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The Time After Pentecost
“A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion; and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem” (Introit).
The psalm was a hymn of thanksgiving sung at the time of harvest in the Old Testament. The
Church sees in the death of one of her children an occasion for thanksgiving. She is harvesting
the fruits of the grace and the mercy of God, the fruits of her own labors and prayers. This soul
is the fruit of her teaching and her sacraments, and now she offers it to almighty God at this
Mass. Now with joy and gratitude in her heart she carries the fruit of her labor like a golden sheaf
of wheat to the altar, and places it upon the paten to be offered to God. At the Consecration
this offering will be joined to the sacrifice of the Lord and will be lifted up as an eternal hymn
of praise to God for His mercy, and as a hymn of thanksgiving for the many graces received.
Such is the attitude taken by the Church on the occasion of the death of one of her children.
Her Mass for the Dead does not breathe the spirit of mourning for the departed, but rather
one of praise and joy and thanksgiving to God, who has “perfected” one of her children and
has taken him up to his glory. For this reason the ancient liturgy of the dead added this psalm
to the Introit: “Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen and taken to Thee; he shall dwell in Thy
courts. We shall be filled with the good things of Thy house” (Ps 64:5). These blessings are the
result of the power of the Holy Sacrifice which this departed one celebrated so often during his
life and with which he is now being offered to God. Such is the mind of the sacred liturgy at the
hour of death. By the power of the Holy Sacrifice the departed come “unto the resurrection of
life” and eternal glory (Gospel).
“All that the Father giveth to Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will
not cast out” ( Jn 6:37; Gospel of the second Mass). At the Offertory the Church offers
to Christ, the King of Glory, the gifts of bread and wine together with the prayers of the
faithful and the soul of the departed one (Offertory). The decisive moment for this soul
is the moment of death, when it must appear before the Lord and King, who will decide
whether or not it should be admitted to heaven. Holy Mother the Church piously implores:
“O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of Glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the
pains of hell and from the deep pit. Deliver them from the lion’s mouth. . . . Grant them, O
Lord, to pass from death to life, which Thou didst promise to Abraham and to his seed”
(Offertory). The Church, praying and sacrificing, now awaits the coming of the Lord at the
Consecration. What a blessed coming this is! He comes to receive the soul recommended
to Him by the Church. He places in its hands the price of its redemption, His precious
blood, that it may make complete its satisfaction for the temporal punishment due to its
sins. The Church offers to the Father the prayers and satisfactions, the sufferings and death
of the Lord as a perfect propitiatory sacrifice for all that this soul may yet owe by way of
satisfaction. “Mercifully look down . . . upon the sacrifice which we offer Thee for the souls
of Thy servants” (Secreta of the first Mass). At Communion the Church prays: “May the
perpetual light shine upon them, O Lord, with thy saints forever.”
Holy Mother the Church esteems the Sacrifice of the Mass so highly because she is persuaded
of its value for the salvation of the living and for the relief of the souls in purgatory. She depends
on the merits of Christ and His saints, which are offered to God in this Holy Sacrifice. How
sadly lacking we are in this spirit of the Church! We tend to place the emphasis on our own
works of satisfaction rather than on those of Christ and the saints. For this reason we lack faith
in the power of the Holy Sacrifice which the Church possesses.
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