The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The angels fill the sanctuary of God; the Cherubim and Seraphim tremble as they surround the altar of God. How can I, a poor mortal priest, dare ascend the altar steps to aid the Almighty to continue His Sacrifice of Calvary?

Christ is the Victim; He is also the sanctifying priest who offers His life to the heavenly Father. However, Christ has willed to have a need of His priests to bring Him down upon the altar. Reflect upon the depths to which Christ has abased Himself and to what heights He has exalted His priests.

As the human body united to the soul makes up the creature, man, and as man enriched by grace makes the Christian, so analogously does the Christian invested with the sacerdotal character become a priest, Christ’s other self. When a priest repeats the words of consecration, it is no longer simply a mortal who pronounces them. Christ Himself, the High Priest, living in His priest, pronounces them with His priests and by their mouths.

We should all tremble at the thought of a mere mortal constituting one and the same principle of action with the Almighty to produce the Man-God. Why is there no feeling of emotion and gratitude when we see Christ’s priests the objects of such confidence and love on the part of God?

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching