The continuation of Fr. Pierre Lebrun’s Treatise on the Sacrifice of the Mass (First part. Download the whole here)
XV. The Sacrifice of the Eucharist is the same as that of the Cross
The exterior environment of Calvary that is not present at the altar had nothing to do with the action of the Sacrificer. The essential thing in the sacrifice of the Cross consisted in the oblation Jesus Christ made of his body. He continues to offer this same body on the altar and, bringing to its final perfection this divine sacrifice, which could not be eaten by the faithful on Calvary, He truly nourishes us every day with the sacrament of his Passion, as St. Ambrose says[1] the consumption of the victim was lacking on the altar of the Cross, and constitutes the perfection of the sacrifice of our altars. “We have an altar,” St. Paul says, “from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat.”[2] That is what was lacking on the altar of the cross, and it is on the altar of the Church that this consumption is accomplished through the comunion. The same victim is offered on Calvary and on our altars, but on Calvary it was only offered; here it is offered and distributed, as Augustine says speaking about the dedication of his Mother to the Sacrifice of the Altar.[3] We assist at this divine Altar, where we know that the holy Victim is dispensed, by which the stain of sin has been washed away. Jesus Christ thus offers himself on the altar, just as he offered himself dying on the Cross, the only difference being in the manner of offering, as the Council of Trent says, following St. Augustine and the other Fathers.[4]
XVI. The Sacrifice is one with the glorious mysteries
He offers himself here as he did at his Resurrection, offering his immortal and glorious body. He offers himself as he did at his Ascension, for he ascends again from the altar of the earth to the sublime altar of heaven, according to the expression of the Canon, to reside there and intercede for us, thus offering always one and the same Host.[5] That is why we saw at the Mass, that we offer this sacrifice for renew the memory of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus we can behold the union of all the mysteries who were the different parties or the continuation of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the truth of what we sing in the Psalms,[6] that in giving us the true food, God has renewed the memory of all his wondrous works.
It remains to see how the divine Victim of this adorable Sacrifice fulfills all the conditions that belonged to the victims of the old Law in the the most perfect sacrifices.
XVII. All the conditions of sacrificial victims contained in the Eucharist
Four conditions were required, forming the four parts of sacrifice. First, the reception of the victim by the priests. 2nd, the oblation to God. 3rd, the change or destruction of the victim. 4th, the consumption or communion of the victim.
1) Reception. A choice host was required, pleasing and acceptable to the Priests, following the command of God who had established what they must permit for the sacrifice and what they must reject. The priests of the New Testament accept bread and wine destined to become the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and they receive them following the choice of the Eternal Father who declared his Beloved Son a priest according to the order of Melchisedech. Thus they offer bread and wine: a bread that will be changed into the body that God has destined to be the true victim.[7]
2) The Oblation to God. The Host was offered to God by the priests of the Law, and thus elevated above the common state. The priests of the New Testament representing Jesus Christ offer to God the bread and the wine, to become—as before—the body and blood of Our Lord for our salvation.
3) Immolation and changing of the victim. In the holocausts, sin offerings, and guilt offerings, the victim was immolated and eaten. It changed its state. In this case the bread and the wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ who is immolated and so to speak in a state of death on the altar, because there he is deprived of the functions of natural life that he had on the earth, and because he is represented with the signs of death in the mystical separation of his body and blood, just as St. John saw the living Lamb standing before the Throne of Heaven.[8] He is also as immolated and dead due to the scars of his wounds and the marks of his bloody immolation which he conserves even in the state of glory.
4) Consumption of the Victim. Finally, the consumption of the host was necessary. If a holocaust was being offered, everything was burned in honor of God. In the other sacrifices, a part was consumed for God, the rest was distributed to the priests and those who had presented the host. In the Eucharist, the victim is entirely for God, and entirely consumed by the men who offer it. It is entirely communicated to everyone without any division and it is consumed in all without ceasing to exist.
Once again, the Sacrifice of this divine Victim contains all the truths of the figurative sacrifices.
XVIII. How the Sacrifice of the Eucharist is a holocaust
Firstly, there is a holocaust constituted by the destruction of the bread and wine. As in the ancient holocausts the material fire devoured and consumed the host with the breads and liquids in order to render homage to the sovereign power of God, in the same way the flame of the Holy Spirit, which the Church invokes for this purpose,[9] in a sense consumes the bread and wine, changing them into the body and the blood of Jesus Christ which renders to God his Father the infinite hommage that he is due.
XIX. How it fulfills the notion of all the other sacrifices
Secondly, it is a sacrifice of propitiation for sins, since it is the victim which expiates them.
Thirdly, it contains in a manner par excellence all the sacrifices of the peace offerings directed to obtain graces, since it contains the true peace offering, Jesus Christ, through whom we ask and obtain every gift.
Fourthly, it is a thanksgiving sacrifice because it was instituted by jesus Christ to render thanks to his Father for all the gifts he had received for the Church, and further, because by this sacrifice we give a worthy signs of our gratitude by offering him on the altar his own Son who is the most excellent gift he has given us, one we may present to him in return for all the graces we have received. It is also a holy sacrifice of praise, as St. Augustine writes,[10] in addition to one of thanksgiving, and what greater thanksgiving than what is rendered to God for his grace in Jesus Christ Our Lord, as it is made in the Sacrifice of the Church known to all the faithful, and of which the ancient sacrifices were all only shadows?
XX. The whole Church is united to Jesus Christ in His Sacrifice
Behold how the adorable sacrifice of the Eucharist, though infinitely elevated above all the ancient sacrifices, fulfills all their ends and conditions. Little remains but for us to observe that this sacrifice of Jesus Christ is at the same time the Sacrifice of the entire Church, who is offered with Jesus Christ, and that it is the sacrifice of all the Fathers who offer it, and of all those who desire to participate in it. These must by consequence offer themselves in sacrifice as Jesus Christ and his Church offer themselves to God. Listen to St. Augustine who teaches us wondrously about this truth: “the whole redeemed city, that is to say, the congregation or community of the saints, is offered to God as our sacrifice through the great High Priest, who offered Himself to God in His passion for us, that we might be members of this glorious head, according to the form of a servant. For it was this form He offered, in this He was offered, because it is according to it He is Mediator, in this He is our Priest, in this the Sacrifice.”And to continue following St. Augustine, “this also is the sacrifice which the Church continually celebrates in the sacrament of the altar, known to the faithful, in which she teaches that she herself is offered in the offering she makes to God.”[11]
XXI: The Church offers and is offered
Jesus Christ is the one who offers, as Priest, and who is himself the gift that is offered, and in the same way the Church must offer herself when she offers. And as St. Augustine says,[12] God makes her see this mystery in the sacrifice she offers each day, for just as she is the body of such a Head, she learns to offer herself for Him. The Sacrifice of the Mass is thus that of Jesus Christ and of his Church, the only exterior sacrifice that must be offered to God, the true and unique sacrifice that contains the meanings of all the others, the only one that can satisfy for sins, that can merit graces for us, and that will continue until the end of the ages.
[1] Significans passionem Domini Jesu, cuius quotidie vescimur sacramento (Ambr. in Psal. 43).
[2] Habemus altare, de quo edere non habent potestatem qui Tabernaculo deserviunt (Hebr. 13:10).
[3] L. 9 Confess. c. 12. 13.
[4] Una enim eademque est hostia, idem nunc offerens Sacerdotum ministerio, qui seipsum tunc in cruce obtulit, sola offerendi ratione diversa (Conc. Trid. Sess. 22. cap. 2).
[5] Hic autem unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam in sempiternum, sedet in dextera Dei (Hebr. 10:12)
[6] Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum (Ps. 110:4).
[7] Corpus autem aptasti mihi (Hebr 10:5).
[8] Et vidi, et ecce in medio Throni…. Agnum stantem tanquam occisum (Apoc. v. 6).
[9] Fulgent admonit. l. 2 c. 6. et seqq. Optat. Milev. l. 6 Isidor. Peus. epist. 109 et 313. Miss. Goth. Miss. 22.
[10] Quod est autem sacratius laudis sacrificium quam in actione gratiarum, et unde maiores agendae sunt gratiae quam pro ipsius gratia per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum? Quod totum fideles in Ecclesiae sacrificio sciunt, cuius umbrae fuerunt omnia priorum genera sacrificiorum (Aug. contr. adversar. Leg. et Prophet. l. 1 c. 18).
[11] De civit. l. 10 c. 6.
[12] Cuius rei sacramentum quotidianum esse voluit Ecclesiae sacrificium, quae cum ipsius Capitis corpus sit, se ipsam per ipsum discit, offerre” (Ibid., bk. 10, c. 20).
Canticum Salomonis 