Fr. Michael Mueller - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Fr. Michael Mller, C.SS.R.

Imprimatur: John Cardinal McCloskey

Archbishop of New York

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1883, by Michael Mller, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

First published in 1874, by Fr. Puster (New York and Cincinnati) as The Holy MassThe Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead: The Clean Oblation Offered Up Among the Nations from the Rising ot the Setting of the Sun; republished in 1884 by Benziger Brothers, Fr. Puster & Co., and B. Herder (St. Louis) as (The) Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Retypeset and republished in 1992 by TAN Books, an Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC. The type in this book is the property of TAN Books, and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission in writing from the Publisher. (This restriction applies only to this type, not to quotations from the book.)

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 90-71853

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

2012

To the
Most Sacred and Adorable
HEART OF JESUS
in the Blessed Sacrament
this book is humbly dedicated
in reparation, thanksgiving and love.

NEW YORK
July 22, 1874

Dear Father Mller:

I take great pleasure in adding my commendation to the many others which have already been given of your excellent book on the Holy Mass. I sincerely hope that it will have the widely extended circulation which it so well deserves.

With best wishes, I remain, Rev. dear sir,

Yours Truly in Xto,
John, Abp. of New York

Contents

Protest of the Author

In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII, of holy memory, I protest that I do not intend to attribute any other than purely human authority to all the miracles, revelations, graces and incidents contained in this book; neither to the titles, holy or blessed, applied to the servants of God not yet canonized, except in cases where these have been confirmed by the HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and by the HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE, of whom I profess myself an obedient son, and, therefore, to their judgment I submit myself and whatever I have written in this book.

CHAPTER 1

Introductory

T OWARD the middle of the fifth century there lived in the City of Rome a hidden saint named Alexius. He was the son of the Roman senator Euphemian, a man of great wealth. At an early age he felt inspired by God to leave his home for a strange country. Obedient to this inner voice, he went forth from his father's house and passed seventeen years in pious pilgrimages in the East, amid many trials and dangers. At length, to show his love for God in a still more striking manner, he resolved to return to his house in the garb of a poor beggar and spend there the remainder of his days. On arriving at Rome, he met his father, Euphemian, in the street, followed by a train of attendants, as became his high rank. Clad in rags and attenuated by fasts, Alexius was not recognized by his father. So he besought him for charity to give him shelter in his house, and for food, the crumbs that fell from his table.

The nobleman, moved with pity, bade one of his servants to lodge and take care of the poor beggar. The servant conducted him to an obscure apartment under the staircase, where for twenty-two years he passed a life of suffering and humiliation, because the menials made him a butt for their ridicule, beat him and subjected him to many indignities, which he bore with invincible patience. Thus did the life he spent in his father's house become one long-continued prayer, fast, penance and austerity. At length, when he felt death approaching, he begged one of the servants to bring him writing materials. Then he wrote down on a sheet of paper the story of his whole life, whither he had wandered, what had happened to him, what he had suffered at home and abroad. He stated at the same time that he was Alexius, the son of the house, whom his parents had missed for so many years. This paper he held in his hands until death took him on a Sunday at the time when his parents were at Mass. No sooner had his soul taken flight to Heaven than all the bells of the churches in Rome began to ring, and a loud voice was heard to say distinctly three times: "Go to the house of Euphemian to find the great friend of God who has just died and prays for Rome, and all he asks is granted." Then went the people to find the Saint, and Euphemian was the first to enter his house. He went straightway to the room under the staircase, and to his surprise found that the poor beggar had just expired. Seeing the paper, he took it out of his hands, and reading its contents aloud burst into tears and embraced his holy son, hardly able to utter a word. The mother of Alexius was still more deeply affected and cried out, "O my son, why have I known thee too late!"

The story of Alexius is a good illustration of what often happens in these days to many a Christian. Alexius went back to his father's house as a beggar clad in tatters, the better to disguise his rank and wealth. Our dear Saviour acts in the same manner in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There He is, but by no outward sign does He betray His real presence; His heavenly glory and brightness He hides from us; He is there, as one may say, in a poor miserable dress, under the appearances of bread and wine. As the parents of Alexius paid little attention to their son in his state of poverty and subjection, so, in this life, many Christians pay but little attention to Jesus Christ, because He humbly condescends to conceal His glory in the Sacrament of His love. But when this life is over and they come to see Him face to face, whom here they possessed in the Holy Eucharist, at the sight of the consolations, of the beauty and of the riches that they failed to recognize in time, they will exclaim with the mother of Alexius, "O, Jesus! dear Saviour, why have we known Thee too late! Ah! had we only known Thee in Thy mystery of love, when alive on earth, we would have allowed no opportunity to escape us of assisting at the celebration of Thy sacred mysteries, of receiving Thee in Holy Communion. Not an hour should have passed without a thought of Thee. Thou wouldst have been our whole delight, our whole joy, our whole happiness, the object of all our desires, thoughts and actions. O dear Lord, why have we known Thee too late!"

"Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour!" cries out the Prophet Isaias (45:15). Yes, undoubtedly, God is a more hidden God in the Eucharist than anywhere else. His greatness lies concealed under the littleness of a host, His power under the feeble species, His universality under an atom, His eternity under a moment, His wisdom under an apparent folly. There indeed is He the hidden God; more hidden than in Mary's womb, more hidden than in the crib, more hidden than under the darkness of Calvary, more hidden than in the gloom of the sepulcher. For here His humanity, His divinity, His glory, His beatitudeall are hidden. To all unbelievers and heretics He is hidden indeed. To many lukewarm Catholics, nay, even to many of those who stand at His altar and touch His sacred Body, He is hidden. Alas, that that adorable Sacrifice and Sacrament of the altar should be to so many a hidden treasure; that there should be so many who have eyes and see not, although to them is granted to behold what kings and prophets, and patriarchs and saints have sighed in vain to gaze upon. Alas! that there should be so many who deserve the reproach which Our Lord made to His disciples, "I was a stranger, and you received Me not." "Your little faith in My presence in the Blessed Sacrament made Me appear to you a stranger, although quite near. Touching Me, you knew Me not. You are like those disciples of Mine, journeying to Emmaus, to whom I appeared after My resurrection, conversing with them most familiarly, but they knew Me not, saying, 'Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?' So long a time have I been with you and have you not known Me?" Three years had Jesus spent in the company of His Apostles. This He calls a long time, in which they certainly should have learned who He was. Yet their faith was not such as He wished it to be. Philip asks of Our Lord to show them His Father. Jesus answers, "So long a time have I been with you and have you not as yet known Me? He who sees Me sees also the Father; for the Father is in Me and I am in Him. We cannot be separated." And we? How long have we been with Jesus? We became acquainted with Him in our childhood; we went to Mass at least every Sunday; we received Him over and over again for so many years; and yet the complaint of Our Lord, made to His Apostles, applies perhaps more justly to us. "So long a time have you celebrated Mass," says He to many a priest; "So long a time have you assisted at the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary," says He to many a Catholic; "So long a time have you entered into close intimacy with Me in Holy Communion and yet you seem not to know Me. You know not My Divinity in the Sacred Host, or your respect and veneration for it could not be so small; you know not My Body and Soul there present, for you do not imitate the example I gave you on earth and give you in this mystery of love; you know not My love, or it would affect you more; you know not My Heart, which is ever open to you, with charity inexhaustible, for you still seem to doubt its goodness and meekness, its tender love and its unbounded mercy. You know not My sanctity, or you would not appear at the altar without gravity, without devotion, and without reverence. You know not My high dignity, or you would not touch Me with such coldness and thoughtlessness, nor would you approach the altar in a state of unworthiness. Indeed, were you thoroughly impressed with the thought that in the adorable Sacrament of My love you receive