Page:The Eternal Priesthood - Manning.djvu/20

14 and daily offered himself to his Divine Master, as a partaker of His sufferings for the sake of the elect. The same words might have been written by S. John, who always had a martyr's will, though he died in the way of nature; the same, too, is implied in every Mass, by every priest who offers himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. The participation of the priest in the priesthood of Christ requires also a share in the law of self-oblation, of which the prophet writes: Oblatus est quia ipse voluit; and S. Paul, who says of our Lord that He, "by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God." And, as S. John says, "in this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." The offering of the Body and Blood of Christ requires of the priest a spirit of self-sacrifice and of self-oblation without reserve. The obligation of charity, which binds all Christians, when the need may arise, to lay down their lives for the brethren, and pastors to give their life for the sheep, is in an especial way laid upon every priest in the self-oblation of the Holy Mass, which is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

3. Lastly, the word configuration expresses the conformity of the priest to the great High