E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

n8 THE CONCLUSION OF THE CANON.
By whom, O Lord, Thou dost always create,
sanctify, 4- vivify, ^ bless, *%* and grant us all these
good things. At the crosses the priest signs the
Sacred Host and Chalice together : and then with the
Host makes five crosses, three over the Chalice, and
two between it and himself, at the same time saying :
through Him, ^ and with Him, ^ and in Him, >J
to Thee, God the Father^Almighty, in the unity of
the Holy ^ Ghost all honour and glory (here the
priest holds the Sacred Host over the Chalice and
slightly elevates both together).
EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER WHICH ENDS THE CANON.
The prayer by which the Canon concludes is
divided into two parts, the first from by whom, O Lord,
to good things.
Let us explain the first part. The words all these
good things include the bread and wine existing on
the altar before the Consecration. They are still
through the species, before the eyes of the priest, the
veil, as it were, of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The elements of bread and wine are created ;
is
on the altar
from being merely natural gifts they are transformed
into heavenly gifts, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ,
and as such become our inheritance and food. The
words pyaestas nobis grant us refer to the consecrated
elements, to the bread and wine after their conversion
into the Body and Blood of our Lord.
The words of the prayer then may thus be explained
by whom, that is, by Jesus Christ (Coloss. i. 16),
refer to the
Thou dost always create. Create may
bread and wine before Consecration, or it may refer to