COMMENT: Translation of Bl. Columba Marmion OSB

COMMENT:

This inscribed  quotation is to the heart of Bl. Columba's Eucharistic conference.

The above  reference is from 'A Word in Season, Augustine Press 2001.

The translation of these lines read captivatingly. Enlightening are the words in this version, "So true is this that in a prayer between the offertory and consecration the Church refers explicitly to the union between our sacrifice and that of the bridegroom", at the Eucharistic Sacrifice. 

On the other side, the older translation from the Sisters of Tyburn, has  very meticulous following of the words , to the Latin quotations and footnote references. 

It is immensely interesting to look at 1925 'Christ of the Life of the Soul', the pages 258-259 to the Reading above.

Second Reading

From the writings of Blessed Columba Marmion, O.S.B. (Le Christ Vie de l’Ame, 366-368). Trs. 1925  

Marmion-abbot_circa_1918

  

We must give everything to God

We are called to be united with Christ in his sacrifice, and with him to offer ourselves. If we are willing, he takes us with him, immolates us with himself, and lifts us into the Father's presence as an oblation of fragrant sweetness. It is our very selves thatwe must offer with Jesus. If the faithful share through bap­tism in Christ's priesthood, Saint Peter tells us, it is in order that they may offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So true is this that in a prayer between the offertory and consecration the Church refers explicitly to the union between our sacrifice and that of the bridegroom: Lord our God, make these gifts holy, and through them make us a perfect offering to you. 

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by this prayer-our union with Christ in this sacrifice. The wine repre­sents Christ, the water represents the people, as was said by St. John in the Apocalypse and was confirmed by the Council of Trent: Aquae populi sunt.60

We must be united to Christ in His immolation and offer ourselves with Him; then He takes us with Him, He immolates us with Him, He bears us before His Father, in odorem suavitatis. It is ourselves we must offer with Jesus Christ. If the faithful share, through baptism, in the priesthood of Christ, it is, says St. Peter, that they may" offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ": Sacerdotium sanctum, ofJerre sptrituales hostias acceptabiles Deo per Jesum Christum. 61 This is so true that in more than one prayer following the offering about to be made to God, the Church while awaiting the moment of the consecration, lays stress on this union of our sacrifice with that of her Bridegroom. "Vouchsafe, O Lord ", she says" to sanctify these gifts, and receiving the oblation of this spiritual victim, make us an eternal sacrifice to Thyself": Propitius, Domine, quae­sum us, haec dona sanctifica, et hostiae spiritualis oblations suscepta, NOSMETIPSOS tibi perfice munus aeternum. 62 

But in order that we may be thus accepted by God, the offering of ourselves must be united to the offering Christ made of Himself upon the cross and renews upon the altar. Our Lord substituted Himself for us in His immolation; He took the place of us all, and that is why when He died we, in principle, died with Him: Si tenus pro omnibus mortuus est, ergo omnes mortui SUn!.63 For this mystical death to take place effectually in each one of us, we must unite ourselves to His sacrifice on the altar. And how are we to unite ourselves to Christ Jesus in this character of victim? By yielding ourselves, like Him, to the entire accomplishment of the Divine good pleasure.

It is for God to dispose fully of the victim offered to Him; we must be in this essential attitude of giving all to God, of making our acts of self-renunciation and mortification, of accepting the sufferings and trials of each day for love of Him, so that we may be able to say, like Jesus Christ at the moment of His Passion: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem, sic facio. That is to offer ourselves with Jesus. Let us offer the Divine Son to His Eternal Father and offer ourselves with this cl holy Host" in the same dispositions that animated the Sacred Heart of Christ upon the cross: intense love of His Father and of our brethren, ardent desire for the salvation of souls, and full abandonment

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60 Apoc. xvii, I'). Hac mixtione , ipsius populi fidelis cum capite Christo unio rep-

raesentatur, Sess. xxii, c. 7.  01 I Pctr , ii , 5.

82 Mass for Whit Monday. This prayer (Secret) is to be found likewise in the Mass for

Trinity Sunday.  H, IJ Cor. v, 14.

to all that is willed from on high, above all, if it contains what is pain­ful and vexatious for our nature. When we do this, we offer God the most acceptable homage He can receive from us.

We herein have also the most certain means of being transformed into Jesus, especially if we unite ourselves to Him in Communion, which is the most fruitful partaking of the Sacrifice of the Altar; for, if we are united to Christ He immolates us with Him, renders us pleasing to His Father and makes us, by His grace, more and more  like to Himself.

This truth is signified by that mysterious prayer the priest recites after the consecration: "We humbly beseech Thee, almighty God, command these things to be carried by the hands of Thy holy Angel to Thy altar on high, in the sight of Thy Divine Majesty, that as many of us as, by participation at this altar, shall receive the most sacred Body and Blood of Thy Son may be filled with all heavenly benediction and grace."

It is then a most excellent manner of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice to follow with the eyes, the mind, and the heart, what is passing at the altar, and to associate ourselves with the prayers the Church places at this sacred moment on the lips of her ministers. When, the deep reverence, lively faith, ardent love, and true contrition for our sins, 6~ we thus unite ourselves to Christ, Priest and Victim, in His sacrifice, Christ, Who dwells in us, takes all our intentions into His Heart and offers perfect adoration and full satisfaction for us to His Father, He renders Him worthy thanksgiving, and His prayer is all-powerful. All these acts of the eternal High Priest, by which He renews upon the altar His immolation of Calvary, becomes ours.

At the same time that we give to God, through Christ, all honour and all glory: Omnis honor et gloria, abundant graces of light and life are poured down upon us and on all the Church: Fructus uberrima percipiuntur.⁶⁵ Each Mass truly contains all the fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross. But, if we wish to avail ourselves of them, we must enter into the dispositions and sentiments of the Heart of Jesus when He went to offer Himself on Calvary: Hoc enim sentite ... quod et in Christo [esu.": Then the Eternal High Priest takes us with Him into the Holy of holies unto the throne of the Divine Majesty, to the very source of all grace, of all life and all beatitude.

If you knew the Gift of God! . . .

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 64 Docet sancta synodus :  . per istad sacrificium fieri ut si cum uero corde et recta

fide, cum metu et re ucrentia, contriu ac poenisentes, ad Deum accedamus , misericordiam ('onsequamllr et ([retia", ;11['Pl1;am", i n mtxil:o opoormno . Concil. Trid. Scss. xxii, cap. 2.

 •• Concil. TriJ. Sess. xxii, cap. 2.           66 Philipp. ii, 5.