February 12

JESUS IN THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT THE VICTIM OF EXPIATION FOR OUR SINS

“Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world” (John i, 29).

First Prelude: Behold the priest elevating the Sacred Host with profound reverence, at the same time pronouncing the words: “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Second Prelude: O my Saviour, Who in infinite love didst take my sins and those of the whole world upon Thyself, grant me grace always to assist at the renewal of the Holy Sacrifice with sentiments of gratitude and thus render myself worthy to participate in its precious fruits.

First Point

JESUS TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD BY HIS PRAYER

What consolation must it afford us to hear from the lips of the priest: “Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world!” The Apostle assures us (Hebr. 5, 7) that Jesus, our true High-priest, during His life on earth, with prayers and tears supplicated the heavenly Father for us. This supplication He continues to the end of time in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. Knowing that it is impossible for God to resist the petitions of His servants, that He heard Moses whenever he interceded for the ungrateful people, that we find in the lives of the Saints countless proofs that testify to this truth, what dare we not expect of a prayer which Jesus incessantly by day and by night offers to the heavenly Father in our behalf! We may safely assume that for the sake of such a prayer God has countless times spared a sinful world and withdrawn His chastening hand to give full sway to His mercy. In His fervent prayer, world-wide in its embrace, He is our Mediator and Conciliator. If we unite our supplications with His, the coldness of our hearts will be transformed by contact with the fire of His love, and we shall be able to discharge worthily our duty of expiation, of reparation and of atonement. Oh, that we may be among the pious souls that weary not of pouring out before the Blessed Sacrament their most ardent zeal and love! Let it be our earnest endeavor to console Him by our prayers and to lead back to Him those that have gone astray that the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world, may have mercy on them.

Second Point

CHRIST’S PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE

From the first moment of His Incarnation Jesus considered Himself the Victim of immolation for the sins of the world, and He persevered in these sentiments until His death. At His entrance into the world He spoke to His heavenly Father: “Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire—Burnt offering and sin offering Thou didst not require. Then said I, ‘Behold, I come to do Thy Will’ ” (Ps. 39, 7-8). What sacrifices comprised in this one act! To the present moment, Christ is our High-priest, our Mediator between Heaven’s vengeance and the guilty human race, renewing incessantly in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the infinite satisfaction He once made on the cross. Thus He merits pardon for sinners and promotes the cause of His people with the heavenly Father with infinitely more success than did Moses and Aaron in the desert.

If we are deeply grieved at sight of the magnitude of sin, let us not forget that by His sacrifice on the cross Christ made satisfaction far exceeding the guilt of mankind. In union with these superabundant merits, which Christ continually immolates to His heavenly Father on countless altars, we will offer Him His own Precious Blood in expiation of our sins and those of the whole world. Not even the prayer of all the angels and saints combined is as worthy a reparation in the sight of God, is as capable of drawing so many graces down upon ourselves as the prayer of Jesus when He immolates Himself on our altar, and His sacred Wounds, as it were, cry to heaven in our behalf. The holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a treasure justly appraised only in heaven. Let us, therefore, during this holy season specially dedicated to the remembrance of Christ’s passion, renew our fervor and devotion in assisting at holy Mass. The Mass comprises the infinite merits of the bloody Sacrifice of Calvary. But our Divine Saviour expects of us fidelity in the many little sacrifices that He has allotted to us in the course of the day. He wills that, in union with the sacrifice of Christ’s Sacred Body and Blood, and His infinite merits, we offer them in advance to the heavenly Father. If our love of Jesus were genuine and our love of neighbor, likewise, how much could and would we do, especially during these days, for poor sinners.

Affections: O my Saviour and my God, in an excess of the tenderest and most marvelous love Thou art uninterruptedly present in the Sacred Mystery of the Altar as Victim and as such, dost immolate Thyself to the heavenly Father daily on countless altars. We thank Thee for the sacrifice of the Incarnation, for Thy extreme poverty and abasement, for the immolation of Thy Blood and Life, of Thy Humanity and Divinity, for which Thy love-inflamed Heart is the sacrificial Altar. O Jesus, let not such love be in vain bestowed on me. Imbue us all with holy zeal that we may assist at the sublime Sacrifice of the Mass with the proper dispositions, and incessantly offer ourselves through Thee to the honor and glory of the heavenly Father. Thus united with Thee, our Divine Model, we will, inasmuch as we are able, by our prayers, labors and sufferings repair the insults, the abuses and the ignominy heaped upon Thee.

Resolution: I will frequently during the day offer the prayers and self-immolation of the Heart of Jesus to the heavenly Father, in satisfaction for the sins of men.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world.”

Prayer: Soul of Christ . . .