SOME GENERAL NOTIONS ON
THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
continued . . .
9--Why so many Masses?
In order that the thought of offering Him up to god the Father may be continually present to our minds, Christ has willed to re-present every instant the offering up of His Sacrifice. Every twenty-four hours, 350,000 Masses are celebrated--four Elevations a second! Every minute of the day I can say to myself, "Jesus is offering Himself right now!"
But the Christ who thus offers Himself in the Mass is not just "Jesus, the Son of Mary," but the total Christ--Christ complete, entire. That is, all the members of the Mystical Body offer themselves with Christ, their Head. Hence, the active role what we should play in the Mass.
Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, recalls this truth to us in his encyclical on the Mystical Body. "In it, the priest not only represents our Saviour, but the entire Mystical Body; and each of the faithful in particular. The faithful, themselves, moreover, united to the priest in a common will and prayer, offer up to the Eternal Father the Immaculate Lamb brought down on the altar by the voice of the priest. They offer Him, by the hands of the same priest, as a most pleasing Victim of propitiation and praise; for the necessities of the whole Church. And just as the Divine Redeemer, dying on the Cross, offered Himself as Head of the human race, to the Eternal Father; in the same way, in this 'clean oblation,' He not only offers Himself as Head of the Church to the Heavenly Father, but in Himself He also offers His mystical members; since all--even the most infirm and feeble--are contained in His loving heart."
[From 'Your Mass and Your Life']
THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
continued . . .
9--Why so many Masses?
In order that the thought of offering Him up to god the Father may be continually present to our minds, Christ has willed to re-present every instant the offering up of His Sacrifice. Every twenty-four hours, 350,000 Masses are celebrated--four Elevations a second! Every minute of the day I can say to myself, "Jesus is offering Himself right now!"
But the Christ who thus offers Himself in the Mass is not just "Jesus, the Son of Mary," but the total Christ--Christ complete, entire. That is, all the members of the Mystical Body offer themselves with Christ, their Head. Hence, the active role what we should play in the Mass.
Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, recalls this truth to us in his encyclical on the Mystical Body. "In it, the priest not only represents our Saviour, but the entire Mystical Body; and each of the faithful in particular. The faithful, themselves, moreover, united to the priest in a common will and prayer, offer up to the Eternal Father the Immaculate Lamb brought down on the altar by the voice of the priest. They offer Him, by the hands of the same priest, as a most pleasing Victim of propitiation and praise; for the necessities of the whole Church. And just as the Divine Redeemer, dying on the Cross, offered Himself as Head of the human race, to the Eternal Father; in the same way, in this 'clean oblation,' He not only offers Himself as Head of the Church to the Heavenly Father, but in Himself He also offers His mystical members; since all--even the most infirm and feeble--are contained in His loving heart."
[From 'Your Mass and Your Life']
