Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/43

Rh deemed us from the power of the devil, he prays to the Eternal Father favorably to accept this offering that his servants and his whole family make to him. He also asks God to help us to enjoy peace in this life, to preserve us from hell, and to admit us among the number of the elect: Et in electorum tuorum jubeas grege numerari ("And number us in the flock of Thine elect"). Estius observes that by these last words we do not ask of God predestination, as if God could change his eternal decrees, but we ask of him the effects of predestination, that he may draw us to himself and conduct us to eternal happiness. In the Old Law he who offered sacrifice placed his hands on the victim to signify that just as this animal was soon to lose its life by immolation, so he also offered up his own life to God. It is with the same spirit of sacrifice that every priest should offer himself to God, when he spreads his hands over the host and the chalice.

Quam oblationem tu, Deus in omnibus, quæsumus, benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilemque facere digneris; ut nobis corpus et sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi ("Which oblation do Thou, O God, vouchsafe in all respects to make blessed, approved, ratified, reasonable, and acceptable, that it may become to us the body and blood of Thy most beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"). In this prayer the priest asks God to cause this oblation to be blessed (benedictam), that by this blessing the bread and the wine may be changed into the body and the blood