Alter Christus - The Priest's Holy Mass

If the faithful are to be often reminded of the sacredness of Holy Mass, so also the priests. Not that they are easily tempted to forgo their Mass; but great is the danger lest routine and slovenliness creep in and mar the most sublime of their functions... It was our great hope and ambition, at our ordination, to make our daily Mass really a holy Mass every day of our priestly life. Alas! how far perhaps the reality has belied our expectations, to the great detri­ment of God's glory, of the good of souls, of our own sancti­fication . . .

"SACRIFICIUM LAUDIS"

If, when beginning holy Mass every morning, we could but remember the sublimity of the act, what reverence, awe and holy exultation would not fill us! We would see heaven open above us and the Blessed Trinity looking down with infinite good pleasure upon the altar where the unique oblation that renders due glory to God is about to be offered up - the very sacrifice of the Cross.

Should we do nothing else, as priests, than render to God, day after day, that most perfect cult of religion, by offering the "Sacrificium Laudis" with all the fervour and love we are capable of, we would indeed be fu1filling most nobly the end for which we were created: to give glory to God. What greater glory could we give to God than to return to Him the gift of infinite value He has placed in our hands: "Offerimus praeclarae Majestati tuae de tuis donis ac datis Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam imma­culatam."

* Do these thoughts of faith animate us vividly at our daily Mass?

To counteract the danger of mechanical routine, let us meditate frequently on the meaning of holy Mass and the four ends of the Sacrificy. The earnestness of our immediate preparation, by prayer and recollection, must keep us in the proper dispositions to approach the divine Majesty of God.

Whilst celebrating holy Mass, one of the best and simplest ways to realize its sublimity, is to recite the prayers, those of the Canon especially, slowly enough to let their meaning penetrate our soul.

The great Bishop Dupanloup told the ordinandi of his seminary: "If you want to be always fervent in celebrating holy Mass, I ask of you only one thing: pronounce distinctly all the words of the sacred liturgy."

"MEUM AC VESTRUM SACRIFICIUM"

Another consideration that should ever stimulate us to fervour at the altar is that the Sacrifice is not our oblation only, but a collective act of the whole Church, in the name and for the benefit of all the members of Christ's Mystical Body. How this widens our horizon! How, also, it ought to deepen our sense of responsibility: for, the graces we obtain for the living and the dead increase with the fervour of our dispositions whilst offering the holy Sacrifice.

Moreover, our behaviour at the altar cannot fail to in­fluence our flock before whom we are saying Mass: is not the piety of the priest at the altar one of the sources of piety in those around the altar?

And how can the priest insist on the intimate participation of the faithful in the oblation of holy Mass, if he says that Mass in a slovenly way, or so quickly that his gestures are without dignity and edification and that the prayers are gabbled and impossible to follow intelligently?

* Are we sufficiently aware of the tremendous issues at stake when we offer the holy Sacrifice "pro nostra et totius mundi salute"?

Do we look upon our daily Mass as the chief source of fruitfulness in our ministry?

Are we trying to educate our Christians to an intelligent participation in the oblation of the holy Sacrifice?

Is our behaviour at the altar a help towards it?

Fidelity to the rubrics must give to our external attitude the stamp holy Church wants to imprint on all her priests at the altar; and, again, we must beware of hurry for the sake of our flock as well as for our own: "Overhaste kills devotion." (St Francis of Sales)

"UT MIHI PROFICIAT AD SALUTEM IN VITAM AETERNAM"

And how holy Mass sanctifies the priest himself! Re­membering that the Mass is the renewal of the Sacrifice of Calvary and applies to us its infinite merits, with what confidence can we not raise to heaven our supplication along with the Divine Victim "ut omni benedictione coelesti et gratia repleamur"! If St Teresa could say that one Communion well made is enough to sanctify a soul, how much more truly could it be said of one Mass celebrated devoutly! . . .

We shall obtain this result in the degree in which we enter into the spirit of the holy Sacrifice and make it really our Mass by an intimate union with the Divine Victim: offering ourselves with Christ by a total oblation at the Offertory; lifting ourselves up with Christ, as co-victims, at the Consecration; letting ourselves be transformed Christ in holy Communion; and then continuing to live our Mass throughout the day, by making of all our actions practical applications of that morning surrender at the altar.

* I celebrate Mass every day. Why has it perhaps so little effect on my spiritual life???

See if I approach the altar with that great purity of conscience so necessary in one who is to be assimilated to the spotless Victim, and in a spirit of praise and worship and total self-surrender.

Do I realize the meaning and practical implications of my self-oblation in union with Christ?

Is my self-offering quite sincere, and do I seriously try to live my Mass? ­

Let me frequently renew my faith in the transforming power of the holy Sacrifice, and endeavour to make my Mass the center of my daily life.

"Da nobis, Domine, perfectae caritatis sacrifi­cium cum altaris oblatione coniungere" (Mass of St Paulinus, Secret), "ut immaculatam hostiam offerentes, ipsi quoque in holocaustum tibi acceptum transeamus" (Special Mass of St Vincent de Paul, Secret).
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Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 31.
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.