as that of Calvary, having
the same High Priest and victim--Jesus Christ. The object of St. Paul is to
contrast the Sacrifice of the New Law, which has only one victim, with the
sacrifices of the Old Law, where the victims were many; and to show the
insufficiency of the ancient sacrifices and the all-sufficiency of the
Sacrifice of the new dispensation.

But if the sacrifice of the cross is all-sufficient what need then, you
will say, is there of a commemorative Sacrifice of the Mass? I would ask a
Protestant in return, Why do you pray, and go to church, and why were you
baptized, and receive Communion, and the rite of Confirmation? What is the
use of all these exercises, if the sacrifice of the cross is
all-sufficient? You will tell me that in all these acts you apply to
yourself the merits of Christ's Passion. I will tell you, in like manner,
that in the Sacrifice of the Mass I apply to myself the merits of the
sacrifice of the cross, from which the Mass derives all its efficacy.
Christ, indeed, by His death made full atonement for our sins, but He has
not released us from the obligation of co-operating with Him by applying
His merits to our souls. What better or more efficacious way can we have
of participating in His merits than by assisting at the Sacrifice of the
Altar, where we vividly recall to mind His sufferings, where Calvary is
represented before us, where "we show the death of the Lord until He
come," and where we draw abundantly to our souls the fruit of His Passion
by drinking of the same blood that was shed on the cross?

In the Old Law there were different kinds of sacrifices offered up for
different purposes. There were sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to
God for His benefits, sacrifices of propitiation to implore His
forgiveness for the sins of the people, and sacrifices of supplication to
ask His blessing and protection. The Sacrifice of the Mass fulfils all
these ends. It is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, a sacrifice of
propitiation and of supplication; hence that valued book, the "_Following
of Christ_," says: "When a Priest celebrates Mass he honors God, he
rejoices the angels, he edifies the church, he helps the living, he
obtains rest for the dead, and makes himself a partaker of all that is
good." To form an adequate idea of the efficiency of the Divine Sacrifice
of the Mass we have only to bear in mind the Victim that is offered--Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God.

First