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August 23, 1954

Copyright 1955 by

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A Grail Publication

oeacMNMl



I

F you were cruising down the Mississippi River

on a steamboat in the days of Mark Twain,

you would have been amazed as the stern wheeler

approached St. Louis. You could stand on the

deck of the steamboat and look out upon one of

the most amazing sights in North America.

On the shores of Illinois and Missouri there rose

to the sky huge mounds of dirt. So numerous were

these mounds in the vicinity of St. Louis that the

city was called the " Mound City.” When St. Louis

began to expand its building operations, the

mounds on the Missouri side of the river were

removed by steam shovels.

On the Illinois side there still remain a number

of these mounds in the neighborhood of East St.

Louis. According to historians, the tops of these

mounds were much higher than they are now. It

took the work of thousands of Indians over long

periods of time to build these monuments, which

were constructed by the laborious method of haul-

ing mud and dirt from the surrounding area.

On the tops of some of these massive earthen

structures, altars were erected. But with the pass-

age of time, these altars disappeared.

1



SOUTH OF THE BORDER

South of the border down Mexico way, tourists

in the land of sunshine often include an excursion

to the great Sun Pyramid twenty-five miles north-

east of Mexico City. To stand at the foot of the

Sun Pyramid and gaze up at its peak is an awe-

some experience. The immensity of the Pyramid is

overwhelming. Its four triangular sides swim up

and away to merge and melt at infinity. On top

of this pyramid once stood the Sun Temple, 212

feet above the basal platform. This great temple

was once the center of Indian worship.1

WHY

"'Why did the ancient Indians build altars?”

For the same reason that should prompt you to

come to Church on Sunday, and week days as well

—to offer sacrifice to God.
"What is a sacrifice?”

A good pagan, be he ancient Roman, or Aztec

Indian, could answer the question.

"The modern man,” remarks Father
J.

Putz,

"finds the Mass difficult, because he has lost the

notion of sacrifice. This is the real explanation of

the wide-spread indifference towards so great an

action. A pagan has some idea of what his offer-

ings to the divinity mean; he is religious, God-

conscious, though his religion may be mixed with

2



superstition. But modern man has lost the sense of

God the Creator, Lord, and last End. The diffi-

culty of explaining sacrifice is increased by the

fact that in ordinary speech sacrifice is identified

with something unpleasant, with the negative idea

of giving up things we like. To get back to the

true meaning of sacrifice, we must interpret it in

terms of giving, which is something positive, and

by itself delightful/’ 2

To understand the Mass, we must first under-

stand what a sacrifice is. We must answer that

question, "Why do men give gifts to God?”

Go back to the days of Aristotle when the an-

cient Greek walked noble and erect along the sandy

shores of the blue Aegean and looked up into

the vast dome of heaven with clear, searching eyes.

As he looked, the pagan realized that the heav-

ens show forth the glory of God, and the sky

declares the work of His hands. Day to day utters

speech, and night to night shows knowledge.

The pagan listened to the wind among the

trees playing celestial symphonies, and saw the

branches downward bent like keys of some great

instrument. Vast-heaving, boundless, endless, and

sublime, the image of eternity, the throne of the

Invisible, the sky became alive with things mys-

terious that spoke with the voice of thunder of the

grandeur of God. The sky spoke of Him Who

3



"walks on the wings of the winds, and the clouds

are His chariots.”

ONLY GOD CAN MAKE A TREE
The pagan witnessed the miracle of a tiny seed

sprouting in the moist earth, and reaching green

hands heavenwards towards the sun. He saw the

seed grow into a giant tree that wrestled with

Herculean winds, and slept in the mellow glow of

moonlight on a midsummer night. The pagan

realized that only God could make a tree.

SOURCE OF LIFE

The ancient pagan felt warm blood coursing

through his veins, his heart beating fast with the

wonder of it. The pagan could not define life, but

he knew all life came from God—and he wanted
to acknowledge that fact. He wanted to adore God

as the Creator and Origin of life.

Modern man walks into the operating room of

a metropolitan hospital and sees white gowned

surgeons bending over a limp figure on the operat-

ing table. Feverishly they work to keep alive the

fitful spark of life. But scalpels, oxygen tanks and

the trained fingers of famous surgeons can’t en-

snare that evasive, fleeting spark called life. It

belongs to God alone.

20th Century man claims to rule the seven seas.

He builds B-52 Intercontinental Bombers that

4



leap across the oceans. He designs a F7U-3 Cut-

lass to slice the ozone up where the air is thin and

crystal cold. He catapults a WAC Corporal rocket
two hundred and fifty miles into the zenith. He

dives in a benthoscope four thousand five hun-

dred feet into the cold waters off a Santa Cruz

dock, and descends two miles into the sunless sea.

He makes sulfa drugs, tank-crashing bazookas, and

TV color sets, but he cannot make a radish.

THEE, GOD, I COME FROM

Life, all life, comes from God, and modern man,

as well as the ancient pagan, if he is honest, wants

to acknowledge that fact. He wants to adore God

as the Creator and Origin of life.

AMBASSADORS OF LIGHT

Alone in the night on a dark hill that runs down

into deep bays of warm seas, a pagan stands and

watches the army of the stars appear. White, and

topaz, and misty red gleam sentinels in the sky.

Lamp posts to light the night and guide the way

of the traveller across the shifting sands of the

Sahara, or the rolling waters of "Mare Nostrum."

From rim to rim, across the bowl of the sky

glimmers the star-studded haze called the Milky

Way, that ribbon of light woven of flaming suns.

Far overhead the Great Bear dances around the

polar star. There is bright Algol, beloved of camel

5



drivers; and blue Denebola, golden Dubhe, and

Vega, the pale sapphire.

Up the dome of heaven, like a great hill, he

sees them marching stately and still, and he knows

that God Who made them deserves rich praise for

lavishing His beauty and skill on the universe, to

make this earth, our heritage, a pleasant and a

cheerful place. The pagan realizes that stars are

heralds from on high, ambassadors of light, to

speak to us of God’s beauty and power. The pagan

wants to acknowledge this fact. He wants to praise

God for His everlasting beauty and infinite skill.

THROUGH GIANT EYES

When twilight falls from the wings of night,

and darkness wraps her mantle of mystery and

silence around the shoulders of the world, modern

man looks through giant eyes of massive telescopes

to search the heavens, and is amazed. A floating

universe of epic majesty swims into his ken. He

sees the circling rings of Saturn, spreading their

tremendous disks of light against the blackness

of space, cutting circles of beauty, sky-like em-

blems of eternity.

Swinging out into distant space, he sees stars

so vast that our sun, and all the planets in their

turn could be poured into their center. Our sun is

over one million times the size of the earth, yet he

6



is a mere welterweight in a universe of champions,

a pygmy among his colossal companions. Many

stars are hundreds of times as big as our sun and

much brighter. The star Doradus quivers with a

blinding light, the intensity of which is more

than three hundred thousand times that of the sun.

SILVER ARROWS OF LIGHT

Prominent among our sky neighbors is Sirius,

the brightest star in our northern sky. Like the sun,

he too is an archer, shooting silver arrows of light

—light that speeds through space at the madden-
ing pace of one hundred and eighty-six thousand

miles per second. So distant is this gleaming giant

that his arrows of light require nine years to race

across the dark chasms that separate us.

ORPHANED NORTH STAR

Some stars are so distant, they could fall from

the heavens tonight, and we would never be aware

of it for hundreds of years. If the North Star

should vanish tonight, neither we nor our great-

great-great-great-grandchildren would ever know

it. The North Star is over 300 light-years away.

We would continue to see the orphaned rays of

starlight for three centuries.

Beyond our galaxy, at a distance greater than

the human mind can conceive, are millions and

millions of other universes of stars. (Our own

7



Milky Way galaxy alone contains twenty billion

stars.) Spinning in a great sea of space these gal-

axies are scattered out at an immense distance from

each other. The cyclopean eye of the 200-inch

Hale telescope on Palomar shows us many of these

distant stellar systems. One such is a thousand

billion years distance, if you travel with the speed

of light. These universes are running away from

us, and from each other, with the devastating speed

of tweny-five thousand miles per second!

OUR SPACE SHIP

Our own earth is cruising through space thirteen

times faster than a V-2 rocket. So faithful and

accurate is our planet in keeping its schedule that

not once in a thousand years are we behind time

even as much as 1/100 of a second in keeping our

rendezvous with the stars.

THE HEAVENS SHOW FORTH THE GLORY

OF GOD

Tremendous as are the vast bulks of whirling

suns that speed down the avenues of the sky they

are but grains of sand to Him Who weighs them

in the palm of His hand, poises them in their

sweeping orbits, and balances their massive weight

as easily as dust beams dancing in the sunlight.

The modern man who is honest with himself,

8



wants to acknowledge this fact. He wants to praise

God for His everlasting beauty and infinite skill.

GOLDEN RIPE

The ancient pagan walked into the wheat field,

golden and ripe for the harvest. He strolled

through mountain vineyards, and noticed the great,

purple grapes ripening under the autumn sun. He

knew these gifts were from God, and felt com-

pelled to express his thanks.

TOMORROW’S FOOD IN TODAY’S SKY

In that hushed and breathless moment when

day is almost done, and the trees of the forest are

filled with colors that have no names, clouds de-

scend the stairway of the sky to mingle with the

mountain peaks. From the copper canyons of the

west they steal the glowing embers of the dying

sun, and scatter them in blazing climax to light

the campfires in the sky. The pagan looked there-

on, and wanted to thank God for the ever-re-

deemed promise of our daily bread.

GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD

A business man travelling on the Union Pacific

streamliner from Chicago to Denver, sits down in

the dining car for a meal the whole world has

prepared for him. Pungent, aromatic coffee from

Brazil, tasty bananas from Panama, spices from

India, pineapples from Hawaii, oranges from Cali-

9



fornia, wine from Italy, beefsteak from Wyoming,

apples from Washington, and potatoes from the

Red River Valley of North Dakota. As the stream-

liner flashes across the rails, the business man

glances out the window and sees long fields of

barley and of rye that clothe the world and meet

the sky, and that tell us of Him Who listens to

our prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread."

THANKS

If a spark of gratitude quivers in his soul, he,

too, wants to thank God for the ever-redeemed

promise of our daily bread.

LOVE BLOOMS

When love flows like a mighty river into his

soul, man wants to give his life, to spend himself,

and to be spent, working for the wife he loves, and

for the children with whom God has blest him.

Man would like to build a castle wall secure and

strong to protect his loved ones from the ravages of

time and fortune. He would like to wave a magic

wand and with a single, encircling gesture make

all his dreams come true for those he loves. To

give them all blessings possible, to fill their days

with the sunshine of happiness.

STORM CLOUDS

But man looks up and finds dark clouds gather-

ing on the horizon. Heavy skies throw shadows

10



dark as stone, and hide the future in misty uncer-

tainty. Man feels the need of help above and be-

yond his own. Man feels the need to petition God,

to ask God for the necessities of life, and for

favors.

"MARCH OF TIME

”

Modern man needs God’s help more keenly

than ever. At the turn of the half century, the

''March Of Time” presented "Half A Century In

Review” which emphasised the gulf existing be-

tween man’s mechanical attainments, on the one

hand, and his spiritual poverty on the other.

PHILOSOPHY OF DESPAIR

Never before have there been such technological

advances. From stratoliners to cinemascope, from

TV to power steering the world has become mech-

anically more wonderful. But despite the marvel

of radio, Shooting Star jet planes, and sulfa drugs,

man is unhappy and dissatisfied. "Pessimistic man

today,” remarks Bishop Sheen, "has given himself

to a philosophy of despair.” 3

NEED OF GOD

Threatened with atomic extinction, caught in

the backwash of war years, and seeking in vain

among creatures for the peace of mind they

cannot give, modern man is coming to realize the

IX



need to petition God, to ask God for the necessities

for both body and soul.

WEARY STEPS

Man, both ancient and modern, would like to

walk erect and straight along the lofty road that

leads up to the high mountain of God. But some-

times his steps grow weary, his pace slackens, he

stumbles and falls into the brambles and briars,

and is bruised on the sharp rocks of sin and disas-

ter. Then he looks up with pleading eyes into the

eyes of God, and seeks pardon. He wants to ask

for forgiveness. He wants to propitiate God.

INTELLECTUALLY HONEST

Man, if he is intellectually honest, realizes his

dependence on God, and feels inclined to adore

God, to acknowledge God, that is, as the Lord

and Giver of Life.

Man sees God’s beauty and perfection every-

where, and feels compelled to praise God.

Man realizes that God is the Giver of every good

and perfect gift, and wants to thank God.

Man realizes he needs God’s help, and wants to

petition God, to ask God, that is, for help. To

ask favors for the future, and beg pardon for

the past.

How can man perform this duty of adoration,

praise, thanksgiving, and petition?

12



MAN TO MAN
Look first, and see how man acts towards man.

How does man show love, praise, thanks to his

fellow men. How does he make requests and beg

their pardon.

TWIN STARS FROM HEAVEN

A young man with love light shining in his

eyes like twin stars from above, sometimes finds

himself with nothing to say. When love reaches

to heights that have no words, rhetoric is all a tan-

gle in his throat. Love that is so bold stops on the

edge of speech.

A GIFT SPEAKS OF LOVE

But beauty is looking into his soul with calm,

sweet eyes that send armies with banners charging

through his veins, and heat lightning quivering

through his pulse. The young man must let the

girl of his dreams know that she reigns supreme as

queen of his heart. He gives a box of candy, a gift

to speak of the love that is in his heart. A gift be-

comes an ambassador of good will to speak of that

ecstatic love that makes each moment divine, each

day a precious treasure. A gift speaks of love.

A GIFT SPEAKS OF PRAISE

During war years we praise our young men who

distinguish themselves on the field of battle. We

13



give them a silver star, and we give medals of

honor. Gifts speak our praise.

A GIFT SAYS "THANKS

”

When the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens

a-twinkle like a million silver jewels, and the

deep quiet of the evergreen forest is broken by the

music of sleigh bells and the warm laughter of

children, we bring Christmas gifts to express our

appreciation for favors received during the past

twelve months. A gift expresses our thanks.

A GIFT BEGS PARDON

If we have been so unfortunate as to offend a

friend by some unkind word or jarring deed, we

hasten to make amends, and send a gift which

will say we are sorry, and will silently plead for

forgiveness. A gift pleads for us, asking pardon

for the past, and seeking assurance for the future.

The way of men with men is to show their love,

praise, thanks, and petition by means of gifts.

MEN TO GOD

The ways of men with God are similar.

A GIFT SAYS "WE ADORE YOU”

Man wanted to give God a gift that would say

in effect, "We realize that all life comes from

You, and so to You we give life back again." Man

wanted to adore God.

14



A LIVING GIFT

Long before the arrival of the white man on the

North American continent, Indians regarded Ni-

agara Falls and its vicinity as sacred grounds of the

Great Spirit. War was not permitted within sight

and sound of the "Thunder of Waters,” Once

each year the tribe dwelling nearby offered its

fairest maiden as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit.

She was placed in a birch canoe loaded with flow-

ers and fruit and sent over the crest into the

thundering gorge below .4

CORTES

When Cortes made his entrance into Mexico, he

expressed a desire to visit the great Sun Temple.

Bernal Diaz, one of his soldiers who accompanied

him, later wrote a history of that impressive visit.

He wrote of the one hundred and fourteen broad

steps leading up to the tremendous temple, and of

the sacrificial altar on which human lives were

offered to God . 5

The Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians at one time

offered human sacrifice to God, as did many other

nations and tribes. 5a

CONCLUSION OVERLOOKED

The Jews were aware of a conclusion overlooked

by some other nations. Since human life is sacred

and belongs to God alone, it is not proper for man

15



to deprive a fellow being of life, even in recogni-

tion of God’s dominion.

PRIZE CALF

The Jews offered up the life of a prize calf, or

ox, or sheep. In the Book of Exodus we read that

Moses rising in the morning built an altar at the

foot of the mountain. He then sent young men of

the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts,

and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.

The ancient Chinese made their chief sacrifice

during the winter months on a high altar in the

southern section of Peking. Like the Jews, their

main offering was chosen from the animal king-

dom—
a

prize ox being considered as the choicest

gift.

A GIFT SAYS ”WE PRAISE YOU”

Gifts offered to express praise of the divinity

were numerous and varied as the tribes of men.

REGAL GIFT

Among the Hindus the horse was the "King of

Sacrifices.” In a land where ordinary people

walked, or rode donkeys, the horse was an emblem

of royalty. The offering of this regal creature

was marked with solemnities that lasted for three

days.

A SAFFRON ROBE

Along the blue waters of the Mediterranean, in

16



the great city of Athens, the ancient Greeks erected

temples of beauty and symmetry that have charmed

all ages, and reflected the perfection of the zenith

of classical art.

High above the city stood the Acropolis like a

royal diadem whose crowning jewel was the Par-

thenon, the temple of Pallas Athena which housed

a gold and ivory statue of the virgin goddess sculp-

tured by the great Phidias. For the Greeks, Pallas

Athena was a divine revelation. She was consid-

ered the highest incorporation of divine wisdom, a

pure and radiant apparition high above the cults of

Aphrodite and Dionysus.

Every four years the great national feast was

celebrated here with elaborate musical, and dra-

matic performances. The feast was climaxed by

the people coming to the shrine of Pallas Athena

and having a young woman offer to the goddess a

rich saffron robe. This feast was celebrated for

eleven hundred years, during which time the Par-

thenon remained dedicated to the virginal goddess,

until it entered the service of the Virginal Mother

of God . 6

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

In Ephesus, one of the three great holy cities of

antiquity, the traveler could view the gigantic

terrace upon which was built one of the seven

17



wonders of the world—the shrine of Diana. The
great idol, carved from vinewood, like the black

stone of Kaaba at Mecca, was believed to have

fallen from heaven. Behind this statue, and under

the protection of this goddess the entire treasury

of the province of Asia had been deposited. Here,

as in the Temple in Jerusalem, all the savings and

endowments of the priests were placed for safe

keeping. The temple itself, which had burned dur-

ing the night when Alexander the Great was born,

had been rebuilt, and was approximately the size

of the present St. Peter’s in Rome. For more than

a thousand years Diana ruled from this great

throne, and received the sacrifices of willing sub-

jects .
7

A GIFT SAYS "THANK YOU"

Gifts of thanksgiving are as old as history itself.

In the Old Testament we read that the sons of

Adam and Eve offered sacrifice to the Lord. To

thank God for the bounty of the harvest, Cain,

who tilled the soil, offered the first fruits of the

earth to the Maker thereof. Abel, a shepherd by

occupation, offered a choice lamb chosen from

among the flocks he tended . 8

NOAH

When Noah came out of the ark, his first act

was to build an altar and to offer some animals on

18



it to God. A ritual and solemn way of saying

"thank You" to the Almighty Who had saved

him . 9

MELCHISEDECH

The book of Genesis tells us that when Abraham

was returning from a great victory in battle, he met

Melchisedech, priest of the most high God. Mel-

chisedech was an ancient priest who ruled in Salem,

the old site of Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that

upon meeting Abraham, Melchisedech, the king of

Salem, brought forth bread and wine, blessed

Abraham, and said, "Blessed be Abraham by the

most high God, Who created heaven and earth.

And blessed be the most high God by whose pro-

tection the enemies of God are in thy hand."

PURPLE GRAPES

The Roman took the great purple grapes ripen-

ing under the autumn sun, selected the choicest

clusters, pressed the wine from them, and then, to

thank God for the bounty of the harvest, poured

out a libation upon the earth.

So thoroughly was the idea of sacrifice inter-

woven into the Greek way of life, that no meal

was partaken of until a libation of the wine about

to be consumed was poured out to God. Even

pastry, cakes, and fruits were offered as sacrifices.

19



A simple and heartfelt way to say "Thank You” to

God.

TIGER TENZING

On the frigid, wind swept heights of the most

massive mountain in the world, are two "Thank

You" offerings to God. Two very different gifts

offered on the peak of Mt. Everest to Him Whose

fingers formed the towering heights, and balanced

their awful weight.

Tenzing Sherpa, the most famous Nepali moun-

taineer, who together with Sir Edmund Hillary

scaled the hitherto unconquered Mt. Everest, was

interviewed by Father Vincent Gnanapragasm,

Jesuit missionary in India.

"And, waiting for awhile on the top of Everest,

what was the offering you made?" questioned

Fr. Gnanapragasm.

"Oh! that," Tenzing replied with a smile, as a

certain amount of shyness suffused his face, "Well,

Father, I took whatever I could lay my hands upon

at that moment—a few sweets and chocolate bars
—and offered them to the God Who made that
mountain."

TOP OF THE WORLD

"I remembered," continues Father Gnanapra-

gasm, "that another offering had been made at that

time on the top of the world’s greatest peak, but it

20



had not received the publicity which the act of this

simple sherpa did. Beside the offering made by

Tenzing lies a crucifix. It was placed there by Sir

Edmund Hillary at the request of Sir John Hunt,

the expedition’s leader, who had received it from

an English priest. There is something symbolic in

those two different offerings by a pagan and a

Christian on the world’s nearest point to heaven .” 10

THE MOUNTAIN IS HIS

Those offerings are a realization of the words of

the Royal Psalmist, King David, "Come into the

presence of God with thanksgiving; for the Lord

is a great God, and a great King above all. For in

His hand are all the ends of the earth; and the

heights of the mountains are His; . . . and His

hands formed the dry land.”

SUN DANCE

Sundance, Wyoming is more than the name of

a western town. It is. a vivid reminder of the sacri-

fice made by the Teton Sioux Indians to petition

the blessing of the Great Spirit.

At the budding of the wild sage in the days of

Sitting Bull, the Sioux gathered around the

"wakan” or holy tree, and in the ordeal of the Sun

Dance offered a heroic sacrifice. The self-sacrifice

of the young men participating consisted in having

their backs or chests slit open with knives.

21



Through these slits rawhide ropes were inserted,

and the young men suspended from the "wakin”

or holy tree until the flesh tore loose and they fell

to the ground. If their own weight did not suffice

to pull them loose, buffalo skulls were finally tied

to their feet to give more weight. Rain-In-The-

Face hung from the "wakan” for two days until at

last buffalo skulls were tied to his feet and he fell

to the ground . 11

SCAPEGOAT

The word "scapegoat” is common to all of us.

But do you know that the scapegoat was a sacrifice

to ask God’s pardon for sin?

A GIFT BEGS PARDON

On the great day of Atonement, besides the

other sacrifices, the Jews brought forward two

goats, one upon which the high priest laid his

hands while he confessed the sins of his people.

Thus symbolically laden with the sins of the peo-

ple, the goat was led into the desert and its life

offered to God. The other goat was sacrificed and

offered in atonement for sin.

LAMB OF GOD

Among the Jews and among the pagans the

sacrifice of animals was merely an expression of

man’s quest for an adequate sacrifice of atonement

and reconciliation. In the fullness of time such a

22



sacrifice came, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the

Lamb of God, "Who takes away the sins of the

world.” No animal can atone for man, but God

Himself can make superabundant atonement.

OLD COVENANT ABROGATED

The sacrifices of the Jews and pagans were

imperfect. After the duration of many centuries

God announced by the voice of prophets that the

Old Covenant was abrogated.

Sacrifice is the public rendering to God through

the hands of a priest of some visible gift which

symbolizes a giving of one’s self to God.

NEW COVENANT ESTABLISHED

Jesus Christ as the representative of the whole

human race, and in the full dignity of His calling,

offered as a gift His own Blood, which would be

shed by the executioners on Golgotha. The offer-

ing was made at the Last Supper; the saving Blood

was poured out upon the cross. From creation on-

ward, this was the single sacrificial Gift wholly

pleasing to God, and, as we know, it brought about

man’s redemption.

The New Covenant was established on Holy

Thursday night with the words of Christ, Who

under the appearance of wine shed His own blood.

"This is the chalice of the New Testament which

is shed for you.”

23



On Good Friday, when Christ swallowed down

death that we might be the heirs of life everlasting

—the veil of the Great Temple of Jerusalem was
torn from top to bottom, as a sign that the sacri-

ficial worship of Israel was now fulfilled on the

cross.

NEJV SACRIFICE

With the institution of the Sacrifice of the Cross,

the sacrifices of the Old Law were supplanted at

once, and abolished forever. In these old sacrifices

oxen, and sheep had been offered as figures and

symbols; In the New Sacrifice was offered the

Flesh and Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God Who

takes away the sins of the world.

THE MASS

The sacrifice of the Mass is the same as that

sacrifice of the Cross. The Mass repeats the offer-

ing of the supper room as consummated on the

Cross. In every Mass, Christ presents Himself

once more to the Father. And since we are one

with Christ, this gift of Himself to His Father,

becomes ours. "The satisfaction of Christ,” says

St. Thomas, "belongs to all the faithful as to His

members.”

REAL SACRIFICE

The Mass is a real sacrifice. It is not a mere

reminder of the crucifixion. It is an essential and

24



living renewal of the sacrifice of the cross. St.

Gregory the Great says; "The Eucharistic sacrifice

renews mystically the death of the only begotten

Son of God."

Saint Peter Canisius, called the Watch Dog of

Germany, because of his zeal in defending the faith

in that country, writes as follows concerning the

Mass; "The Sacrifice of the Mass, rightly under-

stood, is both a representation, at once holy and

living, and an offering, bloodless, yet actual, of the

passion of the Lord, and of the blood-stained

sacrifice which was offered for us on the cross."

The Mass is not only a representation of the Sac-

rifice of the cross, it is the offering of the sacrifice

of the cross. It is the offering of the immolated

Christ as our sacrifice.

UNBLOODY SACRIFICE

The Baltimore Catechism tell us that the Mass

is the UNBLOODY SACRIFICE of the body and

blood of Christ. And the Mass is the SAME

SACRIFICE AS THAT OF THE CROSS. The

next question is: "Why is the Mass the same

sacrifice as that of the cross?"

SAME AS CROSS

The answer: "The Mass is the SAME SACRI-

FICE AS THAT OF THE CROSS BECAUSE

THE OFFERING (the victim) and the PRIEST

25



(the one making the sacrifice or the offering) are

the SAME—CHRIST our Blessed Lord; and the
ENDS for which the sacrifice of the Mass is of-

fered are the same as those of the sacrifice of the

cross.”

The Mass is the central act of worship of the

Catholic Church. It is the very heart of the re-

ligion established by Jesus Christ.

Christ instituted the sacrifice of the Mass in or-

der to enable mankind to worship God in the best

possible manner. The Mass is a real sacrifice. It is

the renewal of the sacrifice of the cross. The

MASS is the CROSS ALL OVER AGAIN, only

in an unbloody manner; on the cross our Redemp-

tion was accomplished, in the Mass the fruits are

applied.

WHY SO SACRED?

What makes the Mass so sacred ? Why is it such

a privilege to attend Mass?

It is because Christ is at once the VICTIM

OFFERED, and the PRIEST WHO OFFERS the
victim. The victim on the cross, and the victim in

the Mass is the same. It is Christ.

CHRIST IS THE PRIEST

The one who offers the sacrifice on the cross,

and the one who offers the sacrifice in the Mass is

the same. It is Christ. On the cross Christ was the

26



real priest, i.e., He was the one who made the

offering. In the Mass Christ is the real priest, i.e.,

the one who really makes the offering, the sacrifice.

The human priest is merly the agent of Christ, His

instrument, acting in the name of Christ.

"The visible priest,” says the Imitation of Christ,

"is but the minister (or agent) of Christ, using the

words of Christ, by command and institution of

Christ.” (Bk. IV, 5)

Hence it is well to remember that it is Christ

Who is AT ONE AND THE SAME TIME the
PRIEST Who OFFERS the Sacrifice, and ALSO

THE SACRIFICE ITSELF.

CHRIST, the PRIEST, OFFERS the SACRI-

FICE, which is HIMSELF. The human priest you

see standing at the altar is called a priest, only

because he is a representative of Christ, and acts in

the name of Christ, the real priest. At his ordina-

tion the human priest receives the power to act

in the name of Christ, but it is always Christ

Who offers Himself for us at each Mass.

EVERLASTING VICTIM

The same sacrifice that was offered on the Cross

by the shedding of blood is offered on our altars

in an unbloody manner. In everything except the

manner of offering, the Mass is the same sacrifice

as that of the cross. Christ is the Lamb of God

27



“Who was slain for the redemption of the world

He is the everlasting victim. Christ is offered daily

at Mass throughout the world from the first crin>

son flush of dawn behind the eastern hills, until

the scarlet climax to day’s declining splendor.

"From the rising of the sun to going down thereof,

My name is great among the Gentiles, and in every

place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My

name a clean oblation.” (Malachias 1, 11)

YOU STAND AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS

Until the end of time Mass will be offered as

an infinite oblation to the Divine Majesty. The

Mass is the most sacred action that can be per-

formed this side of heaven. When we assist at

Mass, we stand once more at the foot of the Cross.

The Blood of Jesus is as truly offered at Mass as it

was when He was nailed to the cross; hence

the Church treats everything which relates to the

Holy Sacrifice of the altar with the same reverence

as Mary and St. John showed to the body of Christ

when they removed it from the cross.

We have mentioned that the Mass is the SAME

SACRIFICE as that of the cross, since the OF-

FERING (Christ Himself) and the PRIEST (the

one making the offering) are the same, namely,

Christ.

You ask, "Is there any difference at all between

28



the Sacrifice of the cross and the sacrifice of the

Mass ?”

DIFFERENT MANNER

There is. The MANNER in which the sacrifice

is offered is different. On the cross Christ REAL-

LY SHED HIS BLOOD, and was REALLY

SLAIN.

In the Mass, there is NO real shedding of blood,

NOPv real death, because Christ can die no more;

but the Sacrifice of the Mass through the SEPA-

RATE CONSECRATION of the bread and wine

represents His death on the cross.

HOW?

"But,” you may question, "how can Christ Who

is now in glory be a sacrificial victim? Christ can

die no more.”

To answer this question, we must recall that

the actual shedding of blood is not an essential

part of sacrifice. The same blood, once previously

offered up in sacrifice, may again be offered up to

constitute a second distinct sacrifice. Thus the

Jewish high priest, on the solemn festival of the

expiation did not immolate a fresh victim within

the Eloly of Holies, but carried with him, the blood

of the victim that had been previously shed on the

altar of holocausts, and offered it up a second time

to accomplish atonement.

29



This second offering constituted of itself a sacri-

fice, although not accompanied with the shedding

of blood.

In like manner, Jesus does not die a second time

on our altars, but the sacrifice which He made once

for all on the cross, He continually renews upon

the altar, by offering up again the victim slain once

for all on the cross. This makes the Sacrifice of

the cross and the sacrifice of the Mass the SAME

SACRIFICE.

PURPOSE

The purposes for which the Sacrifice of the cross

was offered, and for which the sacrifice of the Mass

is offered are:

—

1. To ADORE GOD as the Creator of life.

2. To PRAISE GOD for His wondrous beauty

and perfection.

3. To THANK GOD for favors received.
4. To PETITION GOD and ask His blessing

for the future, and seek pardon for the past.

YOUR GIFT

The sacrifice of the Mass is also YOUR offering.

YOUR sacrifice.

"All men,” says Fr. Putz, S.J., "redeemed and

sanctified by Christ form one body with Him. Be-

ing one with Him they necessarily share in all that

He is and has. Christ is essentially the Son of

30



God; His members participate in His divine son-

ship as adopted children. Christ is essentially the

Mediator, Priest and Victim; His members also

will be priests and victims. “All are priests,” St.

Augustine says, “because members of the one

Priest” (City of God, XX, 10). This is their voca-

tion received in baptism and described in magnifi-

cent terms by holy Scripture;

“Jesus Christ . . . hath loved us and washed us

from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us

a royal race of priests to God, His Father” (Apoc.

1:5; cf. 5:16; 20:6).

You are a “holy priesthood, to offer spiritual

sacrifices well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ

. . . You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a

consecrated nation, God’s own people, that ye may

proclaim the perfections of Him who hath called

you out of darkness into His marvellous light”

(1 Peter, 2:5, 9).

“It is a marvellous invention of the Saviour’s;

by giving us Himself to offer, He makes us offer

ourselves with Him and through Him, and in

that act He unites our present offering with His

past self-oblation.” (My Mass, p. 103)

WE OFFER

The fact that the Mass is the offering of each

and all of us is shown in the prayers of the Offer-

31



tory. As the priest raises the precious chalice con-

taining the wine, he looks up to the cross, and

says in the name of the Churcch, and hence as

the representative of all the people; "We offer to

Thee, O Lord ,the chalice of salvation, beseeching

Thy clemency, that in the sight of Thy Divine

Majesty it may ascend with an aroma of sweetness,

for our own salvation, and for that of the whole

world. Amen."

Then, after lowering the chalice to the altar, the

priest bows, and again says as our representtive:

"Grant that the sacrifice we offer in Thy sight this

day may be pleasing to Thee, O Lord God."

BE MINDFUL

The Sacrifice of the Mass is yours. That is why

the priest says in the Canon of the Mass, "Be mind-

ful, O Lord, of Thy servants and handmaids . . .

who offer up to Thee this sacrifice of praise."

These words clearly show that the Sacrifice of

the Mass is offered by all the faithful.

A KINGLY PEOPLE

We are a priestly family, a chosen generation,

a kingly people, bound together by the mystic

blood-relationship with Christ our High Priest,

through the Sacraments. At no time is this special

and general priesthood so perfectly exercised as

in the Great Sacrifice of Christ in which He with

32



us, and we
1

'through Him, with Him, and in Him”

give all honor and glory to God.

MY LIFE DEPENDS ON YOU

When you come to Mass, you come to adore

God. To offer a gift that says, "Dear God, I real-

ize that each heart beat, every breath I draw is a

new gift fresh from your hand. If you should

withdraw your power from us, even for a second,

we would vanish back into the blackness of space

from which we came.”

"The secret of life is a mystery old as the cours-

ing of blood. Every second, 3,000,000 red blood

cells in my body die and are replaced by fresh re-

serves from the bone marrow. Seventy times per

minute my heart beats to pump fifteen pounds of

life-giving fluid through miles of blood vessels. A

total pay-load of five to ten tons per day.”

"My life depends on You, My God, not only

for its beginning, but for its continuance and en-

durance.”

COSMIC ADVENTURE

"Even as I tell You this, dear Lord, I stand on

the edge of vastness and partake of a cosmic ad-

venture. The great planet earth, upon which I

stand, is hurtling through space thirteen times fas-

ter than a V-2 Rocket. We circle the sun at the

incredible speed of over 65,000 miles per hour.

33



At the same time our earth spins round and round

like a top at the rate of 1,000 miles per hour. And

our solar system as a whole is catapulting towards

the star Vega at 43,000 miles per hour. Our Milky

Way Galaxy is running away from its neighboring

galaxies at the overwhelming speed of 25,000

miles per second!”

"It is You, my God, Who balances our space

ship in the sky, and guides its whirling course.

You keep us from colliding head on with a flaming

star that would end all life and leave of our civil-

ization only a memory.”

A GIFT TO PRAISE GOD

When you come to Mass, you come to praise

God. To offer a gift that says, "I praise You, my

God, for your goodness, and lovableness, and

beauty. Last night I looked up and saw the heav-

ens ablaze with stars, myriads with beating hearts

of fire that eons cannot quench or tire, a million

diamonds in the night glittering against a back-

ground of eternal time and gliding like motes

athwart the overflow of splendor from immortal

tides of light.”

KEEPER OF THE GOLDEN GALAXIES

"O God, Creator of the starry silence, I love

You for each beam of starlight you speed my way.

34



I love You, Architect of the stars, for every grain

of these massive suns that whirl in magic through

the vast regions of chaos and immensity. I love

You, Keeper of the golden galaxies, for every curve

of light that marks the distant orbits of these orbed

galleons of the sky.”

”1 love You for Yourself, because You are so

good and worthy of all my love. The star-studded

pages of heaven compose a tremendous book in

which I read suggestions of Your uncreated beauty

and lovableness. O God, Beauty ever ancient and

ever new, Lord of the million scintillating stars,

Whose power and majesty are written in flaming

glory in every midnight sky, I love You as Mary

loved You, when she looked up from the cottage

door at Nazareth and saw your love letter written

in the sky.”

A GIFT TO SAY "THANK YOU”

When you come to Mass, you come to thank

God. To offer a gift that says, "I thank You, my

God, for my friends and relatives loyal and true.

They are life’s true riches, and have filled my life

with golden years. I value their love and devotion

second only to that I have for You, my God. The

wonderful, noble and inspiring people I meet are

so many mirrors reflecting Your uncreated good-

ness and lovableness.”

35



CARGOES OF SUNSHINE

''Thanks for the clouds that bring fresh showers

for the thirsting flowers, and water to keep us alive.

Thanks for our nearest day-time star, the sun, that

sends us cargoes of glittering sunshine ninety-three

million miles through space that we may have

bread for breakfast, and sunbeams to make bright

our day.”

FIRE IN THE RUBY

"Thanks for my eyes, more amazing than any

Kodak. From morning to night they snap pictures

and relay them to my brain faster than any tele-

photo news service. I saw sunlight breaking in gal-

axies of diamonds against the surging sea giving

it the beauty of sapphire and aquamarine. It was

sunlight that tipped the flaming fire in the ruby,

and turned the summer sky into an immensity of

baffling blue, a dome of azure crystal, luminous

as a jewel.”

OPALESCENT WINE

"No man can gaze steadfast into the sun. Its

blinding radiance is too overpowering for our weak

eyes. But we catch reflections of its beauty in the

blossoms of the hawthorne white as snow, pear pet-

als thick as rich cream, and sweet williams and

violets running through a gamut of blues and pur-

ples; lilies with flame colored corollas and red and

36



glowing cups where the sunlight seems turned to

opalescent wine. All these mirror back the majesty

of the sun.”

UNCREATED SUN

"You, my God, are the uncreated Sun of the

universe. Your beauty, Your power, Your lovable-

ness illuminate all creatures, giving them what-

ever charm they possess. My God I thank You that

I am Your friend. I thank You for giving me

Your love and friendship. Without You, my God,

we would be like dumb, driven cattle, and sheep

that nourish a blind life within the brain. You are

the beginning and end of life. From You I come,

to You go. I thank You that each day brings me

twenty-four hours closer to that great day when I

shall see You, and love You, even as I am loved.”

TAKEN FOR GRANTED

"I thank You, my God, for the million and

one blessings You shower upon me, which I hardly

notice. I thank You most of all for giving me

Yourself.”

A GIFT THAT ASKS FOR FAVORS

When you come to Mass, you come to petition

God. To offer a gift that pleads, "Please, God,

give us all the things we need for body and soul.”

"Give us, O God, a country strong and free

37



where men of good will may ever worship in lofty

cathedrals and simple parish churches.”

TRUE LOVE

"Give me the courage always to be true to my

friends, and to seek their good always. True love

seeks ever the good of another, and tries to obtain

for loved ones the greatest and most perfect gift

—the love and blessing of Almighty God. Take
care of us all until we meet again in our father-

land where You have prepared many mansions for

those Who love You.”

COTTON FIELDS

"Make blossom, O Lord, the cotton fields of the

south, and prosper the sheep on the Wyoming

mountainside, that we may have clothing warm

and fine to protect us against the icy blasts of

winter.”

LIGHTNING BOLTS

"Protect our homes against the dragon tail of

the tornado, and keep jagged bolts of lightning

from our roof tops. Keep us from withering in

dust bowl area of drought, and keep scourges of

disease and pestilence far from our land.”

IN THE NOONDAY SUN
"Give us, O Lord, strength of body, that we

may walk erect in the light of the noonday sun, and

nobleness of soul that we may walk worthy of the

38



vocation to which we are called, for we are a

chosen generation, a kingly people, and followers

of Christ, our elder Brother.”

A GIFT TO ASK PARDON

When you come to Mass, you come to ask God’s
pardon. To offer a gift that says, "I beg Your
pardon, my God, and ask You to forgive me. Last
night I made the evening miserable for the entire

family. Supper, instead of being a benediction to

the day, was the inauguration of hostilities. Meal

time was like eating off a drum-head, and sitting

on a keg of TNT. The fuse of my temper sud-
denly burned short, and I exploded like a hand

grenade. Flying angry words cut like shrapnel, and

wounded those for whom I should have only love.”

FORGIVE ME

"Forgive me also O Lord for all the times I
complained. When I hid my eyes to your gifts that
surround me on all sides like the air I breath. I
complained I had no shoes, until I met a man who
had no feet. Now I ask You to forgive my blind-
ness and stubborness. I envied my successful neigh-
bor, and complained of his good luck, forgetting

that my life is but a weaving between You, my
God, and my soul. Unfortunately, I see often only
the seamy side of the fabric that is life.”

39



WISDOM TO KNOW

"Grant me, O God, the serenity to accept things

I cannot change, courage to change things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference. Help me be

noble, and the nobleness that lies in other men,

sleeping, but never dead, will rise in majesty to

meet my own.”

BURNED OUT FOR THEE

"Help me so to live, that when I am dying,

how glad I shall be that the lamp of my life has

burned out for Thee.”

WHY ON SUNDAY?

"Why on Sunday do you come to holy Mass?”

To adore God, to praise Him, to thank Him,

and to ask for favors, and for forgiveness of sins.

YOU

Remember always—YOU take an ACTIVE part
in the Holy sacrifice of the Mass. Pope Pius XI

said: "The faithful come to Church in order to

derive piety from its chief source BY TAKING

AN ACTIVE PART in the venerated mysteries.”

You, along with Christ and the ordained priest

at the altar, take part in the great function of the

Mass. You, all together, along with Christ, take

an active part in the greatest Act on earth. You

worship along with Christ, and with each other.

40



CO-OFFER

"The laity," says Archbishop M.
J.

Curley, "are

as co-offerers with the great High Priest whose

members they are. The faithful partake vitally in

the Mass; they offer a real and true Sacrifice to-

gether with Christ, their Chief; they give glory

to the Holy Trinity, united as they are with the

Son of God, their Elder Brother."

Bishop Schlarmann of Peoria says: "All the

faithful, inasmuch as they are true members of

the true mystical body of Christ, have a share in

His sacerdotal dignity. The Spirit of the Lord

adores and prays in them in a manner so exalted

and so worthy that St. Paul is at a loss to explain

this intimate relation of the soul with its Creator."

YOU ARE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD

Not to the clergy, but to the laity St. Paul ad-

dressed the exhortation: "Let us show ourselves as

the ministers of God." And to the laity St. Peter

exclaimed: "You are a royal priesthood."

YOU STAND WITH MARY

When you assist at Mass, you stand with Mary

and John and Magdalene at the foot of the Cross.

The Blood of Jesus is as truly offered at Mass as

it was when Christ was nailed to the Cross. Only

the infinite wisdom of God Himself could de-

41



vise a way of perpetuating the Sacrifice of the

Cross.

MOST BEAUTIFUL

Father Faber, a convert and one of the Oxford

men who came into the Church in Newman’s day,

said of the Mass that it is "the most beautiful

thing this side of heaven.”

Cardinal Wiseman, describing the Mass, says of

its prayers and liturgy that "no human genius can

hope to attain their beauty and sublimity.”

THE GREATEST ACTION

We conclude with the words of Cardinal New-

man: "To me nothing is so consoling, so< piercing,

so thrilling, so overcoming as the Mass. It is not

a mere form of words—it is a great action, the
greatest action that can be on earth.”

42



OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION

Altars were built by primitive people—for the
same purpose you should come to Mass on

Sunday—to offer sacrifice.

WHAT IS A SACRIFICE?

WHY OFFER A GIFT TO GOD?

Man, be he ancient or modern, if he is intel-

lectually honest, realizes he should:

—

1. ADORE GOD as the SOURCE OF LIFE

2. PRAISE GOD for His PERFECTIONS.

3. THANK GOD for His GIFTS.

4. PETITION GOD for favors for the fu-

ture, and ask pardon for the past.

HOW SHALL MAN PERFORM THESE FOUR
OBLIGATIONS?

THE WAY OF MEN WITH MEN
fLOVE \

Is to show /PRAISE
( r. T™c

(GRATITUDE /
throu

S*
1 GIFTS

and make PETITION )

43



THE WAY OF MEN WITH GOD—is similar,

But the Gifts of the Ancients and Jews were im-

perfect, so

CHRIST GAVE us the PERFECT GIFT—HIM-

SELF—in the MASS.

WHEN YOU COME TO MASS, you come to
GIVE A GIFT

(ADORATION

to show / PRAISE

(GRATITUDE

and make PETITION

to manifest your

Adoration

Praise

Gratitude

Petition

44



REFERENCES

* NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, Jan. 1948 "Pyra-

mids of the New World.”
2 MY MASS, Joseph Putz, S.J., Newman Bookshop,

Westminster, Maryland 1947, p. 2.

3 OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, Dec. 29, 1950.
^ ADVENTURES AHEAD, Jan.Feb. 1951 (A G.E.

publication).

s NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, Op. at.
5a CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1913, Vol. 13,

p. 309-321.

6 PAUL OF TARSUS, Rt. Rev. Joseph Holzner,

Herder Book Co. St. Louis 1946, p. 213.
7 PAUL OF TARSUS, p. 274.
8 MY MASS, p. 18.
9 MY MASS, p. 19.
JESUIT MISSIONS, "I Talked With Tiger Ten-

zing,” Fr. Gnanapragasm, S.J., Dec. 1953, p. 10,

11 .

11 ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, Vol. 26, p. 26.
JESUIT MISSIONS, Jan. 1940, p. 56.

45