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Show I SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS I Atonement Sacrifices Always Offered to God No Nation or People of Ancient Times Without Their Sacrifices All Ancient Sacrifices the Same in Their i Origin and Intent All Ceased After the Sacrifice of Calvary Object of Christ's Mission Memorial Sacrifice Transmission of Sin. (Written foT The Intermountain Catholic.) "Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 31, 1909. Editor of Intermountain Catholic: In your last issuse F. D., writing on the Feast of All Saints, claims that 'an act of supreme worship is sacrifice, and could be offered only to God. No other church makes any pretense to have the sacrifice in their regular worship, which consists chiefly of prayer and the singing of hymns and psalms.' "Is not that service pleasing t6 God? What need to introduce sacrifice to sanctify humanity? Would it not be opposed to God's justice to demand de-mand the shedding of blood? What would be the I purport or necessity of such a demand? These questions are suggested by the article referred to. j "A READER." ; Before replying to our correspondent we will preface the answer by stating that the ineffable mystery of the virtual sanctification of the human race on the tree of the cross by the shedding of the f Redeemer's blood is to him, who believes, a constant object of gratitude as well as meritorial faith. Whereas to the unbeliever it becomes an object of scandal as well as an excuse for his infidelity. St. iPeter, in his first epistle refers to it: "Who his 'own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree." xi :24. The question of atonement on the cross, when studied xmder the light and safeguard of faith, yields consolation to the soul in which the sublime mystery of man's redumption is treasured. Before the coining of Christ the practice of offering of-fering sacrifice to the divinity prevailed everywhere. Each people, each family offered sacrifice. As far I back as we trace the history of man we find it his torically true, that among all people, civilized or 'barbarous, as well as among idolatrous nations of today that humanity was afflicted by a desire of expiation, and that that desire could be relieved by I the shedding of blood of victims. Look where one ; will in the history of the world and he will find l some man in the act of immolating some victim jj to appease the inclemency of heaven. In large cit- I jes or in the wild forests, by the cradle of society or at its declining stage, at all times, the effusion of blood in a spirit of sacrifice was reputed to possess pos-sess a virtue of reconciliation between heaven and earth. Human sacrifice was considered the most efficacious, but sympathy for humanity saved man's life. The victims selected were, as a rule, domestic animals, being nearest to man in the service of life. As an incontestable fact we find the belief with the savage in his barbarous idolatry, or with the refined pagan amidst all the splendor of his elaborate worship, wor-ship, in the necessity of shedding some blood to atone for the crimes or maladies of humanity. What is to be concluded from this historical fact? Is it not strange that this belief is to be found always and everywhere? There is no denying deny-ing the fact that such a notion can be traced back to the very root of the human tree, and constitutes the first landmark in the history of nations, however how-ever remote that history maybe; that no other, prac- tire has been so constant and universal, and, what adds more significance to this prodigy is, that under un-der this practice a law and great truth lay hidden in the fact that all ancient sacrifices were the same. The victim was different from the culprit. The victim was pure and innocent, at least so consid ered conventionally. The victim was considered a substitute for man; the victim had to procure expiation expi-ation by the shedding of its blood, and. finally, whilst a part of the victim was consumed by fire, another portion became the food of the sacrifieer and of the worshipper. What is the reason of this universal and uniform custom of offering sacrifice 1 o the divinity ? The prophet Daniel tells us : "And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain; and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail; and the desolation shall 'ontinue even to the consummation, and to the end " ix:2i-27. The fact that all sacrifices ceased as soon as the light of Christianity dawned upon the nations gives the reason of their existence, since the sacrifice of Christ put an end to all other sacrifices. Those nbolif-hed had as their object and their reason of bnng the great sacrifice of Calvary itself, and is reasonably explained in this wise: From the fall of Ad am a liberator was promised. His mission I would be the sanctification of all nations. He was 1o redeem mankind from the sin inherited, by immolating im-molating himself for sinners, and by opening to them a source, of expiation by his sufferings and death. In order to keep alive this promise, and nourish the hope of redemption, an institution commemorative com-memorative of it was established by the very au- 1lor f the promise, namely, God himself, who de clared that at all times he would accept the supplications sup-plications of the sinner through the merits of the sacrifice of the mediator, Christ, thereby anticipating antici-pating the effects of his sacrifice. This was the origin of the sacrifice. They were designed to be figures- of the sacrifice of the Messiah, and consequent-! consequent-! Jy would cease as soon as that sacrifice was accom plished, and give place to another memorial sac-I sac-I rifioe destined to recall, or, rather, continue and I Perpetuate the great central sacrifice of the cross. I -p i s mpmorial sacrifice is the sacrament of the I plfs.He Eucharist, the extension of the sacrifice of J 1st'. 3"ust as ne ancient sacrifices were the pre- I juration of the immolation of the divine victim. If we compare the characters of the sacrifice I of the cross with the conditions required in the j Continued on Page 5. I i 1 I I i SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS. . Continued from Page 1. ancient forms of sacrifice, we shall be confirmed in the conviction that the latter were instituted as a figure of the sacrifice of Calvary. The Redeemer of mankind was to be a victim; a victim holy and substituted for the culprit; a victim to the very effusion of his blood, and destined to be the food of the new life of humanity. Sin against God, in the person of Adam, required re-quired holiness on the part of his victim, so as to make adequate compensation. But man, finite and imperfect, could not of himself render adequate ex.-piation ex.-piation to the offended justice of God. To do so it was necessary for man to become God in order to offer a proportionate immolation to the divinity. But this transformation, impossible to man, was accomplished ac-complished by the mercy of God, when his only begotten be-gotten son made himself man that he might become be-come a victim in infinite merit and sanctity. Besides, Be-sides, as a victim, he had to be substituted for a criminal; as the entire human family was suffering suffer-ing for the sin of one man, it was in accordance with this first mystery, the mystery of original sin, that one man alone might suffer to expiate that one sin which had become the fault of humanity. That the stream of humanity should be poisoned by the sin of one man and should be atoned for by innocence inno-cence and holiness seems strange and unjust. But j does not the workings of Redemption neutralize j this double appearing injustice ? For God, who per- j mits the apparent injustice of hereditary sin, be-! comes himself the expiator of that sin, therein placing a prodigy of love in regard of a prodigy; of justice, showing himself equally God in both, especially in the reunion of both these mysteries. In the third place the victim of Calvary had to be slain and by his blood sanctify his people. All are children of Adam according to the flesh. The souls come from GxL" The flesh is transmitted in a condition of rebellion and disorder, as it was left bv the orisrinal f nil." This caused David to pvlaim: "My mother hath conceived mein sin." By the union of the soul and body we become children of Adam and participate in his guilt. We cannot account ac-count for this mystery any more than we can account ac-count for the fact that oftentimes at a distance of several generations man will be visited with what is termed a vice of hereditament, a vice or affliction afflic-tion transferred through the blood. Flesh is blood and it is by the ties of blood humanity becomes heir to the fault of Adam and Eve. This fault has passed into man's very nature. Why God then willed that blood would be the instrument in-strument of expiation, since sin is hereditary, is clear. Jesus, as the scion of the family of Adam, and the representative of the divine Trinity, expiates expi-ates sin by his blood of infinite purity, and cleanses the conscience from dead works. These two effects are as closely united in themselves as the double nature whence they proceed, and which could be found only in the divine person of Christ. Finally, we have the last character of the victim vic-tim in the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist, where the flesh of the victim "is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed" for the perpetuation of the new life to which man was born in Calvary. Profound Pro-found and appalling mystery in truth is this, but the belief and practice of which have produced the moral strength of humanity since first instituted, and which prove its divine origin by its marvelous effects of sanctification. In this way man is brought to the foot of the altar that supports the cross, and to the great victim of the beginning and end of his regeneration, him in whom alone he is to find the life that lives for ever. F. D. |