or a perpetual memorial of Christ's
sacrifice on the cross. The Sacrifice of the Mass is identical with that
of the cross, both having the same victim and High Priest--Jesus Christ.

The only difference consists in the manner of the oblation. Christ was
offered up on the cross in a bloody manner, and in the Mass He is offered
up in an unbloody manner. On the cross He purchased our ransom, and in the
Eucharistic Sacrifice the price of that ransom is applied to our souls.
Hence, all the efficacy of the Mass is derived from the sacrifice of
Calvary.

It was on the night before He suffered that our Lord Jesus Christ
instituted the Sacrifice of the New Law. "Jesus," says St. Paul, "the
night in which He was betrayed took bread, and, giving thanks, broke and
said: Take ye and eat; this is My body which shall be delivered for you.
This do for the commemoration of Me. In like manner also the chalice,
after He had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in My
blood. This do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of
Me; for as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, ye
shall show the death of the Lord until He come."(397)

From these words we learn that the principal motive which our Savior had
in view in instituting the Sacrifice of the Altar was to keep us in
perpetual remembrance of His sufferings and death. He wished that the
scene of Calvary should ever appear in panoramic view before our eyes, and
that our heart, memory and intellect should be filled with the thoughts of
His Passion. He knew well that this would be the best means of winning our
love and exciting sorrow for sin in our soul; therefore, He designed that
in every church throughout the world an altar should be erected, to serve
as a monument of His mercies to His people, as the children of Israel
erected a monument, on crossing the Jordan, to commemorate His mercies to
His chosen people. The Mass is truly the memorial service of Christ's
Passion.

In compliance with the command of our Lord the adorable Sacrifice of the
Altar has been daily renewed in the Church, from the death of our Savior
till the present time, and will be perpetuated till time shall be no more.

In the Acts it is said that while Saul and others were ministering (or, as
the Greek text expresses it, _sacrificing_) to the Lord, and fasting, the
Holy Spirit said to them: "Set apart for Me Saul and Barnabas." St. Paul,
in his Epistle to the Hebrews, f