A FOURTH DESIGN WHICH OUR LORD HAD IN INSTITUTING THE SACRIFICE OF HOLY MASS, WAS THAT IT MIGHT BE A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE TO OBTAIN FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND SATISFY FOR THEM IN ALL RIGOUR OF JUSTICE.

 

BORRÁS, Fray Nicolás 

The Last Supper 

1570s

A FOURTH DESIGN WHICH OUR LORD HAD IN INSTITUTING THE SACRIFICE OF HOLY MASS, WAS THAT IT MIGHT BE A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE TO OBTAIN FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND SATISFY FOR THEM IN ALL RIGOUR OF JUSTICE.

A Sacrifice of Expiation, is what we offer to obtain remission of our sins. In sin there are two things; the guilt, which is the offence of God, and pain due to that offence. Sin, if mortal, is only blotted out by perfect contrition, or attrition joined with confession, and the punishment due to it, only by the painful exercise of penance, or by the application of the merits of ur Saviour's life and death. One of the principal effects of Holy Mass, is to obtain us the grace of contrition, and to make us partakers of the merits f Christ, whose sacred body is offered for the sins of men, and for the pain due to them, and for that intention we ought to offer it.

What would have become of all mankind after the sin of Adam, had not the sacrifice offered on the cross appeased the anger of God, and satisfied for the injuries sin had done him? And since that, what would become of men who daily offend and injure God, if the same Redeemer sis not daily continue to immolate himself for us  upon our altars? By which he restores to his eternal Father the glory which all sinners, as far as they are able, bereave him of by their sins.

Though we should fast all our lives with bread and water, give all the treasures of the earth in alms, and employ ourselves in continual prayer, and that to the end of ages, all this, weighed in the balance of divine justice, would not have the weight of one only Sacrifice of Holy Mass, which is of an infinite value; and all other things, in comparison of it, are as nothing.

With what confidence and comfort ought we to assist at Holy Mass, it being the most powerful means to satisfy entirely for our sins? Just the same as if we had been present at Calvary, and taking up the blood which fell from our Savior's wounds to the ground, had offered it to his eternal Father, in satisfaction, and to have obtained pardon for all our sins. As we should not then have doubted of it, we ought no more to question it now, when at Holy Mass we offer the same blood unto his Divine Majesty, to satisfy for them. If with a firm faith and sincere sorrow we do so, there is no offence, however great, which this sacrifice will not wash away.

Yet thought the Sacrifice of Mass be of its own nature infinitely satisfactory for the punishment due to sin, nevertheless the quantity of the application is greater or lesser, according to the greater or smaller disposition of them for whom it is offered, or of them that are only present at it; it is what the words of the sacred Canon teaches; whose faith and devotion is known to thee for whom we offer, and who offers unto thee.

When you assist at Holy Mass, offer our Saviour's precious blood to the eternal Father, beseeching his Divine Majesty to receive the blood of his only Son, which you may offer as belonging to you by his free gift. Beg him to take it and pay himself therewith, for what you are indebted to him by your sins; and ask victory over them, and pardon for them. Have confidence that he would grant you request for his dear Son's sake, but acknowledge that having so long continued in sin, you deserve to die in it; nevertheless hope in that precious blood that pleads for you, and demands its price and salary, having been shed to cleanse you from your sins.

There is not a more powerful means to obtain true contrition than the Sacrifice of Holy Mass. Let sinners who desire their conversion come with confidence to it. Jesus Christ will speak in their favour, and will appease the just anger of his eternal Father, and obtain for them the gift of penance. This the Council of Trent teaches us.

It is not less certain that our Saviour communicates to us at Mass the satisfactions which he offered to his eternal Father for us, dying on the cross; insomuch that the pains we so justly deserve in punishment are diminished, if not entirely remitted , by virtue of the Sacrifice of Mass. And not only the living have part in this benefit, but also the souls in purgatory, for it is the most efficacious and infallible means to help and assist them.

The gift of penance being one of the fruits of this Sacrifice, sin ought not to hinder us from approaching, but rather should be a motive for our coming to it. For would it be just to hinder the sick from using remedies, or keep the dead from the source of life? It is by this Sacrifice that we obtain the grace of penance; and if sinners return from it as they come, without the least change, it is not because the blood of Jesus Christ did not cry for mercy in their favour, but because they rejected it.

A reason why we reap so little fruit from so powerful a means, is because we assist at it after so cold and tepid a manner. If we reflected, as we ought to do, that Christ labours there for our reconciliation with his eternal Father, as most certainly he does, should we not join with him?  He there endeavours to repair the honor our sins snatch from his Divine Majesty, and to satisfy his offended justice. We ought then certainly to keep ourselves at least united to Jesus as much as possible during the time of Mass, that so the Sacrifice may be fully accomplished according to his merciful designs on us.

We must consider the Sacrifice of Mass as the monument of peace between God and us by means of Jesus Christ. The altar may put us in mind of Mount Calvary, where with his precious blood he cancelled our debts, and established us again in the grace and favour of his eternal Father, and the same he performs on our altars.If the least venial sin deserves death, we ought to die, else to find a victim to be sacrificed in our place; this victim is Christ, who dies daily, and is offered for the expiation of our sins.

O excess of goodness! my dear Redeemer, not content to have once paid the debt due for my sins, with the price of his precious blood shed on Mount Calvary, but daily continues to pay it by offering himself for the same end in the Sacrifice of Holt Mass. What can be compared to this charity? Who is like my Saviour in goodness, who gives himself and the treasures of his merits to pay what I owe for my sins.

Lady Lucy Herbert 

Prioress of the English Austin Canonesses at Bruges

(1668-1744)