The Mishandling of the Octave

I am disappointed with the way we treat the Christmas Octave. Churches are filled with people for the 9-day Simbang Gabi. There is a heavy turnout of parishioners, servers, musicians, lectors, and other ministers. Even in the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, servers and choir members are excited over the Rorate Masses. So many candles were lit and so much incense was burned to make the days of the Rorate more solemn.

But after the Midnight Mass, everything changes. On the morning itself of Christmas day, the churches are almost empty. Maybe, it is because people have fulfilled their Christmas obligation with the Midnight Mass that they saw it unnecessary to return for Church on Christmas day. However, it becomes more disappointing beginning the Feast of St. Stephen. There, we begin to see less and less people coming to Mass. Lectors and other ministers do not report for duty. Servers were limited to the minimum (1). Even the Sacristan did not see it necessary to light all the 6 candles on the Altar nor to light the Christmas Lanterns in and outside of the Church. The Choir and Cantors are nowhere to be found. And I am not referring only to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. This year, I committed myself to a daily offering of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite throughout the octave and also until Epiphany. I was dismayed by how the octave of Christmas is being treated.

There is something wrong with our liturgical culture. So many assist Mass during the last 9 days of Advent but almost nobody will be there during the Octave. Isn't the Octave the extension of Christmas day? I recall our studies on the Liturgical Year. We were taught that the celebration of the Octave is due to the fact that the Divine Mystery commemorated on Christmas (or Easter) day is so rich that one day is not enough to celebrate it. And so the celebration is extended to 8 days. The 8 days are considered as only 1 day. Thus, the Gloria and the Creed are sung as on the day of Christmas (or Easter). And so everyday of the Octave is Christmas day (or Easter Sunday).

If this were so, why do we treat the Octave days so very badly? Have the Simbang Gabi exhausted us so much that we find it reason enough to stay at home and sleep throughout the Octave? It is as if were have been very busy preparing for the Fiesta and so we disappear and sleep off the actual festivity itself. And allow me to remind you that Advent, the Simbang Gabi, the Rorate Masses are but preparations. YES, ONLY PREPARATIONS!!!!! The Christmas (or Easter) Octave is the REAL CELEBRATION.

We have allowed the commercialism of the secular Christmas to creep into the sacred liturgy itself. We have anticipated Christmas in Advent that there seem to be nothing else to celebrate when the real Christmas came. Where are the servers? Where are the cantors? Where are the lectors? Where are the other ministers? (Where are the priests?)  If only our Lord could speak directly to us, he might say: "There were so many of you present during the preparations for my coming but when I can, everybody went out for their vacation."

Is this the way to treat the Octave days? If this were so, then I might take my vacation as well. This is no way the Octave should be treated. This is simply WRONG LITURGICAL CULTURE.

Christmas Midnight Mass: Christ the Priest, the Victim, the Bread of Life

CHRISTMAS MASS AT MIDNIGHT 2017

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PERSONS

DECEMBER 25, 2017

Jesus, I trust in you!

Our Parish Belen for 2017

Tonight we return to Bethlehem as Joseph and Mary did as they sought to comply with the worldwide census declared by Augustus Caesar. They had to return to the city of David because Joseph was of the House of David. It was necessary for the Messiah to be born in the city of David because he is Son of David, the legitimate heir to the throne of his royal ancestor. But there is another reason for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.” Bethlehem is the fitting birth place for Jesus who is the Bread of Life. In fact the sign which the angels gave the shepherds was that of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying on a manger. The manger is the receptacle of animal food. On it is placed the hay for the feeding of the ox and the donkey and even of the sheep. The new-born baby of Mary was laid on a manger not because the hay was soft but because Mary’s child is our food: “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. The food that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

It is rather remarkable that we celebrate today the birth of the Son of God in the flesh. And later on, he shall give his flesh as food for the life of the world. We cannot deny the Eucharistic character of this Holy Day that we are celebrating tonight. It is called “Christmas” and its name is derived from two words: Christ and Mass. The Church, even from ancient times, has understood the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation in the mystery of the Eucharist. In fact, St. John Paul II himself said that the Eucharist is the continuation of the mystery of the Incarnation to our times.

And it is in this light that we have a renewed appreciation of the mystery of the Priesthood. We are celebrating this Christmas in the Year of the Clergy and the Consecrated People. As Mary brought forth the birth in the flesh of God the Son, so also the priest, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the words of Christ, brings about the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Mass, presided by the priest, is not only our encounter with the Paschal Mystery. It is also our encounter with the mystery of the Incarnation: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The Incarnation took place in Mary’s womb. The Transubstantiation takes place in the hands of the priest. The priest may not be as pure and sinless as the Virgin Mary. But nevertheless, the Son of God humbles himself to take flesh in the bread and wine offered on the altar during Mass.

In fact, we cannot miss the fact that the angels appeared to shepherds who were keeping watch over their flock at night. The sheep they were tending were the Awassi sheep, the only breed of sheep that is indigenous in Israel. The Awassi sheep breed in the summer and drop lambs in the winter. Thus, in Israel, the principal lambing season runs from December to January. These shepherds to whom the angels appeared were Levitical shepherds who were tasked to keep watch over the temple flock. The reason why the shepherds kept watch at night was that they were attending to the dropping of the lambs. Once a lamb is dropped, they bring it into the cave where it is wrapped in swaddling clothes to keep it from being injured at birth. The lambs they watch over were destined to be the Passover lambs that are supposed to be unblemished. Thus, the shepherds understood what the angel’s message meant: the one born on this night is the unblemished Lamb of God who would be sacrificed on Passover. Christ born today is not only the Bread of Life. He is also the Paschal Lamb, the Victim who would render God the most perfect and the highest act of worship. This Lamb of God is also the High Priest of the new covenant. Being the first-born of creation, he is the head of the household who offers the sacrifice of the family of humankind. He will offer not the blood of animals or of other human beings. He will offer his own flesh and his own blood for the redemption of the world.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us not look at him simply as a cute new-born infant. The one who rests on the manger is the Bread of Life. The one who is wrapped in swaddling clothes is the unblemished Lamb of God. The first-born of Mary is the first-born of creation, the High Priest of the new covenant. This great mystery is renewed every day during Mass. In the Mass, the priest acts in the person of Christ the High Priest. In his hands the incarnation takes place so that the Lamb of God may be offered to the Father and he be returned to us as the Bread of Life that we must eat to enter into communion with God and so receive access to the Divine Life. Truly, this is Christ’s Mass where Jesus comes both as Priest and Victim. Come, let us adore him.   

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Tunay na Katawan at Dugo ni Kristo

Hesus, nananalig ako sa iyo!

Walang kaduda-duda na lubhang napakalinaw, klarong klaro, ang sinabi ni Hesus kung ano ba itong pagkain na ibinibigay niya para sa ikabubuhay ng mundo. Ito ay walang iba kundi ang kanyang laman. Ano daw? Laman daw? Sa sobrang linaw ng kanyang sinabi, nagtalo ang mga nakikinig sa kanya. Hindi nila pinagtalunan kung totoong narinig nila na laman daw ni Hesus ang kanyang ipakakain. Ang pinagtalunan nila ay “Paanong maibibigay sa atin ng taong ito ang kanyang laman upan kanin natin?”  At para maging maliwanag sa lahat, apat na ulit na ginamit ni Hesus ang mga salitang laman at dugo: 1. Malibang kanin ninyo ang laman ng Anak ng Tao ay inumin ang kanyang dugo, hindi kayo magkakaroon ng buhay; 2. Ang kumakain ng aking laman at umiinom ng aking dugo ay may buhay na walang hanggan; 3. Ang aking laman ay tunay na pagkain, at ang aking dugo ay tunay na inumin; 4. Ang kumakain ng aking laman at umiinom ng aking dugo ay nananahan sa akin, at ako sa kanya.

Malinaw na malinaw na “ang tinapay at alak ay nagiging katawan at dugo ni Kristo kaya masasabi na si Hesus ay tunay na naririto sa sakramento.” (CCC, 1375) Itinuro ni San Juan Chrysostomo: “Hindi ang tao ang nagdudulot ng pagbabago kaya ang iniaalay ay nagiging katawan at dugo ni Kristo. Ang nagdudulot ng pagbabagong ito ay mismong si Kristo na ipinako para sa atin. Ang pari na gumaganap sa papel ni Kristo ang siyang bumibigkas ng mga salitang ito, subalit ang kapangyarihan at biyaya ay sa Diyos. Ito ang aking katawan, ang wika niya. Ang salitang ito ang nagdudulot ng pagbabago sa mga alay.” Sa kapangyarihan ng Espiritu Santo at sa bisa ng salita ni Kristo, ang tinapay at alak na dinala sa altar ay nagiging katawan at dugo ni Hesus. Ang katawan at dugo, pati na ang kaluluwa at pagkaDiyos ng ating Panginoong Hesukristo ay tunay na tinataglay ng kabanal-banalang sakramento ng Eukaristiya. Sa madaling salita, ang buong Kristo ay tunay na nilalaman ng sakramentong ito. (CCC, 1374) Bagama’t hindi nagbabago ang anyo ng tinapay at alak, nagbabago ang kalikasan nito: ito ay nagiging katawan at dugo ni Hesus. Buong buo si Hesus sa bawat uri (species) at bahagi ng banal na Sakramentio. Kahit hatihatiin pa ang anyong tinapay, hindi nahahati si Kristo. (CCC, 1376) Kung paanong naroroon si Hesus noong pinanganak siya sa Batlehem, kung paanong naroroon siya noong namatay siya sa Kalbaryo, kung paanong naroroon siya at naghahari sa langit,  sa Misa, tunay na naririto si Hesus sa anyo ng tinapay at alak. Naririto si Hesus upang ialay niya ang kanyang sarili bilang kalugod lugod na handog sa Diyos Ama. Naririto si Hesus upang makuha niya para sa atin ang kapatawaran ng ating mga kasalanan. Naririto si Hesus upang makamit niya para sa atin ang lahat ng pagpapala at biyaya. Sa madaling salita, naririto si Hesus upang maidulot niya sa atin ang mga bunga ng kanyang kamatayan at muling pagkabuhay.

Kaya nga nakapagbibigay ng buhay na walang hanggan ang sakramentong ito sa sinumang tatanggap nito ay sapagkat ang kinakain at iniinom natin ay si Hesus, ang Diyos Anak. Ito rin ang dahilan kung bakit buong paggalang natin tinatanggap siya sa banal na Misa. Hindi pangkaraniwang pagkain, hindi ordinaryong pagkain at inumin ang iniaalay at pinagsasaluhan natin sa Misa kundi ang katawan at dugo ni Kristo. Huwag natin pagdudahan ito dahil ang mismong nagsabi na kinakain at iniinom natin ang kanyang laman at dugo ay walang iba kundi si Hesus. Hindi siya marunong magsinungaling. Hindi siya maaring magkamali dahil siya ang Daan, ang Katotohanan, at ang Buhay.  

Ave Maria Purissima, sin pecado concebida!

Ang Halaga ng palagiang Pagsisimba

Hesus, nananalig ako sa iyo.

“Kumain siya at uminom at siya’y lumakas” – ito ang sinabi ng unang pagbasa tungkol kay Profeta Elias na sa simula’y halos mawalan na ng pag-asa dahil sa matinding pagod na kanyang nadama sa kanyang mahabang paglalakbay. Pinakain siya at pinainom ng isang anghel at dahil dito, nakapaglakbay pa siya nang mahaba patungo sa Horeb, ang bundok ng Panginoon. Kung paanong nagdulot ng pambihirang lakas kay Elias ang ipinakain at ipinainom sa kanya ng anghel, gayon din ang idinudulot ng pagkaing ibinibigay ng Panginoong Hesus sa atin: “Ang sinumang kumain ng pagkaing bumaba mula sa langit ay hindi mamamatay. Ako ang pagkaing bumaba mula sa langit. Mabubuhay magpakailan man ang sinumang kumain nito. At ang pagkaing ibibigay ko sa ikabubuhay ng sanlibutan ay ang aking laman.”

Pinalalakas tayo ng kinakain natin. Pinapawi nito ang ating gutom at uhaw hanggang sa susunod na kainan. Dahil batid natin ang kapakinabangang dulot ng pagkain at inumin kaya tinitiyak nating hindi tayo lumiliban sa oras ng pagkain…hindi tayo nagpapalipas ng gutom. Subalit kay dali para sa atin ang isantabi ang pagtanggap ng banal na Komunyon! Palibhasa, hindi natin kaagad agad nakikita ang idinudulot nitong pakinabang sa atin. Parang walang naidudulot na mabuti para sa atin ang pagtanggap sa katawan ni Kristo. At dito tayo nagkakamali. Sa oras ng ating kamatayan, matutuklasan natin ang maraming kabutihan na idinulot sa atin ng mga banal na Misa na ating dinaluhan. Sa oras ng ating kamatayan, ang mga Misa na taos puso nating dinaluhan ang siyang magdudulot sa atin ng aliw at pag-asa. Ang isang Misang dinaluhan natin habang nabubuhay tayo ay higit na makakatulong sa atin sa oras ng ating kamatayan kaysa maraming mga pamisang iaalay para sa atin matapos nating pumanaw.

Sinabi ng ating Panginoon kay Santa Gertrudes: “Makatitiyak ang sinumang taimtim na dumalo sa banal na Misa na ang dami ng mga Santo na isusugo ko sa kanya upang aliwin at ipagtanggol siya sa oras ng kamatayan ay magiging kasukat ng dami ng mga Misang taimtim niyang dinaluhan sa buong buhay niya.” Huwag nating kalilimutan na ang oras ng ating kamatayan ang magiging pinakamalaking laban natin sa buhay. Sa oras na iyon, ibubuhos ni Satanas ang lahat ng nalalaman niyang panlilinlang upang makuha niya ang ating kaluluwa. Kaya nga kakailanganin natin ang lahat ng makalangit na tulong para ipag-adya tayo mula sa lahat ng masama dahil diyan nakasalalay ang ating kaligtasan.

Sinabi ni San Juan Maria Vianney: “Kung nalalaman lamang natin ang halaga ng Banal na Misa, tiyak na magsusumikap tayo na dumalo at makinabang tayo dito.” At sinabi pa ni San Pedro Julian Eymard: “Kilalanin mo, O Kristiyano, na ang Misa ang pinakabanal na gawain ng Relihiyon. Wala kang magagawang anupaman upang higit na purihin ang Panginoon o higit na tulungan mo ang iyong kaluluwa  kaysa taimtim na pagdalo sa Misa.” Kaya nga nararapat lamang na ituring nating mapalad tayo tuwing may pagkakataon tayong makadalo sa Misa. Si Santa Maria Goretti, isang labindalawang taong gulang na bata, ay naglakad ng labinglimang milya para lang makapagsimba sa araw ng Linggo. Si Padre Pio ay nagdiwang ng Misa kahit na siya’y nilalagnat at dinudugo. Sa ating sariling buhay, dapat nating ituring ang banal na Misa na mas mahalaga kaysa iba pang mga bagay. Sabi ni San Bernardo: “Higit na pakikinabangan natin ang pagdalo sa isang Misa kaysa anupamang kawanggawa o paglalakbay sa buong mundo para lamang marating ang mga banal na lugar.” Dapat unahin natin ang pagsisimba kaysa iba pang mga libangan na pinag-aaksayahan natin ng oras ngunit hindi naman nakatutulong sa ating kaluluwa. (Nauubos ang oras mo sa COC…matutulungan ka ba niyan sa oras ng iyong kamatayan? Mabibigyan ka ba niyan ng buhay na walang hanggan?) Matuto tayong maglaan ng oras at magsakripisyo kung kinakailangan para makapagsimba at makapagkomunyon. Sinabi ni San Agustin: “Binibilang ng mga anghel ang lahat ng ating mga yapak kapag pumupunta tayo sa simbahan upang dumalo sa Misa at dahil diyan ay gagantimpalaan tayo ng Diyos sa buhay na ito at sa kabila.” Kaya kunin natin ang lahat ng pagkakataon para makapagsimba at tumanggap ng Banal na Komunyon. Mabubuhay kaylanman ang sinumang kumain ng Tinapay ng buhay!

Ave Maria Purissima, sin pecado concebida!  

Pinakakain ng Diyos

Jesus, nananalig ako sa iyo!

Sa taong ito, ang mga pagbasa ay kinukuha sa Mabuting Balita ayon kay San Marcos. Subalit dahil maigsi ang aklat na ito, naglalaan ang Simbahan ng nararapat na panahon na pagnilayan ang mga kabanata sa aklat ni San Juan na tumutukoy sa misteryo ng Banal na Eukaristiya. Mabuting pagkakataon ito para maihanda natin ang ating mga sarili para sa pagdiriwang ng International Eucharistic Congress na gaganapin sa Cebu sa darating na Enero ng 2016.

Sa mabuting Balita sa araw na ito, sinabi ng ating Panginoong Hesus: “Gumawa kayo, hindi upang magkaroon ng pagkaing nasisira, kundi upang magkaroon ng pagkaing hindi nasisira at nagbibigay ng buhay na walang hanggan. Ibibigay ito sa inyo ng Anak ng Tao, sapagkat siya ang binigyan ng kapangyarihan ng Diyos Ama.” Lahat tayo ay naghahanap buhay upang magkaroon ng pagkain sa araw araw. Kahit mahirap, nagtratrabaho tayo dahil kailangan nating kumain para mabuhay. Sa kanilang paglalakbay sa disyerto patungo sa Lupang Pangako, walang pagkakataon ang mga Israelita na magtanim at mag-ani ng kanilang makakain dahil sa patuloy nilang paglilipat sa ibat ibang mga lugar. Dahil dito, nagbigay ang Diyos sa kanila ng tinapay na nagmumula sa langit tuwing umaga at mga pugo naman sa gabi. Ang Panginoon ang siyang nagpakain sa kanila sa buong apatnapung taon ng kanilang paglalakbay sa ilang. Anim na araw ang inilalaan natin sa paghahanap buhay upang kumita at mapakain natin ang ating mga pamilya. Subalit sa araw ng Linggo, lumiliban tayo sa paghahanap buhay upang makadalo sa Banal na Misa. Sa pagdiriwang ng Misa, ginagawa sa atin ng Diyos ang kanyang ginawa para sa mga Israelita sa kanilang paglalakbay sa ilang. Sa Misa, hindi tayo ang gumagawa para makakain. Bagkus, sa Misa, ang Diyos mismo ang nagpapakain sa atin.

Ipinaliwanag ng ating Panginoong Hesus: “Ang aking Ama ang nagbibigay sa inyo ng tunay na pagkaing mula sa langit.” At ang pagkaing bigay ng Diyos, ang pagkaing bumaba mula sa langit, ang pagkaing nagbibigay buhay ay walang iba kundi si Hesus: “Ako ang pagkaing nagbibigay buhay. Ang lumalapit sa akin ay hindi na magugutom, at ang nananalig sa akin ay hindi na mauuhaw kailanman.”

Totoo na inihahain sa altar ang tinapay at alak na nagmumula sa lupa at bunga ng ating paggawa. Subalit ang mga haing ito ay hindi nagiging Eukaristiya hanggat hindi ito pinagbabago ng Diyos at ginagawang katawan at dugo ni Hesus. Tulad ng bata sa pagbasa noong nakaraang linggo, nagdadala tayo sa dambana ng tinapay na niluto natin mula sa trigo at alak na pinisa natin mula sa ubas. Ngunit ang mga dinala natin ay hindi ang Eukaristiya. Upang maganap ang Eukaristiya, kailangang kunin ng Panginoon ang ating mga handog at ang mga ito’y gawin niyang kanyang katawan at dugo. Ang pinagsasaluhan natin ay hindi tinapay at alak kundi ang katawan at dugo ng Diyos Anak. Ang Eukaristiya ay hindi tungkol sa pagdadala natin ng tinapay at alak. Ang Eukaristiya ay tungkol sa pagpanaog ni Hesus mula sa langit patungo dito sa dambana. Ang Eukaristiya ay tungkol sa pagpanaog ni Hesus sa altar upang maibigay niya sa atin ang kanyang sarili bilang pagkaing nagbibigay buhay. Kung nauunawaan lang natin ang tunay na kahulugan ng mga sinabing ito ni Hesus, pananabikan natin ang pagdalo sa Misa. Sasabihin natin kay Hesus ang sinabi sa kanya ng mga tao: “Panginoon, bigyan ninyo kami lagi ng pagkaing iyan.” Kung nakikilala lamang natin kung sino ang tinatanggap natin sa banal na Komunyon, mapapaluhod tayo sa harap ng dakilang misteryong tinatanggap natin. Ang tinatanggap natin sa banal na Misa ay hindi pangkaraniwang pagkaing nasisira. Ang tinatanggap natin sa banal na Misa ay hindi natin kayang bilhin mula sa pinagtuluan ng ating pawis.  Ang tinatanggap natin sa banal na Misa ay ang pagkaing bumaba mula sa langit, ang pagkaing bigay ng Diyos Ama, ang pagkaing nagbibigay ng buhay na walang hanggan. Ito ay walang iba kundi si Hesus, ang pagkaing nagbibigay buhay. Sabihin natin sa kanya: “Panginoon, ibigay mo sa amin ang pagkaing iyan upang hindi na kami magutom o mauhaw kalian man.”

Ave Maria purissima, sin pecado concebida! 

OUR LADY OF SORROWS IN LENT

The New Roman Missal has, for the Friday of the 5th Week of Lent, an alternative collect which commemorates Our Lady of Sorrows. At last, the Missal recognizes the pious devotion rendered to the Virgin of Sorrows on this day. In the past, this day was known as Viernes de Dolores on account of the old Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin.

Deus, qui Ecclesiae tuae in hoc tempore tribuis benigne,
beatam Mariam in passione Christi contemplanda
devote imitari,
da nobis, quaesumus, euisdem Virginis intercessione,
Unigenito Filio tuo firmius in dies adhaerere
et ad plenitudinem gratiae eius demum pervenire.

Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sanctus, Deus,
per omnia in saecula saeculorum.

O God, who in this season
give your Church the grace
to imitate devoutly the Blessed Virgin Mary
in contemplating the Passion of Christ,
grant, we pray, through her intercession,
that we may cling more firmly each day
to your Only Begotten Son
and come at last to the fullness of his grace.

Who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Mass and the Priest

For each priest, the celebration of the Holy Mass is the reason for his existence. It is, it must be, an entirely personal encounter with the Lord and with his redemptive work. At the same time, each priest, in the celebration of the Eucharist, is Christ himself present in the Church as Head of his body; and he also acts in the name of the whole Church “when presenting to God the prayer of the Church, and above all when offering the Eucharistic sacrifice”. When we experience the wonder of the Eucharistic gift, which transforms us and configures us to Christ, there is only room for amazement, gratitude and obedience.

His Eminence Cardinal Antonio Cañizares

5 March 2012, University of the Holy Cross

What to do during Lent

Lent is a time for renewal through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. At present, this season seem to have lost its "teeth". Many Catholics go through Lent without any desire to rekindle the fervor of the spiritual life. Is this the result of the relaxation of the Lenten discipline? Islam has not relaxed its discipline on the Ramadan but the tradition is more fervently observe to this day. In our effort to "adjust" Catholic life to the modern times, much of our Lenten traditions have suffered.

Perhaps it is time to rekindle the fire. Let us once again observe Lent as Lent. An interesting article at the New Liturgical Movement blog is worth considering: Lenten Observances in the Vein of a New Liturgical Movement

Calvary and the Mass by Fulton Sheen

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we celebrate the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum four years ago. I started celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite everyday when the Motu Propio was promulgated. The Prologue of Archbishop Fulton Sheen to his work "Calvary and the Mass" is worth our consideration on this blessed day:

THERE are certain things in life which are too beautiful to be forgotten, such as the love of a mother. Hence we treasure her picture. The love of soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their
country is likewise too beautiful to be forgotten, hence we revere their memory on Memorial Day. But the greatest blessing which ever came to this earth was the visitation of the Son of God in the form and habit of man. His life, above all lives, is too beautiful to be forgotten, hence we treasure the divinity of His words in Sacred Scripture, and the charity of His deeds in our daily
actions. Unfortunately this is all some souls remember, namely His Words and His Deeds; important as these are, they are not the greatest characteristic of the Divine Saviour.

The most sublime act in the history of Christ was His Death. Death is always important for it seals a destiny. Any dying man is a scene. Any dying scene is a sacred place. That is why the great literature of the past which has touched on the emotions surrounding death has never passed out of date. But of all deaths in the record of man, none was more important than the Death of Christ. Everyone else who was ever born into the world, came into it to live; our Lord came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to the life of Socrates, but it was the crown to
the life of Christ. He Himself told us that He came "to give his life as redemption for many"; that no one could take away His Life; but He would lay it down of Himself.

If then Death was the supreme moment for which Christ lived, it was therefore the one thing He wished to have remembered. He did not ask that men should write down His Words into a Scripture; He did not ask that His kindness to the poor should be recorded in history; but He did ask that men remember His Death. And in order that its memory might not be any haphazard narrative on the part of men, He Himself instituted the precise way it should be
recalled.

The memorial was instituted the night before He died, at what has since been called "The Last Supper." Taking bread into His Hands, He said: "This is my body, which shall be delivered for you," i.e., delivered unto death. Then over the chalice of wine, He said, "This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins." Thus in an unbloody symbol of the parting of the Blood from the Body, by the separate consecration of Bread and Wine, did Christ pledge Himself to death in the sight of God and men, and represent His death which was to come the next afternoon at three. He was offering Himself as a Victim to be immolated, and that men might never forget that "greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends," He gave the divine command to the Church: "Do
this for a commemoration of me."

The following day that which He had prefigured and foreshadowed, He realized in its completeness, as He was crucified between two thieves and His Blood drained from His Body for the redemption of the world.

The Church which Christ founded has not only preserved the Word He spoke, and the wonders He wrought; it has also taken Him seriously when He said: "Do this for a commemoration of me." And that action whereby we re-enact His Death on the Cross is the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which we do as a memorial what He did at the Last Supper as the prefiguration of His Passion.

Hence the Mass is to us the crowning act of Christian worship. A pulpit in which the words of our Lord are repeated does not unite us to Him; a choir in which sweet sentiments are sung brings us no closer to His Cross than to His garments. A temple without an altar of sacrifice is non-existent among primitive peoples, and is meaningless among Christians. And so in the Catholic Church the altar, and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ, is the
center of worship, for there is re-enacted the memorial of His Passion. Its value does not depend on him who says it, or on him who hears it; it depends on Him who is the One High Priest and Victim, Jesus Christ our Lord. With Him we are united, in spite of our nothingness; in a certain sense, we lose our individuality for the time being; we unite our intellect and our will, our heart and our soul, our body and our blood, so intimately with Christ, that the Heavenly Father sees not so much us with our imperfection, but rather sees us , the Beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The Mass is for that reason the greatest event in the history of mankind; the only Holy Act which keeps the wrath of God
from a sinful world, because it holds the Cross between heaven and earth, thus renewing that decisive moment when our sad and tragic humanity journeyed suddenly forth to the fullness of supernatural life.

What is important at this point is that we take the proper mental attitude toward the Mass, and remember this important fact, that the Sacrifice of the Cross is not something which happened
nineteen hundred years ago. It is still happening. It is not something past like the signing of the Declaration of Independence; it is an abiding drama on which the curtain has not yet rung down. Let it not be believed that it happened a long time ago, and therefore no more concerns us than anything else in the past. That is why, when our Blessed Lord ascended the heights of Calvary, He was fittingly stripped of His garments: He would save the world without the trappings of a passing world. His garments belonged to time, for they localized Him, and fixed Him as a dweller in Galilee. Now that He was shorn of them and utterly dispossessed of earthly things, He belonged not to Galilee, not to a Roman province, but to the world. He became the universal poor man of the world, belonging to no one people, but to all men.

To express further the universality of the Redemption, the cross was erected at the crossroads of civilization, at a central point between the three great cultures of Jerusalem, Rome, and Athens, in whose names He was crucified. The cross was thus placarded before the eyes of men, to arrest the careless, to appeal to the
thoughtless, to arouse the worldly. It was the one inescapable fact that the cultures and civilizations of His day could not resist. It is also the one inescapable fact of our day which we cannot resist.

The figures at the Cross were symbols of all who crucify. We were there in our representatives. What we are doing now to the Mystical Christ, they were doing in our names to the historical Christ. If we are envious of the good, we were there in the Scribes and Pharisees. If we are fearful of losing some temporal advantage by embracing Divine Truth and Love, we were there in Pilate. If we trust in material forces and seek to conquer through the world instead of through the spirit, we were there in Herod. And so the story goes on for the typical sins of the world. They all blind us to the fact that He is God. There was therefore a kind of inevitability about the Crucifixion. Men who were free to sin were also free to crucify.

As long as there is sin in the world the Crucifixion is a reality. As the poet has put it:

"I saw the son of man go by,
Crowned with a crown of thorns.
'Was it not finished Lord,' said I,
'And all the anguish borne?'

"He turned on me His awful eyes;
'Hast Thou not understood?
So every soul is a Calvary
And every sin a rood.'"

We were there then during that Crucifixion. The drama was already completed as far as the vision of Christ was concerned, but it had not yet been unfolded to all men and all places and all times. If a motion picture reel, for example, were conscious of itself, it would know the drama from beginning to end, but the spectators in the theater would not know it until they had seen it unrolled upon the screen. In like manner, our Lord on the Cross saw in His eternal mind, the
whole drama of history, the story of each individual soul, and how later on it would react to His Crucifixion; but though He saw all, we could not know how we would react to the Cross until we were unrolled upon the screen of time. We were not conscious of being present there on Calvary that day, but He was conscious of our presence. Today we know the role we played in the theater of Calvary, by the way we live and act now in the theater of the twentieth century.

That is why Calvary is actual; why the Cross is the crisis; why in a certain sense the scars are still open; why Pain still stands deified, and why blood like falling stars is still dropping upon
our souls. There is no escaping the Cross not even by denying it as the Pharisees did; not even by selling Christ as Judas did; not even by crucifying Him as the executioners did. We all see it, either to embrace it in salvation, or to fly from it into misery.

But how is it made visible? Where shall we find Calvary perpetuated? We shall find Calvary renewed, re-enacted, re-presented, as we have seen, in the Mass. Calvary is one with the Mass, and the Mass is one with Calvary, for in both there is the same Priest and Victim. The Seven Last Words are like the seven parts of the Mass. And just as there are seven notes in music admitting an infinite variety of harmonies and combinations, so
too on the Cross there are seven divine notes, which the dying Christ rang down the centuries, all of which combine to form the beautiful harmony of the world's redemption.

Each word is a part of the Mass. The First Word, "Forgive," is the Confiteor; the Second Word, "This Day in Paradise," is the Offertory; the Third Word, "Behold Thy Mother," is the Sanctus;
the Fourth Word, "Why hast Thou abandoned Me," is the Consecration; the Fifth Word, "I thirst," is the Communion; the Sixth Word, "It is finished," is the Ite, Missa Est; the Seventh
Word, "Father, into Thy Hands," is the Last Gospel.

Picture then the High Priest Christ leaving the sacristy of heaven for the altar of Calvary. He has already put on the vestment of our human nature, the maniple of our suffering, the stole of priesthood, the chasuble of the Cross. Calvary is his cathedral; the rock of Calvary is the altar stone; the sun turning to red is the sanctuary lamp; Mary and John are the living side altars; the Host is His Body; the wine is His Blood. He is upright as Priest, yet He is prostrate as Victim. His Mass is about to begin.