holy or unholy hands, is equally valid. It is of faith that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend on *he merit of the minister, but on the virtue and power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With regard to the Eucharist as a Sacrament, these are the principal points which demanded explanation. Its nature as a sacrifice we now come to explain, that pastors may know what are the principal instructions to be communicated to the faithful regarding this mystery, on Sundays and holidays, in compliance with the decree of the Council of Trent. [1] Not only is this Sacrament a treasure of heavenly riches, which if we turn to good account will purchase for us the favour and friendship of heaven; but it also possesses the peculiar and extraordinary value, that in it we are enabled to make some suitable return to God for the inestimable benefits bestowed on us by his bounty. If duly and legitimately offered, this victim is most grateful and most acceptable to God. If the sacrifices of the old law, of which it is written: "Sacrifices and oblations thou wouldst not:" [2] and also, " If thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would, in deed, have given it: with burnt-offering thou wilt not be delighted," [3] were so acceptable in his sight that, as the Scripture testifies, from them " he smelt a sweet savour," [4] that is to say, they were grateful and acceptable to him; what have we not to hope from the efficacy of a sacrifice in which is immolated and offered no less a victim than he, of whom a voice from heaven twice proclaimed: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." [5] This mystery, therefore, the pastor will carefully explain to the people, that when assembled at its celebration, they may learn to make it the subject of attentive and devout meditation.
He will teach, in the first place, that the Eucharist was instituted by our Lord for two great purposes, to be the celestial food of the soul, preserving and supporting spiritual life, and to give to the Church a perpetual sacrifice, by which sin may be expiated, and our heavenly Father, whom our crimes have often grievously offended, may be turned from wrath to mercy, from the severity of just vengeance to the exercise of benignant clemency. Of this the paschal lamb, which was offered and eaten by the Israelites as a sacrament and sacrifice, was a lively figure. [6] Nor could our divine Lord, when about to offer himself to his eternal Father on the altar of the cross, have given a more illustrious proof of his unbounded love for us, than by bequeathing to us a visible sacrifice, by which the bloody sacrifice, which, a little after, was to be offered once on the cross, was to be renewed, and its memory celebrated daily throughout the universal Church even to the consummation of time, to the great advantage of her children.
The difference between the Eucharist as a sacrament and sacrifice is very great, and is two-fold: as a sacrament it is per-
