THE MASS, as everyone knows, is the same sacrifice as that of Calvary. It is Our Lord's own sacrifice, given by Him to us in sacramental form so that we may offer it "through Him and with Him and in Him", thus giving to "God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost all honour and glory". The Mass is the same sacrifice as that of Calvary because it is offered by the same High Priest, Christ Himself; it has the same Victim; and it is offered for the same purpose - the glory of God and the sanctification of men.

On Calvary the immolation of Christ was accomplished in visible blood-shedding; it was located in that place and happened at that particular time. But in the Mass the very same reality is there, but it exists in the sacramental order of "effective signs" instituted by Our Lord. Wherefore it is not now visible to us - only its "sign" is visible. And its location and date are those of its signs - in Rugby, England, on April 27th or in St. Louis, Mo., on September 8th, as the case may be. It is no longer limited to Jerusalem, Palestine, on the 14th Nisan, A.D. 33 (or whatever the original date may have been). These differences are known, I think, to everybody.

But now I want to direct the attention of readers to another difference between Calvary and the Mass: one which is not so frequently considered and yet which is of enormous importance to all of us. It is vitally necessary that its consequences be appreciated, especially by the laity. The difference I refer to is this:

On Calvary Christ offered sacrifice as He then was. But at Mass Christ offers sacrifice as He now is. "Christ as He then was" had but His physical body as the instrument of His activity. But "Christ as He now is" has a Mystical Body through which He now acts. Therefore on Calvary He sacrificed in His physical body, but at Mass He sacrifices in His Mystical Body. "And you are Christ's Body, members of it," as St. Paul tells us.

Whence it follows that you, the laity, offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, because Christ is offering it through you, His members. That is one of the most important truths which the liturgical movement has brought into prominence. At Mass you, the laity, are offering sacrifice. You are not just watching a sacrifice being offered by the priest at the altar. Nor is it being merely offered for you, even at your request or with your approval, in your presence. You your-selves are offering it with and through the priest.

Now that statement conflicts with an idea which seems to have taken root in the minds of many people.

They vaguely feel that the offering of the Mass is the priest's business; he does it all; it is his affair. Their business is to be present, to watch, to approve, to take an interest, and to say what prayers they can while the priest gets on with his business, which is his concern even though he be doing it for them and on their behalf.

Of course there are those who help the priest, such as the server who moves his book about and carries cruets to him; at sung Masses there is a choir which renders incidental music, and a lot more servers who carry thuribles and candles to make things more impressive and intensify the "religious atmosphere". But even so, it is the priest's function to offer sacrifice, and his alone. The laity are but prayerful spectators.

It is lamentable that such ideas have become common, for they are wide of the truth. What, then, is the truth of the matter? It is that the laity are not just spectators of the Mass, but that they truly offer the Mass with the priest.

But is not the Mass a sacrifice? And is not offering sacrifice a priestly act? Yes, indeed! Then how can the laity perform a priestly act? They can do so because they all share, according to their degree, in the priesthood of Christ. And the power which comes to them in this share (called by Pope Pius XI "the priesthood of the laity") is the power to offer sacrifice.

Then if the laity, in virtue of their lay-priesthood, can offer sacrifice, what need is there of the clergy? The answer is that though lay-persons can indeed offer sacrifice, they can only do this if there be a sacrifice for them to offer. And they cannot produce a sacrifice. Only an ordained priest can do that.

Perhaps an example may make this clearer. I can eat apple pie. Undoubtedly I possess the powers required for this delectable activity. But I can only eat apple pie if there be an apple pie for me to eat. And I cannot produce one for I am no cook. I need a cook to make one for me; and then I can eat it.

Likewise you of the laity, in virtue of your share in Christ's priesthood can offer sacrifice. You have the powers required for this activity. But before you can actually do it, you need one of us ordained priests to provide the sacrifice you and we are to offer. That is what we are for; that is our highest function and privilege. For we have more of Christ's priestly power than you have. We can place upon the altar before you the very sacrifice of Christ, in sacramental form, that you may offer it. When we do that, you can offer it with us. But without one of us to do this for you, you cannot offer sacrifice.

But though we have this power, we cannot impart it to anyone else. It needs a still greater share in the priesthood of Christ to do that; it needs what is called "the fullness of the priesthood" which is possessed by the bishops. They not only have, but can also transmit to others, the power to produce sacrifice. That is what they do when they ordain priests.

All priestly powers come from Christ, for He alone is the great High Priest of the human race. He is the "one mediator between God and men"; His is the only real priesthood. But He lives on now in His Mystical Body, which, in consequence, possesses and exercises Christ's priesthood. "But not all members have the same function." Different shares in this priesthood are communicated to different members. There are, as it were, three grades of the priesthood, each having more priestly power than the one below it.

The first, or basic, power of the priesthood is that of offering sacrifice though shared by all members, they possess and exercise it in different ways according to their rank.

The second is the power to produce or make present the sacrifice of Christ, thereby offering it. This is the power to consecrate it; it is given only to those who are ordained priests, and might be termed "the priesthood of the clergy".

The third is the power to transmit consecrating-power - that is, the power to ordain priests. It is given only to those who are bishops and is known as the "fullness of the priesthood".

All these are priestly powers, and all those who have them are sharers of the priesthood of Christ. The point for you laity to note is that you have the first of them. You share in Christ's priesthood because you are members of Christ the priest. That is what the Pope says in his encyclical on the liturgy, Mediator Dei:

"By the waters of baptism, as by common title, Christians are made members of the Mystical Body of Christ the priest; and by the character which is imprinted on their souls they are appointed to the worship of God. Thus they participate, according to their condition, in the priesthood of Christ" (Mediator Del, n. 92).

Thus speaks the present Pope in his recent encyclical. Yet he is only saying, in a different way, what the first Pope said in his first encyclical. St. Peter was the first Pope; and his First Epistle was thus the first papal "encyclical". In its second chapter we find:

"You are now a holy priesthood, able to offer up that spiritual sacrifice which God accepts through Jesus Christ". (What can St. Peter mean by this, if not the Mass?) "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated people, whom God means to have for himself" (I Pet. ii, 5, 9).

You see, then, that the present Pope, in teaching you that you share Christ's priesthood, is but repeating what the first Pope taught to his flock. And Pius XII exhorts you in burning words:

"It is most important for all the faithful to understand that it is their duty and highest privilege to take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice . . Let the faithful learn to what a high dignity they have been raised in the sacrament of baptism" (Mediator Dei, nos. 84, 110).

Your highest dignity, then, is your "lay priesthood." And you can exercise its powers in the priestly act of offering the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. With what enthusiasm and joy you should welcome every opportunity of doing this! How delighted you should be at every chance of assisting at Mass, not merely when you are bound to do so, but every time it is possible to go freely. But to appreciate all that is involved in this we must discuss yet another consequence of your membership in the Mystical Body of Christ.

It is a consequence which comes to light through that same difference between Calvary and the Mass we referred to above. For Calvary, precisely because it was a sacrifice, was the offering of a victim to God. And that victim was Christ Himself. And the Mass, as a sacrifice, is likewise the offering of a victim to God. And it is the same Victim - Christ Himself.

But on Calvary Christ offered Himself as He then was - possessing only His physical body. And in the Mass He offers Himself as He now is: and now He has a Mystical Body. "And you are Christ's Body, members of it." Therefore in the Mass you are offered; you are victims! And as you are offering, it follows that you must offer yourselves.

How are you to do this? Merely in words? No! - that would be prayer rather than sacrifice. Sacrifice is an action - the giving of a material gift. You there fore offer yourselves by giving a gift.

Let us think again about gifts. A gift has two aspects - its value and its meaning. A rich young man gives to the girl he loves a platinum engagement ring blazing with many diamonds. A not-so-rich young man gives to his girl a thin gold ring with no diamonds in it. The first ring is far more valuable than the second is, yet both have the same meaning. Both rings mean "I want to give myself to you". So meaning is not the same as value. Very often meaning is far more important than the value - which may be little or nothing. Another example will show that.

Suppose there is a little girl - say of four or five - who observes her father give to her mother a birthday present at breakfast. It's Mummy's birthday! Then she too will want to give her Mummy a birthday present. What can she do? She wanders out into the garden and there the bright glow of a dandelion catches her eye. It is only a weed, really: but she does not know that. To her it is a pretty flower. So she plucks it and toddles into the house and gives it to her mother as a birthday present.

The mother, of course, is delighted. Why? Does she want a dandelion? Obviously not for itself - it has no value. But it is a gift from her daughter; and precisely because it is a gift it is also a sign. It signifies - it has a meaning. It means the love of that little girl, and that is why it is precious to the mother. Clearly, then, a gift which is poor in value can be rich in meaning.

And so it is with God and us. We give Him a present. In itself this present consists of a round bit of unleavened bread and a cruet of wine - a very small value! But because it is a gift it is a sign. It signifies: it bears the meaning we put into it. We should, then, make it mean all that we can in the way of adoration and love; we should put ourselves into that bread and wine just as the child put herself into the flower. Then it will be precious to God as the flower was to the mother.

That is the purpose of the offertory at Mass. The priest holds up first the bread on the paten, and next the wine in the chalice. And he tells God what we intend them to mean. Now you laity are helping to offer the sacrifice, so it is your business at that time to tell God what those gifts - which are your gifts - are intended to mean as far as you are concerned.

They mean you. You put yourself onto that paten with the altar-bread, offering to God your mind and heart, your soul and body, all that you have and are. You must, as it were, pour your heart out into that chalice, and put therein all your hopes and fears, your joys and sorrows, your love and adoration - your whole self. For all this is to go to God in the shape of your gifts.

That is your part at this point in the sacrifice: you are to put the meaning into the gifts by offering yourselves. If you do not offer yourselves to God under these symbols of bread and wine then you are not offering your Mass properly. You are not "in on it". The bread and wine may mean somebody else - your neighbour, perhaps, who is offering himself as well as he knows how. But they don't mean you because you haven't done anything to make them mean you. Instead you have been doing something else - mooning about and daydreaming, or praying to St. Anthony for something you have lost, or just saying a lot of "Hail Marys" because you feel you ought to be doing something.

Certainly you ought to be doing something - but not that. At least, not at the offertory during Mass. If you want to pray to St. Anthony or say "Hail Marys" by all means do so - but at some other time, not during the Mass. Because now, at the offertory, you ought to be telling God that these gifts on the altar are your present to Him, that they mean you, that you are offering yourself through them.

You can, of course, tell God this in your own words if you like. That would be excellent; it might suit you personally better than any other way. But you might find it easier to use some words which have already been composed to express what you mean - such as those found in "Devotions for Mass: The Offertory" out of some prayer book. But there happens to be a book in which all this is expressed more perfectly than in any prayers you could make up on the spur of the moment, and more beautifully than in "Devotions for Mass". That book is the very book which the priest uses at the altar - the Church's own book, called the Missal. It is the finest book of all. The Pope says:

"The faithful must not be content to take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice by the general intention which all the members of Christ and the children of the Church ought to have; they ought also, in the spirit of the Liturgy, to unite themselves closely and of set purpose with the High Priest and His minister on earth" (Mediator Del, n. 110).

You cannot unite yourself more closely with the priest than by using the very same words at the very same time. It is hardly possible, then, to improve on the Missal.

But, of course, you are not bound to use the Missal prayers. Only the priest is bound to them. All that is essential as regards you is that you should be doing the right thing with your mind and will at the right moment; that is, at the offertory you should be putting the meaning into the gifts; you should be offering your self to God. If you are not doing that, but something else, then you are not doing the right thing. You are distracted from the Mass.

But now let us suppose that everybody is doing his or her part properly. Everybody puts meaning into the gifts. As a result they become, in God's sight, something of real importance, something truly welcome to His divine Majesty. For they are the expression of our worship and self-dedication. Surely God is pleased with that!

Undoubtedly. But still, we must remember that however much meaning these gifts may have, they are still without value. They are only a bit of bread and a few drops of wine. On the altar we have got some-thing which is the best we can do - our gifts mean a lot indeed. But in themselves they do not amount to much. If that is all we can do, we have not got very far with our desire to offer to God a completely worthy gift expressive of perfect worship.

Yet, of ourselves, that is just about all we can do. Fortunately, however, we are not left to ourselves. For we are not mere individuals; we are not just Tom and Dick and Peter, not just Mary and Jane and Anne; we are members of the Mystical Body at worship. And we have a Head. Our Head, though He is one of us because He is a man, is also God. And the Mass is His sacrifice as well as ours. So He comes to our rescue. He uses His divine powers to turn our poor gifts into His.

For, although we can do no more, once we have put the meaning into our gifts, He does not have to stop there. He does for us, His members, what we cannot do for ourselves; He puts value into our gifts. From a comparatively worthless bit of bread and wine they become the infinitely precious body and blood of Christ.

This, of course, is what happens at the Consecration. Our Lord makes this wonderful change for us by using as His instrument one of those members of His Mystical Body to whom has been given the power to consecrate - one of us ordained priests. You "lay-priests" have no part in this at all. You can but believe and admire. You, at this point, are spectators and not agents. We are agents: we do the consecrating. Not, indeed, by any power of our own, but through Christ's power operative in us. We, so to speak, lend Him our mouths to say the words and our hands to hold the gifts. We are active and you are not.

But as soon as we have consecrated, you become active again. We all now have the same activity - that of offering. There lie our gifts on the altar - but what gifts they are now! They are full of meaning because we put the meaning into them at the offertory. And they are infinite in value because Christ our Head put the value into them at the Consecration. They signify all of us, both Head and members, offered wholly and completely to God. Indeed, as regards our Head, they do more than signify - for they are Christ whole and entire, just as He was on Calvary.

So now, both as regards meaning and value, our gifts are perfect gifts through which we offer to God perfect worship.

That, then, is what we do. As our sacrificial Victim is now there on the altar, we sacrifice - we offer the Victim to God. All of us exercise our priesthood "according to our condition". You, the lay-priests, offer this victim to God. Father So-and-so, the ordained priest, offers this Victim to God. Christ the High Priest offers this Victim to God. So that "through Him and with Him and in Him there is to God the Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory!" The Pope quotes St. Robert Bellarmine: "The sacrifice is offered principally in the person of Christ. Therefore this offering that follows the consecration bears witness that the whole Church agrees with the oblation made by Christ and offers together with Him." (Mediator Dei, n. 90. Italics mine.) That is what happens at Mass.

Hence when the divine Victim has been placed upon the altar it is your business to offer it. Your minds and your wills, as soon as the Consecration is effected, should be occupied with this activity - offering the Victim to God. You should not be engaged in any other activity, not even (except as a kind of secondary advertence) in adoring Christ really present. You are not at Mass primarily to adore Christ, but to offer Him. It is to Benediction that you come to adore Him; at Mass you offer Him, in order to adore the Father. The more closely you attend to this offering of Christ, so much the more perfectly do you worship the Father.

You can offer Him in any way you like - in your own words or in the words of some prayer book; but the best of all words to express this offering are found in the Missal. Certainly you are not bound to use these words - but just look at them now and see how exquisitely fitting they are:

"Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, and with us all Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed passion of this same Christ Thy Son, Our Lord, likewise His resurrection from the grave and glorious ascension into heaven, offer to Thy sovereign majesty, out of the gifts Thou hast bestowed upon us, a sacrifice that is pure, holy, and unblemished, the sacred Bread of everlasting life, and the Cup of eternal salvation."

"Humbly we ask of Thee, God Almighty, bid these things be carried by the hands of Thy holy angel up to Thy altar on high, so that those of us who by partaking of the sacrifice of this altar shall have received the sacred body and blood of Thy Son, may be filled with every blessing and grace; through the same Christ Our Lord."

"Through whom all these good gifts created by Thee, Lord, are by Thee sanctified, endowed with life, blessed and bestowed upon us. Through Him and with Him and in Him, Thou, God almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, hast all honour and glory, world without end. Amen."

Can anybody imagine a more perfect expression of precisely what we are doing and why we are doing it? And if you may use these lovely words, what adequate reason is there for using any others? Nothing but the best should be given to God; and here, in the Missal, is the best! But whether you do it in these best words, in inferior words, or with no words at all, see to it that you do the right thing and not some other thing; see to it that you offer the Victim to God. Then you are sacrificing properly, making correct and intelligent use of that share of Christ's priesthood which is yours.