at least, it has been the usage to say it at Mass.1 The Gloria is sometimes omitted-as in Advent and Lent, and at Masses for the dead. The Office then recalls penance or sadness, and we do not dare to rejoice or sing of heavenly glory when we bewail our own misery or the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory.

A canticle of praise and love, the Gloria finds its place admirably after the Kyrie. The Church has just cried for mercy to her Divine Spouse. Fully confident that she has been heard, she intones the hymn of her gratitude, and, borrowing the very words of the Angels, sings of the great mystery of the Incarnation, which is the source of her joy, her hope, and her glory. She blesses the Lord for it, and thus solicits His all-powerful protection.

The Priest, who intones it alone, and whom all the people answer, recalls very well the manner in which it was sung by the Angels. One of these heavenly spirits appeared to the shepherds, and told them the great news. He had not done speaking when a multitude of Angels, uniting their voices with his, sang, Glory be to God on high, and peace on earth to men of good will! 2

The Introit expresses the desires of the Patriarchs; the Gloria in excelsis announces their fulfilment. Two great epochs of the human race, that before and that after the Messias, thus meet in the second part of our Catholic sacrifice. Is this thought not wonderful enough to move us? Will it fail to enlighten our mind, to steady our imagination, to inflame our heart?

Prayer.

O my God! who art all love, I thank Thee for having perpetuated the sacrifice of Calvary. Grant me the grace to enter into those sentiments of compunction, gratitude, and joy, which are naturally suggested by the first prayers of Mass.

I am resolved to love God above all things, and my neighbour as myself for the love of God; and, in testimony of this love, I will endeavour to say the "Kyrie, eleison" like the Early Christians.

LESSON XVII.

CHRISTIANITY BROUGHT BEFORE THE SENSES (continued). Second Part of the Mass (continued): Prayer; Epistle; Gradual; Tract Alleluia; Prose.

SECOND Part of the Mass (continued).-When concluding the Gloria in excelsis, the Priest makes the sign of the cross. This It sets before our eyes usage takes us back eighteen centuries.

1 Sacrament. S. Greg.

2 Luc. ii, 14.

the Early Christians, who, as we know, never failed to make the sign of the cross at the beginning and at the end of their principal actions. Could they, or can we, have recourse too often to this allpowerful sign, or be too often reminded that every blessing comes from the cross? Careful to preserve the holy practices of the early ages, the Church wished that, during the august mysteries, the sign of the cross should be made at the end of the Gloria in excelsis; before the Gospel; after the Credo, Lord's Prayer, Sanctus, &c.

The canticle of the Angels has just died away. Peace, brought to the world by Jesus Christ, has been announced: what more natural than that the Priest, the angel of peace here below, should wish it to the Faithful? But how is he going to do so? He kisses the altar, as if to draw this peace from the very bosom of the Saviour. He kisses it in the middle, because there is the consecrated stone, the tomb of Martyrs, the figure of the corner-stone of the Church-Jesus Christ. He joins his hands, and, with eyes cast down, turns towards the people, opens out his hands as if to denote his charity, and says, May the Lord be with you! In the East, Priests, instead of saying, Dominus vobiscum-the Lord be with you, have always said, Pax vobis-Peace be to you!

It was with these sweet words that the Saviour, after His resurrection, saluted the Apostles. The Bishops of the West have preserved this usage. When they are done reciting the Gloria in excelsis, they say, Pax vobis-Peace be to you! As nearly everywhere till the eleventh century, Bishops alone said the Gloria in excelsis at Mass, they alone also said, Peace be to you, on account of the close relation between these words and the angelic hymn. The people answered, And to your spirit! Full of gratitude for the excellent wish that the Priest had just made them, the Faithful returned his salutation by praying for him.2

Enriched with the blessings of his brethren, the Priest turns to the Epistle side, and says, Let us pray. This is the second time since the beginning of Mass that he has given himself and the people this necessary warning. Let us pray: our hearts have just been united by a wish of mutual charity. The Lord is with you; He is also with me. He prays in you; He prays in me. Let us have confidence: is not the Son of God, who reigns in our hearts, always heard for the reverence that is due to Him?

And the Priest holds his hands open and raised a souvenir of three thousand years, a tradition of eighteen centuries. A souvenir

2

'Durand., Rational., 1. V, n. 15. See our Traité du Signe de la Croix. Remig. Autissiod., Expos. miss.

of three thousand years: it was with hands raised towards the temple of Jerusalem that the Israelites prayed.1 A tradition of eighteen centuries: it was with outstretched hands, to imitate Jesus Christ stretched on the cross, that our ancestors prayed, expressing thus their readiness for martyrdom, for the sacrifice of wealth, family, life itself, rather than deny the Faith 2-a touching usage, if ever there was such, and one that the Church has been careful to preserve. Henceforth, when we see a Priest with his hands extended at the altar, on the mountain of sacrifice, can we forget Our Lord on the cross, our ancestors in the catacombs? Can we forget that we are the children of Jesus Christ and the Martyrs, and that we ought to be their imitators, at least in the dispositions of our hearts? And if we no longer lift up our hands in prayer, let us at least lift up our thoughts and affections.

Having warned all the people to pray with him, the Priest begins the Prayer. It is also called the Blessing, because it is intended to draw down on the Church the blessing of God; and the Collect, for two reasons: first, because it is made for the assembled people-the word "collect" means assembly-and secondly, because it is a summary of all that the priest should ask of God for himself as well as for the Faithful.

Most of the Collects that are still in use were drawn up by the Sovereign Pontiffs St. Gregory and St. Gelasius, but in the main they came from apostolic tradition. Nothing more venerable, and, we may add, nothing more complete: the Collects of the Mass are a rare collection. However varied our wants, our desires, or our sufferings, there is not one but finds expression in these admirable prayers. There is besides in these Collects a simplicity and unction that we look for in vain elsewhere. To the Catholic Church alone it belonged to compose them. The True Spouse alone knew the way in which to speak to her Lord, the language that would touch His heart. As far as she excels the sects in the truth of her teaching, so far does she excel them in the beauty of her prayers.

On ordinary days, the Priest says several of these Collects. On

Tertull., Apolog. et de Orat., xvi.

3 Formerly, when there were processions on fast days, the people went to a church, where they awaited the Bishop, who began with the prayer called Ad collectam, that is to say, At the assembly, or On the assembly; and then they went to another church, where Mass began. The Celebrant said, OremusLet us pray. The Deacon said, Flectamus genua, so that the assistants might go on their knees for a little while, during which every one prayed in silence. The Deacon then said, Levate. On rising, the celebrant said the Prayer, in which he set forth the petitions of the assembly. (Sacrament. S. Greg. in cap. 4 Bona. Jejun., p. 34; Bona, l. II, c. v.)

great solemnities, he limits the number to one, in order to fix the minds of the Faithful on the mystery of the day, the only object that should engage them on important festivals. On the festivals of the Saints, the Collects are petitions in keeping with the chief virtues that distinguished those friends of God, and an encouragement to us to imitate their example. But the Church has taken care to let us see the essential difference that she makes between the Saint whom she honours and the God whom she invokes. Here the Saint is mentioned under the name of servant, and God is supplicated under the names of Lord and Master.

The Collects are usually addressed to God the Father, because it is to Him that the sacrifice is offered. They conclude thus: Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum―Through Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that it is in Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ every prayer is made; for there is no other mediator between God and man than the Saviour Jesus. It means that Jesus Christ, who charged Himself with all our debts, likewise charged Himself with the presenting of all our supplications to His Father. Lastly, it means that every grace is given us in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ. As this Divine Intercessor is immolated on the altar, and we give Him to His Father in exchange for the benefits that we expect, there is nothing more proper than this formula to excite our confidence. When asking through Jesus Christ, we have a right to obtain everything. Would that we were well convinced of this, when reciting the Collect!

At the end of the Collect, the assistants answer, Amen! This word is a short but energetic exclamation that means, "May it be so! May the wishes that you have just expressed to the Lord be heard! We desire it; we unite with you in asking it; and we promise to place no obstacle thereto, either in deed or in will." The meaning of the word sometimes varies, according to circumstances. Said after an exposition of the truths of Faith-for example, after the Symbol-it means, All this is true; I believe it. After asking a favour, Amen means, I join in the petition; after explaining a duty, I agree to what has been said.

Amen! Behold again one of those words which we ought to utter with the most profound respect. And how could it be otherwise if we reflect that, from century to century, it has crossed the angelic lips of so many holy pontiffs, so many virgins, so many hermits, so many Christians, our ancestors in the Faith and our models in virtue? Repeated by the Martyrs in the catacombs, in prisons, and on scaffolds, it seems still covered with their blood and with their charity.1

1 S. Justin, Apol., ii.

What must be our feelings if we think that this Amen, pronounced by Angels and Saints, resounds, and will for ever resound through the courts of the Heavenly Jerusalem! Let us rouse our faith, and the Church of Earth will give us a lively representation of the Church of Heaven, if, when singing the same canticle, we sing it in the same spirit. If we can only say Amen, let us endeavour at least to say it like the Angels, the Saints, the elect. Let us beware: have we never lied in repeating this beautiful word? We say Amen to whatever the Church asks and promises in our name, and perhaps we follow no less the perversity of our wills. O my God! what is the Amen of the hypocritical and the covetous, the ambitious, the revengeful, and the voluptuous, but a cruel mockery? Woe to him that is thus guilty!

After the Prayer, the celebrant says the Epistle in an intelligible voice, because it is an instruction for the people. At High Masses it is sung by the Sub-deacon. In the early ages, this duty pertained to the Lector: the Epistle was not sung but read.1 The usage of reading the Scripture in religious assemblies comes from the highest antiquity. The Jews began their prayers in the synagogues by reading Moses and the Prophets.2 The Early Christians imitated this practice at their Sunday meetings. We assemble, says Tertullian, to read the Divine Scriptures, and to see therein what suits various times. To the reading of the Old Testament was joined that of the New. In the assembly, says St. Justin, we read the Prophets and the Apostles.4 The Church took great care to continue this practice.

Not only was the Holy Scripture read in the early ages of the Church, but also the Acts of Martyrs,5 and the letters of Sovereign Pontiffs and other Bishops, which were called letters of peace or communion. This correspondence tended to keep alive charity and union between the Head of the Church in Rome and all the other Bishops throughout the world. It also served to distinguish Catholics from heretics: the letters were sent from one Church to another, so that the Faithful might know those with whom they ought not to communicate.6

This reading was called the Epistle, because it was usually taken from the Epistles of the Apostles, particularly of St. Paul. Debtors to Greeks and barbarians, missionaries to the whole world, the Apostles could not remain a long time in the churches that they had founded. To maintain in the Faith those children whom they had lately begotten to Jesus Christ, they did not forget, amid their

1 Hence the names which it was read. 4 Apol., ii.

lectricium, lectorium, legeolum, given to the desk from
2 Act., xiii et xv.
3 Apol, c. xxxix.

5 Euseb., 1. V,
c. i.

6

Bona, 1. V, c. vii.