The Holy Tridentine Mass

THE HOLY MASS
Roman Catholic Daily Missal 1962
THE LATIN MASS

CHRISTUS EST ET MORI LUCRUM
FOR TO ME,
MIHI VIVERE PHILIP I·21
TO LIVE IS CHRIST; AND TO DIE IS GAIN. PHIL. I·21
THE HOLY MASS
ON THE TRIDENTINE
LATIN RITE MASS
WITH 100-PAGE ADDENDUM
FROM THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
DAILY 1962 MISSAL
&
DOUAY-RHEIMS BIBLE
With the words of God in Dark Red,
those of Jesus Christ in Bright Red,
those of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Blue,
and those of Saint Peter in Green.

M.R.TREMBLAY, Editor
OTTAWA, A.D. MMXVII
All Right Reserved
THERE WAS A CERTAIN RICH MAN, WHO WAS CLOTHED IN PURPLE
AND FINE LINEN; AND FEASTED SUMPTUOUSLY EVERY DAY. AND
THERE WAS A CERTAIN BEGGAR, NAMED LAZARUS, WHO LAY AT HIS
GATE, FULL OF SORES, DESIRING TO BE FILLED WITH THE CRUMBS
THAT FELL FROM THE RICH MAN’S TABLE, AND NO ONE DID GIVE
HIM; MOREOVER THE DOGS CAME, AND LICKED HIS SORES. AND IT
CAME TO PASS, THAT THE BEGGAR DIED, AND WAS CARRIED BY THE
ANGELS INTO ABRAHAM’S BOSOM. AND THE RICH MAN ALSO DIED:
AND HE WAS BURIED IN HELL. AND LIFTING UP HIS EYES WHEN HE
WAS IN TORMENTS, HE SAW ABRAHAM AFAR OFF, AND LAZARUS IN
HIS BOSOM: AND HE CRIED, AND SAID: FATHER ABRAHAM, HAVE
MERCY ON ME, AND SEND LAZARUS, THAT HE MAY DIP THE TIP OF
HIS FINGER IN WATER, TO COOL MY TONGUE: FOR I AM TORMENTED
IN THIS FLAME. AND ABRAHAM SAID TO HIM: SON, REMEMBER
THAT THOU DIDST RECEIVE GOOD THINGS IN THY LIFETIME, AND
LIKEWISE LAZARUS EVIL THINGS, BUT NOW HE IS COMFORTED; AND
THOU ART TORMENTED. AND BESIDES ALL THIS, BETWEEN US AND
YOU, THERE IS FIXED A GREAT CHAOS: SO THAT THEY WHO WOULD
PASS FROM HENCE TO YOU, CANNOT, NOR FROM THENCE COME
HITHER. AND HE SAID: THEN, FATHER, I BESEECH THEE, THAT THOU
WOULDST SEND HIM TO MY FATHER’S HOUSE, FOR I HAVE FIVE
BRETHREN, THAT HE MAY TESTIFY UNTO THEM, LEST THEY ALSO
COME INTO THIS PLACE OF TORMENTS. AND ABRAHAM SAID TO
HIM: THEY HAVE MOSES AND THE PROPHETS; LET THEM HEAR
THEM. BUT HE SAID: NO, FATHER ABRAHAM: BUT IF ONE WENT TO
THEM FROM THE DEAD, THEY WILL DO PENANCE. AND HE SAID TO
HIM: IF THEY HEAR NOT MOSES AND THE PROPHETS, NEITHER WILL
THEY BELIEVE, IF ONE RISE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD. (Lk. 16:19-31)
XXX

IN · MEMORIAM
REMIGIUS IOHANNES IULIUS TREMBLAY
A.D. MCMXXVI – MCMXCVIII
GEMMA MARTINEAU
A.D. MCMXXXIV – MCMLXXVIII
SR ALINE TREMBLAY, O.M.R.
A.D. MCMXII – MMII
FIDELIUM AMINÆ PER MISERICORDIAM DEI REQUIESCANT IN PACE. AMEN.

PSALM · 24
AD TE, DOMINE, IEVAVI.
A PRAYER FOR GRACE, MERCY,AND PROTECTION AGAINST OUR ENEMIES.
TO THEE, O LORD, HAVE I LIFTED UP MY SOUL. IN THEE, O MY GOD, I
PUT MY TRUST; LET ME NOT BE ASHAMED. NEITHER LET MY ENEMIES
LAUGH AT ME: FOR NONE OF THEM THAT WAIT ON THEE SHALL BE
CONFOUNDED. LET ALL THEM BE CONFOUNDED THAT ACT UNJUST THINGS
WITHOUT CAUSE. SHEW, O LORD, THY WAYS TO ME, AND TEACH ME THY
PATHS. DIRECT ME IN THY TRUTH, AND TEACH ME; FOR THOU ART GOD
MY SAVIOUR;AND ON THEE HAVE I WAITED ALL THE DAY LONG.
REMEMBER, O LORD, THY BOWELS OF COMPASSION; AND THY MERCIES
THAT ARE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. THE SINS OF MY YOUTH
AND MY IGNORANCES DO NOT REMEMBER. ACCORDING TO THY MERCY
REMEMBER THOU ME: FOR THY GOODNESS’ SAKE, O LORD. THE LORD IS
SWEET AND RIGHTEOUS: THEREFORE HE WILL GIVE A LAW TO SINNERS IN
THE WAY. HE WILL GUIDE THE MILD IN JUDGEMENT: HE WILL TEACH THE
MEEK HIS WAYS. ALL THE WAYS OF THE LORD ARE MERCY AND TRUTH, TO
THEM THAT SEEK AFTER HIS COVENANT AND HIS TESTIMONIES.
FOR THY NAME’S SAKE, O LORD, THOU WILT PARDON MY SIN: FOR IT IS
GREAT. WHO IS THE MAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD? HE HATH APPOINTED
HIM A LAW IN THE WAY HE HATH CHOSEN. HIS SOUL SHALL DWELL IN GOOD
THINGS: AND HIS SEED SHALL INHERIT THE LAND. THE LORD IS A
FIRMAMENT TO THEM THAT FEAR HIM: AND HIS COVENANT SHALL BE
MADE MANIFEST TO THEM. MY EYES ARE EVER TOWARDS THE LORD: FOR
HE SHALL PLUCK MY FEET OUT OF THE SNARE.
LOOK THOU UPON ME, AND HAVE MERCY ON ME; FOR I AM ALONE AND
POOR. THE TROUBLES OF MY HEART ARE MULTIPLIED: DELIVER ME FROM
MY NECESSITIES. SEE MY ABJECTION AND MY LABOUR; AND FORGIVE ME
ALL MY SINS. CONSIDER MY ENEMIES FOR THEY ARE MULTIPLIED, AND
HAVE HATED ME WITH AN UNJUST HATRED. KEEP THOU MY SOUL, AND
DELIVER ME: I SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED, FOR I HOPED IN THEE.
THE INNOCENT AND THE UPRIGHT HAVE ADHERED TO ME: BECAUSE I HAVE
WAITED ON THEE. DELIVER ISRAEL, O GOD, FROM ALL HIS
TRIBULATIONS.

THE TRADITIONAL LATIN TRIDENTINE MASS
CONTENTS
ON THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS IN CHRIST
E SUPREMI – Encyclical of H.H. Pope St. Pius X
ON THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS – H.H. Pope St. Pius X
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE HOLY MASS
III. THE ALTAR
IV. THE INCARNATION
V. THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
VI. YOUR MASS AND YOUR LIFE
i. MAN’S RETURN
ii. THE BREAK IN THE HARMONY OF THE DIVINE PLAN – SIN
iii. CHRIST’S INTERVENTION
iv. THE INCARNATION
v. THE REDEMPTION
How may we bring about this return?
vi. THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
vii. OFFERING CHRIST TO THE FATHER
How can such a frail creature as man offer acceptable praise to the Blessed Trinity?
Why so many Masses?
In what does Christ’s Sacrifice consist?
Is the Mass the same as Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross, or is it a different Sacrifice?
Does the Mass differ in any way from the Sacrifice of the Cross?
To whom is the Sacrifice of the Mass offered?
For whom may Mass be celebrated?
Do all members of the Mystical Body have an equal share in the fruits of the Mass?
viii. OFFERING MYSELF WITH CHRIST
What is the source of our obligation to offer ourselves in the Mass with Christ?
What are the three principal parts of the Mass?
What is meant by this expression: “The Mass must be lived”?
What preparation should Ι bring to my Mass?
ix. PURPOSE OF THE HOLY MASS
VII. A LONG INTROIT
VIII. AT THE COLLECTS
IX. AN EXERPT FROM AN EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL
X. A GRADUAL
XI. A READING FROM THE GOSPEL
XII. AN OFFERTORY
XIII. A SECRET PRAYER
XIV. A COMMUNION VERSE
XV. A POST-COMMUNION PRAYER
XVI. THE DIVISIONS OF THE MASS
I. MASS OF THE CATECHUMENS
A) PREPARATORY PRAYERS AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR
B) FROM THE INTROIT TO THE OFFERTORY
II. MASS OF THE FAITHFUL
A) FROM THE OFFERTORY TO THE PREFACE (OFFERTORY)
B) FROM THE PREFACE TO THE PATER NOSTER (CONSECRATION)
C) FROM THE PATER NOSTER TO THE ABLUTIONS (COMMUNION)
D) FROM THE ABLUTIONS TO THE END (THANKSGIVING)
III. CONCLUSION OF THE MASS
ADDENDUM
POST-VATICAN II MASS · DEVOTIONS FOR CONFESSION · THANKSGIVING FOR SMALL CHILDREN · SUMMARY OF THE
CATHOLIC DOCTRINE · TREASURE OF PRAYERS · THE RULE OF SAINT BENEDICT · FOLLOW THE WORDS OF THE LATIN
MASS & ALTAR CARDS · ABRAHAM AND HIS DECENDANTS · THE BIBLE’S HISTORICAL TIMELINE · SUMMARY OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT · THE TABERNACLE · THE TABERNACLE TENT · THE GARMENTS OF THE HIGH PRIEST – KOHEN GADOL
· JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF DAVID · JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF SOLOMON · SOLOMON’S TEMPLE · JERUSALEM IN
THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH · ZERUBBABEL’S TEMPLE · JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF NEHEMIAH · JERUSALEM IN THE TIME
OF JESUS · THE TEMPLE MOUNT · THE TEMPLE COMPLEX · THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE · GOLGOTHA · THE APOSTLES’
CREED · THE ATHANASIAN CREED · AN HISTORICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO THE NEW TESTAMENT · THE
ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY · THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH · THE BAPTISM OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST · THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST · THE HOLY HOUR DEVOTION · THE
WAY OF THE CROSS · HOLY WOUNDS DEVOTION · LITANY OF THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS · THE CHAPLET OF THE
SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY · THE HOLY ROSARY · SAINT JOSEPH · OUR LADY OF THE
MIRACULOUS MEDAL · OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE · THE LITTLE OFFICE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION · THE
EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS · OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE · THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS · PRAYER TO SAINT
MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL · HYMN TO SAINT MICHAEL AND ANGELICAL CROWN · SALVATION IN THE CATHOLIC FAITH
· HYMN – TE DEUM LAUDAMUS · THE STORY OF JESUS CHRIST · PARABLES OF JESUS · MIRACLES OF JESUS · THE
MINISTRY OF JESUS · PAUL’S MISSIONARY JOURNEYS · THE SHROUD OF TURIN AND THE HOLY FACE OF JESUS ·
VARIOUS PRAYERS TO SAINTS · LIST OF POPES · THE LAST JUDGMENT BY MICHELANGELO · THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER
· HEAVEN BY BENEDICT XVI · REFERENCES · TABLE OF FEASTS _______

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, AS TO GIVE HIS ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON; THAT WHOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM, MAY
NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE LIFE EVERLASTING. (JN. 13:16)
xxxxx

ON THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS IN CHRIST
Joseph Sarto was born at Riese in Venetia on June 2, 1835, He was successively curate, parish priest, bishop of
Mantua, patriarch of Venice, Italy. He was elected Pope (who chose the name Pius X) on August 4, 1903. As chief
pastor of the Church he realized to the full the value of the lithurgy as the prayer of the Church and spared no effort
to propagate the practice of frequent and daily Communion. In his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, he exposed
and condemned the modernist heresy with force and clarity (1907). He died on August 20, 1914, and was
canonized on May 29, 1954. The Feast of St. Pius X is on September 3.
E SUPREMI – ENCYCLICAL OF H.H. POPE ST. PIUS X
This was the first encyclical issued by the 257th pontiff succeeding St. Peter as Vicar of Christ and Bishop of Rome.
The Pope expressed his deep feelings of unworthiness by quoting the plight of Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 21
April 1109). The Pope saw the current age as wracked with troubles and even thought that we had perhaps reached
the end of days. He fervently wished to administer to the spiritual needs of the day – emphasizing the Catholic
position on marriage, education, respect for property, maintaining order and justice in the social classes. He
emphasized the great importance of educating priests and of maintaining the highest level of morals in seminarians.
Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.
In addressing you for the first time from the Chair of the supreme apostolate to which We have, by the inscrutable
disposition of God, been elevated, it is not necessary to remind you with what tears and warm instance We exerted
Ourselves to ward off this formidable burden of the Pontificate. Unequal in merit though We be with St. Anselm, it
seems to us that We may with truth make Our own the words in which he lamented when he was constrained
against his will and in spite of his struggles to receive the honor of the episcopate. For to show with what
dispositions of mind and will We subjected Ourselves to the most serious charge of feeding the flock of Christ, We
can well adduce those same proofs of grief which he invokes in his own behalf. “My tears are witnesses,” he
wrote, “and the sounds and moanings issuing from the anguish of my heart, such as I never remember before to
have come from me for any sorrow, before that day on which there seemed to fall upon me that great misfortune of
the archbishop of Canterbury. And those who fixed their gaze on my face that day could not fail to see it… I, in
color more like a dead than a living man, was pale for amazement and alarm. Hitherto I have resisted as far as I
could, speaking the truth, my election or rather the violence done me. But now I am constrained to confess,
whether I will or no, that the judgments of God oppose greater and greater resistance to my efforts, so that I see no
way of escaping them. Wherefore vanquished as I am by the violence not so much of men as of God, against which
there is no providing, I realize that nothing is left for me, after having prayed as much as I could and striven that
this chalice should if possible pass from me without my drinking it, but to set aside my feeling and my will and
resign myself entirely to the design and the will of God.”
In truth reasons both numerous and most weighty were not lacking to justify this resistance of Ours. For, beside
the fact that We deemed Ourselves altogether unworthy through Our littleness of the honor of the Pontificate; who
would not have been disturbed at seeing himself designated to succeed him [i.e. H.H. Pope Leo XIII – 1878-1903]
who, ruling the Church with supreme wisdom for nearly twenty six years, showed himself adorned with such
sublimity of mind, such luster of every virtue, as to attract to himself the admiration even of adversaries, and to
leave his memory stamped in glorious achievements?
Then again, to omit other motives, We were terrified beyond all else by the disastrous state of human society
today. For who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a
terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to
destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is – apostasy from God, that which in truth
nothing is more allied with ruin, according to the word of the Prophet: “For behold they that go far from Thee shall
perish” (Ps. 72:17). We saw therefore that, in virtue of the ministry of the Pontificate, which was to be entrusted to
Us, We must hasten to find a remedy for this great evil, considering as addressed to Us that Divine command: “Lo,
I have set thee this day over the nations and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to
destroy, and to build, and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). But, cognizant of Our weakness, We recoiled in terror from a task
as urgent as it is arduous.
Since, however, it has been pleasing to the Divine Will to raise Our lowliness to such sublimity of power, We
take courage in Him who strengthens Us; and setting Ourselves to work, relying on the power of God, We
proclaim that We have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate but that “of restoring all things in Christ”
(Eph. 1:10), so that “Christ may be all and in all” (Col. 3:2). Some will certainly be found who, measuring Divine
things by human standards will seek to discover secret aims of Ours, distorting them to an earthly scope and to
partisan designs. To eliminate all vain delusions for such, We say to them with emphasis that We do not wish to
be, and with the Divine assistance never shall be aught before human society but the Minister of God, of whose
authority We are the depositary. The interests of God shall be Our interest, and for these We are resolved to spend
all Our strength and Our very life. Hence, should anyone ask Us for a symbol as the expression of Our will, We
will give this and no other: ‘To renew all things in Christ.’ In undertaking this glorious task, We are greatly
quickened by the certainty that We shall have all of you, Venerable Brethren, as generous cooperators. Did We
doubt it We should have to regard you, unjustly, as either unconscious or heedless of that sacrilegious war which is
now, almost everywhere, stirred up and fomented against God. For in truth, “The nations have raged and the
peoples imagined vain things” (Ps. 2:1) against their Creator, so frequent is the cry of the enemies of God: “Depart
from us” (Job. 21:14). And as might be expected we find extinguished among the majority of men all respect for
the Eternal God, and no regard paid in the manifestations of public and private life to the Supreme Will – nay,
every effort and every artifice is used to destroy utterly the memory and the knowledge of God.
When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and
perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the
world the ‘Son of Perdition’ of whom the Apostle speaks (II Thess. 2:3). Such, in truth, is the audacity and the
_______

wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in combating the dogmas of the faith, in brazen effort to
uproot and destroy all relations between man and the Divinity! While, on the other hand, and this according to the
same apostle is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist, man has with infinite temerity put himself in the place of
God, raising himself above all that is called God; in such wise that although he cannot utterly extinguish in himself
all knowledge of God, he has contemned God’s majesty and, as it were, made of the universe a temple wherein he
himself is to be adored. “He sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God” (II Thess. 2:2).
Verily no one of sound mind can doubt the issue of this contest between man and the Most High. Man, abusing his
liberty, can violate the right and the majesty of the Creator of the Universe; but the victory will ever be with God –
nay, defeat is at hand at the moment when man, under the delusion of his triumph, rises up with most audacity. Of
this we are assured in the holy books by God Himself. Unmindful, as it were, of His strength and greatness, He
“overlooks the sins of men” (Wis. 11:24), but swiftly, after these apparent retreats, “awaked like a mighty man that
hath been surfeited with wine” (Ps. 72:65), “He shall break the heads of his enemies” (Ps. 77:22), that all may
know “that God is the king of all the earth” (Ib. 66:8), “that the Gentiles may know themselves to be men” (Ib.
9:20).
All this, Venerable Brethren, We believe and expect with unshakable faith. But this does not prevent us also,
according to the measure given to each, from exerting ourselves to hasten the work of God – and not merely by
praying assiduously: “Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened” (Ib. 9:19), but, more important still, by
affirming both by word and deed and in the light of day, God’s supreme dominion over man and all things, so that
His right to command and His authority may be fully realized and respected. This is imposed upon us not only as a
natural duty, but by our common interest. For, Venerable Brethren, who can avoid being appalled and afflicted
when he beholds, in the midst of a progress in civilization which is justly extolled, the greater part of mankind
fighting among themselves so savagely as to make it seem as though strife were universal? The desire for peace is
certainly harbored in every breast, and there is no one who does not ardently invoke it. But to want peace without
God is an absurdity, seeing that where God is absent thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away it is
vain to cherish the hope of peace. “Peace is the work of justice” (Is. 22:17). There are many, We are well aware,
who, in their yearning for peace, that is for the tranquility of order, band themselves into societies and parties,
which they style parties of order. Hope and labor lost. For there is but one party of order capable of restoring peace
in the midst of all this turmoil, and that is the party of God. It is this party, therefore, that we must advance, and to
it attract as many as possible, if we are really urged by the love of peace.
But, Venerable Brethren, we shall never, however much we exert ourselves, succeed in calling men back to the
majesty and empire of God, except by means of Jesus Christ. “No one,” the Apostle admonishes us, “can lay other
foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (I Cor. 3:2) It is Christ alone “whom the Father
sanctified and sent into this world” (Is. 10:36), “the splendor of the Father and the image of His substance” (Heb.
1:3), true God and true man: without whom nobody can know God with the knowledge for salvation, “neither doth
anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him.” (Mt. 11:27) Hence it
follows that to restore all things in Christ and to lead men back to submission to God is one and the same aim. To
this, then, it behooves Us to devote Our care – to lead back mankind under the dominion of Christ; this done, We
shall have brought it back to God. When We say to God We do not mean to that inert being heedless of all things
human which the dream of materialists has imagined, but to the true and living God, one in nature, triple in person,
Creator of the world, most wise Ordainer of all things, Lawgiver most just, who punishes the wicked and has
reward in store for virtue.
Now the way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the Church. Rightly does Chrysostom inculcate: “The
Church is thy hope, the Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge.” (Hom. de capto Euthropio, n. 6.) It was
for this that Christ founded it, gaining it at the price of His blood, and made it the depositary of His doctrine and
His laws, bestowing upon it at the same time an inexhaustible treasury of graces for the sanctification and
salvation of men. You see, then, Venerable Brethren, the duty that has been imposed alike upon Us and upon you
of bringing back to the discipline of the Church human society, now estranged from the wisdom of Christ; the
Church will then subject it to Christ, and Christ to God. If We, through the goodness of God Himself, bring this
task to a happy issue, We shall be rejoiced to see evil giving place to good, and hear, for our gladness, “a loud
voice from heaven saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ.” (Apoc. 12:10) But if our desire to obtain this is to be fulfilled, we must use every means and exert all our
energy to bring about the utter disappearance of the enormous and detestable wickedness, so characteristic of our
time – the substitution of man for God; this done, it remains to restore to their ancient place of honor the most holy
laws and counsels of the gospel; to proclaim aloud the truths taught by the Church, and her teachings on the
sanctity of marriage, on the education and discipline of youth, on the possession and use of property, the duties
that men owe to those who rule the State; and lastly to restore equilibrium between the different classes of society
according to Christian precept and custom. This is what We, in submitting Ourselves to the manifestations of the
Divine will, purpose to aim at during Our Pontificate, and We will use all our industry to attain it. It is for you,
Venerable Brethren, to second Our efforts by your holiness, knowledge and experience and above all by your zeal
for the glory of God, with no other aim than that Christ may be formed in all.
As to the means to be employed in attaining this great end, it seems superfluous to name them, for they are
obvious of themselves. Let your first care be to form Christ in those who are destined from the duty of their
vocation to form Him in others. We speak of the priests, Venerable Brethren. For all who bear the seal of the
priesthood must know that they have the same mission to the people in the midst of whom they live as that which
Paul proclaimed that he received in these tender words: “My little children, of whom I am in labor again until
Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). But how will they be able to perform this duty if they be not first clothed
with Christ themselves? and so clothed with Christ as to be able to say with the Apostle: “I live, yet not I, but
Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). “For me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Hence although all are included in the
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exhortation “to advance towards the perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:3), it
is addressed before all others to those who exercise the sacerdotal ministry; thus these are called another Christ,
not merely by the communication of power but by reason of the imitation of His works, and they should therefore
bear stamped upon themselves the image of Christ.
This being so, Venerable Brethren, of what nature and magnitude is the care that must be taken by you in
forming the clergy to holiness! All other tasks must yield to this one. Wherefore the chief part of your diligence
will be directed to governing and ordering your seminaries aright so that they may flourish equally in the
soundness of their teaching and in the spotlessness of their morals. Regard your seminary as the delight of your
hearts, and neglect on its behalf none of those provisions which the Council of Trent has with admirable
forethought prescribed. And when the time comes for promoting the youthful candidates to holy orders, ah! do not
forget what Paul wrote to Timothy: “Impose not hands lightly upon any man” (I. Tim. 5:22), bearing carefully in
mind that as a general rule the faithful will be such as are those whom you call to the priesthood. Do not then pay
heed to private interests of any kind, but have at heart only God and the Church and the eternal welfare of souls so
that, as the Apostle admonishes, “you may not be partakers of the sins of others.” (Ibid.) Then again be not lacking
in solicitude for young priests who have just left the seminary. From the bottom of Our heart, We urge you to bring
them often close to your breast, which should burn with celestial fire – kindle them, inflame them, so that they may
aspire solely after God and the salvation of souls. Rest assured, Venerable Brethren, that We on Our side will use
the greatest diligence to prevent the members of the clergy from being drawn to the snares of a certain new and
fallacious science, which savoureth not of Christ, but with masked and cunning arguments strives to open the door
to the errors of rationalism and semi-rationalism; against which the Apostle warned Timothy to be on his guard,
when he wrote: “Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and
oppositions of knowledge falsely so called which some promising have erred concerning the faith” (I Tim. 6:20)
This does not prevent Us from esteeming worthy of praise those young priests who dedicated themselves to useful
studies in every branch of learning the better to prepare themselves to defend the truth and to refute the calumnies
of the enemies of the faith. Yet We cannot conceal, nay, We proclaim in the most open manner possible that Our
preference is, and ever will be, for those who, while cultivating ecclesiastical and literary erudition, dedicate
themselves more closely to the welfare of souls through the exercise of those ministries proper to a priest jealous
of the divine glory. “It is a great grief and a continual sorrow to our heart” (Rom. 9:2) to find Jeremiah’s
lamentation applicable to our times: “The little ones asked for bread, and there was none to break it to them”
(Lam. 4:4). For there are not lacking among the clergy those who adapt themselves according to their bent to
works of more apparent than real solidity – but not so numerous perhaps are those who, after the example of
Christ, take to themselves the words of the Prophet: “The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me, hath sent me to
evangelize the poor, to heal the contrite of heart, to announce freedom to the captive, and sight to the blind” (Lk.
4:18-19).
Yet who can fail to see, Venerable Brethren, that while men are led by reason and liberty, the principal way to
restore the empire of God in their souls is religious instruction? How many there are who mimic Christ and abhor
the Church and the Gospel more through ignorance than through badness of mind, of whom it may well be said:
“They blaspheme whatever things they know not” (Jude 2:10). This is found to be the case not only among the
people at large and among the lowest classes, who are thus easily led astray, but even among the more cultivated
and among those endowed moreover with uncommon education. The result is for a great many the loss of the faith.
For it is not true that the progress of knowledge extinguishes the faith; rather is it ignorance, and the more
ignorance prevails the greater is the havoc wrought by incredulity. And this is why Christ commanded the
Apostles: “Going forth teach all nations” (Mt. 27:19).
But in order that the desired fruit may be derived from this apostolate and this zeal for teaching, and that Christ
may be formed in all, be it remembered, Venerable Brethren, that no means is more efficacious than charity. “For
the Lord is not in the earthquake” (III Kg. 19:2) – it is vain to hope to attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the
contrary, harm is done more often than good by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices
with asperity. True the Apostle exhorted Timothy: “Accuse, beseech, rebuke,” but he took care to add: “with all
patience” (II Tim. 4:2). Jesus has certainly left us examples of this. “Come to me,” we find Him saying, “come to
me all ye that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you” (Mt. 11:28). And by those that labor and are
burdened he meant only those who are slaves of sin and error. What gentleness was that shown by the Divine
Master! What tenderness, what compassion towards all kinds of misery! Isaias has marvelously described His
heart in the words: “I will set my spirit upon him; he shall not contend, nor cry out; the bruised reed he will not
break, he will not extinguish the smoking flax” (Is. 42:1). This charity, “patient and kind” (I. Cor. 13:4), will
extend itself also to those who are hostile to us and persecute us. “We are reviled,” thus did St. Paul protest, “and
we bless; we are persecuted and we suffer it; we are blasphemed and we entreat” (I. Cor. 4:12) They perhaps seem
to be worse than they really are. Their associations with others, prejudice, the counsel, advice and example of
others, and finally an ill advised shame have dragged them to the side of the impious; but their wills are not so
depraved as they themselves would seek to make people believe. Who will prevent us from hoping that the flame
of Christian charity may dispel the darkness from their minds and bring to them light and the peace of God? It may
be that the fruit of our labors may be slow in coming, but charity wearies not with waiting, knowing that God
prepares His rewards not for the results of toil but for the good will shown in it.
It is true, Venerable Brethren, that in this arduous task of the restoration of the human race in Christ neither you
nor your clergy should exclude all assistance. We know that God recommended every one to have a care for his
neighbor (Eccl. 17:12). For it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who must concern
themselves with the interests of God and souls – not, of course, according to their own views, but always under the
direction and orders of the bishops; for to no one in the Church except you is it given to preside over, to teach, to
“govern the Church of God which the Holy Ghost has placed you to rule” (Acts 20:28). Our predecessors have
____

long since approved and blessed those Catholics who have banded together in societies of various kinds, but
always religious in their aim. We, too, have no hesitation in awarding Our praise to this great idea, and We
earnestly desire to see it propagated and flourish in town and country. But We wish that all such associations aim
first and chiefly at the constant maintenance of Christian life, among those who belong to them. For truly it is of
little avail to discuss questions with nice subtlety, or to discourse eloquently of rights and duties, when all this is
unconnected with practice. The times we live in demand action – but action which consists entirely in observing
with fidelity and zeal the divine laws and the precepts of the Church, in the frank and open profession of religion,
in the exercise of every kind of charitable works, without regard to self interest or worldly advantage. Such
luminous examples given by the great army of soldiers of Christ will be of much greater avail in moving and
drawing men than words and sublime dissertations; and it will easily come about that when human respect has
been driven out, and prejudices and doubting laid aside, large numbers will be won to Christ, becoming in their
turn promoters of His knowledge and love which are the road to true and solid happiness. Oh! when in every city
and village the law of the Lord is faithfully observed, when respect is shown for sacred things, when the
Sacraments are frequented, and the ordinances of Christian life fulfilled, there will certainly be no more need for
us to labor further to see all things restored in Christ. Nor is it for the attainment of eternal welfare alone that this
will be of service – it will also contribute largely to temporal welfare and the advantage of human society. For
when these conditions have been secured, the upper and wealthy classes will learn to be just and charitable to the
lowly, and these will be able to bear with tranquility and patience the trials of a very hard lot; the citizens will obey
not lust but law, reverence and love will be deemed a duty towards those that govern, “whose power comes only
from God” (Rom. 13:1). And then? Then, at last, it will be clear to all that the Church, such as it was instituted by
Christ, must enjoy full and entire liberty and independence from all foreign dominion; and We, in demanding that
same liberty, are defending not only the sacred rights of religion, but are also consulting the common weal and the
safety of nations. For it continues to be true that “piety is useful for all things” (I Tim. 4:8) – when this is strong
and flourishing “the people will” truly “sit in the fullness of peace” (Is. 32:18).
May God, “who is rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4), benignly speed this restoration of the human race in Jesus Christ for
“it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom. 9:16). And let us,
Venerable Brethren, “in the spirit of humility” (Dan. 3:39), with continuous and urgent prayer ask this of Him
through the merits of Jesus Christ. Let us turn, too, to the most powerful intercession of the Divine Mother – to
obtain which We, addressing to you this Letter of Ours on the day appointed especially for commemorating the
Holy Rosary, ordain and confirm all Our Predecessor’s prescriptions with regard to the dedication of the present
month to the august Virgin, by the public recitation of the Rosary in all churches; with the further exhortation that
as intercessors with God appeal be also made to the most pure Spouse of Mary, the Patron of the Catholic Church,
and the holy Princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul.
And that all this may be realized in fulfillment of Our ardent desire, and that everything may be prosperous with
you, We invoke upon you the most bountiful gifts of divine grace. And now in testimony of that most tender
charity wherewith We embrace you and all the faithful whom Divine Providence has entrusted to Us, We impart
with all affection in the Lord, the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brethren, to the clergy and to your people.
Given at Rome at St. Peter’s, on the 4th day of October, 1903, in the first year of Our Pontificate.
ST. PIUS PP. X
Glorious Pope of the Eucharist, Saint Pius X, you sought ‘to restore all things in Christ.’ Obtain for me a
true love of Jesus so that I may live only for Him. Help me to acquire a lively fervor and a sincere will to
strive for sanctity of life, and that I may avail myself of the riches of the Holy Eucharist in sacrifice and
sacrament. By your love for Mary, mother and queen of all, inflame my heart with tender devotion to her.
Blessed model of the priesthood, obtain for us holy, dedicated priests, and increase vocations to the
religious life. Dispel confusion and hatred and anxiety, and incline our hearts to peace and concord, so that
all nations will place themselves under the sweet reign of Christ. Amen. Saint Pius X, pray for me. ___

ON THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS – H.H. Pope St. Pius X
“The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the sacrifice, dedicated by our
Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar. If you wish to hear Mass as it should be heard, you
must follow with eye, heart, and mouth all that happens at the altar. Further, you must pray with the Priest the
holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You have to associate your heart
with the holy feelings which are contained in these words and in this manner you ought to follow all that
happens at the altar. When acting in this way you have prayed Holy Mass.” (c.f. 1962 Missal, p. 835).
I. INTRODUCTION
Of all the practices recommended by our holy religion – Morning and Evening Prayers, Prayers before and after
Meals, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament, Rosary, Way of the Cross, etc. – the august Sacrifice of the Mass is the
greatest, the most precious, and the most holy, as well as the most conductive to man’s salvation. Holy Mass was
instituted by Christ Himself at the last supper. He commands His Apostles to do the same that He had done,
saying: “…ye shall do them in memory of Me.”
Assisting at holy Mass you should have a fourfold intention of Adoration, by which we acknowledge our
dependence on God as the Ruler over life and death; Praise and Thanksgiving for the benefits conferred on us; of
Reparation for our sins and negligences; of Impetration, to implore of Him the grace necessary for our salvation.
Thanks to the efforts begun by John Paul the Great and continued by Benedict XVI, the 1962 version of the
Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Mass is finally beginning to gain back the recognition that it always deserved,
and which previously was virtually eliminated, not by the Vatican II Fathers, but by the Vatican II ‘periti’ – the
Council ‘experts’. The more current descriptive term for them is Liturgists.
His Holiness Benedict XVI issued the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum July 7, 2007, to take effect
September 14, 2007, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Along with the Motu Proprio, the Vatican released
the Holy Father’s Letter to Bishops on Summorum Pontificum, and also an Explanatory Note on Motu Proprio
Summorum Pontificum. The Motu Proprio addresses the traditional Latin Tridentine Mass as contained in the 1962
Missal of John XXIII. By way of explanation of why we should even need to explain and describe the traditional
Latin Mass, we need to look at the horrific tale of how it almost disappeared completely from the Catholic scene,
and perhaps even from the world.
The one item of vital importance to note here is this: despite the concerted efforts of multiple liberal Bishops and
thundering herds of Catholic liturgists, the Traditional Latin Tridentine Mass was never abrogated or repealed by
the One Holy Roman Catholic Church. It has always remained valid. It remains the most thoroughly consistent
Liturgical form in the Catholic Church today.
The development of the Latin rite Mass is traced through a series of links in an unbroken chain beginning with
very first mass given by Christ 2,000 years ago at the Last Supper. Beginning with that fateful evening, on every
single day that has passed since then, this same offering has been done. It’s been done millions of times for billions
of people, just as He commanded.
The Traditional Latin Mass of today is essentially unchanged since the Council of Trent, five centuries ago.
Some elements are derived from Jewish customs dating back to pre-Apostolic times, and other parts were
developed by Church Fathers and various Saints and Popes. Pope Saint Gregory the Great instituted the Greek
Kyrie eleison and Sacred Chant during his reign. The vestments have changed little since they were developed
during ancient Roman empire. The traditional Latin Tridentine Mass has been quite accurately described as “the
most beautiful thing this side of heaven.”
What this booklet attempts to capture in some small way is the invaluable, golden treasure of the Latin Liturgy –
beauty, glorious and majestic. This is what we almost lost, and it needs to be re-recognized by today’s laymen as
possibly the most glorious and inspirational Earthly thing existing today. Nothing in this world today can be as
consistently uplifting of the human spirit as the ancient Latin Mass, or any of the Eastern Rite variants. It is not
possible to properly glorify God, praise Him and give Him thanks, as is done in this Liturgy, without
simultaneously lifting our own spirits to new heights. The most important part of the Mass – actual, physical
Communion with Divinity Himself – is put into most proper human perspective when surrounded by the beauty
and majesty of the ancient forms of the Mass. May it continue to survive all non-magisterial attempts to ‘tone it
down’ or ‘improve’ or ‘reform’ it, and may it continue to be the Church’s most valuable tool of inspiration
and evangelization.
II. THE HOLY MASS
The Holy Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of the New Law in which the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is offered
to God under the species of bread and wine.
The Holy Mass is the sacrifice of the cross, without bloodshedding. On the stone of the altar and on the wood of
the cross, the same Priest, Jesus Christ, dedicates the same sacrifice, His Holy Body and Blood. If this was always
borne in mind, with that deep respect Mass should be attended. In the Holy Sacrifice, Jesus, the Second Person of
the Holy Trinity, is Victim and Sacrifier; and by this the Holy Mass has an immense value in itself. The merits and
fruits of the Holy Mass are shared to a fixed and limited degree by the faithful according the God’s free will and to
the fervor of our faith, love, and piety. (see VI. Your Mass and Your Life/1962 Missal – Introduction, p.xlvii ff.)
There is one truth, which is generally lost to sight, a truth which however explains in a particular way the Liturgy
of the Holy Mass, namely that although the Holy Sacrifice is dedicated to God by the Priest, all those who are
present are invited to unite themselves and their own offerings to the sacrifice of the Mass.
The Priest is the consecrated minister of this sacrifice, deputed by the Holy Church; but the faithful, joined with

the Priest, are also invested with a kind of priesthood. The Priest, saying Mass, at times speaks in the name of a
multitude and so he says in the plural: “Let us pray,” “We offer,” “Brethren, pray that my sacrifice and yours may
be acceptable to God the Father almighty.” It is possible to think of this and to content oneself with saying some
prayers with a distracted mind, without paying attention to the sublime office with which one is invested? And
more than this, the faithful not only are offering the sacrifice together with the Priest but, with Jesus Christ, they
offer themselves to the Lord, our Father in heaven. This is brought out in the prayer after the offering of the wine:
“with humble spirit and contrite heart may we be received by Thee, O Lord, and may our sacrifice be so offered
up in Thy sight this day that it may be pleasing to Thee, O Lord God.” Always bear in mind this exalted and
comforting thought when hearing Mass, and you will avoid reciting the prayers too quickly, without paying
attention to the wonder that is being performed only a few steps from the place where you are. The best way of
hearing Mass is to join in spirit with the Priest and to follow closely all that happens at the altar.
Think that you are standing beneath the cross of the dying Jesus, to catch in your soul a drop of the divine Blood,
a drop that has power to deliver the whole world from all sin.
We give here some practical hints which will help you to follow the Holy Mass with piety and fruit:
1. Along with the Priest, follow all the ceremonies and liturgical texts of the Mass in your missal. Pray the Mass!
2. Read (in your Christian Prayer book or the 1962 Missal-ribbons) the prayers which correspond to the various
parts of the Mass, i.e., following the order of the Mass in connection with the Proper of the Season. (ibid,p.135)
III. THE ALTAR
The traditional Latin Tridentine Mass is offered on an altar, which is Latin for ‘high place’. The right side of the
altar, as you face it, is the Epistle side, and the left side is the Gospel side. An altar stone containing relics or
images of Saints is imbedded in the front of the altar. On the center-rear of the altar table is the tabernacle, which
is Latin for ‘small inn’. The most blessed sacrament of the altar is stored in the tabernacle. A sanctuary lamp burns
at all times signifying that our Lord Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and Divinity, is present in the tabernacle. There
is a crucifix on or over the altar, behind and/or above the tabernacle, that is large enough and positioned so as to be
clearly visible to everyone in the church. Two beeswax candles (more than two for more solemn high Masses) on
left and right light the altar area. The beeswax represents the purity of our Lord’s body, and the candle flame
represents His soul. The altar is covered with three linen cloths; the top cloth hangs to the floor. The altar cloths
absorb and catch any of the sacred species which may fall or spill. The altar cloths remind us of the wrapping of
our Lord’s body in the tomb of Resurrection. Relics and images of saints may also adorn the altar background
area.
For the Tridentine Latin rite Mass, the altar, the Sanctuary of the temple, is generally composed of a table on
four columns and was formerly placed above a tomb, as in the first ages of Christianity. Mass was celebrated by
preference on the burial place of the Martyrs. Nowadays a square flat stone is placed in the middle of the altar
table. This altar stone is consecrated by the Bishop. It is adorned with five little carved crosses. The stone contains
one or more relics of Saints. It is on this stone that Holy Mass is celebrated. (c.f. 1962 Missal, p. 127 ff. )
IV. THE INCARNATION
One day, in the long procession of men groping in the shadow of death, Christ appeared. “Christ was made sin”
for us writes St. Paul. To this poor, purblind race of ours, He revealed the Father’s wondrous plan. “The Father
Himself loves you….He has not abandoned you….I am your Savior….I am Life.” He will unite the peoples!
St. Patrick Church – Nepean, Ontario, Canada

Jesus’ miracles culminate with his most potent, raising Lazarus from the dead. In St. John’s Gospel, it is this last
miracle, and not the temple incident, that prompts the authorities to have Jesus executed. Jesus’ discourses identify
him with symbols of major significance, “the bread of life,” “the light of the world,” “the door of the sheep,” “the
good shepherd,” “the resurrection and the life,” “the way, the truth, and the life,” and “the real vine.”
The Apostle John was present at the crucifixion. The Gospel according to St. John is an account of
the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details the story of Jesus from his Baptism to his Resurrection.
The Passion begins at John 12 with the conspiracy against Jesus, and unfolds in the following events: A meal a few
days before Passover. A woman anoints Jesus. He says that for this she will always be remembered. In Jerusalem,
the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples. Jesus gives final instructions, predicts his betrayal, and tells them
all to remember him. On the path to Gethsemane after the meal. Jesus tells them they will all fall away that night;
after Peter protests he will not, Jesus says Peter will deny him three times before the cock crows. Gethsemane, later
that night. As the disciples rest, Jesus prays; then a mob led by Judas Iscariot arrests Jesus, and all the others run
away. The high priest’s palace, later that night. The mob brings Jesus to the Sanhedrin (i.e., Jewish supreme court);
they examine Jesus and determine he deserves to die. They send him to Pontius Pilate, the Prefect (governor) of
the Roman province of Judæa from A.D. 26–36. What follows is the history of the passion of Christ.
V. THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John (Jn. 18:1-40; 19:1-42):
When Jesus had said these things, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where there was a
garden, into which he entered with his disciples. And Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place; because Jesus
had often resorted thither together with his disciples. Judas therefore having received a band of soldiers and
servants from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus
therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said to them: Whom seek ye? They
answered him:Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them: I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood with them.
As soon therefore as he had said to them: I am he; they went backward, and fell to the ground. Again therefore he
asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If
therefore you seek me, let these go their way. That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou
hast given me, I have not lost any one. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the
high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.
Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me,
shall I not drink it? Then the band and the tribune, and the servants of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him: And
they led him away to Annas first, for he was father in law to Caiphas, who was the high priest of that year. Now
Caiphas was he who had given the counsel to the Jews: That it was expedient that one man should die for the
people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. And that disciple was known to the high
priest, and went in with Jesus into the court of the high priest.
But Peter stood at the door without. The other disciple therefore, who was known to the high priest, went out, and
spoke to the portress, and brought in Peter. The maid therefore that was portress, saith to Peter: Art not thou also
one of this man’s disciples? He saith: I am not. Now the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals, because it
was cold, and warmed themselves. And with them was Peter also, standing, and warming himself. The high priest
therefore asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world: I
have always taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken
nothing.
Why asketh thou me? ask them who have heard what I have spoken unto them: behold they know what things I
have said. And when he had said these things, one of the servants standing by, gave Jesus a blow, saying:
Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him: If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if
well, why strikest thou me? And Annas sent him bound to Caiphas the high priest. And Simon Peter was standing,
and warming himself. They said therefore to him: Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said: I
am not.
One of the servants of the high priest (a kinsman to him whose ear Peter cut off) saith to him: Did I not see thee
in the garden with him? Again therefore Peter denied; and immediately the cock crew. Then they led Jesus from
Caiphas to the governor’s hall. And it was morning; and they went not into the hall, that they might not be defiled,
but that they might eat the pasch. Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: What accusation bring you against
this man? They answered, and said to him: If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to
thee.
Pilate therefore said to them: Take him you, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to
him: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death; That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he said,
signifying what death he should die. Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of
me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee up to me: what
hast thou done? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants
would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate
therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and
for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my
voice. Pilate saith to him: What is truth? And when he said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith to them: I
find no cause in him. But you have a custom that I should release one unto you at the pasch: will you,
therefore, that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but
Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber…

When the chief priests, therefore, and the servants, had seen him, they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith to them: Take him you, and crucify him: for I find no cause in him. The Jews answered him:
We have a law; and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate
therefore had heard this saying, he feared the more. And he entered into the hall again, and he said to Jesus:
Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore saith to him: Speakest thou not to me?
knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee?
Jesus answered: Thou shouldst not have any power against me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore,
he that hath delivered me to thee, hath the greater sin. And from henceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the
Jews cried out, saying: If thou release this man, thou art not Cæsar’s friend. For whosoever maketh himself a
king, speaketh against Cæsar. Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the
judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha. And it was the parasceve of the
pasch, about the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews: Behold your king. But they cried out: Away with him; away
with him; crucify him. Pilate saith to them: Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered: We have no
king but Cæsar.
Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. And bearing his
own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha. Where they crucified him,
and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon
the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore many
of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in
Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.
Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King
of the Jews. Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written. The soldiers therefore, when they had
crucified him, took his garments, (and they made four parts, to every soldier a part,) and also his coat. Now the coat
was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast
lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture they have cast lots. And the soldiers indeed did these things. Now there stood by the
cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.
Then therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his
head; and they put on him a purple garment. And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews; and they gave
him blows. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to them: Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may
know that I find no cause in him. (Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple
garment.) And he saith to them: Behold the Man.

When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother:
Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple
took her to his own. Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be
fulfilled, said: I thirst. Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar
and hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And
bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.
(Here all kneel and pause a few moments and reflect on Christ’s passion.)
Then the Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day,
(for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken
away. The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with
him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But
one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw
it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe.
For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of him. And again
another scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced. And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea
(because he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the
body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus also came,
(he who at the first came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound
weight. They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the
Jews is to bury.
Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man
yet had been laid. There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was
nigh at hand.
“And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Ps. 68:22)
PRAISE BE TO THEE, O CHRIST.

VI. YOUR MASS AND YOUR LIFE
In God’s plan, it is not man who is the center of the universe; but Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. God created all
things for Christ. For the sake of Christ Jesus in whom the Father already had “placed all His delight” and for the
sake of Mary, His Mother, “full of grace,” God decided to create man and the universe.
To this Son, in whom He is well pleased, friends were to be given – and so man was created. (The race of man
represents the “friends of the Bridegroom” mentioned by our Lord in the Gospel.) To this Son whom He loves, the
Father will give a house and garden – and so the universe was created. Man, created for Christ, is loved in Him.
We thus form, as it were, a “wedding gift” from God the Father to Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom.
In Him, through Him, and for Him, we are pleasing to the heavenly Father. Without Him we are nothing. This
last doxology is very important for an understanding of the Mass. Our sacrifices are of value only through their
being united with Christ’s Sacrifice. Since all have been issued from the heart of God solely to give pleasure to
Jesus, all then are brothers. Creation itself is our kin. The universe and I, what are we, if not a delicate thought of
the Father toward His Divine Son?
The creation, launched into existence by God’s loving power, will forever have something unfinished about it,
until that time when it shall return to the Source of its perfection; there to receive from that same Source its final
perfection and beatitude. Thus the general plan of creation appears to us as an image and prolongation of the
fecundity of the Most Blessed Trinity. The chronological order of the plan is as follows: 1) Creation of the
heavens; 2) Preparation of the earth; 3) Creation of minerals, vegetation, and animals; 4) Creation of man. King
though he may be of that creation predating his own existence, man, however, is not creation’s final goal. Man –
simple link in a chain that must go back to God – paves the way for the coming of the blessed Virgin Mary. Mary,
God’s jewel case, in which reposed He Who upholds all things, Jesus Christ! Christ is the center of the universe.
He is before all things: “He is before all creatures.” (Col. 1:17) “The firstborn of every creature.” (Col. 1:15) “In
the beginning was the Word...” (Jn. 1:1)
“In Him...through Him...unto Him...all things!” (Col. 1:16, 17)
All things are through Him.
“Without Him was made nothing that was made.” (Jn. 1:3) “Upholding all things by the word of His power.” (Heb.
1:3)
All things are in Him.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ; as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Eph. 1:3-4)
All things are unto Him.
“Whom He hath appointed heir of all things.” (Heb. 1:2) “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end.” (Apoc. 22:13)
i. MAN’S RETURN
Man, having come from God, must return to God: his Final End. “Thou hast made us for Thyself, 0 God,” cried St.
Augustine, “and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee!”
The creation – a work of sheer mercy, a stooping of the Creator toward the creature – returns to God, chanting a
hymn of praise and thanksgiving. A feather from a bird, a ray of light, a finely modulated voice, a drop of water
falling to earth, a hastening ant, a seed sprouting from the earth, the stars that whirl in the firmament with never a
collision; all are directed by God to that magnificent end for which He has ordained them – man’s pleasure,
Christ’s happiness, and finally, the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.
ii. THE BREAK IN THE HARMONY OF THE DIVINE PLAN – SIN
Alas, man is free to destroy God’s harmonious plan! Everything is in equilibrium, because everything tends toward
God. All things cohere, because all things are submissive to the Author of life and being. But this adhesion to God
is effected in a free act of love. The freedom with which man is adorned, gives to the entire creation an
incomparable majesty. God thus receives a praise that is spontaneous. This very freedom, however, exposes the
one enjoying it to immense peril. Let man but once refuse to spread forth his hands in a gesture of oblation, and the
whole order of things falls apart. But one day man, in a gesture of pride and egoism, rejected his priesthood. His
role of mediator no longer satisfied him. Man “would be like God.” Through his lips, Satan once more uttered his
cry of rage, “I will not serve!”
By his refusal, man shattered the universe. For the universe rested on man as the arch on the keystone. The entire
universe turned against man its betrayer. In chorus, it hurled back into the teeth of man the cry that man had dared
to address to God, “I will not serve!”
First of all, man’s own body revolted. Man, terror-stricken, suddenly beheld within himself the unleashing of
sinful passions. Henceforth, seven fetters, which theology is later to designate by the title of ‘Capital Sins’, will
shackle his formerly free impulses – Adam and Eve “perceive themselves to be naked.”
Man is deeply stricken in the very harmony of his being: “I will multiply your sorrows and your conceptions; in
sorrow shall you bring forth children.”
Social discord now corresponds to inner imbalance. “You shall be under your husband’s power, and he shall
have dominion over you.”
Looming up on the horizon, in addition to these ‘domestic squabbles’ are quarrels between families, wars
between city and city, between nation and nation, world war, revolution.
The animal kingdom, over which man formerly reigned, rises up in its turn. The earth itself refuses to cooperate
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with man. Only at the cost of a struggle, will man be able to wrest from it miserably a few meager fruits: “Cursed
is the earth in your work. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you.”
Man is broken, disoriented. Suffering is to be, henceforth, his earthly portion. “In the sweat of your face shall
you eat bread... In sorrow shall you bring forth children.”
Man created to be the friend of Christ, has gone astray in the disobedience of Adam. Humanity, separated from
Christ, is without form or beauty. Will God remain deaf, insensible, to the cry of His distressed creature? Will He
punish or pardon?
iii. CHRIST’S INTERVENTION
At this tragic moment in the history of humanity when the Blessed Trinity could have, conceivably, left us in our
state of hopeless misery, Jesus intervened: “Father, these men are for Me the sign and expression of Thy love.
They are My children. They are Mine, for it was for My sake that you gave them life and being. Never will I
abandon them! Since they are incapable of knowing My joy, I am determined to share their misery.”
Christ was to have come in glory like the bridegroom whose arrival on the wedding day is joyously awaited by
the wedding guests. Now His coming will take place under the reign of Sin; in a body capable of being crushed by
suffering, with a heart that affliction will overwhelm, He will come to destroy sin, this ‘wall of separation’
between God and man – between man and man. He will reconcile in His blood heaven and earth. He will unite the
peoples.
iv. THE INCARNATION
One day, in the long procession of men groping in the shadow of death, Christ appeared. To this poor, purblind
race of ours, He revealed the Father’s wondrous plan. “The Father Himself loves you.... He has not abandoned
you... I am your Savior... I am Life.”
v. THE REDEMPTION
It was bearing His Cross that He came – weighted down under the burden of our sins. He climbed Calvary’s hill
and reddened it with His blood. He was barbarously crucified on a Cross, and died between two thieves.
Let us look for a moment at our suffering Savior. Taking place before our horrified gaze is the drama that
dominates the world. Christ was ‘made sin’ for us, writes St. Paul.
On the high hill of Calvary, overlooking the world, a terrible struggle is taking place between Love and Hate – a
struggle of unheard-of force. As a result of this fearsome combat, Hate dies in the blood of his immolated Victim.
The last words of Christ are a shout of triumph: “Father, it is consummated.” Love has conquered Hate.
Sin is now in full flight. A moment ago, an enormous tidal wave, made up of all the crimes of earth, had sought
to engulf within its corrupt depths Him who offered Himself as the Life of the World. Now, Life descends
victorious from Calvary, driving back Sin to its ultimate retrenchments. God’s plan now unfolds in all its majesty –
the return to the Father, to the Father’s House.
How may we bring about this return?
By following Christ the Way, in what is to be henceforth His sorrowful way. “If anyone wishes to follow Me, let
him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” Integrated into Christ by Baptism, I (and not somebody else)
ought to die to self, and live the life of Christ. “Christ died for all; that they also who live, may not now live to
themselves, but unto Him Who died for them, and rose again.” (II Cor. 5:15)
With St. Paul we should say, “Those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, I fill up in my flesh, for
His body, which is the Church.” (Col. 1:24)
If our good works, sacrifices, and sufferings are to count for eternity and be pleasing to God, it is necessary for
us (as we have seen above) to be united to Christ. It is through Him, and with Him, and in Him that we become
recipients of God’s loving-kindness and mercy.
Our union with Christ, our integration into His Mystical Body, is effected by the sacraments. It is by Baptism that
we are introduced into Christ’s mystical family. It is through Baptism that we receive divine life; become adopted
sons of God the Father; brothers of Jesus Christ; temples of the Holy Spirit, and heirs of heaven!
But how should we offer up – following our Lord’s example – our adoration, thanksgivings, satisfactions, and
petitions to God? How should we nourish the divine life within us? By means of the Mass – the Sacrifice of the
Mystical Body.
vi. THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
The Mass is the means whereby we may become the prolongation of Christ.
• Through the offering of ourselves with Christ
• Through the consecration of ourselves through Christ
• Through the communion in Christ
to the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity and the sanctification of our souls. The Mass reminds us at one and the
same time of God’s condescension toward man, and of man’s ascension toward God! For the Mass sums up the
twin mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, at the same time that it applies to us their fruits. Crib and Cross
manifest to mankind God’s love for all; whereas the Mass stresses His love for the individual.
One ought, then, to look on the Mass as the sum total of man’s ascensions toward God, because it presupposes
and completes them. The sinner derives from it abundant graces of conversion. The just man finds fervor in it –
outstripping himself from one Consecration to another. Through the Mass man offers to God praise that is worthy
of Him.

This, then, is the place that the Mass occupies in God’s plan. Like Christ, it is at the center: as a sun to bring light
and warmth, to transform and uplift all creation and bring it back to its Creator in a hymn of thanksgiving.
The Mass ought to occupy ALL the place in our lives. We ought to:
• Offer ourselves up, like Christ on the Cross.
• Consecrate ourselves, ‘transubstantiate’ ourselves – dying to our life of sin; to live, henceforth, the life of Christ.
• Unite ourselves to Someone stronger than ourselves, communicating with Christ through reception of His Sacred
Body, in order to identify ourselves ever more closely with Him, so that – our bodily members belonging more to
Him than to us – we may be able to accomplish divine and supernatural works.
• Render – through Christ – perfect praise to the august Trinity.
Such should be the constant concern of our earthly existence, and the prelude to our heavenly life in a blessed
eternity.
vii. OFFERING CHRIST TO THE FATHER
We have seen that Christ is the center of religion and the universe. The creation, over which Christ reigns, is
willed by God for His glory. We are beings created solely for the praise and glory of God.
How can such a frail creature as man offer acceptable praise to the Blessed Trinity?
In this way. The Word of God was incarnated, became one of us, and to each one of us gave something of Himself
in such a way that we are enabled through Him, with Him, and in Him, to fulfill our religious duties toward God,
duties that may be summarized in two acts, as follows:
1. Our continual offering of Jesus Christ to God the Father.
2. Our offering of ourselves with Him and like Him in complete self-surrender and self-sacrifice, so as to become
one with Jesus Christ.
For Christ alone can glorify God as He deserves. Christ, equal to the Father by His Godhead, lowered Himself to
our level by the Incarnation. As man, Christ is able to bow before God and render Him true adoration in humility,
submission, and obedience. As God, Christ offers His Father homage of infinite worth.
It is the Incarnation that empowers us to offer God to God in the Person of Jesus Christ. Hence, the grandeur and
incomparable superiority of the Mass over all other acts of religion.
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 represent the offering up of His Sacrifice.
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 we should play in the Mass.
Pope Pius XII recalled this truth in his encyclical on the Mystical Body (Mystici Corporis): “In it, the priest not
only represents our Savior, 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.”
In what does Christ’s Sacrifice consist?
Our Lord’s Sacrifice consists in His complete self-renunciation – an immolation that began with the first instant of
His earthly existence and terminated on Calvary’s Cross.
Our Lord’s Sacrifice consists above all in the preferring of God’s will to His own: a preference shown by His
oblation, which persists eternally. This perfect love of Christ for His Father was stabilized by His death and will
abide throughout eternity.
Death fixes us in the dispositions we have at the moment of dying. Our degree of charity at death will mark our
degree of glory for eternity. The set of our hearts at death remains as the final disposition of our wills. Our Lord, at
the moment of His death on the Cross, attained (so to speak) the climax of His love for His Father. And it is
precisely these sublime dispositions of our Lord toward His Father at the moment of His death that are made actual
in the Mass. Now do you see why the Mass is of such great value?
Is the Mass the same as Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross, or is it a different Sacrifice?
It is the same Sacrifice. Christ offered Himself once for all. “...[W]e are sanctified by the oblation of the Body of
Jesus Christ once.” (Heb. 10:10)
To understand this, we have only to go back to the concept of oblation, renunciation, and choice. The
renunciation is summarized by Christ’s death accepted once and for all. On Calvary, this act of renunciation was
made Once, and it passed.
But above all, our Lord’s Sacrifice consists in this constant desire for His Father’s will in preference to His Own;
and this preference remains eternally fixed in heaven. Suffering passes – the fact of having suffered remains.
It is the same thing for us when we renounce anything. The act of self-denial is, like all acts, temporary; but the
disposition of the will to deny itself for a greater good remains just so long as we do not take it back. Death fixes
us forever in the dispositions in which it finds us. Christ’s Sacrifice persists in heaven, because the legacy of His
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life made on the Cross has never been cancelled. That which He gave was given for all time.... Christ’s immolation
is eternal. St. John, in his vision of heaven, sees Jesus as “a Lamb standing upright, yet slain (as I thought) in
sacrifice.” (Apoc. 5:6)
This is understandable. The purpose of our Lord’s Sacrifice having been to glorify God, the act whereby He
glorifies Him must, of necessity, be eternal.
When the priest brings Christ down upon the altar, he renders Him present such as He is in heaven; and He is in
heaven with the same loving dispositions that He had on Calvary at the moment of His death.
The Mass is, therefore, not a new Sacrifice by Christ; but the same Sacrifice actualized in the present. “We know
that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more.” (Rom. 6:9)
The Mass is thus the perpetual prolongation of the Sacrifice made on the Cross. Consequently, every Mass is the
one immolation of Christ repeated in the Act of Oblation. By the same act of the will, Jesus offers at the Last
Supper His death in the future; on Calvary His death in the present; in heaven and on the altar His death in the
past.
This special presence of Christ on the altar is peculiar to the Mass and demonstrates its grandeur.
When we celebrate the other mysteries of Christ’s life, we merely commemorate them. There is no real renewal
of the mystery on the day devoted to it. At Christmas, the Church recalls to our minds the Savior’s birth, but this
birth does not really take place – is not actualized in the present. On Ascension Thursday, our Lord does not renew
His ascent into heaven. It is quite otherwise for the Mass. It is no simple symbolic representation, for the same
Sacrifice that Christ accomplished on the cross is made truly present in an unbloody manner on the altar.
Does the Mass differ in any way from the Sacrifice of the Cross?
1. EXTERNALLY
We have seen that on the Cross, Christ expressed inner adoration toward His Father, by loving Him more than the
thing most precious to Him – His own life. We find the same interior adoration in the Mass, since Christ’s
preferential love for His Father persists eternally.
The difference appears in the outward expression of Christ’s inner sentiments. On the Cross, Christ manifests His
love for His Father by His death in a bloody manner. In the Mass, Christ offers Himself to His Father in a non-
bloody manner.
What sign, then, in the Mass gives outward expression to Christ’s inner adoration? For the Mass, like the
Sacraments, has a visible sign that signifies and actualizes the Sacrifice. This sign is the separate Consecration of
the bread and wine, representing the separation of our Lord’s body and blood on the Cross. The active
Consecration – that is, not yet accomplished, but in process of accomplishment – effectively signifies Christ’s
Sacrifice; since it renders present on the altar the same Sacrifice as that of Calvary.
Note that the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle is not, properly speaking, a sacrifice; since the exterior
sign – the Consecration – is lacking. Where the exterior element is lacking, there can be no sacrifice.
2. BY THE MODE OF OFFERING
Two things are needed to make a sacrifice: a) Renunciation or immolation; b) preference, choice, oblation or
offering.
Now on the Cross, as in the Mass, it is the same Victim that is immolated – our Lord. A difference exists,
however, in the method or mode of oblation. In the Mass, it is still our Lord who offers Himself as He did on
Calvary, but through the ministry of His priests.
Nevertheless, the priest is merely Christ’s representative. There is only one priest – Jesus Christ. But our Blessed
Lord, in His great mercy, and in order to make us participate still more intimately in His Sacrifice, has self-
imposed the condition whereby He cannot offer Himself on the altar without His priests. Thus, on the Cross, Christ
offers Himself by Himself in our name. In the Mass, it is the priest who, in the name of all the people, offers Christ
exteriorly. For interiorly, it is always Christ who offers.
3. AS TO TIME AND PLACE
The Sacrifice of the Cross occurred at a given moment in a given spot on the earth. Christ offered His death in the
present. In the Mass, Christ offers Himself throughout the whole universe, exactly as the prophet Malachias had
prophesied, and at each moment of the day and night. He offers His death as an accomplished historical fact.
To whom is the Sacrifice of the Mass offered?
To God alone. Why to God alone? a) Because the Mass is an act of adoration; b) because the dignity of Christ,
Victim and Sacrificer, is infinite, hence His offering can be addressed only to God; c) because an offering made to
a creature would be idolatrous, since the end of sacrifice is to acknowledge God’s pre-eminence and kingship over
all creation.
Nevertheless, the Sacrifice of the Mass may be offered in honor of the angels and saints: a) To thank God for the
wonderful way in which He has rewarded their virtue; b) to ask graces from God through their intercession or
patronage; c) to celebrate their virtues and their triumphs; d) to stir us up to imitate them.
The custom of offering the Mass in honor of the saints is a very ancient one. In the early days of the Church, it
was customary to gather round the tombs of the martyrs on the anniversaries of their deaths and have Mass
celebrated to honor their memory.
For whom may Mass be celebrated?
God always receives infinite praise from the Mass, even should the celebrant be unworthy of his high office; for it
is Christ, who – in the Mass, as once on Calvary – is both Priest and Victim. The Mass is offered to God alone; but
for the advantage, profit, utility, and benefit of the Mystical Body of Christ.

The beneficiaries of the Mass are thus the members of the Mystical Body. The Mass includes the ‘Memento of
the Living’ and the ‘Memento of the Dead’. We shall find there indicated the persons for whom Mass may be
celebrated.
1. The living.
These are the members of Christ’s Mystical Body still on earth: consequently, each one of us. Incidentally, a
beautiful prayer formula for offering prayer for dying sinners is the following: “My God, I offer you all the Masses
that are being celebrated today for those sinners who are in their agony now and are to die today. May the precious
Blood of Jesus obtain mercy for them!”
2. The dead. In other words, the souls in purgatory.
Charity demands that those members of the Mystical Body who have access to Christ’s oblation, should not forget
those members no longer able to offer the Holy Sacrifice. It devolves on us to see that the Church Suffering is not
deprived of its greatest good: the Mass, which applies to it Christ’s merits. If we would have Christians still on
earth think of us, when we in our turn shall be in purgatory; let us not forget the departed, who implore our prayers
and Masses!
The merit of a charitable work depends on three factors: 1) The value of the work in question; 2) The effort
involved; 3) The amount of charity with which the work is accomplished.
No work of mercy surpasses in value the gift of a Mass. If the cup of cold water is rewarded, of how much
greater merit is Christ’s infinite oblation applied to a human soul! No ether offering or riches is comparable. If
material or spiritual aid to a neighbor in need, draws down upon us Heaven’s blessings, how much more
meritorious still, the offering to a suffering member of the Mystical Body of the very immolation of Christ!
Do all members of the Mystical Body have an equal share in the fruits of the Mass?
It is customary to distinguish four fruits of the Mass:
• A general fruit destined for all members of the Mystical Body.
• A special fruit designed for all those assisting at the Sacrifice with suitable dispositions.
• A functional fruit directed toward those persons for whose intentions the Mass is being offered.
• A personal fruit designated for the priest celebrating the Holy Sacrifice.
Be it noted, however, that whatever may be our title for sharing in the fruits of the Mass, the profit we derive
from the Mass will depend on the dispositions with which we hear it.
viii. OFFERING MYSELF WITH CHRIST
What is the source of our obligation to offer ourselves in the Mass with Christ?
We have seen that the Mass is Christ’s Sacrifice, that is, the Sacrifice of Calvary made present on the altar. Now
Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross was not an individual, but a social sacrifice. It was as Head of the Mystical Body
that Christ consented to die. In offering and immolating Himself on the Cross, He included us in His Sacrifice.
Christ was obedient to His Father in His own name, and in ours. Our Lord had a right to include, to integrate us
into His Sacrifice; because we belong to Him, we are His members. He could require, therefore, that we should be
obedient to His Father, as He Himself was obedient.
On our Lord’s side, the Sacrifice is complete, of infinite merit. On our side, it is incomplete, finite, limited in its
application. We carry out this offering, this submission, or this immolation, with the passage of time; and also to
the degree in which we do not draw back from immolating ourselves with Christ. We understand better now St.
Paul’s words: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of
Christ, in my flesh, for His Body, which is the Church.” (Col. 1:24) Christ’s sufferings are complete in the order of
satisfaction and merit, but not in the order of application.
On our side, the Sacrifice of the whole Christ is incomplete. It will terminate with the death of the last member
of the Mystical Body, who adds the last thing lacking to the Passion of Christ. Consequently, our obligation to
offer ourselves with Christ in the Mass comes from our membership in Christ’s Mystical Body, into which we
were introduced by Baptism.
“It is not surprising,” writes Pope Pius XII in Mediator Dei, “that Christians should be raised to this dignity. For
by the bath of Baptism, Christians are made members of the Body of Christ the Priest; and by the ‘character’
which is, as it were, graven on their souls, are ordered to divine worship. They thus participate according to their
condition in the priesthood of Christ Himself.”
A non-baptized person may be bodily present at Mass, and may even follow the ceremonies intelligently. Yet, in
the full meaning of the term, he does not ‘assist’ at Mass; for he who truly assists has to be offered with Christ.
Now to be offered with Christ, one must first have been incorporated into Christ – be the prolongation of His life.
Hence, the baptismal character comprises a union with Christ, a likeness by reason of which we share in His
priesthood. And by virtue of our integration into Christ, we are enabled to be offered with Him; and to share in the
offering of His immolation, in His Sacrifice.
Not only is it permissible for us to be offered with Christ, but we are under obligation to offer ourselves with
Him – under pain of mutilating the total Christ! For the head alone is not the total Christ. In order for the Mystical
Body to be complete, both head and members are needed. This is the whole Christ, as He was offered up to God
on Calvary – as He is offered each day on our altars.
What are the three principal parts of the Mass?
The three principal parts are: 1) the Offertory or oblation; 2) the Consecration or immolation; 3) the Communion
or reception.

These three parts belong together and are the indispensable elements of every sacrifice. Every Mass demands an
offering, a relinquishment, a renunciation. Every offering calls for a consecration, an immolation, a choice. Every
consecration presupposes a communion – love calls for love, sacrifice for reception.
What is meant by this expression: “The Mass must be lived”?
Christ included us in His Sacrifice by offering us together with Himself to the Father. The Mass is the means the
Church has at her disposal for offering supreme homage to the Blessed Trinity.
The Mass is not Christ’s Sacrifice alone, but that of the whole Mystical Body as well. If we are content to offer
up our Lord’s sufferings, there is no sacrifice on our part, but a petition (“Dear God, here are the sufferings of your
Divine Son. In return, please grant me such and such a favor!”)
If the Mass is to become my Mass, my sacrifice offered to God, if I am to offer the Blessed Trinity my portion of
thanksgiving and praise, I must live the way Christ lived; in the same dispositions of denial of self and of placing
God first, of obedience, of daily immolation. My sacrifice must be added to His!
It is only when we offer our sacrifices to God in union with Christ’s Sacrifice that they become as gold, just as
the tiny drop of water that falls into the chalice becomes wine! It is ‘through Him’ and ‘in Him’ that our sacrifices
acquire all their value. Hence, the extreme importance of centering our lives on the Mass.
Our Sacrifice, our Mass, is in two parts:
1. The ritual offering in union with that of Christ in His name. I offer myself completely, and in advance, for the
hours that lie ahead.
2. The second action – too often forgotten – is as important as the first. This consists in the carrying out of the
offering, throughout the course of the day, in the midst of the series of actions that make up its warp and woof.
This is what is known as ‘living my Mass’.
Everything does not end with the Ite, missa est. On the contrary, it is then that everything begins. For when a
person has offered himself, all himself, with Christ, how is it possible for him to think, speak, and act as do those
who have never offered themselves?
Remember! God gives Himself to the one giving himself, and God is not pleased with half gifts! God never lets
Himself be outdone in generosity. That is why, after giving ourselves to God through Christ, our Mass is
completed by Communion, which gives God to us through Christ.
What preparation should Ι bring to my Mass?
The celebration of a Mass is not just something that can be improvised on the spot, especially when one considers
that the Mass is the greatest event in world history. Α proper preparation should be threefold:
1. Doctrinal preparation.
By means of reading, of listening to God’s Word, and of study groups. Such preparation for Mass is most
important and fruitful, because it shows us the prime value of the Mass and compels us to study the great dogmas
of our Faith, for which the Mass serves as a rallying-point: The Trinity, the Incarnation, Redemption, grace and
glory.
If many souls fail to progress, if instead of going forward, they continually go backward, it should be recognized
that the principal cause of their spiritual anemia is to be found in their total or partial ignorance of the Mass –
center of their lives. Let us rise up against this ignorance and apathy. Let us study these great truths and then share
with others the knowledge that we acquire.
2. Liturgical preparation.
The ceremonial of the Mass is of singular help in the understanding of the doctrine. The Church has multiplied the
number of liturgical ceremonies so as to present, under a simple form of imagery, the fundamental theology of the
Sacrifice of the Mass.
3. Ascetic preparation.
Of the three preparations, the ascetic (or that of the heart and will) is the most important. It should be the constant
concern of my life. Its purpose is to conform me more and more to Christ. The more I am a victim, the more will
my Mass profit me and my neighbor. For Christ, the Mass is the Sacrifice of utter self-abasement and self-
surrender. We are members of Christ.
ix. PURPOSE OF THE HOLY MASS
The end of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was the salvation of mankind. As this end was attained fully and
completely and for all times by the suffering of Christ, the purpose of the Holy Mass must be quite different from
the purpose of the sacrifice on the cross. The Mass is an application of the merits of His death on the cross to us
sinners. From this it follows that in a fuller way and with a more sublime signification than the sacrifices of the
Old Testament, the Holy Mass is to be considered as:
• An offering of adoration and recognition of the Supreme Majesty: Jesus Christ adores God as fully as He
deserves. In the Mass, we honor God by God Himself, namely by Jesus Christ.
• An offering of thanksgiving to God, the origin of all blessings. Here also Jesus takes our place and He thanks the
Creator with infinite perfection for all His heavenly and earthly blessings. By Jesus alone can we entirely fulfill
our duty of thankfulness towards God.
• An offering of atonement for forgiveness of daily sins and of temporal punishments due for mortal sins that are
already forgiven. The Holy Mass makes mercy possible where there is sufficient sorrow for deadly sins.
• An offering of impetration or prayer. It is Jesus Who is praying for us in the Sacrifice, Jesus Whose prayers are
always heard.

VII. A LONG INTROIT
Psalm 18:2-30
Diligam te, Domine.
David’s thanks to God for his delivery from all his enemies.
Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the
Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. (c.f. II Kg. 22)
I WILL LOVE THEE, O LORD, MY STRENGTH: The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My
God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support.
Praising I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies. The sorrows of death surrounded me: and
the torrents of iniquity troubled me.
The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me. In my affliction I called upon the
Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his
ears. The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he
was angry with them. There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds. And he made darkness
his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air. At the brightness that was before him
the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire. And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail
and coals of fire. And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.
Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath. He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many waters. He
delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. They
prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord became my protector. And he brought me forth into a large
place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:
Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done wickedly against my God. For till his judgments are in
my sight: and his justices I have not put away from me. And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself
from my iniquity. And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my
hands before his eyes.
With the holy, thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent. And with the elect thou wilt be
elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted. For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the
eyes of the proud. For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God enlighten my darkness. For by thee I shall be
delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall.
VIII. AT THE COLLECTS
STIR UP THY POWER, WE BESEECH THEE, O LORD, AND COME: that from the threatening dangers of our
sins we may deserve to be rescued by Thy protection, and to be saved by Thy deliverance: Who livest and reignest
with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen
IX. AN EXERPT FROM AN EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL
Romans 8:1-2, 10-11
THERE IS NOW therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh.
For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death. And if Christ be
in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification.
X. A GRADUAL
Psalm 117:1-2, 16-29
Confitemini Domino.
The psalmist praiseth God for his delivery from evils: putteth his whole trust in him; and foretelleth the coming of
Christ. Alleluia.
GIVE PRAISE TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD: FOR HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER. Let Israel now
say that he is good: that his mercy endureth for ever.
The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exulted me: the right hand of the
Lord hath wrought strength. I shall not die, but live: and shall declare the works of the Lord. The Lord chastising
hath chastised me: but he hath not delivered me over to death. Open ye to me the gates of justice: I will go into
them, and give praise to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it.
I will give glory to thee because thou hast heard me: and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders
rejected; the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing: and it is wonderful in our eyes. This
is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. O Lord, save me: O Lord, give good
success.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. The Lord is
God, and he hath shone upon us. Appoint a solemn day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the alter. Thou art
my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. I will praise thee, because thou hast heard
me, and art become my salvation. O praise ye the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

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