THE PRIESTHOOD, THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS, APOLOGIA

PREFIGURATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD, AND SACRIFICE FROM THE OLD LAW:

"Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech. - Ps. cix. 4"

"But Christ, being come an high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation; Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. - Heb. ix. 11, 12.

"And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth." -- Ps. xlii. 3, 4.

"For every high Priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices:  wherefore it is necessary that he should also have something to offer." - Heb. viii, 1-3.

" But Melchisedech the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God, Blessed him, and said:  Blessed be Abram by the most high God, who created heaven and earth." - Gen. Xiv. 18, 19.

PROMISED BY CHRIST:

"I am the bread of life.  Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead.  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.  The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying:  How can this man give us his flesh to eat?  Then Jesus said to them:  Amen, amen I say unto you:  Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life:  and I will raise him up in the last day.  For My flesh is meat indeed:  and my blood is drink indeed.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead.  He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.  These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum." - John vi. 48-60.

INSTITUTED THE HOLY SACRIFICE:

And He said to them:  With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer. - Luke xxii. 15.

And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said:  Take ye.  This is my body.  And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them.  And they all drank of it.  And He said to them:  This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many." - Mark xiv. 22-24.

"For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord, until He come." - 1 Cor. xi. 23-26.

CELEBRATED AND RECEIVED:

"Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.  But let a man prove himself:  and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. - 1 Cor. xi. 27-29."

" The Chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?  For we, having many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread. - Cor. x. 16, 17"

"They that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls.  And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. - Acts ii. 41, 41"

PRE-MOSAIC SACRIFICES:

Cain and Abel offered sacrifice to God:  Cain, who was a husbandman, offered the fruit of his fields; Abel, a shepherd, offered the firstlings of his flock.  God rejected one sacrifice and accepted the other, showing thereby that if the external offering is not confirmed and approved by an internal offering of the will of him who offers the sacrifice, it is not pleasing in His sight.  Thus early did God show that He looks at what is inside men's souls rather than at their exterior gifts.  If the exterior sacrifice is not a true symbol of a genuine interior sacrifice of the will to God, then God will have none of it.

THE FRUITS OF THE MASS:

The effects of the Mass are divided into four main groups, according as they fulfill the four great purposes of  sacrifice--adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and satisfaction.  The first two regard God.  The last two regard us.

ADORATION:  The Mass first and above all gives God perfect adoration.  It does this ex opere operato, that is, independently of our dispositions.  It does it infallibly, and immediately, always and necessarily, and with no step in between.  It has this effect because  it is Christ's immolation, with which God is perfectly pleased, even without our participation in it.  This does not mean that we cannot give God adoration also.  The Church teaches that besides the effects which are produced ex opere operato, or automatically, there is also an effect produced ex opere operantis, by the effort of the one doing the work.  But our adoration does not increase Christ's adoration, which is already perfect.  What it does accomplish is the fulfilling of our obligation of giving God adoration by our union with the infinite adoration of Christ.

THANKSGIVING: 

The Mass gives God perfectly the thanksgiving that is His due.  It does this in the same way and for the same reason that it gives Him adoration.  Likewise, if we wish, it may discharge our obligation to give Him thanks.

You will notice that in these two points we speak of "discharging an obligation" or giving God His due.  Now whenever we give anyone, God or man, his due, we are performing an act of the virtue of justice, the cardinal virtue.  The virtue of religion is part of the virtue of justice because it consists in giving God the worship that is His due.  Sacrifice is an act of the virtue of religion because it offers God complete worship by way of adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and reparation; these are His due.  And the Mass is the perfect sacrifice.  Do you see how, no matter what the starting point, we always get back to the Mass as the central action of our lives? 

Thus the Mass offers God adoration and thanksgiving.  These two, as noted already, are the effects that are directed toward Him.  The last two are directed towards us and are fruits properly so called.  They are petition and satisfaction.

PETITION:

The Mass can obtain for us any spiritual or temporal good of which we stand in need.  It does this also ex opere operato.  That is, the mere fact that we ask through the most powerful of all prayers, the Mass, gives assurance that we will receive our petition as far as God's willingness to give is concerned.  On the other hand, as far as we are concerned, this effect of the Mass is greatly dependent on our co-operation and dispositions.  Certainly God's enemies or His lukewarm friends cannot expect Him to listen to them as He would to a person wholeheartedly serving Him.

Off course the same conditions apply as for the granting of any prayer.  We must ask God for a real good, which is likewise good for us, here and now; we must ask in the name of our Lord, and we must ask devoutly and perseveringly.  The difference in praying through the Mass is that it is not our own puny efforts that do the work, but the infinite efficacy of Calvary.  Is there something that we need--the light to see ourselves as we really are, the grace to do what we know to be our duty, the strength to break off some bad habit or to acquire a good one? Is there some temporal favor which would help us or our family to serve God with more peace or joy of heart?  It is ours for the asking, through the Mass.

SATISFACTION:

The fourth great effect of the Mass, propitiation or satisfaction, means that it makes up for our sins.  This effect is double.  First, the Mass at least indirectly remits venial sins, and petitions for the sinner the means of obtaining forgiveness for his mortal sins, while secondly it also helps satisfy for the temporal punishment due to sin.

FORGIVENESS OF SINS:  The Mass also assists us in obtaining the forgiveness of our sins.  It does this by gaining for us the graces needed to perform those pious acts by which the soul is properly disposed so as to obtain the remission of sins.  It leads us to imperfect or perfect contrition.  This means that if you could induce a sinner, even a most desperate one, sincerely to assist at Mass, he would be given the grace to repent of his sin.  His use of that grace, of course, would depend on his free will, but the Mass would put pardon within his grasp.  In addition, each Mass at which we assist takes away some of the temporal punishment due our sins.

The Mass also provides the forgiveness of Temporal Punishment Still Due on Forgiven Sin, and relieves the Suffering Souls in Purgatory. - Since the Mass is the most powerful means of reparation, it is a true and holy Catholic instinct that moves the faithful to have Masses said for the souls of their departed.  In this case the ministerial fruit is applied to those souls.  But even when the Mass is expressly offered for some other intention, they are not forgotten.  A special prayer after the Consecration, the memento of the Dead, is devoted to the members of the Church Suffering, and all who are praying the Mass join in asking God to give to the agonizing souls a "place of refreshment, light, and rest."

WHAT IS GIVEN TO US AT HOLY MASS THROUGH BREAD AND WINE: 

After the consecration of the Holy Eucharist, we are to receive, through the hands of the Priest, the "Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ" under the appearances of Bread and Wine.  In other words, Jesus Christ comes directly into our souls, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and not just spiritually, but really and truly present under the accidental appearances of Bread and Wine. 

In the early Church people did receive the Bread and Wine, but later, due to the possibility and subsequent spilling of the Precious Blood of Jesus, through the Communion, it was decided to only give the bread, on the tongue of the recipient, to prevent any type of sacrilege from being committed.  Jesus Christ, being whole and entire under either species, whether Bread or Wine.  Each particle or drop, being the same, as whole or entire.