The Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations/Method of Hearing Mass as a Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin
A method of hearing Mass
AS
A PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE FOR SIN,
WHICH HAT BE USED IN PREPARATION FOR CONFESSION.
CONSIDERATION.
WHEN the priest is at the steps of the altar, reciting the Conhteor, imagine yourself summoned before the tribunal of God, all covered with the wounds of sin. Excite within yourself the sentiments of the humble publican, acknowledging yourself a sinner, incapable of repairing the injury you have done to God, or satisfying for your sins; then raise your hopes at the sight of Jesus Christ offering himself to satisfy his Eternal Father for you.
At the Confiteor.
AFFECTIONS.
MY most dear Saviour! thou art my only hope; thy presence shields me against the assaults of fear and despair, and I place all my trust and confidence in thy sacred merits. How great are my obligations to thee, my dear Redeemer, for vouchsafing thyself to become my surety, and to cancel all my debts? If malice could have equalled so great a goodness, mine had done it, since instead of spending my life in loving and serving so good a God, I have employed it in offending thee. How often have I abused thy goodness, slighted thy friendship, contemned thy love, and offered to creatures the affections of my heart, which should have belonged to thee alone, thus preferring my own will to thine.
Behold here a fit subject for thy pardon, and an ample field on which to exercise thy mercy. Pardon, O infinite abyss of goodness, pardon the multitude of my offences. From the bottom of my heart I cry to thee that I have sinned, and that my iniquities are countless; but multiplied as they are, thy mercies are still more numerous, and thy loving heart is moved to forgiveness upon our sincere repentance. To the grace of pardon for the past, deign also to add that of amendment for the future. Grant, through the merits of this adorable sacrifice, that I may never more offend thee. But O sweet Lord! if thou, knowing my weakness, foreseest that this will excite my pride, then chastise me with the tenderness of a Father; make use of sufferings, sickness, affronts, injuries, and all the humiliations which thou thinkest fit for my cure; but oh! never suffer me to fall into mortal sin; may this never be the punishment of it. How great, O my God, is thy love! thou hast proved it, not only by once dying for us on the cross, but by daily immolating thyself mystically upon our altars. Bestow on me a gratitude corresponding to thy benefits; give me an upright heart, and a will conformable to thine, that in all my thoughts, words, and actions, I may have no other aim than thy greater glory. O my God and my Father! yet how shall I dare address thee by that tender name of Father, having so grievously offended thee. Sensible of my unworthiness, I would retire from thy presence, had not thy beloved Son shed his blood for my redemption. If my sins provoke thy just anger, that precious blood will move thee to compassion. If thou art deaf to my sighs and tears, thou wilt hearken to the voice of his blood, which cries louder than that of Abel, not for punishment, but for pardon of my crimes. Besides, I know thou wouldst rather be esteemed the Father of mercies than the God of vengeance; all which makes me hope, that thou wilt not reject a contrite and humble heart, especially when presented by thy own beloved Son, who, as High Priest, is going to immolate himself in my behalf. For his sake, receive me again as thy child. Give me what the depth of my necessities requires, and what the greatness of thy goodness knows how to bestow. Imprint in my heart those dispositions which will render it pleasing in thy sight. Give me a humility as profound as the nothingness whence I sprang, or rather as deep as the abyss into which my sins have cast me. Renew in me thy image, defaced by sin; and destroy in me all that is offensive in thy eyes, that I may become a child worthy of such a Father. Let neither pleasure nor fear again withdraw me from the line of duty, or cause me ever to offend thee more.
During the Epistle and Gospel.
CONSIDERATION.
REFLECT, that by sin you have transgressed the law of God. preferring to it the law of flesh and blood, in the indulgence of your own will. Beg grace in future to make the divine law the rule of all your actions.
AFFECTIONS.
O MY God! when I listen to thy holy Gospel, do I not hear the sentence of my own condemnation, unless thy infinite mercy avert it? For he who refuses to bear thy sweet yoke, deserves severe punishment. And when have I submitted to the restraints it imposes? Have I not rather criminally followed the perverse inclinations of my heart, and the corrupt maxims of the world, than the holy rules which thou hast established as my guides in the path of virtue? But henceforth, O increated Wisdom ! I will look up to thee for counsel; thy sacred word shall be the leading star whose bright rays will never fail me. I will study it, I will meditate the lessons it contains; do thou enlighten my mind, that I may understand them, and strengthen my will, that I may be enabled to practise what they enjoin. Grant, dear Lord, that I may never more offend thee: O take me wholly to thyself, and render my heart conformable to thine. I place my soul and body under thy protection; let my exterior be regulated by thy law, and my soul centered in thyself. Place thy seal upon me, that wherever I go, it may be visible to all that I am thine.
But how dare I make such high requests, after having been so unfaithful to thee? My confidence in thy goodness encourages me, for did I not know that thou lovest mercy better than justice, I should not presume to address thee.
At the Offertory.
CONSIDERATION.
CONSIDER that all your miseries come from preferring a material life, of which the bread and wine are figurative, to that divine and supernatural life which Jesus Christ wishes to communicate to you. Resolve to live according to the spirit, and not according to the flesh.
AFFECTIONS.
MY God! confiding in the merits of the victim that is going to be offered to thee. I humbly implore thy forgiveness for the too great tenderness with which I have hitherto treated this body of corruption, which has been the cause of most of my sins. Passion and sensual pleasures have withdrawn me from thy service, and though I know them to be enemies that conspire my ruin, I want courage to resolve upon declaring war against them, and I hesitate to walk in thy footsteps. Help me, O my Saviour! and enable me by thy all-powerful grace to conquer the flesh, and all the temptations it suggests to me, and grant that thy holy love may prove an impenetrable shield against all its assaults. Thou art going to change bread and wine into thy precious body and blood: wilt thou not, O Lord, at the same time, change my heart, and give me one conformable to thine? Assist me, my God, with thy all-powerful grace, for, as I cannot rise from my evil habits without thy assistance, so neither can I persevere in good without a continuance of thy grace. Grant it to me, I beseech thee, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, who is going to sacrifice himself for me.
My dear Saviour, blessed be this hour, in which thou wilt offer thyself to thy Eternal Father for my salvation, and the remission of my sins. A far less sacrifice from so great a priest could not but find acceptance; what then may I not hope for from this, in which thou art not only the priest that offers it, but the victim that is offered?
I hope not only for the pardon of my sins, but also for all that may promote thy glory, and the good of my soul, as a holy life and a happy death, the accomplishment of thy merciful designs upon me, and that thou wilt be pleased to form my heart according to thy own. All this I ask purely that I may become more pleasing in thy sight. Imprint thy law upon my heart; grant me grace to observe it faithfully. Look favourably on thy people; bless them, and give them all that thy mercy has designed for them. Grant the same also to my friends and relatives. Make us all thy faithful servants, that we may live holily, and die happily.
At the Elevation.
CONSIDERATION.
REPRESENT to yourself Jesus Christ fastened to the cross, to expiate the sins of all mankind. Consider in his passion, as in a faithful mirror, the enormity of sin; and let this spectacle excite your heart to sincere sorrow for your past sins, and firm resolution of amendment for the future.
O my soul! what is represented to us by the body and blood of Jesus Christ apparently separated, and the sacred host elevated by the hands 'of his minister, but his death on the cross. All that we behold here is a lively representation of the bloody scene once acted on Mount Calvary.
AFFECTIONS.
MY divine Saviour, after having adored thee as my God, permit me to ask what has reduced thee to this deplorable condition? It is sin; it is to expiate the disobedience of mankind that thou art obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, as also to satisfy by thy sufferings for those which our sins deserved.
O infinite goodness! to suffer so much for thy enemies, who were the cause of all thy torments! It was not so much Judas that betrayed thee, as my treacherous heart; it was not so much the soldiers who struck, reviled, and spit upon thee, as my passions. It was my sensuality that scourged thee, my gluttony that gave thee gall. It was my sins, in fine, that crucified thee, shed thy precious blood, and deprived thee of life. Lord! what have I done in consenting to sin? I have crucified thee anew, and taken away thy life. After such enormities, I might justly despair, did I not hear thee on the cross praying for those who crucified thee, which prayer cannot but be heard, and obtain its demand, the pardon of my sins. Add to this favour, I beseech thee, the grace of true contrition for my past offences, and a firm resolution of returning to them no more. I here offer myself to suffer for thy sake whatever thou shalt be pleased to appoint. But oh ! grant me thy love and thy grace, through the merits of this adorable sacrifice, that all I do and suffer may be united to thy sacred merits, without which my deeds and all my endeavours would be of no avail.
At the Agnus Dei.
CONSIDERATION.
BE persuaded that you cannot better atone and satisfy for your sins, than by offering Christ and his sacred merits (which you possess in the holy communion) both to his Eternal Father, and to himself. The holy communion is the best preservative against sin. Therefore, whenever you offer the Holy Sacrifice for the remission of your sins, fail not to communicate at least spiritually.
AFFECTIONS.
COME, my most amiable Jesus, come, for it is chiefly for sinners that thou descendest from heaven; come then to me who am the most unworthy of them all. But before thou enterest, purify the temple of my heart which has been defiled by sin and profaned by the idol, self-love. Break and destroy that enemy of thine, and since nothing is impossible to thee, transform a poor sinner into a saint, by changing the love I bear myself into love for thee alone.
Pardon, dearest Lord, my many sins, for thy mercy's sake, for though I do not deserve it, yet I ask it through thy merits. Thou hast abundantly satisfied for all my debts, I therefore lay claim to thy pardon; grant it me then, since I can pay more than enough: for I offer thee, dear Jesus, thy death and passion, the merits of which thou hast made over to me, and with which thou must needs be satisfied, and I cleansed from guilt. Wilt thou lose anything by forgiving me, or who will blame thee for thy mercy? Rather wilt thou not acquire great glory by it, since it is ever more glorious to thy name to save than to condemn? Pardon the many sins I have committed, partly through ignorance, but alas! much more frequently through malice: in both I have offended thee. Cure the wounds they have inflicted on me; thy wisdom knows the depth of them: thy power is able, and thy goodness is, I am sure, willing: this makes my hopes stronger than my fears. Look upon me then as the prodigal, who, after wandering forth from his father’s house, returned, and with a heart breaking with sorrow, cast himself at his feet, imploring forgiveness. His repentance blotted out the remembrance of his crime; a fatted calf was killed, and his return was welcomed by a sumptuous repast. Since I have imitated the prodigal in his wanderings, and I hope also in his repentance, suffer me to implore thee to treat me with the same fatherly tenderness that was shown to him. I own my unworthiness, after having fed upon carnal delights, to partake of the bread reserved for thy children. But the greater my misery, the more ample field for the exercise of thy mercy. I hope that if I be permitted to partake of this wheat of the elect, and of this wine producing virgins, I may be entirely changed in heart and mind. The inveteracy of no disease can resist thy all-healing power; if thou commandest, all maladies must obey. Say then to my soul, as thou didst to the leper, “ Volo: mundare ” “ Be thou made clean” (Matt. viii. 3.) That word will restore me to health; for as thy word alone created me, so thy word can again repair me. But in mercy root out self-love from my soul, it being the cause of all my evils. I know thou art more anxious to grant my petitions, than I am to obtain them. Do then what thou so much desirest. Grant me, dear Jesus, thy love, and a true zeal for thy glory. Shew me what thou desirest of me, and I will willingly pass the remainder of my life in accomplishing it. But if thou thinkest fit to punish me for my sins, grant that it may be so as to correct, and not to harden me; to bring me to thee, and not to drive me from thee.