Chapter IV
Ceremonies of the Mass
Second Part
1. The Offertory, or the Last Supper
The Offering of the Bread and Wine.—Like his divine Master, the priest takes bread in his hands and offers it to God. The bread here takes the place of the Church and Christian people, for, as bread is the nourishment and life of man, when he offers it at the altar it is as if he offered himself to God to be sacrificed to His glory, like Jesus Christ, our head. As the bread is to be changed into the body of Jesus Christ, may our hearts also be transformed into Him, till it may be “no more we who live, but Jesus Christ Who lives in us.”
The sign of the cross, after the oblation, shows us how we can attain this glorious transformation: by mortification and sacrifice.
Our Lord also offered wine mixed with water. The wine represents Jesus Christ, “the true vine”; and water, the Christian people.1 St. Cyprian, in a letter to Cecilius, teaches this formally. This image is a vivid figure of the ineffable union of God with man wrought by the incarnation, and of that other union in the Eucharist, and again of that third union which will be consummated in glory. It is, then, the Church united with Jesus Christ, the members to their head, the bride to her bridegroom, which the priest offers to God in the oblation of the chalice.
In the drop of water, which is the figure of the faithful, what an admirable lesson of humility! Is it not a striking image of our annihilation in the presence of the God of the Eucharist?
“Behold,” says Isaias, “the gentiles are as a drop in a bucket.” (Is. xl. 15.) And again, ah, what a terrible lesson! This drop of water reminds us of the small number of the saved.
Washing of the Hands.—Our Lord, before giving His body and blood to the apostles, washed their feet, thus showing us what purity He required in those who would sit down at the sacred banquet. Equally privileged with the disciples, the priest is about to partake of the same mysteries; it would be a closer imitation of Our Lord if he washed his feet, but, as St. Thomas says, “it is sufficient to wash the hands; besides, it is more convenient, and it is enough to show perfect purity, especially as it is to our hands that all works are ascribed.” (l. iii. quæst. 83, art. 5.) During this ceremony we will enter into the intentions of the Church, praying Our Lord to purify our souls by the virtue of the tears which He must have shed on the feet of the traitor Judas as He washed them for the last supper.
The paschal supper over, the Saviour said a hymn as an act of thanksgiving, and, the hymn being finished, went out to the Garden of Olives. The priest also ends the Offertory with a hymn: “Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas,” and returns to the middle of the altar, in remembrance of the way of Our Lord from the chamber of the last supper to Gethsemani.
2. The Incensing, or the Perfumes of Mary Magdalen
Triple Incensing.—Three times, by pouring out her perfumes, the penitent of Bethany wished to honor the person of the adorable Saviour: first in the house of Simon the Pharisee, again in the house of Simon the leper, and at the holy sepulchre. Faithful to fulfil the words of Jesus Christ: “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told in memory of her,” the priest three times incenses the bread and wine of the sacrifice, destined so soon to become the divine body and blood; then he incenses the altar, the figure of Jesus Christ.
The Form of the Cross and of the Crown.—The incensing of the sacred species is done three times in the form of a cross, to recall the passion of Our Saviour, foreshadowed by Magdalen. “This woman,” Jesus Christ said to His disciples, “in pouring this ointment upon My body has done it for My burial.” (St. Matt. xxvi. 13.) Following this, the incense is offered three times in the form of a crown, because, in His sacred humanity, the humiliations of Jesus Christ were followed by His triumphant coronation. During this ceremony let us think of the mercy of Jesus toward sinners. Were we a thousand times more guilty than Magdalen, He would receive us tenderly and sweetly. If we are poor prodigals, come back to God after long wandering, let us shed upon the feet of Our Lord the perfumes of a heart broken by repentance and burning with the fire of divine love.
3. The Secret, or the Prayer in the Garden of Olives
Our Lord, being come into the Garden of Olives, began to pray, but His sorrow soon became so profound that He fell with His face prostrate upon the ground in agony. And see the priest, come to the middle of the altar, pray also, but leaning forward, his hands joined, in a position of humiliation and prostration.
A little later Jesus Christ came to seek His apostles, but found them heavily sleeping. “What,” He said to them, “could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch ye and pray.” (St. Matt. xxvi. 40, 41.) The priest also raises himself, interrupts his prayer, and, turning to the faithful, says: “Orate, fratres.” “It is Our Lord, in the Garden of Olives, exhorting His disciples to pray, that they may not fall into temptation,” says St. Bonaventure.
In the person of the priest, then, we should see Jesus Christ Himself, Who looks at us with affectionate compassion, and says: “My brothers,—for this you are through My incarnation,—pray and increase your recollection; the solemn moment of My sacrifice and yours draws near.”
4. The Preface, or the Chant of Triumph
The Preface and Sanctus.—We have entered into the way of the cross. Already the clamor of the multitude reaches us, the threatening of the tempest. Only a few hours now, and the Son of God will be “bound, scourged, buffeted, put to death, and reckoned among the guilty.”
The Church opposes the chant of love to the deicidal shouts, for the Preface is the reparation for the blasphemies hurled against the divinity of Jesus Christ in the hour of His passion. It is for us He suffered, and drained the chalice of anguish; the Church in our name thanks God for the blessed sign of the redemption, and for all the mercies of which it has been the source. The Preface, the chant of triumph, is also a canticle of thanksgiving. But when we would praise and thank God we can but stammer like infants, and this is why the Church calls upon the angels, the thrones and dominations, and all the heavenly powers to come with their celestial harps, and chant the Sanctus of eternity. The priest says it with them, and, like them, prostrated.
The Sign of the Cross and the Hosanna.—After the hymn of heaven comes that of earth, the chant of the Hebrew children at the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. This last canticle is accompanied by the sign of the cross: the joys of triumph were of short duration; a few days afterward the same people loudly clamored for the death of this same Jesus Whom they had received as a king, chanting hosannas. Our piety will find reminders of an unparalleled ingratitude in the sign of the cross mingling with the Hosanna and Benedictus.
5. The Canon, or the Passion
The Silence of the Canon.—The sacred chants are followed by the profoundest silence—silence in the priest; silence among the faithful. Are not the latter the figure of the timid apostles at the hour of the passion? None among them dared raise his voice in favor of their divine Master, although all had sworn with Peter: “Though I should die with Thee, I would not deny Thee.”
What tender emotions are awakened in the soul by the silence of the priest! The divine Lamb in the hands of His enemies uttered not a word, not a complaint. In the house of Herod, when He was buffeted, He was silent; in the prætorium, under the rods and the thorns, He was silent; on Calvary, confronted with blasphemies, He was silent. His silence, more eloquent than all words, teaches the pardon of injuries, sweetness in the face of persecution.
During the three hours of His agony upon the cross Our Lord prayed in silence; His dying lips uttered but seven words, treasured by the evangelists as the testament of His heart. How touching it is to see His representative at the altar praying in a low voice from the Offertory to the Communion, that is to say, during the sacrifice properly so called, and interrupting this mysterious silence but seven times, namely: 1st, at the Orate fratres; 2d, at the Preface; 3d, at the Nobis quoque peccatoribus; 4th, at the Pater Noster; 5th, at the Pax Domini; 6th, at the Agnus Dei; 7th, at the Domine non sum dignus.
From the Sanctus to the Elevation our minds, and our hearts above all, should accompany Our Lord on the road to Calvary with Mary and the holy women. With confidence we draw near to Him with Veronica, and beg Him to remember us upon His cross. Let us recommend to His mercy also at this moment the persons who are dear to us.
6. The Imposition of Hands, or the Crucifixion
The priest’s hands held over the bread and the wine which are about to be changed into the body and blood of Christ, the sign of the cross so often repeated, represent vividly the scene of the crucifixion. History tells us that formerly it was the custom to impose hands upon the head of one condemned to death, to pour upon him all the odium of the crimes of which he was guilty, but this ceremony renewed at our altar reminds us that the innocent One took upon Himself the guilt of sinners, and that it is in the name of sin-stained humanity that the priest lays upon the august victim the sins of all people, that they may be expiated in His blood. This is done, too, in the name of God the Father, Who, says Isaias, “hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
7. The Elevation, or Our Lord Raised Upon the Cross
The Elevation of the Host.—“Remember,” says Father Nouet, “the elevation of Jesus Christ upon the cross each time that you adore Him during the elevation of the host; see Him as if He bowed His head to give you the kiss of peace; as if He opened His arms to embrace you; as if His hands were pierced to give you the bounty of His gifts; as if His feet were nailed in order to stay with you.” (Meditation on the Passion.) Let us adore Him, bending our knees to expiate the derisive genuflections of the Jews; let us bow our heads lowly, in respect for our divine head crowned with thorns.
The Elevation of the Chalice.—The priest, taking the chalice, places it at the feet of Jesus, as if to catch the blood bursting in torrents from all His wounds, and after the consecration he adores it, and the faithful prostrate adore with him. The olive-trees of Gethsemani, the rods of the scourging, the thorns in the crown, the wood of the cross, the lance of the soldier, were all reddened with this blood enclosed in the chalice raised above our heads. This blessed chalice also holds the sweat which bathed the workshop of Nazareth, the roads of Judea, the mountain of Calvary. It contains the tears shed in the crib, at the tomb of Lazarus, gazing at Jerusalem, and over each one of us. Let us adore it with love and faith.
An ancient custom was to sound the trumpet at the moment of the execution of one who had been condemned to death, to drown the cries or words of the sufferer, the tears or murmurs of the crowd.
Tradition says that this custom was followed at the crucifixion of the Saviour; we love to remember this when the sound of the sanctuary bell floats through the arches.
Genuflections, and Signs of the Cross.—Calvary, the cross, the Redeemer, what memories are vividly present to us during the Canon!
Everything at the altar is of a nature to recall them to us.
The priest often bends the knee before Jesus Christ, in reparation for the hypocritical adoration rendered by the Jews on Calvary. Each time that he pronounces the name of the body or blood of the Saviour he makes the sign of the cross upon the host and the chalice, to confess that he has before him the body and blood of Jesus crucified, and he makes it five times, in memory of the five wounds of the adorable victim, while the kiss he gives the altar is the figure of the reconciliation between heaven and earth wrought by the redemption. (Steph. Eduens, De Sacrif. Alt., c. xvii.; Florus, Exposit. Missæ.)
The Five Prayers of the Canon.—From the Elevation to the Pater there are five prayers in the Canon. In order to say them well let us place ourselves in each one of the wounds of Our Lord. If our piety leads us to unite ourselves at this time with those privileged witnesses of Our Saviour’s death, let us recite the first one with Mary, the mother of sorrows, standing at the foot of the cross; the second with the beloved apostle; during the third let us shed tears of penitence with Magdalen on the feet of Jesus; at the fourth let us unite ourselves with the holy women; and at the fifth, with the good thief let us beg for mercy.
8. The Memento of the Dead, or the Just Raised Again by Jesus Christ
Our Lord upon the cross remembered the just who had died in His grace: “And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose.” (St. Matt. xxvii. 52.)
This same God, the sovereign master of life and death, is upon the altar. The priest recommends to Him the souls of those “who have preceded us, and sleep in the sleep of peace.” He implores Him to drop upon them the blessed dew of His blood, and to give them “a place of refreshment, light, and peace.”
At the Memento let us all pray for those whom we have lost; faith shows them to us in purgatory, with their guardian angels descending into its abysses, bringing to them the precious blood.
How consoling to the heart is the thought that many of these poor souls so dear to us receive help in their sufferings. Some of them, we will gladly believe, entirely purified, come around the altar to join with us, the angels, and the saints in adoring their Redeemer.
9. The Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus, or the Prayer of the Good Thief
At these words of the Canon: “Nobis quoque peccatoribus,” the priest raises his voice, and strikes his breast, representing the repentance, the confession, and the prayer of the thief crucified on the right hand of Our Lord. He openly acknowledged himself guilty: “We receive the due reward of our deeds.” Then, recommending himself to the Saviour, he added: “Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom.” (St. Luke xxii. 42.) Encouraged by this example, the priest dares to ask a place in heaven with the apostles, the martyrs, the virgins, and all the saints. Who, then, should fear or despair? God has put into the guiltiest hands the two keys which will infallibly open heaven: confidence and repentance.
10. The Second Elevation, or the Death of Our Saviour
The three signs of the cross made with the host raised above the chalice, and the two others outside of the chalice recall the three hours passed on the cross by the Saviour (St. Thomas) and the separation of His soul and His body.
The body is here represented by the host; the soul by the blood enclosed in the chalice.2 (St. Thom.) The sound of the bell is a symbol of the convulsion of nature in this supreme hour (Benedict XIV.); and the louder voice of the priest, interrupting the long silence of the Canon, recalls the words of the sacred text: “Jesus uttered a loud cry, and bowing His head He gave up the ghost.” (St. Matt. and St. John.)
At this second elevation let us bow our heads devoutly, and adore Jesus Christ bowing His head, and breathing out His last sigh.
Third Part
1. The Pater Noster, or the Prayer of Jesus Christ Upon the Cross
Our Lord had just breathed His last sigh. His blessed Mother, the beloved disciple, Magdalen, and the holy women were at the foot of the cross. What was that faithful and devoted little band doing? The Gospel is silent on this point. But if we ask our hearts, their ardent love and the liveliness of their faith in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, we seem to see them falling upon their knees, with their eyes, wet with tears, fixed upon the blood-stained body of Jesus, and praying that the blessed fruits of the redemption would save the guilty world which the Saviour had loved so much.
The same victim is there, immolated before us. At the sight of the bitter chalice presented to His lips He said: “Father, not My will but Thine be done.” (St. Luke xxii. 22.) And from the cross He called down only benedictions upon His murderers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (St. Luke xxiii. 34.) Let us enter into the spirit of the Master, and lay at the foot of the cross a heart which is resigned to suffering, and pardons all injuries.
Formerly the people said the Pater Noster together. This custom still prevails among the Greeks, and existed in France until the time of Charlemagne. A trace of this practice is found in the faithful having the honor of saying aloud the last request of this prayer.
2. The Libera Nos, or the Mysteries of the Burial
“The chalice,” says St. Bernard, “represents to us the sepulchre, and the pall the stone which sealed its mouth; the corporal is the figure of the winding-sheet, and the host, which we see, is no longer bread, but is the flesh of Jesus Christ fastened to the cross for the salvation of mankind.” (Sermon on the dignity of the priest.)
The priest taking the body of his Saviour, laying it in the chalice, which he then covers with the pall, carries us to the holy sepulchre. There let us keep as close as possible to Jesus Christ; let us press our lips affectionately to the wounds in His feet and hands: behold the perfumes which He asks of us for His burial.
The silence which follows the Pater is an image of the silence of the tomb. It also recalls the recollection and the sorrow of the holy women kept in their homes by the observance of the Sabbath. (Innocent III., l. v. c. 28.) While the friends of Our Saviour on earth were rendering to His body the last duties of love, where was His divine soul? The souls of the just of the old law were in limbo, sighing as they awaited His coming; His soul went down to them to announce the nearness of their hour of deliverance. The prayer Libera nos is the lively expression of their sighs.
There are still souls who sigh in the hope of heaven; at this part of the sacrifice Our Lord goes to them to console them. Let us recommend them to His tender love.
3. The Breaking of the Host, or the Side of Jesus Opened by the Lance
Our Lord had died, and a soldier armed with a lance opened His right side, from which flowed water and blood. At that moment, springing from the open side of the new Adam, sleeping on the tree of the cross, came the spouse whom He had chosen, the holy Catholic Church.
This solemn circumstance of the formation of the Church upon Calvary should have its place in the sacrifice of the Mass. We shall find it under a thrilling form. The priest holds above the chalice the body of his God; he divides the holy species, and then, from the right side of the host, he breaks a fragment, marvellously figuring the wound in the side of Our Lord. The host is divided into three parts, by their number and their nature symbolizing the Church coming from the open side of Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is not divided except in appearance, and under each of the three parts He remains entire.
Is not this a symbolic image of the Catholic Church, divided into three branches: the Church triumphant, the Church militant, and the Church suffering, all three making, however, only one and the same Church? (St. Thomas.)
After breaking the host the priest makes three times the sign of the cross with the body of Jesus Christ on the chalice, in memory of the three days in the sepulchre (St. Thomas); then, fixing his eyes respectfully upon that sacred flesh, covered with the kisses of Mary, and watered by the tears of John and the Magdalen, like another Joseph of Arimathea, as an early writer calls him, he lays it in the chalice, become another tomb on this new Calvary.
4. The Agnus Dei, or the Resurrection
The Part Laid in the Chalice.—“In the Mass,” says Benedict XIV., “the passion and death of Jesus Christ are represented by the separation of His body and His blood. Although this separation can only be in a mystical manner, because the body could not be apart from the blood, nor the blood from the body, however, by this entirely mystical separation of the body from the blood, and the blood from the body, the passion and death of Our Lord are perfectly represented. It remains, then, but to express in the sacrifice His glorious resurrection; it could not be done more perfectly than by putting into the chalice a fragment of the host, and thus showing the reunion of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” (De Sac. Missæ, l. ii. c. 20.)
Pax Domini, and Agnus Dei.—The words of the liturgy now join themselves to the ceremonies to reiterate the holy joys of the resurrection. The Pax vobiscum is an echo of the salutation of peace given by Our Lord on Easter to the assembled disciples. “Pax vobiscum” (“Peace be unto you”), He said to them. (Micrologue, c. xx.)
On that day the walls of the chamber of the paschal supper heard the solemn words which gave to the apostles the power to remit sins; in memory of this the Church repeats three times the suppliant cry of the Agnus Dei, asking mercy and pardon for her numerous family. (Innocent III., l. iv. c. 4.) Scarcely has the Agnus Dei, which is called the chant of the resurrection, been heard in the sanctuary than the choir, until that time upon its knees, in a posture of humiliation and sorrow, rises up, in token of the victory over death of Jesus Christ arisen.
The Kiss of Peace.—During the first six centuries the salutation of the priest: “May the peace of the Lord be always with you,” was the signal for the Christians giving one another peace by embracing.
The men gave to men this holy kiss, women gave it to women, and then the people, a family of brothers, drew near joyously to the banquet of the Lamb, at which, according to the language of the doctors, the peaceful alone had the right to sit down. The Church has preserved something of this custom. In the solemn Masses the deacon gives to the subdeacon the kiss of peace which he has just received from the celebrant; the latter, to show us that he has drawn this peace from the very heart of the Saviour, first kisses the altar. Formerly he kissed the sacred host. (Benedict XIV., De Sac. Missæ, l. ii. c. 20.)
Should not this ceremony have had its origin in the chamber of the last supper? The Gospel does not say so, but Jesus Christ has taught us too much of the compassionate tenderness of His heart for us to doubt that He reassured His terror-stricken apostles by embracing them.
5. The Communion, or the Eucharistic Repasts of Jesus Christ Arisen with His Apostles
Communion of the Priest.—After the intermingling of the body and blood the priest, with the eyes of faith, sees before him upon the altar Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ arisen. He knows Him; it is the same Jesus Christ Who, after His resurrection, appeared to the holy women; like them, he bows down to adore Him. He speaks to Him with a sweet confidence, for Our Lord has said to him, to him also, “It is I: fear not.” (St. John vi. 20.) It is the same Jesus Christ Who gave Himself in food to the disciples at Emmaus; like them, the priest knows Him in the broken bread, laid there before him upon the paten. It is the same Jesus Christ Who said to St. Thomas: “Bring hither thy hand and put it into My side.” (St. John xx. 28.) Oh, the ineffable happiness of a priest! He takes into his hand the glorious and immortal body of Jesus Christ arisen; he covers with his finger the open wound in the side of the Saviour, and, under the fragile species recognizing with the apostle his “Lord and his God,” he strikes his breast three times, and humbly says: “Domine, non sum dignus,” etc. (“Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter into the house of my soul, but only speak one of those almighty words which have created the world, controlled the elements, death, and the demon, and my soul shall be healed”).
He raises to his lips the bread of angels, lays it on his trembling tongue, thus become the throne of the Most High—the union is consummated, and it is no more the priest who lives, but Jesus Christ Who lives in him. The sign of the cross made with the chalice, as it was made before with the sacred host, should recall to the priest, if he could ever forget it, that he is about to drink the blood of his crucified God. Filled with this thought, he raises it to his lips with love, as if he pressed them to the side of his divine Master.
Thus watered with this divine dew, bear fruit, O my soul! And may thy fruits endure; may this redeeming blood heal thy wounds, render thee invulnerable to sin, and preserve thee unto eternal life.
Of what event of the glorious life of Our Lord should the communion of the priest remind us? Of the eucharistic banquets of Jesus Christ arisen with His apostles.
The Gospel makes us assist, even the very night of the resurrection, at the breaking of bread in the village of Emmaus. Later it shows us the divine Master, on the seashore, eating broiled fish and a honeycomb. Now the fathers have seen in the broiled fish a figure of the body of Jesus Christ crucified, and in the honeycomb a symbol of His blood, “sweeter than the most fragrant honey.”
Communion of the Faithful.—The disciples at Emmaus had part in the breaking of bread, and, in the repast beside the sea, Jesus Christ, having taken a piece of the broiled fish and of the honeycomb, gave the rest to His disciples. Following the steps of the Saviour’s friends, come, holy souls, sit down at the sacred banquet. At Emmaus He concealed His glory under the garb of a pilgrim; at the altar He hides within the person of the priest. His hands have broken the bread of heaven; draw near, come and eat the bread of angels, the mystical fish, the heavenly honey. Has your heart contracted in the dust of the roadside one of those stains from which we cannot entirely preserve our poor nature? Let it rise up in confidence; Jesus Christ Himself asks pardon for it. “May Almighty God have mercy upon you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to eternal life. May the almighty and merciful Lord give you pardon, absolution and full remission of all your sins. Amen.” Let us recite the Confiteor, that prayer of repentance and hope, with sorrow and humility, and, bending beneath the consecrated hand raised above our heads to call down pardon, let us have unlimited confidence; the voice which invokes mercy upon us is powerful in heaven with the heart of God.
6. The Chants of the Communion, or the Joy of the Apostles in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
In the beautiful days of the youthful Church psalms were sung during the Communion in accord with that holy action. In the East it was the canticle: “As the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God.” In the West it was the thirty-third psalm: “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be always in my mouth.” The hymns sung now during the communion are the revival of this pious custom. “What is more beautiful?” says Mgr. Gaume. “The festivals of kings and the great ones of the earth are accompanied by songs and music; should not harmonious chants arise during the sacred feast to which God Himself, at once the host, the food, and the guest, invites His children? And while the arches of the temple resound with the chants of our love, the angels present at the divine banquet repeat upon their golden harps the goodness of God and the happiness of man.” (Catechism, l. xxiii.) The ancient psalm of the Communion has been reduced to a versicle called the Communion. Like the chant of the first centuries, this versicle represents the joy of the apostles at the tidings of the resurrection. (Innocent III., l. iv. c. 8.)
7. The Post-Communion, or the Forty Days of the Glorious Life
After the Communion the priest turns to the people twice to wish them peace: our thoughts should turn to Our Lord repeating twice within the walls of the chamber of the last supper the Pax vobis of pardon, and in these salutations the priest, extending his hands and showing his heart, recalls to us principally Jesus Christ showing the wounds of His hands and that of His side to His disciples. (Innocent III., l. iv. c. 8.)
Post-communion.—During the days of the glorious life Our Lord continued by prayer His office of divine mediator, and in heaven His wounds intercede for us. The hands of the priest, raised toward heaven during the Post-communion, represent this mystery of mercy.
This prayer is said for the communicants. During Lent the spirit of humility and of penitence withdrawing from the holy table some of the faithful, the Church, in order not to deprive them of such an efficacious prayer in this part of the sacrifice, established for their benefit a special prayer. This is the one said last in Lent, and preceded by the words: “Humiliate capita vestra Deo” (“Bow down your heads to God”). On Sunday this is omitted, because on this day all the faithful communicating, or being about to communicate, have a part in the prayers of the Post-communion.
8. The Ite, Missa Est, or the Ascension
The details of the ascension, as told in the Scriptures, are: the benediction given to the disciples, the words of the angel bidding them to go back to Jerusalem, and the joyous return of these same disciples—three circumstances reproduced in the liturgy at the end of the Mass.
The Last Dominus Vobiscum.—The priest going back to the middle of the altar represents Our Lord going to Bethany upon the Mount of Olives. Like his divine Master, he blesses the faithful, and for the last time wishes them peace. Our Saviour said to His followers in order to console them: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” At the last Dominus vobiscum let us not forget this promise; it must have been the cause of great joy to the apostles’ hearts in the hour of separation. We are going back to our houses, to separate ourselves from Jesus Christ. But no; there is no more separation; God is with us, in our hearts, above all if we have had the happiness to communicate.
The Ite, Missa Est.—In Low Masses the priest, or if it is a High Mass the deacon, filling the office of the angels, dismisses the faithful with these words: “Ite, Missa est,” that is to say: “Go now, for Jesus Christ, our one advocate, has left this altar to enter into His glory.” “Deo gratias” (“Thanks be to God”), answer the people, uniting their gratitude to the disciples’, who “went back to Jerusalem with great joy, praising and blessing God.” Ah, yes, let us lovingly say: “Thanks be to God, [“Deo gratias”], for heaven and earth are reconciled.” Thanks be to God that the august victim, awaited for four thousand years, came to immolate Himself for us. Thanks to God the Father, Who has delivered anew His Son to be sacrificed upon the altar. Thanks to the Son, Who renewed among us the mysteries of His mortal life. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, Who formed the victim in the womb of Mary, and Whose fruitful power has formed Him again upon our altar. Thanks to the Blessed Trinity for all His goodness, of which the sacrifice which has just been offered is the wonderful epitome:
The Benedicamus Domino.—During Advent and Lent our fathers not only assisted at Mass, but at the Canonical Hours with which it was followed. In those days of longer and more fervent prayers, instead of dismissing the congregation with the words: “Ite, Missa est,” they were invited to bless the Lord by the sacrifice of praise: “Benedicamus Domino” (“Let us bless the Lord”). These words have been preserved in the Church to remind us that it is necessary to sanctify the holy time of penitence by prayer.
9. The Benediction, or the Descent of the Holy Ghost
The Placeat.—The prayer of the apostles assembled in that upper room, and that of Our Saviour asking His Father to send the Consoler, are figured by the prayer Placeat, placed between the last Dominus vobiscum, the meaning of which we have already seen, and the benediction, regarded by the greatest liturgists as the symbol of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles. (Inn. III., vi. 14.) Seven times during the Mass the prayer “Et cum spiritu tuo” rises from the hearts of the faithful to Our Lord, imploring the coming of the divine Paraclete. These devout aspirations are about to be answered.
The Words and Form of the Benediction.—The priest first kisses the altar, the figure of Jesus Christ, to show that it is the Son of God Who sent the Holy Spirit of consolation upon the earth. Then he blesses: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” for, says Innocent III., although the Holy Spirit especially was sent, the works of the Trinity being indivisible, the three divine Persons have co-operated in this mystery: it is for this reason, he adds, that the benediction is given in the name of the august Trinity. (Inn. III., vi. 14.) The sign of the cross which accompanies this blessing recalls to Christians that the mercies of Pentecost are the fruits of the merits of the passion. Jesus Christ has said this: “It is expedient to you that I go, for if I go not the Paraclete will not come to you.” (St. John xvi. 7.)
We have received the Holy Spirit in Confirmation.
The darkness of our minds, the faltering of our wills, the wrong in our hearts, prove that the Spirit of light, of strength, of piety, no longer reigns in us.
With bowed heads, as on the day when we were enrolled in the army of Christ, let us beg the Holy Spirit to vouchsafe once more to be the guest of our hearts.
10. The Last Gospel, or the Preaching of the Apostles and Their Successors
After Pentecost the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, went into all parts of the known world to sow the seed of the Gospel. Other laborers have carried on the divine work, and even to the end of time the Christian apostolate will be continued upon the earth. This preaching is figured by the reading of the last gospel. The authority of the apostles was that of their Master: “He who hears you hears Me,” Our Lord said to them; upon the lips of God or upon those of an apostolic laborer the Gospel is the same; for which reason the two gospels are read at the same side of the altar.
Because of this, too, they are always accompanied by the same salutation, the same signs of the cross. However, as the greatest honor is due to the preaching of the Master, for the first gospel only, which symbolizes this, there is chanting, lights carried, the sacred text is incensed and kissed.
For a long time the Mass ended at the blessing of the priest. Pope Pius V. obliged all priests to add to it the Gospel of St. John. In some churches it was recited in going to the sacristy; in others it was said within the sacristy. The usage of the Roman Church is to read it at the altar. This observation leads us to another. The preparatory prayers of the Mass, now said at the foot of the altar, were also said for a long time in the sacristy; consequently the Mass upon which the liturgists commented commenced at the Introit, and ended at the benediction.
Before leaving the altar at which so many graces have been given us, let us love to say, with the Maronite priest, this prayer which he says as he kisses the altar at the end of Mass: “Rest in peace, holy and divine altar of the Lord. Shall I return to thy feet, or will death prevent me? I know not. May God grant at least that I see thee again in the celestial church of the first-born of heaven. I will rest in this hope which God has given me. Remain in peace, holy and propitious altar. May the sacred body, may the blood which has just been offered, wash away my stains, destroy my sins, and give me confidence before the throne of our God, the immortal Lord. Remain in peace, holy altar, life-giving table. Pour down upon me the mercy of Jesus Christ, and may I keep thy memory in my heart, now and forever and ever. Amen.”
