will not receive a gift of your hand; for from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation' (Mal. i. 10, 11),
24. Which is this perpetual Sacrifice, foretold by Malaehias?
It is the Sacrifice of the Mass.
25. By whom was the Sacrifice of the Mass instituted?
It was instituted by Jesus Christ, when at the Last Supper He offered Himself up under the appearances of bread and wine to His Heavenly Father, and commanded His Apostles thenceforth to celebrate this His Sacrifice.
26. What, then, is the Mass?
The Mass is the perpetual Sacrifice of the New Law. in which Christ our Lord offers Himself, by the hands of the Priest, in an unbloody manner, under the appearances of bread and wine, to His Heavenly Father, as He once offered Himself on the Cross in a bloody manner.
27. What is the difference between the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrifice of the Cross?
The Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially the same Sacrifice as that of the Cross; the only difference is in the manner of offering.
28. Why is the Sacrifice of the Mass the same Sacrifice as that of the Cross?
Because in both it is the same High-Priest who offers, and the same Victim who is offered — namely, Jesus Christ our Lord; and because in the Sacrifice of the Mass the oblation which Christ made of Himself on the Cross, for us, to the Father, is commemorated and continued.
The Priest is only the minister and visible representative of Christ; therefore he does not speak in his own name, but in the name of Christ; 'This is my Body, . . . this is my Blood.'
