itudes from all
nations follow and adore the Lamb, while virgins sing the new song which
they alone can utter. So, too, before the throne of God on earth we
swing our censers, multitudes from all nations prostrate themselves in
adoration, the sweet incense of their praise and prayer ascends to the
throne of grace, their minds are enlightened by God's word, while their
hearts are raised to God by the grandeur of our ceremonies.

The Son of God, after having taught us by His word, shown us by His
example, and merited for us by His grace the virtues necessary for
salvation, wished to institute the holy sacrifice of the Mass, that He
might come Himself in the Holy Sacrament and imprint them upon us. Of
these virtues, the most important are _humility_, _purity_, _obedience_,
_patience_, and _charity_.

Let us always ask God when present at the holy Mass for a lively faith
in His _Real Presence_, an ardent love for Him in the Blessed Sacrament
of the altar, and the grace to imitate His humility, His purity, His
meekness, obedience, patience, and charity _here_, and enjoy His
presence forever _hereafter_.

The following beautiful words of Cardinal Newman show that the Mass is
something more than a mere form of words, and that ceremonies are
reasonable as well as necessary in its celebration:

"To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so
overcoming, as the Mass said as it is among us. I could attend Masses
forever and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words--it is a great
action, the greatest action that can be on earth. It is not the
invocation merely, but, if I dare use the word, the evocation of the
Eternal. He becomes present on the altar in flesh and blood, before Whom
angels bow and devils tremble. This is that awful event which is the
scope and the interpretation of every part of the solemnity. Words are
necessary, but as means, not as ends; they are not mere addresses to the
throne of grace, they are instruments of what is far higher, of
consecration, of sacrifice.

"They hurry on as if impatient to fulfil their mission. Quickly they go,
for they are awful words of sacrifice; they are a work too great to
delay upon, as when it was said in the beginning, 'What thou doest, do
quickly.' Quickly they pass, for the Lord Jesus goes with them, as He
passed along the lake in the days of His flesh, quickly calling first
one and then another; quickly they pass, because as the lightning which
shineth fr