Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/38



"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 oblatlon: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts."—Malach. i. 11.

Of all the blessings and treasures which Jesus Christ has bequeathed to his holy Church, the august Sacriﬁce of the Mass is the greatest, most precious, and holiest. The Holy Mass is the sacriﬁce of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which is offered to the heavenly Father on our altars under the species or appearances of bread and wine. It was instituted by our blessed Lord himself, in order to represent and continue that sacriﬁce which he made on the cross of Calvary. The sacriﬁce on the cross was made in a manifest and bloody manner: the Sacriﬁce of the Mass is made in a mystic and unbloody manner. It is made in a mystic manner; that is to say, when Christ is offered in the Mass, we cannot see him with our eyes as the Jews saw him on the cross, his body and his wounds, and his blood, but all we can see is that humble appearance of bread and wine under which he hides himself now from our sight. It is made in an unbloody manner; that is to say, in the Mass our Lord does not die again, his life is not taken as formerly by the shedding of his blood. Although he is really present on the altar, and he is there as a living victim, his death is only represented. Since his resurrection, he is our living Lord, and cannot die again. "Christ being risen from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."