--The Mass is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. If all human
beings in this world, and all living creatures, and all inanimate objects
were collected and burned as a holocaust to the Lord, they would not
confer as much praise on the Almighty as a single Eucharistic sacrifice.
These earthly creatures--how numerous and excellent soever--are finite and
imperfect; while the offering made in the Mass is of infinite value, for
it is our Lord Jesus, the acceptable Lamb without blemish, the beloved Son
in whom the Father is well pleased, and who "is always heard on account of
His reverence."

With what awe and grateful love should we assist at this Sacrifice! The
angels were present at Calvary. Angels are present also at the Mass. If we
cannot assist with the seraphic love and rapt attention of the angelic
spirits, let us worship, at least, with the simple devotion of the
shepherds of Bethlehem and the unswerving faith of the Magi. Let us offer
to our God the golden gift of a heart full of love and the incense of our
praise and adoration, repeating often during the holy oblation the words
of the Psalmist: "The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever."

Second--The Mass is also a sacrifice of propitiation. Jesus daily pleads
our cause in this Divine oblation before our Heavenly Father. "If any man
sin," says St. John, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the just; and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only,
but also for those of the whole world."(404) Hence the Priest, whenever he
offers up the holy sacrifice, recites this prayer at the offertory:
"Receive, O holy Father, almighty, eternal God, this immaculate victim
which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer to Thee, my living and true God, for
my innumerable sins, offences and negligences, for all here present, and
for all the faithful living and dead, that it may avail me and them to
life everlasting."

Whenever, therefore, we assist at Mass let us unite with Jesus Christ in
imploring the mercy of God for our sins. Let us represent to ourselves the
Mass as another Calvary, which it is in reality. Like Mary, let us stand
in spirit beneath the cross, and let our souls be pierced with grief for
our transgressions. Let us acknowledge that our sins were the cause of
that agony and of the shedding of that precious blood. Let us follow in
mind and heart that crowd of weeping penitents who accompanied our Savior
to Calvary, striking their breasts, a