The Last Gospel Lesson 10

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men….

…He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He came into His own, and His own recieved Him not.

But to as many as received Him He gave the power of becoming sons of God…AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US…(St. John, 1-14.)

Immediately after the Last Blessing the priest goes to the Gospel side of the altar. There he says, “Dominus vobiscum,” and makes the Sign of the Cross on the altar, and then on his forehead, lips, and breast. This is just as he did at the first Gospel.

As we make the Sign of the Cross on our forehead, lips, and breast, we can have the same thoughts as we did before the first Gospel. We want our minds to know about Our Lord and His teachings. We want our voices and tongues to make them known. We want our hearts to love them. We know we prove our love for the teachings of Our Lord by putting them into practice in our everyday life.

On most days, the Last Gospel is the same. It is the first fourteen verses of the Holy Gospel written by St. John. Parts of the Last Gospel are given at the beginning of this lesson. Sometimes there is a special Last Gospel. You can tell when this special Last Gospel is being read. The altar boy moves the Missal from the Epistle to the Gospel side of the altar. The priest always reads a special Last Gospel from the Missal . The first fourteen verses of the Gospel of St. John are printed on the card on the Gospel side of the altar.

These fourteen verses from the Gospel of St. John speak about Our Lord. They tell that He is God. They also tell that He became man. The priest and people bend their knees to adore Our Lord, God made man. They do so at the words of the Last Gospel, “And the Word was made flesh.”

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God, has been made flesh again.

At the end of the Last Gospel the altar boy says, “Thanks be to God.” He is saying it for the people. With the priest they have been thinking of Our Lord, Who is God. They know how He came again upon earth in Holy Mass. He has been the victim of the Holy Sacrifice just offered. He has been our gift to God. He became our food. Yes, He became food for our soul. For these reasons we say, “Thanks be to God.”

Taken from The Kingdom of God series The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Ellamay Horan. I am not the Author merely the distributor. God Bless BJS!!

The Offering Prayers After the Consecration Lesson 5

The First Prayer

Mindful, therefore, O Lord, not only of the blessed passion of the same Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, but also of His resurrection from the dead, and finally His glorious ascension into heaven, we, Thy ministers, as also Thy holy people, offer unto Thy Supreme Majesty, of Thy gifts bestowed upon us, the pure Victim, the holy Victim, the all-perfect Victim; the holy Bread of life eternal and the Chalice of unending salvation.

In this prayer the priest and people offer Christ Our Lord to God the Father. They do so, thinking about the passion of Our Lord, His resurrection from the dead, and His glorious ascension into heaven.

The priest or priests speak to God of themselves as “Thy ministers.” They speak of the people as “Thy holy people.” The prayer addresses God the Father as “Thy Supreme Majesty.” Our Blessed Lord is spoken of as “the pure Victim, the holy Victim, the all-perfect Victim.”

The prayer also speaks of Our Lord as “the holy Bread of life eternal and the Chalice of unending salvation.” These last words remind us that it is through the graces that come to us in Holy Mass and Holy Communion we will get to heaven. These are the graces we need to live a good life now that we may be happy with God forever in heaven.

The Second Prayer

And this do Thou deign to regard with gracious and kindly attention and hold acceptable, as Thou didst deign to accept the offerings of Abel, Thy just servant, and the sacrifice of Abraham our patriarch, and that which Thy chief priest Melchisedech, offered unto Thee, a holy sacrifice of thanks, and a spotless Victim.

The second offering prayer asks God to look upon our offering with pleasure and, please, to recieve it.

The prayer asks that God will accept our offering as He received with pleasure the sacrifices offered by Abel, Abraham, and Melchisedech.

Jesus, our gift to God the Father, is pure, holy, and all-perfect. These are the words of the first prayer after the Consecration. But we who offer the gift are not holy, or perfect, or free from sin. We know how unworthy we are to make this gift to God. For this reason we pray that God will look upon our offering with kindness, and please recieve it.

The Third Prayer

Most humbly we implore Thee, Almighty God, bid these our mystic offerings to be brought by the hands of Thy holy angel unto Thy altar above, before the face of Thy divine majesty; that those of us who, by sharing in the Sacrifice of Thy Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

This prayer asks two things of Almighty God. First, we pray that God will permit His holy angel to give our offering to Him in heaven. The prayer does not mention the name of any particular angel. Then the prayer speaks of those who are about to recieve Holy Communion. It asks that those who shall receive the body and blood of Our Lord, the Son of God, may be filled with every blessing and grace.

Taken from The Kingdom of God series The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Ellamay Horan. I am not the Author merely the distributor. God Bless BJS!!

The Sacrifice of the Cross and the Sacrifice of the Mass Lesson 2

The Bible tells about many sacrifices. Abel offered the finest lamb of his flock to God. Noe offered sacrifice when he came out of the ark. Abraham was ready to obey God and to offer even his son in sacrifice. When an angel stopped Abraham, he offered a ram. From the time of Moses, the priests of the Jews offered sacrifices for the people.

Saint Paul said that the sacrifices offered by the Jews were a shadow of the good things to come. Saint Paul was speaking of the perfect sacrifice. In this sacrifice Jesus, the Son of God, was and would be the victim.

Jesus offered to God the Father His sufferings and death on the cross. This is called that sacrifice of the cross. On the cross Jesus gained merit and made up for the sins of men.

Every day Jesus makes the same offering that He made on the cross. He again offers Himself to God the Father. He offers His sufferings and death on the cross. He does This In the Sacrifice of the Mass. Our Lord applies to us the merits of His death on the cross. No better victim, no greater gift, could be offered to God. The victim in the Sacrifice of the Mass is Our Lord Himself.

The Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross. There is only one difference. The way in which the sacrifice is offered is different. On the cross Our Lord shed His Blood. In the Mass there is no shedding of blood. There is no death. Jesus offers Himself to God under the appearances of bread and wine.

The first Sacrifice of the Mass was offered by Our Lord at the Last Supper. He did it in this way. He changed bread and wine into His body and blood. He offered Himself to God the Father. He said: “This is My body which is given for you; this is My blood which is shed for you.”

Jesus made the apostles priests at the Last Supper. At that time He gave them the power to change bread and wine into His body and blood. He said: “Do this in Remembrance of Me.” And the priest does this every day in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

When I pray the Mass with the priest, I offer Jesus to God the Father. I also offer myself to God the Father. During Holy Mass, God the Father wishes to give me a gift. He wishes to give me His Son in Holy Communion. This gift is food for my soul. Our Lord Himself said: “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.” Our Lord meant the life of grace which I must have to belong to the kingdom of God.

Taken from The Kingdom of God series The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Ellamay Horan. I am not the Author merely the distributor. God Bless BJS!!