Catholicism Made Simple (cms44.htm) as featured on The DailyCatholic, a Traditional Catholic publication dedicated to perpetuating the One True Faith and preserving the Traditional Latin Mass in this time of the Great Apostasy by upholding the sedevacantist syllogism in order to Save All Necessary Catholic Traditions in the United States (SANCTUS) and preserve the Truths and Traditions of the Church founded by Jesus Christ upon the Rock of Peter.

Contrary to the Vatican Two Modernists, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not the Lutheran-oriented "Eucharistic Celebration" that passes today as the wretched Novus Ordo. Therefore we have a duty as true Catholics to reject that "abomination of desolation" and return to the true Traditional Latin Mass. It is the canonical Apostolic Mass of all time and will always and ever be considered the true Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Sadly, that is something the progressive Hegelians refuse to recognize, having gone out of their way to strip their version of any sacrificial nature in the New "Mass." In truth, it was all done to please Protestants while greatly angering God because man dared to believe he had a better idea than the Divine. What was that Pope St. Pius V wrote in his infallible decree Quo Primum? Oh, yes, anyone who dares to alter what was set in stone and is to be said in perpetuity "will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul."

Editor's Note: This series is an effort to return to basics since too often we all make the holy Faith complicated, whereas in reality the truths and traditions of the Catholic Faith are quite simple. God doesn't complicate things, man does. Realizing the fact that, for many generations indoctrinated by conciliar ambiguities, it all seems so confusing, we are introducing this series which is an adaptation of an earlier series titled "Appreciating the Precious Gift of the Faith" in utilizing a combination of the excellent compendium of the late Bishop Morrow's pre-Vatican II Manual of Religion My Catholic Faith and Dom Prosper Gueranger's incomparable The Liturgical Year as well as the out-of-print masterpieces The Catholic Church Alone The One True Church(1902) and the Cabinet of Catholic Information (1903). Through prayer and discussions, we've decided to employ this revised series to simplify the tenets of the Faith for those who continue to wallow in what they think is the 'Catholic Church' out of obedience to a man and his hierarchy who long ago betrayed Christ and His flocks. This then, is an affirmation of the basic truths the Spotless Bride of Christ has always taught and cannot change or evolve as "living documents" for truth is truth. As we say every day in the Act of Faith, "We believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived." If you have been deceived, and the vast majority have been, then realize what you've been indoctrinated with over the past 50 years cannot be from God but from His adversary. Our advice: flee the conciliar confines as well as other man-made religions which do not teach these truths without compromise. Seek out a traditional chapel nearest to you. There is a list of churches you can absolutely trust at Traditional Latin Masses

"Christ was immolated on Calvary, once and for all; He is now in glory, and can die no more. How then can we say that He is sacrificed on our altars at Mass, and not only sacrificed one, but continually? The Mass is the realization, in an unbloody manner, of the very sacrifice offered up on Calvary in a bloody manner. It is the unbloody sacrifice reenacted just as one would have video taped Our Lord on Calvary. He died just once. Yet His death, His Sacrifice is 'replayed' over and over and over in each Holy Mass. On Calvary, Christ physically shed His blood; in the Holy Mass, although the separate consecration re-enacts Christ's death, there is no physical shedding of blood."

Continuing with the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, valid today only as the Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass or the Apostolic Canonical Mass of All Ages, we focus on the sacrificial aspect of the Mass since it is, after all, called the Holy SACRIFICE. You'll also note that practically anything referring to sacrifice has been stripped in the new Protestant-Masonic-Pagan service in the vernacular that has so polluted souls over the past fifty years.

We hope and pray this series will wake up conciliar Catholics that if they want to remain truly Catholic, the first thing they need to do is flee the Novus Ordo lodges and find the true Holy Sacrifice in the catacombs. The more catacombs, the sooner the truth will rise to the surface and collapse the counterfeit church of conciliarism and return semblance, sanity and sanctity to Rome once the Modernists have been evacuated and exposed.

The Mass and Calvary

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the chief and central act of Catholic worship, the greatest act of worship that can be offered to God, an infinite ocean of graces for the living and the dead.

The Holy Mass perpetuated by Pope Saint Pius V to be said in perpetuity without alteration is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the cross, because in the Mass the victim is the same, and the principal Priest is the same, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Mass is the very same sacrifice which was offered up at the Last Supper, and consummated on Calvary; it is the living renewal of the sacrifice of the cross. As Christ offered Himself up on Calvary, so as the Victim He is offered in the Mass. As on the cross His body was mangled and torn, so at the Consecration He places Himself as the Victim on the altar, with His Body and Blood under the separate forms of bread and wine. At the Communion, when the species of bread and wine are consumed, the sacrifice is accomplished, as it was on the cross, when at the moment of death Our Lord cried out, "It is consummated!"

The Holy Mass is no mere remembrance or memorial of Calvary; it actually renews, in the separate consecration of the bread and wine, the death of the Lord, the separation of His Body and Blood.

At the last Supper, after Christ had changed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, He said: "Do this in remembrance of Me" (St. Luke 22:19). And Saint Paul adds: "For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). At the Last Supper, Christ instituted a visible sacrifice, the Mass, in order to renew the bloody sacrifice which He consummated on the cross.

The principal priest in every Mass is Jesus Christ, who offers to His Heavenly Father, through the ministry of His ordained priest, His body and blood which were sacrificed on the cross. In both the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Mass, the same officiating High-Priest offers up the same Sacrificial Victim: Jesus Christ Our Lord.

The priest saying the Mass is only Christ's minister and representative. He is an alter Christus. He utters the words of consecration in the name and person of Christ, saying. "This is My Body." - "Hoc est enim Corpus Meum"; not, "This is Christ's Body, etc" although there are several within the Novus Ordo who adlib their way through and refer to it in the latter manner.

The manner in which the sacrifice is offered is different: On the cross Christ physically shed His blood and was physically slain, while in the Holy Mass there is no physical shedding of blood nor physical death, because Christ can die no more; on the cross Christ gained merit and satisfied for us, while in the Mass He applies to us the merits and satisfaction of His death on the cross.

Christ was immolated on Calvary, once and for all; He is now in glory, and can die no more. How then can we say that He is sacrificed on our altars at Mass, and not only sacrificed one, but continually? The Mass is the realization, in an unbloody manner, of the very sacrifice offered up on Calvary in a bloody manner. It is the unbloody sacrifice reenacted just as one would have video taped Our Lord on Calvary. He died just once. Yet His death, His Sacrifice is 'replayed' over and over and over in each Holy Mass. On Calvary, Christ physically shed His blood; in the Holy Mass, although the separate consecration re-enacts Christ's death, there is no physical shedding of blood.

Christ continues to offer Himself as a sacrifice in the Holy Mass, in order: to unite us with Himself, to give us a gift worthy to be offered to God, and to make us share in the merits of His sacrifice on the cross. Through the Mass the merits of the sacrifice on the cross are applied to our souls.

The Mass, according to the will of Christ Himself, is to apply through cause of the Holy Mass, through all the time the fruits of the Redemption, made possible by the sacrifice on Calvary, which paid the full price of our redemption.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, then, is in the truest sense the continuation of the redeeming sacrifices of Christ. It is the Holy Mass that gives to us the fullest efficacy of Calvary; it brings Calvary within the reach of all souls in every clime and every age. Because of the Mass, here and now we may offer up repeatedly God as our Victim to God, partake of Him for ourselves as a Gift from the Blessed Trinity, and live in constant and intimate union with Him.

The sacrifice on Calvary was offered up by Christ Himself to the Eternal Father; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered up by Him united with us, as by our Baptism we became members of His Mystical Body.

Christ gave us the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a visible sacrifice to continue His sacrifice on the cross until the end of time. The Mass in not a mere remembrance of Calvary; it actually renews Christ's death, continues His sacrifice, and is in itself His very Sacrifice.

Ends and Fruits of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass may be offered to God with a fourfold intention: by way of Adoration, Thanksgiving, Petition, and Atonement. It is for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the living, and for the eternal repose of the dead. Every day of the year Holy Mass is offered, except Good Friday.

There are different kinds of Masses: low Mass, read or recited by the priest, high Mass, sung by priest and choir; and solemn high Mass, with deacon and subdeacon assisting the celebrant. These are not really different; they differ only in the elaborateness of the ceremonies used. A pontifical Mass is a high Mass said by a Bishop. A bishop puts on his vestments and takes them off before the altar, unlike the priest, who vests himself in the sacristy.

The purposes for which the Mass is offered are:

To adore God as our Creator.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the only worthy gift we can offer God; in it we offer to Him His own Son. Having a perfect sacrifice in the Holy Mass, Christians need, and have, no other sacrifice to offer to God but this one.
To thank God for His many favors.

In the Mass Jesus Christ the Son of God speaks for us to His eternal Father; we have an advocate with Him. Can we fail but speak well, having this instrument of thanksgiving?
To ask God to bestow His blessings on all men.
Holy Mass may be offered for the living of whatever creed. It may be offered for departed Catholics. The priest may not offer Mass publicly for departed non-Catholics, but the persons hearing the Holy Mass may do so. Persons hearing Mass have their own private intentions for offering it, aside from the intention of the priest. Holy Mass may be offered for any intention except that which is in itself bad. This petition of God has been greatly distorted with the emphasis in the Novus Ordo of petitions when many times material wants are emphasized over spiritual ones, and in many parishes, can go on as long as there is someone to add in their own petition.
To satisfy the justice of God for the sins committed against Him.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass reconciles man with God, as we learn from the words of Christ uttered at the Last Supper, "This is My blood, which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins"> (St. Matthew 26:28). We are not redeemed all over again by the Mass, for we were redeemed once on the cross; but the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass applies to our souls the fruits of redemption gained for us on the cross. As a perfect propitiary sacrifice, the Holy Mass satisfies the justice of God.

By means of the Mass, the fruits of the sacrifice of the cross are applied to our souls. The sacrifice on the cross - the passion and death of Christ - is the gold mine of graces; Holy Mass is the machinery that takes the gold out for us. At Holy Mass a torrent of graces flows from the altar of God to enrich men. God makes use of other means of grace, such as prayer; but in no other means are graces applied to us so generously.

At Holy Mass we particularly obtain the Grace to repent of mortal sin. It is not necessary to be in the state of grace to hear the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; the sinner does not commit a fresh sin by doing so; on the contrary he obtains the grace of conversion. Upon the cross Christ cried: "Father forgive them;"> at Mass He utters the same prayer on behalf of those present.

There is also forgiveness of venial sins for those who are in the state of grace. Saint Augustine said that one "Our Father" prayed with devotion would expiate the venial sins of a whole day; how much more effective would be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the supreme prayer offered to God!

At Holy Mass we obtain remission of the temporal penalty due to sin. The penitent thief, who was present at the Sacrifice of the Cross, was quickly admitted into Heaven, with the penalties due his sins all forgiven. We are sure that our prayers are heard in the Mass, because in it Our Lord Himself prays for us. The fruits of the Mass are granted to the person hearing it devoutly, not only in answer to his prayers, but directly, in virtue of the Sacrifice itself, through which the merits of Christ are applied to his soul.

We may obtain eternal rewards provided we are in the state of grace. We also obtain temporal blessings, such as help in our work, and protection. The whole Church on earth and in Purgatory participates in the general fruits, for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered for all, though if they are not in the state of Sanctifying Grace, they will not receive the merits gained. Those who are in the state of grace benefit from the special fruits of the priest who celebrates the Mass, the per son or persons for whom it is offered, those who serve or assist at the Mass and those for whom the faithful present prayer and offer the Holy Mass in union with the priest.

It's important to note here on the matter of forgiveness and absolution. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass perpetuated for all time by Pius V, there has always been two places where we ask forgiveness and receive absolution. The first part is after the entrance prayers of Psalm 42 when the priest recites his Confiteor first, then his Miseratur then our - "I confess" ('Confiteor' recited by the altar boys on behalf of the faithful). Then the Misereatur is repeated again by the celebrant - "May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting. Amen." Then the priest bestows absolution: Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen. - "May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission or our sins. Amen." This is repeated after the priest has received the Body and Blood of Christ before the faithful. The acolytes recite the Confiteor and then the celebrant repeats the Miseratur and gives absolution. At both times we make the sign of the cross.

Unfortunately this reconciling act is not found in the "Eucharistic Celebration" concocted by Annibale Cardinal Bugnini and unbelievingly bought and sold by Pope Paul VI and all hierarchy after. In this pseudo Mass it is no longer the priest giving absolution but the congregation acting as the priest by saying "May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen." This is said only once before the Kyrie and we are forgiving ourselves. Who needs a priest or celebrant in the Novus Ordo? Maybe that's why he's merely called a "presider." These are just a few more cracks that have eroded the sacrificial nature of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and passed off today as the "New Mass", which according to all the facts and bitter fruits of evidence, the Novus Ordo Missae of the counterfeit church of conciliarism is no different than the Protestant service of the Anglicans in which Pope Leo XIII proclaimed infallibly in his encyclical Apostolicae Curae, as being "absolutely null and utterly void."

The Graces and Values of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Previously: Step Forty-Three: The True Presence

For all steps to date, see Archives of Catholicism Made Simple

Catholicism Made Simple