Untitled - Saints' Books

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INSTR. i.] The Celebration of Mass. 221
to excite in the
faithful the veneration and esteem due
to so great a sacrifice, and to the most sublime mysteries
that it contains. "The Church," says the holy Coun
cil, has employed ceremonies, whereby both the maj
esty of so great a sacrifice might be recommended and
the minds of the faithful be excited, by those visible
signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of
those most sublime things which are hidden in this
sacrifice." 1 But instead of inspiring reverence, these
ceremonies, when performed with great haste, diminish
and destroy the veneration of the people for so holy a
mystery. Peter de Blois says that the irreverence with
which Mass is celebrated makes people think little of
the most holy sacrament. 2
This scandal cannot be ex
cused from mortal sin. Hence in the year 1583 the
Council of Tours ordained that priests should be well
instructed in the ceremonies of the Mass: For fear that
the people intrusted to their care, far from entertaining
veneration for our divine mysteries, might regard them
with indifference."
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only
How can priests expect by Masses said with such
irreverence to obtain graces from God, when during the
oblation of these Masses they offend and dishonor him
more than they honor him ? Should a priest not believe
in the most holy sacrament of the altar, he would offend
God; but it is a still
greater offence to believe in it, and to
celebrate Mass without due reverence, and thus make
the people who are present lose their veneration for the
" 1
Ecclesia caeremonias adhibuit, quo et majestas tanti Sacrificii commendaretur,
et mentes fidelium, per haec visibilia religionis signa, ad
rerum altissimarum ,
quae in hoc Sacrificio latent, contemplationem ex-
citarentur." Sess. 22, De Sacrif. M. c. 5.
Ex inordinata et indisciplinata multitudine Sacerdotum, hodie
datur ostentui nostrae redemptionis venerabile Sacramentum." Epist.
123.
3 " Ne populum sibi commissum a devotione potius revocent, quam
ad sacrorum mysteriorum venerationem invitent."