E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

CHAPTER the TENTH.
THE GOSPEL AND THE CREED.
THE second lesson from the Bible read at Mass is
called the Gospel (the good tidings of God). After the
Blessed Eucharist there is nothing the Church venerates
more than the word of God in the Gospel. At High
Mass the Gospel has lights and incense in token of the
Church s veneration ; while only the priest or deacon
is allowed to read or sing it at Mass.
Before the Gospel the priest bowing profoundly
before the altar, says two prayers the first is called the
Munda cor meum and is as follows : Almighty God who
didst with a burning coal purify the lips of the
Prophet Isaiah, cleanse also my heart and my lips,
and of Thy merciful kindness vouchsafe to purify
me that I may worthily announce Thy holy Gospel,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This prayer alone shows the great importance set by
the Church on the reading and explanation of the
Gospel. The allusion is to the vision told in the sixth
chapter of Isaiah. In a vision the Prophet saw the
God of armies and his own unworthiness to preach
" God s message, and one of the Seraphim flew to me
and in his hands was a live coal, which he had taken
with the tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth
and said, Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy