[Question:]{.underline} If the Mass is the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary, why does the priest pray the Orate frates at the Offertory of Mass?
[Answer:]{.underline} The prayer of the Orate fratres is offered up that the sacrifice might become pleasing to Almighty God. This does not mean that the sacrifice of the Cross was in any way displeasing to God, for it was of infinite value and merit. Nor does it mean that the sacrifice of the Mass is a different sacrifice from that of the Cross, for, as the Council of Trent declared, “that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who on the altar of the Cross once offered Himself…it is one and the same Victim…as He who then offered Himself on the Cross” (Sess xxii,2 Db 940).
The sacrifice is consequently perfectly acceptable in itself, for there is nothing imperfect in the principal Priest, the Victim or the sacrifice itself. It is our offering of the sacrifice, the manner in which we are associated with the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice, that can mar it, and make it unacceptable to the Almighty. This acceptability may seem secondary, and yet it is absolutely essential for it to apply the fruits of the Passion to our souls. It depends upon our disposition of soul, and of how generously we offer ourselves in union with the divine Victim. It is our disposition that limits the varying abundance of the fruits of this sacrifice for our souls, for the value and merits of Christ’s sacrifice are unlimited. This disposition can be defective, both on the part of the human priest’s offering of the sacrifice in the person of Christ, and also on the part of the laity’s participation by offering of themselves from the pew. Hence the prayer: “Brothers, pray that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty.” How we must have an acute awareness of our unworthiness to offer up or participate in this sacrifice, and humbly beg that despite this it may obtain many graces and blessings, and that it might truly be “to the praise and glory of His name, to our own benefit, and to that of all his Holy Church”!
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.