E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

THE SECRET. 79
and are destined for the same reward. The answer of
the server is as follows :
May our Lord receive the Sacrifice from thy
hands, to the praise and glory of His name, to
our benefit, and to that of all His holy Church.
The priest answers in a low voice Amen, and with
outstretched hands recites the Secret prayers.
THE SECRET.
The Secret is so-called because the prayers are
said in a low voice inaudible to the people.
The number of the Secrets is the same as that of
the Collects.
The difference between the Collect and Secret is
that the Collect is a special prayer to God or relates
to the feast of the day without reference to the Sacrifice
at all. The Secrets are in keeping with the name
originally given to them, prayers over the offerings
(orationes super oblata). In the Offertory we ask God to
accept, bless, sanctify, and consecrate the gifts offered,
in the Secret we implore of Him the graces we require,
as in a certain sense the fruit or effect of the offerings
made. Thus, in the Secret for Pentecost, we read :
Sanctify, we beg of Thee, O Lord, the gifts we
have offered, and cleanse our hearts by the
light of the
Corpus
Holy Spirit, and the Secret for
Christi says : We beseech Thee, O Lord,
mercifully to grant to Thy Church the gifts of
unity and peace which are mystically figured
under the gifts we offer, through Thy Son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth, world
without end.