The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Fr. Michael Mueller

Author:Fr. Michael Mueller [Mueller, Fr. Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2015-06-24T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

Mass, A Sacrifice of Impetration (cont.)

HOLY SCRIPTURE tells us that a prayer accompanied with tears is most powerful with God. It is for this reason that the Fathers of the Church are profuse in bestowing praises upon humble tears of the soul. The Holy Scriptures and the lives of the saints abound in examples, to prove their power with God. "Oh, how great is the power which the tears of sinners exercise with God!" exclaims St. Peter Chrysologus. "They water Heaven, wash the earth clean, deliver from Hell, and prevail upon God to recall the sentence of damnation pronounced upon every mortal sin." "Yes," says Anselmus Laudunensis, commenting on the words of the Book of Tobias, "Continuing in prayer, with tears he besought God," "prayer appeases God, but, if tears are added, He feels overcome, and unable any longer to resist. The former is for Him an odoriferous balm, the latter a sweet tyranny."

Hence Julianus exclaims, with truth: "O humble tears, how great is your power, how great is your reign! You need not fear the Tribunal of the Eternal Judge; you silence all your accusers, and no one dares prevent you from approaching the Lord; should you alone enter, you will not come out empty. Moreover, you conquer the unconquerable, you bind the Omnipotent, you open Heaven, you chase away all the devils." "Indeed," says Peter Cellensis, "the infernal spirits find the flames of Hell more supportable than our tears." Cornelius à Lapide says: "One tear of the sinner, produced by the sorrow of his heart, is capable of making God forgive and forget many, even the most atrocious crimes." For this reason St. Leo the Pope says of the tears of St. Peter, "O happy tears of thine, O holy Apostle St. Peter, which were for thee a holy baptism to cancel thy sin of denying the Lord." St. Magdalen asks of Our Lord the forgiveness of her numerous and great sins; but in what manner? "She began to wash His sacred feet with her tears"; those tears moved His compassionate heart, and made Him say, "Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much."

Why was it that the holy patriarch Jacob, when wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, received his blessing? It was because he asked it with tears in his eyes: "He wept, and made supplication to him." In the Fourth Book of Kings, we read as follows: "In those days Ezechias was sick unto death, and Isaias. . .the Prophet came and said to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. And he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping." (4 Kgs. 20:1-3). What did he obtain by his tears? Holy Writ

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