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[3] "A holocaust": That is, a whole burnt offering (olokauston), so called, because the whole victim was consumed with fire; and given in such manner to God as wholly to evaporate, as it were, for his honour and glory; without having any part of it reserved for the use of man. The other sacrifices in the Old Testament were either offerings for sin, or peace offerings: and these latter again were either offered in thanksgiving for blessings received; or by way of prayer for new favours or graces. So that sacrifices were then offered to God for four different ends or intentions, answerable to the different obligations which man has to God: 1. By way of adoration, homage, praise, and glory due to his divine majesty. 2. By way of thanksgiving for all benefits received from him. 3. By way of confessing and craving pardon for sins. 4. By way of prayer and petition for grace and relief in all necessities. In the New Law we have but one sacrifice, viz., that of the body and blood of Christ: but this one sacrifice of the New Testament perfectly answers all these four ends; and both priest and people, as often as it is celebrated, ought to join in offering it up for these four ends.
The Holy Holocaust offered to God is a Sacrifice of homage to His sovereign greatness
The Holy Sacrifice of Propitiation is offered to appease His Justice arising against us owing to our sins
The Holy Sacrifice of Impetration offered to implore His bounty
The Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice offered to thank Him for His bounty.
The four sacrifices in the Holocaust of the Mass
1. The holocaust sacrifice offered to God was an offering to His sovereign greatness.
2. The sacrifice of propitiation offered to appease His Justice.
3. The Sacrifice of impetration offered to implore His bounty.
4. The Eucharistic sacrifice offered to thank Him for his bounty.
The Mass is a Holy Holocaust which the One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church offers to God as an offering to His greatness and power; a sacrifice of propitiation to appease His Justice; a sacrifice of impetration to solicit His bounty; and a Eucharistic sacrifice offered to Him in thanksgiving for all of His favors.
The Holy Holocaust demands a spirit of humility, the sacrifice of expiation, a spirit of penance, compunction, and penitence; the sacrifice of impetration, a spirit of fervor and submission; the Eucharistic sacrifice, a spirit of love and gratitude.
As for the Holy Holocaust/Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I admit that sounds jarring in today's world because of the Jews and the putative Holocaust but I think it incredibly important that it be known by all Catholics because the type of the Old Testament Holocausts was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
The OT type of Holocaust:
Then followed on the north side of the altar the imposition of hands (or, more accurately, the resting of hands on the head of the victim), by which significant gesture the sacrificer transferred to the victim his personal intention of adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and especially of atonement"
Us older Catholics were learnt that there are four PARTs of the Mass: Petition, Adoration, Reparation, Thanksgiving and it is via the Mass and His Sacraments - especially the Eucharist is the way Jesus actualises His Salvific plan for His people - Salvation and Sanctification.
The Pluperfect Self-Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, where His burning love substituted for the OT fires, subsumed and perfected all of the types of the Old Testament Sacrifices and Jesus left His followers a clean and Holy oblation/sacrifice as promised by Malachias:
Malachias 1:
11] For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts
[11] "A clean oblation": Viz., the precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice.
Protestants falsified the word of God owing to their rejection of The Catholic Church established by Jesus Christ.
The Sacrifice of the Mass" by Rev. Herbert Lucas, S.J. (Free to read online).
Now in a sentence which has been embodied in one of the prayers in the Roman Missal (the Secreta of the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost), St. Leo tells us that in His one sacrifice Our Lord has united and consummated the ancient rites with all their diversities. And indeed it is easy to see that His offering of Himself was a holocaust by reason of its completeness ; a propitiatory offering for sin by reason of its atoning efficacy and purpose, and finally a peace-offering whereby the atonement was not only made but sealed by a sacrificial meal.
The Fathers of Vatican Two stated publicly:
We wish to convey to all men and to all nations the message of salvation, love and peace which Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, brought to the world and entrusted to the Church.
In fact, it is for this reason that we, the successors of the apostles, all united in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, forming one single apostolic body whose head is the successor of Peter, are gathered here at the invitation of His Holiness Pope John XXIII.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we intend in this meeting to seek the most effective ways of renewing ourselves and of becoming increasingly more faithful witnesses of the Gospel of Christ.
We will strive to propose to the men of our times the truth of God in its entirety and purity so that they may understand it and accept it freely.
Conscious of our duties as pastors, we wish deeply to meet the demands of those who seek God “and perhaps grope after him and find him though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17: 27).
Faithful, therefore, to the mandate of Christ, who offered Himself as a holocaust in order that he might present to himself the Church in all her glory..
He who is properly disposed for the reception of Graces is He who profits more than those who are not. Prior to Mass, keep the four ends of the Mass in mind as you prepare to assist at the Holy Holocaust.
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