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Let us pray. Exaudi nos.

Hood, and vouchsafe to send thy holy Angel from heaven, to guard, cherish, protect, visit, and defend all that are assembled in this place. Thro' Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

EAR us, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal

THE BLESSING OF THE BREAD.‡

VOUR

UR help is in the V.
name of the Lord.

R. Who made both heaven and earth.

V. May the Lord be with

you.

R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.

Ajutorium nostrum

in nomine Domini.

R. Qui fecit cœlum & terram.

V. Dominus vobiscum.

R. Et cum spiritu tuo. Domine Jesu.

Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of Angels, the living

bread of eternal life, vouchsafe to bless this bread, as thou blessedst the five loaves in the desert: That all who taste thereof, may receive from thence, health of body and soul. Who livest and reignest world without end. R. Amen.

PRAYERS AT THE EXHORTATION OR PRONE.† PRAYERS. FOR THE LIVING.

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Ps. cxxii. Ad te levavi.

O thee have I lifted up my eyes,* thou who dwellest in the heavens.

Behold as the eyes of servants * are on the hands of their masters.

As the eyes of a handmaid are on the hands of her mistress;* So are our eyes lifted up to the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

At the Parochial-Mass slices of bread, cut into little pieces, are blessed, and distributed to the faithful in token of communion and charity.

+ The prayers, publications, and familiar instructions used at the Parish-Mass, on Sundays, either immediately after the Gospel, or before the Lavabo, are called in France the Prone, from a Greek word signifying the Nave of the Church, the place where they are read to the people.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us :* For we are filled with contempt exceedingly.

For our soul is exceedingly filled:* We are a reproach to the rich, and a scoff to the proud.

V. Glory. R. As it was, &c.

V. Lord have mercy on us. R. Christ have mercy on us. V. Lord have mercy on us.

Our Father. In Secret.

V. And lead us not into temptation. R. But deliver us from evil. Amen. V. Save thy servants, O Lord. R. Who put their trust in thee, O my God. V. Be to us, O Lord, a tower of strength. R. From the face of the enemy. V. May peace be on thy ramparts. R. And plenty within thy walls. V. O Lord, hear my prayer. R. And let my cry come unto thee. V. May the Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. Deus refugium.

God our refuge and strength, fountain of all goodness, mercifully give ear to the fervent prayers of thy Church, and grant, that what we ask with faith, we may effectually obtain. Thro'.

Ο

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD.

Ps. cxxix. De profundis.

UT of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord ;*
Lord hear my voice.

Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

If thou wilt observe iniquities, O Lord; * Lord, who shall endure it?

Because with thee there is propitiation; * and by reason of thy law I have waited for thee, O Lord.

My soul hath relied on his word, * my soul hath hoped in the Lord.

From the morning watch even until night, * let Israel hope in the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy, * and with him plentiful redemption.

And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Glory, &c.

V. Eternal rest * grant to them, O Lord. may a perpetual light shine upon them. they rest in peace. R. Amen. V. O Lord,

R. And V. May hear my

prayer. R. And let my cry come unto thee. V. May the Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.

Then are said some of the following Prayers, as occasion requires.

On the day of death or burial.
Let us pray. Deus cui.

God, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare, we humbly present our prayers to thee in behalf of the soul of thy servant N. which thou hast this day called out of this world; beseeching thee not to deliver it into the hands of the enemy, nor forget it for ever; but command it to be received by the holy Angels, and to be carried into Paradise; that, as it believed and hoped in thee, it may be delivered from the pains of hell, and inherit life everlasting. Thro'.

On the third, seventh, or thirtieth day after the Decease. Prayer. Quæsumus.

A

DMIT, we beseech thee, O Lord, the soul of thy servant N. [the third, seventh, or thirtieth day after] whose decease we commemorate, into the fellowship of thy saints, and refresh it with the perpetual dew of thy mercy. Thro'.

On an Anniversary day.

Prayer. Deus Indulgentiarum.

God the Lord of mercy, give to the soul [or souls] of thy servant [or thy servants] whose anniversary we commemorate, a place of comfort, a happy rest, and the light of glory. Thro'.

For Relations, Friends, and Benefactors.

Prayer. Deus veniæ largitor.

God, the author of mercy, and lover of the salvation of mankind; we address thy clemency in behalf of our brethren, relations, and benefactors, who are departed this life, that by the intercession of blessed Mary ever a Virgin, and of thy saints, thou would'st receive them into the enjoyment of eternal happiness. Thro'.

For all the Faithful departed.

Let us pray. Fidelium.

God, the creator and redeemer of all the faithful, grant thy servants remission of all their sins: That

by our pious supplications they may obtain that pardon, which they have ever desired. Thro' Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

RT

THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS.

INSTRUCTION.

ELIGION cannot subsist without interior and exterior sacrifice, since it consists in uniting men by means of exterior marks which they ought to give to God of their dependence and love. The light of reason has taught mankind, that sacrifice was the first of the essential actions of religion. We learn from scripture that it has been offered from the commencement of the world. Cain and Abel offered to God the fruits of the earth and animals. Gen. 4. Noah no sooner left the ark, than he erected an altar, and offered upon it an holocaust of all pure animals, to the Lord. The written law confirmed what nature had inspired; and declared, that to withdraw men from sacrificing, or to sacrifice to any other but God only, were two enormous crimes.— The sin of the children of hell was very great before God, says the holy scripture, because they drew men away from the sacrifice, 1 Kings, 11, 17, and when men blinded by their passions, offered sacrifice through fear or reverence, to angels or devils, to give them a just horror of this sacrilege, the law declared: whoever shall sacrifice to gods, or to any other than God only, shall be put to death. Exod. 22, 20.-These sacrifices, though ordered by the divine law, were but empty signs, incapable of themselves to please God. They had no force, no virtue except in the faith of the offerers, who had in view the divine victim, the spotless Lamb, that taketh away the sins of the world, and which was slain (in the foreknowledge of God) from the beginning of the world. Rev. 13, 8. The sacrifices offered by the worthy servants of God, such as Abel, Abraham, Job, &c. &c. who lived in the constant expectation of the Messiah, were acceptable to God, whilst those that were offered by men, who attended barely to the exterior ceremony without the spirit, in which all their merit consisted, could never please God. This spirit diminished daily, when there were no more Prophets, till the coming of

the Messiah. In effect, what could be expected of the Pharisees, who only attended to the dead letter of the law? What of the Saducees, who denied the resurrection of bodies? This was the period, when according to the royal Prophet, the sacrifices and oblations, which had been offered in the temple of Jerusalem alone, were to cease. Ps. 39.-A new sacrifice was necessary, one that should be offered in spirit and truth. This Jesus Christ promised the Samaritan woman, John 4, when he tells her that the hour cometh, when they shall have to sacrifice neither on the mountain of Garizim with the Samaritans, nor at Jerusalem with the Jews. This promise was the confirmation of the celebrated prophecy addressed by Malachy to the Jews. 1. 10. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will not receive a gift of your hands, for from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is a sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean offering, for my name is great among the Gentiles. It cannot be denied that the primitive Fathers applied this prophecy to the eucharist, and they declare that the church learned of Jesus Christ and his apostles, to offer this saerifice in every part of the world. Indeed, we know of no other, which has superseded all the ancient sacrifices, and is offered in every part of the globe, from the rising to the setting sun. St. Augustine expounding the prophecy of David, Ps. 39, sacrifice and oblation thou didst not require, exclaims: "What are we then to "be left without a sacrifice? God forbid. For thou "hast formed a body for me. Behold here a new vic

"tim. What then does God reject! The figures. What "does he give to fulfil the figures! That body which "fulfils all figures, the adorable body of JesusChrist on our "altars; that body, which the faithful know, but all "do not know. The body, which we who know it, "receive; and which you (Catechumens) will know, "tho' not as yet, God grant, that when you do know "it, you may never receive it to your own condemna"tion; for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, "eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not dis"cerning the body of our Lord."

But, because Christ is a Priest according to the order of Melchisedeck, who offered in bread and wine, and

VOL. II.

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