  Without the sacrifice of the spotless Victim, there is no Mass! Period!
The VerbumQUO for today is "sacrificium" which is the Latin noun for "sacrifice" and is actually taken from the Ordinary of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass said by the priest acting as the alter Christus, seven times during the Holy Mass, replicating the number of times our Lord spoke from the Cross. The emphasis on sacrifice and the spotless Victim, pure Victim, holy Victim, spotless Victim were installed by the great Pontiff - whose feast day is today - St. Leo the Great, though not celebrated because of Holy Week superseding normal feasts this most solemn of weeks.
by
Michael Cain
Editor, The Daily Catholic
Editor's Note: This is a new series the editor has launched in highlighting one word from the Proper of the day's Mass. Taking the Latin Verbum and Quotidianum, which mean respectively "Word" and "Daily", we have coined the word "Verbumquo" by contracting quotidianum to quo and running it together as VerbumQUO for this feature series, thus "The Daily Word," as in the sum of the message, the 'quotient', if you will. It is also our hope that in choosing the Latin word with its meaning and etymology more will be attuned to hearing the word read at the altar and better comprehend the beauty of the Mother tongue. Hopefully in this Time of Holy Week we can gain a higher appreciation and contemplation on how the Daily Proper of the Holy Mass applies in our lives in alignment with the will of Christ and His Blessed Immaculate Mother and His Mystical Bride, His Holy Roman Catholic Church.
The VerbumQUO for today - Tuesday in Holy Week is "sacrificium" which is the Latin noun for "sacrifice" and therein is the essence of the Holy Mass - a propitiatory sacrifice in which, as the dogmatic Council of Trent says of this oblation: "The whole reason for our glory is in Thee, O Christ, in Whom we live, in Whom we merit, in Whom we make satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance which, deriving their value from Thee, are offered to the Father by Thee, and accepted by Him through Thee." This act of expiation offered to God the Father, in union with the Sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ upon the cross and, as satisfaction for our sins, encourages and strengthens us to bear our crosses as they grow heavier this week in Holy Week.
Though the day of Calvary is three days away, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is that endless, continual sacrifice and when we worthily assist and receive His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Sacred Host - "pure Victim, holy Victim, spotless Victim" - "Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam" - we partake in the efficacy of Holy Mass which is the same as that of Calvary, save in an unbloody manner. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we pray to Jesus to grant us the very same graces He would have abundantly had we been standing with His Blessed Mother Mary, the beloved disciple Saint John and Mary Magdelene at the foot of the Tree on which He hung.
The English word "sacrifice" comes naturally from the Latin sacrificium - pronounced SACK-RIH-FEECH-EE-OOM - An offering of an immolation. Let's examine Webster's definition:
"Sacrifice", noun [From Latin sacrificium, from Latin sacer sacred + ficare to make.] 1. An offering to a deity of animal or vegetable life or of food, drink, incense, or the like. 2. Anything consecrated and offered to God. 3. Destruction or surrender of some desirable thing in behalf of a higher object, or devotion of it to a claim deemed more pressing: also, the thing so devoted or given up. 4. A loss of profit or grievous loss incurred in selling under unfavorable conditions. 5. Baseball Short for SACRIFICE HIT. v.t.: sacrificed, sacrificing. 1. To offer as a sacrifice; to immolate. 2. To suffer loss of, give up, renounce, or destroy, for an end regarded as superior. 3. Colloquial To sell at a sacrifice. 4. Baseball To advance a base runner by a sacrifice hit. - v.i. To offer up or perform rites of a sacrifice. sacrificer, noun. sacrificial, adjective Of, pertaining to, of the nature of, or involving sacrifice. sacrificially, adverb."
While today's Gospel is the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark chronicles the ultimate sacrifice on the cross, let's look at the Ordinary of the Mass as well. Naturally, the definition above that we are looking at here is the holy Sacrifice - the immolated Lamb offered up to the Father by the priest on our behalf in expiation of our sins, combined with our acts of adoration, thanksgiving, and petition. These four acts then are the completion of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the Ordinary of the Mass, sacrifice is not brought up until after the Mass of the Catechumens, at the beginning of the Mass of the Faithful in the Offertory when the priest, after laying the host on the paten, and pouring the wine and water into the sacred chalice, invokes the Holy Ghost to bless the oblation of bread and wine:
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In spiritu humilitatis, et in animo contrito suscipiamur a Te, Domine: et sic fiat sacrificium [1]
nostrum in conspectu tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi, Domine Deus.
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Accept us, O Lord, in the spirit of humility and contrition of heart, and grant that the sacrifice [1]which we offer this day in Thy sight may be pleasing to Thee, O Lord God.
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In the Orate Fratres, the priest kisses the altar and turns toward the faithful entreating them to pray that the sacrifice to be offered by the priest is pleasing to God. In this involvement, prayed by the male altar servers, we partake with the priest in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in adoration, expiation, petition:
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Orate fratres, ut meum ac vestrum sacrificium [2] acceptabile fiat apud Deum Patrem omnipotentem.
The Altar Server responds:
Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuis ad laudem, et gloriam nominis sui, ad utilitatem quoque nostram, totiusque Ecclesiae suae sanctae.
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Brethren, pray that my sacrifice [2] and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty.
The Altar Server responds:
May the Lord receive the sacrifice from thy hands, to the praise and glory of His Name, to our benefit and that of all His holy Church.
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In the Proper of the Mass for today's feast of Tuesday in Holy Week, the Secret includes specific mention of "these sacrifices":
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Sacrificia nos, quaesumus, Domine, propensius ista restaurent : quae medicinalibus sunt institute jejuniis.
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May these sacrifices, O Lord, we beseech Thee, which are accompanied with healing fasts, speedily restore us.
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Immediately following the Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus which is the portal to the Canon of the Mass, we have, thanks to Pope Saint Leo the Great (whose feast day today is superseded by the Proper of Holy Week), multiple insertions of the word sacrificium and Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam in the Canon:
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Te igitur, clementissme Pater, per Iesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus (The Priest kisses the Altar) uti accepta habeas, et benedicas, haec † dona, haec † munera, haec † sancta sacrificia [3] illibata.
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We therefore, humbly pray and beseech Thee, most merciful Father, through Jesus Christ; Thy Son, our Lord, (The Priest kisses the Altar) that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to accept and bless these † gifts, these † presents, these † holy unspotted sacrifices [3].
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In the reading of the Diptychs, first for the Living, we see the purpose of petition, expiation and adoration in the Memento for the Living:
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Memento, Domine, famulorum, famularumque tuarum N. et N. et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio, pro quibus tibi offerimus: vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium [4] laudis, pro se, suisque omnibus: pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe saluts, et incolumitatis suae: tibiqeu reddunt vota sua aeterno Deo, vivo et vero.
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Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy servants and handmaidens, N. and N. and of all here present, whose faith and devotion are known unto Thee, for whom we offer, or who offer up to Thee, this sacrifice [4] of praise for themselves, their families and friends, for the redemption of their souls, for the health and salvation they hope for; and who now pay their vows to Thee, the everlasting, living and true God.
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Though the word "sacrificium", per se, is not contained in the Oblation of the Victim to God, it is the essence of the Sacrifice offered and the words added at a time that the Mass was still building in content before it was completed at the time of St. Gregory the Great and set in stone by the dogmatic Council of Trent and codified by Pope St. Pius V:
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Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta, eiusdem Christi Filii tui Domini nostri tam beatae passionis, necnon et ab inferis resurrectionis, sed et in Coelos gloriosae ascensionis: offerimus praeclarae maiestati tuae de tuis donis, ac datis. Hostiam † puram, Hostiam † sanctam, Hostiam † immaculatam.
Panem † sanctum vitae aeternae, et Calicem † salutis perpetuae.
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Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed Passion of the same Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, and also His Resurrection from the dead and His glorious Ascension into Heaven: do offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty of Thine own gifts, bestowed upon us, a pure † Host, a holy † Host, an unspotted † Host, the holy † Bread of eternal life, and the Chalice † of everlasting salvation.
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This prayer is immediately followed by the Supra quae which, as well as the entire Canon, is said in an unaudible voice by the priest. Saint Andrew Daily Missal points out at this point in the Holy Mass: "A sacrifice can only obtain its effects provided it be accepted by the one to whom it is offered. The sacrifices of the Old Testament, which prefigured the Sacrifice of Calvary, proved acceptable to God. Even more will the Sacrifice of the altar be pleasing to Him."
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Supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris: et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui iusti Abel, et sacrificium [5] patriarchae nostri Abrahae: et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium [6], immaculatam hostiam.
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Upon which vouchsafe to look with a propitious and serene countenance, and to accept them, as Thou wert graciously pleased to accept the gifts of Thy just servant Abel, and the sacrifice [5] of our patriarch Abraham, and that which Thy high priest Melchisedech offered to Thee, -- a holy sacrifice [6], and unspotted Victim.
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After consuming the sacrifice - the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - the priest reads the Communion Antiphon and Postcommunion Prayer, and silently, just prior to extending his final blessing, prays the Placeat Tibi:
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Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas, obsequium servitutis meae: et praesta: ut sacrificium [7], quod oculis tuae maiestatis indignus obtulit, tibi sit acceptabile, mihique et omnibus, pro quibus illud obtuli, sit, te miserante, propitiabile. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
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May the performance of my homage be pleasing to Thee, O holy Trinity: and grant that the sacrifice [7] which I, though unworthy, have offered up in the sight of Thy Majesty, may be acceptable to Thee, and through Thy mercy, be a propitiation for me, and for all those for whom I have offered it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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You'll note we have numbered each time the priest pronounces the word sacrifice in the Ordinary of the Mass. Nothwithstanding the server's response, the number of times is seven which most appropriately replicates the same number of times Christ spoke from the Cross - the Seven Final Words. Those seven last words will be examined in features by Father James Wathen and John Gregory later on in this Holy Week.
The sacrificial essence is the major difference between the infrangible Traditional Latin Mass, set in stone by the infallible, dogmatic decrees of the Council of Trent and codified by His Holiness St. Pius V as to never be altered - ever, and Paul VI's synthetic hybrid profane Protestant-Masonic-Pagan Novus Ordo - the very "abomination of desolation" which sacked the sacred, divinely-ordained Holy SACRIFICE of the Mass of its sacrificial aspect in favor of a celebratory eucharist which is no different than a Lutheran or Presbyterian service. The latter were not Catholic in the 16th Century and they are not Catholic today. Ergo the Novus Ordo cannot be and is not CATHOLIC! As Timothy Duff emphasizes in his column today Was John Paul II a "Saint"? : Period!
In Tim's short piece, he doesn't mince words and neither should we. We should stand up for what Christ established and His Spirit guided and inspired over the centuries until the structure and fabric of the Holy Sacrifice was complete and perfect as determined by the infallible decrees of the dogmatic Council of Trent. Just as Pope St. Leo the Great stood up to the "Scourge of God" Attila the Hun and drove him from the gates of Rome, we must pray that a worthy Roman Pontiff will emulate St. Leo and, as Leo did in 449, abolish and anathematize the Robbers' Council, so also such a Pope would abolish and anathematize Vatican II and all that followed. With all the spin banter that has been bandied about regarding the noble moniker of "Great" being attributed to Karol Wojtyla, Tim's piece today should put to rest such hype once and for all, for John Paul II is more assimilated with Attila the Hun than St. Leo the Great, for it was on JP2's 28-year watch that the very presbyters and potentates, whom he appointed and condoned, pillaged and raped the Faith of our Fathers and the faithful, literally and figuratively.
While St. Leo saved Europe, John Paul II surrendered Europe; while St. Leo stood against the robbers, John Paul II aided and abetted the robbers; while Leo sought to elevate the Holy Sacrifice and emphasize the sacred manner of the propitiatory sacrifice of the spotless Victim, John Paul II perpetuated the great sacrilege and "abomination of desolation", denuding even Paul VI's aberration further, and paganizing the Faith while spouting heresy in winning the affection of the world, while the duped of this apostasy have become spotted and soiled victims; while St. Leo won souls over to Christ in a staunch belief of the True and only Faith, John Paul II is responsible for the loss of countless souls who have left the bosom of Holy Mother Church and become orphans to the prince of the world, and, in the process over three generations, have become totally confused by what has happened to the holy Catholic Faith. They don't know what to believe anymore.
Who then in your mind is great before God and least before Him. That, my friends, is a no-brainer.
The very reason for this "diabolical dissorientation" is because the popes of Vatican II from John XXIII through Benedict XVI have de-emphasized and obliterated the very concept of sacrifice and have become, in effect, no better than Judas whom St. Mark depicts quite well as to his sin of betrayal and despair in today's Passion Reading of the holy Gospel. Are we to believe Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James and all the holy Fathers, Doctors, Saints and Popes from Peter through Pope Pius XII or the sad abject objectors of the True Mass over the past 45 years? Again, a no-brainer to those who know their Catholic Faith. St. Leo the Great, pray for us. And pray for our 'Catholic' brethren blindly attending and following the sacrificialess, sacrilegious services this Holy Week. Pray that they will be given the grace to see the truth of the fact: Without the sacrifice of the spotless Victim, there is no Mass! Period!
Michael Cain, editor, The Daily Catholic
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TUESDAY
