Works › The Book on the Sacrifice of the Mass
Volume 38 · pp. 115–116
Tractate III, Chapter IX
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CAPUT IX.
De petitione qua oblatio acceptari petitur.
1. Hanc igitur oblationem. In hac communione triplici Christo et omnibus bonis communicantes, petimus oblationem nostram acceptari, duo intendentes, scilicet quod acceptemur, et modum quo omnes acceptemur. Et hunc modum exprimimus, ibi, Quam oblationem tu, Deus.
In prima autem oratione tria dicimus, scilicet qualiter haec oblatio ad nos refertur, et quid in ea petimus acceptari, et quid petimus nobis fieri a Deo nos in oblatione acceptante.
Dicit igitur: Hanc igitur oblationem: quia scilicet in sanctorum omnium offertur communionem, qui numquam possunt non acceptari. Igitur hanc, et debet hic inclinatione capitis a sacerdote fieri nutus ad hostiam demonstratam, servitutis. Hoc dicitur pro clero, quia sicut est servitus regis in cubiculariis et dapiferis et pincernis et mariscalcis et ducibus et aliis ministris aulae regalis, ita est servitus Dei in templo ad oblationes consecrato, et haec servitus est janitorum, ceroferariorum, exorcistarum, acolythorum sive lectorum, subdiaconorum, diaconorum, presbyterorum, Episcoporum, etc.: quae servitus θεοσεβεία seu Dei cultus vocatur: et sicut victoria non est regis tantum, sed omnium eorum qui in servitute regis ad victoriam aliquid conferunt, ita oblatio non est solius sacerdotis, sed omnium eorum qui in servitute Dei templo aliquid conferunt et faciunt ad oblationem. In exercitu enim regis unus exercitui coquit, alter parat arma, tertius sellat equos, quartus parat milites, quintus ordinat acies, sextus pugnat, septimus praecedentes refraenat, octavus postremos ad adjutorium primorum recurvat: et victoria est per modum diversum omnium illorum: quia quicumque ipsorum defuerit, rex victoriam non consequetur. Ita in oblatione janitor templum in quo est oblatio, mundum custodit: ceroferarius tenebras visibiles et invisibiles propellit: exorcista vim daemonis excludit, ne communicantes a perceptione communionis impedire possit: acolythus veritatem fidei exponit: subdiaconus materiam hostiarum immolandarum ad sacramentum ingerit: diaconus oblationem et pallas corporales in altari disponit: sacerdos autem ut perfector sanctitatis oblationem perficit. Et ideo omnium clericorum aliquo modo est oblatio. Et hoc attendens Gregorius dicit: Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostrae, hoc est, ad cujus perfectionem tota nostra ordinatur servitus.
Sed et cunctae familiae tuae. Hoc pro laico populo est adjunctum, qui sicut saepius dictum est, per votum est in oblatione altaris: et sic totus est in oblatione Ecclesiae exercitus. Propter quod dicitur, Cantic. VI, 9, quod Ecclesia terribilis est ut castrorum acies ordinata. Genes. XXXII, 2: Castra Dei sunt haec. I Regum, V, 11: Dimittite arcam Dei Israel, et revertatur in locum suum, et non interficiat nos cum populo nostro. Et omnium istorum differenti modo, est oblatio.
CHAPTER IX.
On the petition by which the oblation is sought to be accepted.
1. This oblation therefore. In this threefold communion, communicating with Christ and all the good, we ask that our oblation be accepted, intending two things, namely that we be accepted and the mode by which all of us may be accepted. And we express this mode there: Which oblation thou, O God.
But in the first prayer we say three things, namely how this oblation is referred to us, and what we ask to be accepted in it, and what we ask to be done for us by God accepting us in the oblation.
Therefore he says: This oblation therefore, because, namely, it is offered in the communion of all saints, who can never not be accepted. Therefore this, and here a nod ought to be made by the priest by inclination of the head toward the host shown, of service. This is said for the clergy, because just as there is service of a king in chamberlains and servers and cupbearers and marshals and dukes and other ministers of the royal court, so there is service of God in the temple consecrated for oblations, and this service is of doorkeepers, candle-bearers, exorcists, acolytes or readers, subdeacons, deacons, presbyters, Bishops, etc.; and this service is called θεοσεβεία or worship of God. And just as victory does not belong only to the king, but to all those who contribute something to victory in the service of the king, so the oblation does not belong only to the priest, but to all those who contribute and do something for the oblation in the service of God in the temple. For in the army of a king one cooks for the army, another prepares arms, a third saddles horses, a fourth prepares soldiers, a fifth orders battle-lines, a sixth fights, a seventh restrains those going ahead, an eighth bends those at the rear back to the help of the first; and the victory exists through the diverse mode of all of them, because if any one of them is lacking, the king will not obtain victory. So in the oblation the doorkeeper keeps clean the temple in which the oblation is; the candle-bearer drives away visible and invisible darkness; the exorcist excludes the force of the demon, lest he be able to impede those communicating from the perception of communion; the acolyte expounds the truth of faith; the subdeacon brings in the matter of the victims to be immolated for the sacrament; the deacon arranges the oblation and the corporal cloths on the altar; but the priest as perfecter of sanctity perfects the oblation. And therefore in some way the oblation belongs to all clerics. And attending to this Gregory says: This oblation therefore of our service, that is, to the perfection of which our whole service is ordered.
But also of thy whole family. This is added for the lay people, who, as has often been said, are in the oblation of the altar through vow; and thus the whole army of the Church is in the oblation. For this reason it is said, Song of Songs 6:9, that the Church is terrible as an ordered battle-line of camps. Genesis 32:2: These are the camps of God. 1 Kings 5:11: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its place, and let it not kill us with our people. And of all these, in a differing mode, is the oblation.
Hoc autem sic habito cujus est oblatio, perfector sanctitatis petit hujus oblationis in omnibus his acceptationem, sicut dicit Gregorius, ut nullius sit irritum votum, nullius vacua postulatio. Et hoc est quod dicitur: Quaesumus, Domine, ut placatus accipias: placatus, inquam, servitute cleri et voto totius populi: accipias, hoc est, acceptes, pro omnibus pro quibus offertur. Malach. III, 4: Et placebit Domino sacrificium Juda et Jerusalem, sicut dies saeculi, et sicut anni antiqui. Judas enim qui interpretatur confitens et glorificans, signat clerum confitentem confessione veritatis in praedicatione et glorificantem in laude. Jerusalem autem populum signat, cujus sacrificium placet per acceptationem Deo sicut dies saeculi, hoc est, sicut sacrificium a diebus saeculi a sanctis oblatum: et ille placet sicut anni antiqui, qui sunt anni aeterni, qui non deficient, hoc est, sicut est acceptum ab aeterno in praeordinatione Dei.
2. Diesque nostros. Hoc est quod petitur ab acceptante Deo nobis praestari. Petuntur autem duo, unum pertinens ad tempus, et alterum pertinens ad aeternitatem. Ad tempus quidem pertinet hoc quod dicit: Diesque nostros, huic vitae concessos, in quibus multa turbantia oriuntur. Ad Ephes. V, 16: Redimentes tempus, quoniam dies mali sunt. Genes. XLVII, 9: Dies peregrinationis meae pauci et mali.
In tua pace, quia illa sola secura est: et est triplex, temporis, pectoris, et aeternitatis. Disponas: quia tuae solius sapientiae est et mala oritura praevidere, et nos in eis ad tuam pacem disponere. Sapient. VIII, 1: Attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter.
Deinde tangit quod est aeternitatis duplex, scilicet secundum mali aeterni devitationem, et secundum aeterni boni adeptionem. De mali devitatione dicitur: Ab aeterna damnatione nos eripi, per indulgentiam mortalis peccati. Psal. IX, 19: Patientia pauperum non peribit in finem. De secundo dicit: Et in electorum tuorum, qui per gratiam finalis et specialis electionis a massa peccatorum separati sunt, jubeas grege numerari: quia ille unus verus est certus in praedestinatione Patris. Psal. CXLVI, 4: Qui numerat multitudinem stellarum, et omnibus eis nomina vocat. Hoc enim de electis dicitur, quorum nomina in libro vitae sunt descripta: non enim scribuntur ibi per praesentem justitiam, sed per gratiam electionis finalis. Hoc est signatum, I Esdrae, X, 1 et seq., ubi illi qui non potuerunt invenire genealogiam suam, separati sunt a populo Domini: quia non fuerunt in numero sanctorum descripti.
Quod autem sequitur: Per Christum Dominum nostrum, est conclusio ad quam nullus respondet Amen, sicut in aliis secretorum conclusionibus, nisi Angeli qui in ministerio esse dicuntur.
Once this has been had, whose oblation it is, the perfecter of sanctity seeks acceptance of this oblation in all these, as Gregory says, so that no one's vow be void, no one's petition empty. And this is what is said: We beseech, O Lord, that, appeased, thou accept: appeased, I say, by the service of the clergy and the vow of the whole people; accept, that is, receive, for all for whom it is offered. Malachi 3:4: And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as the days of the age and as the ancient years. For Judah, which is interpreted confessing and glorifying, signifies the clergy confessing the confession of truth in preaching and glorifying in praise. But Jerusalem signifies the people, whose sacrifice pleases God by acceptance as the days of the age, that is, as the sacrifice offered by the saints from the days of the age; and that one pleases as the ancient years, which are eternal years, which will not fail, that is, as it is accepted from eternity in the preordination of God.
2. And our days. This is what is sought to be furnished to us by God accepting. But two things are sought, one pertaining to time, and the other pertaining to eternity. To time belongs what he says: And our days, granted to this life, in which many troubling things arise. Ephesians 5:16: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Genesis 47:9: The days of my pilgrimage are few and evil.
In thy peace, because that alone is secure, and it is threefold: of time, of breast, and of eternity. Dispose, because it belongs to thy wisdom alone both to foresee evils about to arise and to dispose us in them toward thy peace. Wisdom 8:1: She reaches strongly from end to end and disposes all things sweetly.
Then he touches what belongs to eternity in two ways, namely according to avoidance of eternal evil and according to attainment of eternal good. Concerning avoidance of evil it is said: To be snatched from eternal damnation, through indulgence of mortal sin. Psalm 9:19: The patience of the poor will not perish forever. Concerning the second he says: And command us to be numbered in the flock of thy elect, who by the grace of final and special election have been separated from the mass of sinners; because that one true flock is certain in the predestination of the Father. Psalm 146:4: He numbers the multitude of the stars and calls names to all of them. For this is said concerning the elect, whose names are written in the book of life; for they are not written there by present justice, but by the grace of final election. This is signified, 1 Esdras 10:1 and following, where those who could not find their genealogy were separated from the people of the Lord, because they were not written in the number of the saints.
But what follows: Through Christ our Lord, is the conclusion to which no one responds Amen, as in the other conclusions of the secrets, except the Angels who are said to be in the ministry.
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