Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/55

Rh that his divine mercy may preserve them from every sin and from all confusion.

He then says, Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum ("May the peace of the Lord be always with you"). He wishes the peace of the Lord for all his brethren, who answer him with the same wish: Et cum spiritu tuo ("And with thy spirit"). He makes at the same time upon the chalice, with the particle of the Host which he holds in his hand, three signs of the cross, which indicates, according to St. Thomas, the three days that Jesus Christ spent in the tomb.

The priest then drops the sacred particle into the chalice and says these words: Hæc commixtio et consecratio Corporis et Sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi fiat accipientibus nobis in vitam æternam! ("May this mixture and con secration of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be to us that receive it effectual to eternal life"). Explaining these words, Consecratio … fiat, Bellarmin says that we do not here ask that the consecration should take place, but that it be profitable for eternal life to those who are about to receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. This mixture of the holy species represents the union of the divinity with the humanity which was at first effected in the womb of Mary through the Incarnation of the Word, and which is renewed in the souls of the faithful when they receive him in the Eucharistic Communion.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi ("Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world"). Before Communion the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, as the victim of the sac rifice, is invoked, and is invoked three times, to point out