Of the Ceremony of Mass.

Although the homage which man owes to his Creator so essentially consists in the interior dispositions of the soul that without these all outward worship is unprofitable and vain, yet the constitution of our nature is such as to require external signs and ceremonies which may operate through the medium of the bodily senses upon our souls, and elevate them to God. To this end are directed all the Ceremonies of the Church, and it is the Christian's duty to learn how to use them accordingly. Hence -

1. The custom of placing a vessel containing blessed or HOLY WATER at the entrance of the Church has been handed down to us from the Apostolic ages. Into this vessel the faithful dip the fingers of the right hand, and make upon themselves the sign of the Cross, repeating at the same time the invocation of the blessed Trinity. As water denotes purity and innocence, by using it on entering a place of worship we are admonished with what purity of heart and mind we should appear in the presence of our Maker.
   
   
2. The SIGN OF THE CROSS, which we make upon ourselves in taking holy water, as well as on many other occasions, is a sign or ceremony in which, with St. Paul (Gal. vi. 14), we should place our greatest happiness and glory, as being a striking memorial of the sufferings and death of our Redeemer - that mystery whence are derived all our hopes for mercy, grace, and salvation. By the words that accompany this ceremony we are no less forcibly reminded that God whom we serve, although One in nature, exists in Three Persons really distinct from each other.
   
   
3. The first object that arrests the Christian's notice on entering a Church is the ALTAR, with its TABERNACLE and CRUCIFIX. The Altar is the place of Sacrifice - another Calvary, as it were - whereon is celebrated, as Christ ordained, the memorial of His Passion and Death by the pure and unbloody Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. Upon the Altar we always see a Crucifix, or image of our Saviour upon the Cross; that as the Mass is said in remembrance of Christ's Passion and Death, both Priest and people may have before their eyes during this Sacrifice the image which puts them in mind of those Mysteries. The Tabernacle contains the Blessed Sacrament. It is to JESUS CHRIST, therefore, truly present within the Tabernacle, that we bend the knee in homage and adoration when we enter or depart from the Church.
   
   
4. As the Mass represents the Passion of Christ, and the Priest officiates in His person, so the VESTMENTS in which he officiates represent those in which Christ was ignominiously clothed at the time of His Passion. Thus, the Amice represents the cloth with which the Jews muffled our Saviour's Face when at every blow they bade Him prophesy who it was the struck Him. The Alb represents the white garment with which He was vested by Herod. The Girdle, Maniple, and Stole represent the cords and bands with which He was bound in the different stages of His Passion. The Chasuble, or outward Vestment, represents the purple garment with which he was clothed as a mock King; upon this is embroidered a Cross, to represent that which Christ bore upon His sacred shoulders. Lastly, the Priest's Tonsure, which is worn in all Catholic countries, is to represent the crown of thorns which our Saviour wore.
   
   Moreover, as in the old law the Priests who were wont to officiate in the sacred functions had, by the appointment of God, Vestments assigned for that purpose - as well for the greater decency and solemnity of the Divine worship as to signify the virtues which God required of His ministers - so it was proper that in the Church of the New Testament Christ's ministers should in their sacred functions be distinguished in like manner from the laity by their sacred Vestments; which might also represent the virtues which God requires in them. Thus, the Amice represents divine Hope, which St. Paul calls the helmet of salvation; the Alb, Innocence of life; the Girdle, Purity and Chastity; the Maniple, Patience in enduring the labors of this mortal life; the Stole, the sweet yoke of Christ, to be borne in this life in order to attain a happy immortality; the Chasuble, which covers all the rest, the virtue of Charity, which , as St. Peter tells us, covereth a multitude of sins.
   
   In these Vestments the Church uses five colors, viz., White, on the Feasts of Our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Angels, and of the Saints who were not martyrs, and on the Sundays in Eastertide; Red, on the Feasts of Pentecost, of the Finding and Exaltation of the Cross, and of the Apostles and Martyrs; Violet, in the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, and upon Vigils and Ember-days; Green, on most other Sundays and ordinary days throughout the year; and Black, on Good Friday, and in Masses for the Dead.
   
   
5. There are always LIGHTED CANDLES upon the Altar during Mass, as well to honor the victory and triumph of our great King by these lights, which are tokens of our joy and of His Glory, as to denote the light of Faith, without which it is impossible to please Him.
   
   
6. A small BELL is occasionally rung. This is done to give notice of certain more solemn parts of the Sacrifice; to recall the wandering mind from distraction; and to excite all to greater fervor and devotion.
   
   
7. INCENSE is used at Solemn Mass. It is symbolical of Prayer, according to the saying of the Psalmist: Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight (Ps. cxl.3).