Works › The Book on the Sacrifice of the Mass
Volume 38 · pp. 81–83
Tractate III, Chapter III
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CAPUT III.
De accessu ad Praefationem.
1. Audiens autem sacerdos hanc confessionem, procedit ad Praefationem, quae praelocutio interpretatur: quia sacerdos sentiens jam populum ad altiora paratum, praeloquitur eis publice de sacramenti altitudine et reverentia, et ab hac praelocutione id quod cantatur, nomen praefationis accepit. Beatus autem Gregorius hoc ordinans, et Gelasius Papa hoc componens, fundaverunt statutum illud in verbo Domini quod dixit, Exod. XIX, 21, ubi dixit ad Moysen: Descende, et contestare populum, ne forte velit transcendere terminos ad videndum Dominum, et pereat ex eis plurima multitudo. Et ideo sicut Moyses, ita sacerdos nostrae sanctitatis perfector intonat Praefationis modo magnitudinem et altitudinem sacramenti angelicae perfectioni tremendam, ut non curiositate discutiatur, sed humilitate cordis a populo suscipiatur et veneretur.
Haec autem Praefatio duas habet partes, scilicet excitationem populi ad attentionem, et ipsam instructoriam Praefationem.
Excitatio intentionis populi est in tribus: in eulogio salutationis, et in commotione profectionis, et in exhortatione gratiarum actionis.
Eulogium salutationis est in duobus, scilicet in salutatione presbyteri, et in devota responsione populi.
[Marginal label: Excitatur populus ad attentionem.] Salutatio est: Dominus vobiscum: quod quamvis in praecedenti jam expositum sit, tamen ad istud eulogium est adoptatio adjutorii Domini adjuvantis ad altissima: quia sine Domino ad ista ascendere non valemus: Dominus enim superpositionis nomen est, eo quod sicut dicit Dionysius: "Dominus superpositionis et dominationis incessanter est appetitivus." Hoc enim impletur quod dicitur, Proverb. IX, 3: Misit ancillas suas, ut vocarent ad arcem, et ad maenia civitatis. Ad arcem enim altitudinis vocat perfector sanctitatis, ut Dominus nobiscum sit, ita quod nihil cordibus nostris superpositum deprimendo in servitutem redigat. Sed dominationis suae incessanter appetitivi continue ad maenia civitatis quae domina gentium est, ascendamus, sicut dicit Psalmista, Psal. XX, 14: Exsultare, Domine, in virtute tua, cantabimus et psallemus virtutes tuas. Exsultat enim in nobis, quando servitutis jugo excusso, ad superpositionis suae nos erigit altitudinem, et tunc jucunditate spiritus cantamus, et opere in decacochordo decem chordarum psalterio observatione psallimus mandatorum. Sic mirabilis in altis Dominus 1. Sic vere dicimus in hoc dominium translati illud Joannis, VIII, 33: Nemini servivimus umquam. Sic impletur in nobis quod est pro dignitate nobis concessum, Genes. I, 26: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram, et praesit piscibus maris, et volatilibus caeli, et bestiis, universaeque terrae. In hoc portamus imaginem Dei, quod superponimur concupiscentiae dulcedini quae in humore natat libidinoso, et ambitioni et superbiae quae ad alta volant hujus saeculi, et bestialibus motibus qui ratione sunt privati: et ideo nobiscum se esse ostendit.
Huic jucunde respondemus: Et cum spiritu tuo, nostro perfectori sanctitatis optantes, quod Dominus subvehat eum cum spiritu in eadem alta, quae nobis optavit, ut scilicet ea quae nisi in Spiritu sancto agi possunt, ipse spiritui inspiret, ut spiritus sacerdotis sit cum spiritu perficiente sanctitatem. Joan. IV, 24: Spiritus est Deus: et eos, qui adorant eum, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare. Et hoc maxime necessarium est in sacramento, in quo caro nihil prodest, sed spiritus perficit omnia. Joan. VI, 64: Spiritus est qui vivificat: caro non prodest quidquam. Hoc enim verbum dixit Dominus de hujus sacramenti perfectione.
CHAPTER III.
On the approach to the Preface.
1. But the priest, hearing this confession, proceeds to the Preface, which is interpreted as a pre-speaking, because the priest, sensing that the people are now prepared for higher things, speaks beforehand publicly to them about the height and reverence of the sacrament, and from this pre-speaking what is sung received the name of preface. But blessed Gregory, ordering this, and Pope Gelasius, composing this, founded that statute in the word of the Lord which he said, Exodus 19:21, where he said to Moses: Go down, and charge the people, lest perhaps they wish to cross the boundaries to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them perish. And therefore, just like Moses, so the priest, perfecter of our sanctity, intones after the manner of a Preface the greatness and height of the sacrament, fearful to angelic perfection, so that it may not be examined by curiosity, but be received and venerated by the people with humility of heart.
But this Preface has two parts, namely the excitation of the people to attention and the instructive Preface itself.
The excitation of the intention of the people is in three things: in the eulogy of salutation, and in the stirring of setting out, and in the exhortation of thanksgiving.
The eulogy of salutation is in two things, namely in the salutation of the presbyter and in the devout response of the people.
[Marginal label: The people are excited to attention.] The salutation is: The Lord be with you. Although this has already been explained in what precedes, nevertheless for this eulogy it is the adoption of the aid of the Lord helping toward the highest things, because without the Lord we are not able to ascend to these things. For Lord is a name of superposition, because, as Dionysius says, "The Lord is unceasingly appetitive of superposition and domination." For this fulfills what is said, Proverbs 9:3: She sent her maidservants, that they might call to the citadel and to the walls of the city. For the perfecter of sanctity calls to the citadel of height, so that the Lord may be with us, such that nothing superimposed upon our hearts by depressing may bring us back into servitude. But, unceasingly appetitive of his domination, let us continually ascend to the walls of the city which is mistress of nations, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 20:14: Be exalted, O Lord, in thy power; we shall sing and chant thy powers. For he exults in us when, with the yoke of servitude shaken off, he raises us to the height of his superposition, and then with gladness of spirit we sing, and in work we psalm the observance of the commandments on the ten-stringed psaltery of ten strings. Thus the Lord is wonderful in the high places 1. Thus, translated into this dominion, we truly say that word of John 8:33: We have never served anyone. Thus what was granted to us for dignity is fulfilled in us, Genesis 1:26: Let us make man to our image and likeness, and let him rule over the fishes of the sea and the birds of heaven and the beasts and the whole earth. In this we bear the image of God, that we are placed above the sweetness of concupiscence which swims in lustful humor, and above ambition and pride which fly to the heights of this age, and above beastly movements which are deprived of reason; and therefore he shows that he is with us.
To this we respond joyfully: And with thy spirit, wishing for our perfecter of sanctity that the Lord may lift him up with the spirit into the same high things which he has wished for us, so that those things which can be done only in the Holy Spirit, he himself may inspire into the spirit, so that the spirit of the priest may be with the Spirit perfecting sanctity. John 4:24: God is Spirit; and those who adore him must adore in spirit and truth. And this is especially necessary in the sacrament, in which flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit perfects all things. John 6:64: It is the Spirit who gives life; flesh profits nothing. For the Lord said this word concerning the perfection of this sacrament.
[Marginal label: Quadruplex ad Deum elevatio.] 2. Hoc modo noster perfector sanctitatis accipiens idiotarum et chori responsum, nititur ad altiora provocare populum, quem jam in signo obtulit in sacrificium, expresse clamans: Sursum corda, supple, elevate. Sursum, inquam, intellectu veritatis, sursum affectu charitatis, sursum virtute conversationis, et sursum rectitudine intentionis.
De prima ad superna elevatione dicit Psalmista, Psal. LXIII, 7: Accedet homo ad cor altum, et exaltabitur Deus. Ad cor altum autem in intellectum veritatis accedit, qui in sacramento nihil carnale cogitat, sed omnia alta esse intelligit, scilicet quod in cibo sumptus Christus dentibus non discerpitur, nec dividitur divisione sacramenti, sed manet integer, et sumptus nos sibi incorporat, et non digeritur ut pereat. In altare descendens manet in dextera Patris, ut incorporatos sibi ad sedem Patris exaltet, et hujusmodi.
De secunda dicitur, ad Coloss. III, 2: Quae sursum sunt, sapite, non quae super terram. Sapimus enim et quaerimus caelestia per charitatis nostrae fervidam exsultationem, et hoc in sacramento perficitur, quando nimiam Domini dilectionem pensantes advertimus, quod ipse nobis se dat in cibum, qui nos sibi incorporet. Et sic ad alta domus Patris ubi omnes abundant panibus aeternae vitae nos elevando perducat.
De tertia elevatione dicitur, ad Philip. III, 20 et 21: Nostra conversatio in caelis est, unde etiam salvatorem, venientem ad nos in sacramento, exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui, incorporando nos sibi, reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae, configuratum corpori claritatis suae.
De quarta sursum elevatione dicitur, Job, XVI, 21: Ad Deum stillat oculus meus, hoc est, oculus altae intentionis, qui devotione et memoria Dominicae passionis stillat lacrymando, et non nisi in altum ad Deum dirigitur tendendo et pergendo, et omnia in eo soli Deo attribuendo. Hoc autem quod sacerdos hic dicit, ortum habuit ab eo quod Dominus dixit per sanctum Job, XVI, 19: Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum, neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus. Et ideo terreno et depresso corde sanguis Christi non debet operiri, et clamor quo ad communionem Dei vocamur, latere non debet sub affectu terreno, sed potius corde elevato ad caelum haec omnia venerari.
Ad hanc autem allocutionem respondetur ex parte populi: Habemus ad Dominum: quia ad altius cor exaltari non potest, nec in aliquo tutius collocari poterit, ut spiritualia et altissima Dei dona percipiantur. Thren. III, 41: Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad dominum in caelis: totum enim cor in caelestibus habitare debet, quod tam caelestia et sublimia dona exspectat a Domino. Isa. II, 3: Venite, et ascendamus ad montem Domini, et ad domum Dei Jacob: et docebit nos vias suas, et ambulabimus in semitis ejus.
[Marginal label: Fourfold elevation to God.] 2. In this way our perfecter of sanctity, receiving the response of the simple persons and of the choir, strives to summon the people, whom he has now offered in sign into the sacrifice, to higher things, crying expressly: Lift up your hearts, supply, raise them. Upward, I say, by the intellect of truth; upward by the affection of charity; upward by the virtue of conversation; and upward by the rectitude of intention.
Concerning the first elevation to the things above, the Psalmist says, Psalm 63:7: A man will approach to a high heart, and God will be exalted. But he approaches to a high heart into the intellect of truth who thinks nothing carnal in the sacrament, but understands that all things are high, namely that Christ, received in food, is not torn by teeth, nor divided by the division of the sacrament, but remains whole, and having been received incorporates us into himself, and is not digested so that he perishes. Descending onto the altar he remains at the right hand of the Father, so that he may exalt to the seat of the Father those incorporated into himself, and things of this sort.
Concerning the second it is said, Colossians 3:2: Savor the things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth. For we savor and seek heavenly things through the fervid exultation of our charity, and this is perfected in the sacrament when, pondering the exceedingly great love of the Lord, we notice that he gives himself to us as food, so that he may incorporate us into himself. And thus by raising us he may lead us to the high things of the Father's house, where all abound with the breads of eternal life.
Concerning the third elevation it is said, Philippians 3:20 and 21: Our conversation is in heaven, whence also we await the Savior, coming to us in the sacrament, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, by incorporating us into himself, will reform the body of our humility, configured to the body of his brightness.
Concerning the fourth upward elevation it is said, Job 16:21: My eye drips toward God, that is, the eye of high intention, which, by devotion and memory of the Lord's passion, drips by weeping, and is directed only upward toward God by tending and going forward, and by attributing all things in it to God alone. But what the priest says here had its origin from what the Lord said through holy Job, 16:19: Earth, do not cover my blood, nor let my cry find in thee a hiding place. And therefore the blood of Christ ought not to be covered with an earthly and depressed heart, and the cry by which we are called to communion with God ought not to lie hidden under earthly affection, but rather all these things are to be venerated with the heart raised to heaven.
But to this address answer is made on the part of the people: We have them toward the Lord, because the heart cannot be exalted to anything higher, nor will it be able to be placed in anything safer, so that the spiritual and highest gifts of God may be received. Lamentations 3:41: Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. For the whole heart ought to dwell in heavenly things, which expects such heavenly and sublime gifts from the Lord. Isaiah 2:3: Come, and let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.
[Marginal label: Ad gratiarum actionem invitatio.] 3. Hoc habito a populo, perfector sanctitatis de tanto dono monet gratias agere, dicens: Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro, se connumerans populo: quia unius sunt doni participes, tam perfector sanctitatis, quam populus sanctitate perfruens. Gratiae autem aguntur, quando dona Domini digne percipiuntur, et distincte cognoscuntur, et in magna devotione in ipsum referuntur.
De perceptione quidem digna dicitur, I Paralip. XXIX, 13 et 14: Nunc igitur, Deus noster, confitemur tibi, et laudamus nomen tuum inclytum. Quis ego, et quis populus meus, ut possimus tibi universa promittere? Tua sunt omnia: et quae de manu tua accepimus, dedimus tibi. Sic enim digne percipitur a Deo donum, quod offertur Deo, et in ipso dono offertur offerens donum.
De discreta autem doni Dei cognitione dicitur, I ad Corinth. II, 12: Nos non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus, sed spiritum qui ex Deo est, ut sciamus quae a Deo donata sunt nobis. Omnia enim dona Deus dat in spiritu, et in spiritu data, cognoscuntur in eodem spiritu quae et qualia sunt et quanta et quantam in nobis efficiunt virtutem, praecipue quae in sacramento altaris nobis a Deo donantur.
De relatione autem donorum in Deum dicitur, II ad Corinth. IX, 13: Gratias Deo super inenarrabili dono ejus. Non enim est nisi gratia, quod tantum nobis dat sacramentum. I ad Thessal. V, 18: In omnibus gratias agite. II Machab. I, 11: Magnifice gratias agimus.
Ad hanc autem communem invitationem respondet populus sive chorus loco populi: Dignum et justum est. Dignum quidem pro magnifica liberalitate qua dona confert. Justum autem pro debito receptionis donorum: quia sic obligamur ad gratias agendum.
De primo dicitur, Deuter. XXXII, 3 et 4: Date magnificentiam Deo nostro. Dei perfecta sunt opera. Magnificentia enim Deo datur, quando digne liberalitas ejus qua gratis dona dat, exprimitur. Sic enim dicitur, Esther, II, 18: Dona largitus est juxta magnificentiam principalem. Et hoc est perfectum opus donationis, quando nec manu retracta, sed liberalitate tota manu aperta magnum confertur et datur sine improperatione. Jacobi, I, 5: Dat omnibus affluenter, et non improperat. Ex hoc enim ipse est gratiarum actione dignissimus.
Justum autem fit ut gratias agamus ex ipsa receptione: quia ex illa obligamur ut gratias agamus manui quae nobis largitur. Isa. I, 3: Cognovit bos possessorem suum, et asinus praesepe domini sui. Et ideo dicit Aristoteles, quod multas amicitias aprosigoria, hoc est, irresalutatio dissolvit, quando dat unus, et ab altero qui accipit, nec mereri potest amicitiae verbum salutationis.
[Marginal label: Invitation to thanksgiving.] 3. Having received this from the people, the perfecter of sanctity admonishes them to give thanks concerning so great a gift, saying: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, numbering himself with the people, because they are sharers of one gift, both the perfecter of sanctity and the people enjoying sanctity. But thanks are given when the gifts of the Lord are received worthily, and are known distinctly, and are referred back to him in great devotion.
Concerning worthy reception, indeed, it is said, 1 Paralipomenon 29:13 and 14: Now therefore, our God, we confess to thee and praise thy renowned name. Who am I, and who are my people, that we can promise all these things to thee? All things are thine, and the things we have received from thy hand we have given to thee. For thus a gift is worthily received from God, when it is offered to God, and in the very gift the one offering the gift is offered.
Concerning distinct knowledge of the gift of God it is said, 1 Corinthians 2:12: We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may know the things which have been given to us by God. For God gives all gifts in the Spirit, and things given in the Spirit are known in the same Spirit, what and of what quality and how great they are and how great a virtue they effect in us, especially the things which are given to us by God in the sacrament of the altar.
But concerning the referring of gifts into God it is said, 2 Corinthians 9:13: Thanks to God for his inenarrable gift. For it is nothing except grace that he gives us so great a sacrament. 1 Thessalonians 5:18: In all things give thanks. 2 Maccabees 1:11: We give magnificent thanks.
To this common invitation the people, or the choir in the place of the people, respond: It is worthy and just. Worthy indeed on account of the magnificent liberality by which he confers gifts. But just on account of the debt of reception of gifts, because thus we are bound to giving thanks.
Concerning the first it is said, Deuteronomy 32:3 and 4: Give magnificence to our God. The works of God are perfect. For magnificence is given to God when his liberality, by which he freely gives gifts, is expressed worthily. For thus it is said, Esther 2:18: He bestowed gifts according to principal magnificence. And this is the perfect work of giving, when a great thing is conferred and given, not with hand drawn back, but by liberality with the whole hand opened, without reproach. James 1:5: He gives to all abundantly, and does not reproach. From this he himself is most worthy of thanksgiving.
But it becomes just that we give thanks from the very reception, because from that we are bound to give thanks to the hand which bestows on us. Isaiah 1:3: The ox has known its owner, and the ass the manger of its lord. And therefore Aristotle says that many friendships are dissolved by aprosigoria, that is, by a failure to return greeting, when one gives and from the other who receives he cannot merit even the word of greeting belonging to friendship.
Notes
- Psalm 92:4. (Psal. XCII, 4.) ↩
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