We saw in the Unde et Memores the explanation of the Sacrifice that is present on our altar, as well as the intertwining with it of a plea for acceptance. While we may say the explanation was took the first place in that prayer, in these next two prayers, which are really a continuation of the first, the plea for acceptance shall take the forefront. Nevertheless, the Priest shall still beg the Father to accept the Sacrifice of the Church on account of the Cross, the Mystery of which he shall continue explaining.
The Main Celebrant and any Concelebrants present continue all praying together, in the orans position, and say:
"Be pleased to look upon these offerings
with a serene and kindly countenance,
and to accept them,
as once you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your servant Abel the just,
the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,
and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim."
We quickly note the main thought is God's acceptance of the offerings, but we must examine, now more in-depth, what exactly the "offerings" are. As we have previously explained in the preceding post, the offerings cannot really refer to the Sacrifice of Christ which the Priest is offering, for it is impossible for the Gift of His Beloved Son not to find favor with God. Rather, the offerings referred to must be those of the Faithful, the prayers they bring and their souls which they wish to commend into the hands of God. But we may even include the actions of the Priest himself, all of the ritual prayers he recites, with the exception of the Institution Narrative, which is purely the action of Christ.
Jungmann explains this idea well:
"If we reflect for a moment that the sacrifice of the New Law, being an act of official worship, is essentially placed in the hands of the Church, which in turn relies on the sacrifice of Christ, then it becomes clear at once that we possess therein, despite the solemnity of its essential core, only an external symbol by which the Church - or more immediately, the congregation - honors God. And God can really receive it from her hands as a gift of homage only when at least the lowest degree of an internal will to give on the part of the participants accompanies and quickens the external offering (227-228)."
While the essential core Jungmann speaks of, i.e. the Consecration within the Institution Narrative, is given us expressly by Jesus Christ with Himself as the Actor, the rituals and prayers which surround this inner Holy of Holies, are prescribed and created by the Church, and therefore, while based upon the Divine commands, still actions of a human, and for the benefit of the Faithful, for God is not benefited by these actions, but the Mass is wrapped in them to translate the inner mysteries to us.
But grace is needed for the Priest and other Sacred Ministers to worthily and well perform these actions. It is needed additionally by the Faithful so that they may understand and profit from them, for while a Sacrament is given in the Mass, and therefore works ex opere operato, grace can only be received from it if the heart be open.
This leads us to the reason for the three figures of the Book of Genesis and their offerings which are next mentioned by the Priest. When we discussed the incensations at the Offertory (here), we suggested that the reason they were chosen by the Church, as opposed to any of the Old Law sacrifices which are all absent from the Roman Canon, was because of the disposition of the offerers.We shall now pick up this idea, especially as regards Abel and Abraham.
The first human we meet in the Scriptures who is acknowledged as just before God is Abel, and he is also the first we know of who makes any sort of offering to the Lord. We know little of this offering except what is recorded in the Scriptures and this is:
"In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard (Genesis 4:3-5)."
The general interpretation of this passage and the reason Cain's offering was rejected while Abel's was accepted lies in the specification that Abel offered the firstlings of his flock. To the Lord, in a spirit of humility and thankfulness, he gave back what he had received. Cain, on the other hand, simply made an offering to the Lord, without thought of the humility and proper spirit required for it to be acceptable.
We may here see the relation with Cain to the priests and Israelites in the time of the Prophets and in the time of Jesus Himself. They are constantly admonished because, although they follow the prescriptions of the Law in offering sacrifice, they do not make an offering of their hearts. They offer only out of obedience and fear, but God wants hearts of love. He wants to be praised because of His goodness, not feared because of His justice!
Jungmann makes a further interpretation of this sacrifice of Abel to the Sacrifice of Christ on our altars to which we join our gifts. "Innocent Abel, who made a sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock and himself succumbed to his brother's hate - our gift is 'the Lamb of God,' the first-born of all creation, who turned His death, suffered at the hands of His own people, into a sacrifice of redemption (228)." We cannot underestimate the importance of the typological reasons these three figures have in being part of the Canon as well, as we shall see especially with Melchizedek.
The blood of Abel cried out from the ground to God for vengeance and brought a curse upon Cain and his race (Genesis 4:10-11). The Blood of Christ, however, murdered even more unjustly by His brothers, cries out to God for mercy and brings salvation to the human race. Abel offered the best of his flock in humility, but Jesus offered His very self in total obedience to His Father. If we unite ourselves to the Sacrifice of Christ, in the spirit of Abel, the Father cannot refuse the gift of ourselves, for if Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God, how much more is that of Jesus!?
But let us next consider the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith. This great sacrifice, related to us in Genesis 22:1-19, and is considered the foremost type of the Passion in the Old Testament, so much so that it is read as one of the seven readings for the Easter Vigil.
Abraham gives us a glimpse into God the Father, Who, unlike Abraham, ends up with the consummation of the Sacrifice of His Son. However, let us look at the obedience of the Son, Jesus, as opposed to that of Isaac. Jesus willingly sacrifices Himself to redeem the world. Isaac, we may perhaps infer, was not willing to be sacrificed, as we have no record in the Scriptures of him again speaking to Abraham, and afterwards, in Genesis 24, we see Abraham speaking to Isaac through a servant.
Isaac likely knew as Abraham did of the promise that through him a nation would be raised up, thus, he could not die and return to the dust, yet he did not believe. Abraham, however, believed and it was counted to him as righteousness and his sacrifice was most pleasing to God. Yet, perhaps because of Isaac's disbelief, the nation that was raised up was often most displeasing to the Lord and their sacrifices were detestable.
Of course, we can only theorize on this, but the point we must derive from it is we must go to the altar with the disposition of Abraham. We must be willing to offer all we have, even our most beloved, to the Lord. There is nothing we should not put on the Altar of Sacrifice in union with Christ's Sacrifice, for like Abraham, we shall be blessed before all the earth (Genesis 22:15-19) and have everything returned to us a hundredfold (Matthew 19:29).
It is with this complete trust we must approach the altar, for in order to unite ourselves with the Sacrifice of Christ, we can hold nothing back. Jesus gave His entire self, and while it may not be required of us all to die a bloody death as he did, we must empty ourselves completely so that we may be filled with His grace and blessing with which He wants to fill us!
With the sacrifice of Abraham, it is extremely easy to see the foreshadowing of Calvary. Abraham sacrifices his son, Isaac, who carried the wood on his back, just as the Father sacrifices His Beloved Son, Who carries the Cross for His own Sacrifice. The difference being that Abraham did not have to consummate his sacrifice, since it would have been to no avail as Isaac could not take away sin; his death would have been to misery. But Jesus is not spared, for His death gives life and joy! As Abraham told Isaac, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:8)," so it was fulfilled. In order to confirm the faith of all peoples Jesus is given, for through Him, we can now inherit the promises God has promised to us.
Yet there is the third figure mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer, Melchizedek, and his appearance, while not being a mystery, cannot be for the same reasons as Abel and Abraham, for while we know their faith, Melchizedek is a priest veiled in mystery. He appears only briefly in Genesis 14, where it says, "And Melchiz'edek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him [Abram] and said, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!'" The only other mention we have of Melchizedek is in Psalm 110, where it is written, "The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek (Psalm 110:4).'" This has been interpreted as referring to our Lord Jesus Christ.
So what are we to make of this mention of Melchizedek? Throughout history the connection between the offering of bread and wine has been made, Melchizedek offering bread and wine to God, while in the Mass and at the Last Supper Christ offers bread and wine which become His Body and Blood. Others, such as Jungmann, make a connection between Abel and Melchizedek to symbolize the Mass, for Abel offers a lamb and Melchizedek bread and wine, all of which are offered in the Mass - first bread and wine and then the Lamb of God (229).
While all of these types and connections certainly give us insight into the Sacrifice of the Mass, let us propose an alternative explanation for Melchizedek. We shall suppose Melchizedek to be one of the foremost representations of Christ given to us in the Old Testament, and this on account of Jesus' threefold office of Priest, Prophet, and King. Thus, we may call Melchizedek a Priest, Prophet, and King, and consequently a type for all Christians, primarily as regards making offering to God.
When Melchizedek is introduced, it is as "king of Salem," thus we may establish he has a royal dignity. Yet he is also called, "a priest of God Most High," and consequently, we may say his royal dignity and his priestly dignity coincide, much in the same way Jesus' does, for Jesus is called a "Priest in the order of Melchizedek." Thus, He has a royal Priesthood. But Melchizedek may also be called a prophet, for he blesses Abraham, and we may say he thus speaks on God's behalf.
It is, then, through Melchizedek being priest, prophet, and king, that he foreshadows Christ, and that Christ may be a priest according to his order, as opposed to Aaronite priesthood, which only exercised the order of priest. Additionally, as Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine brought peace between Abraham and the nations that opposed him, this is another foreshadowing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for through the oblation of bread and wine which become the Body and Blood of Christ, peace is brought to God's Faithful and those who oppose the Church of Christ are vanquished!
The final words of this prayer once again refer to the Offering on our altars as, "a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim." It is well to state this fact again, especially after the three prefigurations of this perfect offering, for while the sacrifices of Abel, Abraham, and Melchizedek may have been done in holiness, they paled in comparison to the Sacrifice of Christ. And this is because they were offered by sinners and were offerings of this fallen nature of ours. The Sacrifice of Jesus, however, being that of God is a spiritual and incorruptible Sacrifice, made in perfect holiness and without ever being touched by sin, and It may thus ascend to the altar of God as no sacrifice of old could, and this thought leads us into the next prayer.
All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume
2. Part IV: Supra Quae and Supplices, 226-237.
Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics:
Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).
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