, and govern her through the ministry of the pastors, by communicating to them his Holy Spirit. It must be observed that the prayers of the Church, during the Holy Sacrifice, should be addressed to God the Father, as was ordained by the Third Council of Carthage: "During the August Function the prayer should be addressed to God the Father." It does not follow that the other divine Persons should be excluded from these prayers; but they are considered together in the Person of the Father, their first principle, and this is the reason why the Church is accustomed to pray to the Father, with the Son, in the Holy Ghost.

At the first Memento, the priest recommends, at first, all those persons for whom he wishes most especially to pray; then he recommends all those who, happening to be present, offer with him the Holy Sacrifice; finally, he recommends all their relatives and friends. He says: 1. Pro quibus tibi offerimus, vel qui tibi offerunt ("For whom we offer, or who offer up to Thee"). It must be re marked that the disjunctive particle vel, "or," is some-