Chapter
VIII: VALUE, EFFECT AND PURPOSE OF THE SACRIFICES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
1. Although the
sacrifices of the Old Law were mere figures of Calvary and of the Mass,
they were not altogether lacking in value, since they were inspired and
ordained by God - as we have previously seen - and God does not ordain
things that have no value or meaning.
2. As previously
defined, all true and proper sacrifice demands of necessity an interior
act of offering to God, in the circumstances and with the dispositions
that He requires. Thus every
true visible sacrifice supposes the concurrence of these two essential
elements, the inner as well as the outer; otherwise it will be mere show
without any value, and without the character of true sacrifice.
Consequently, when dealing with true external sacrifice especially
in official worship, we cannot speak of the victim without regard to the
interior act of the offerer, since the two necessarily go together; the
victim being the indispensable condition for man to express his inner
sentiments of oblation to God, given the necessary requirements in order
that this class of sacrifice bear fruit.
3. All the sacrifices
of the Old Law - except that offered by Melchisedech,- were finite in
value, for the offerers as well as the offerings were all in themselves no
more than finite. And neither
could those sacrifices then be united to the Sacrifice of the Cross,- the
one and only Infinite Sacrifice,- because the offering of the Souls of
Christ and Mary was not possible in them.
Not until Calvary through the Ministerial Priest in the person of
Saint John could this take place. Thus
when Saint John the Evangelist united all those finite sacrifices to the
infinite sacrifice of Christ and Mary on Calvary, only then did they
acquire infinite value.
4. With sincere and
perfect contrition for his sins, with ardent desire to be united to his
Creator, with lively faith and hope in the future Redeemer, man through
sacrifices obtained pardon for his personal sins along with many actual
graces. Moreo-ver, through
sacrifices he acknowledged the absolute sovereignty of God and his own
complete dependence upon Him, as well as his destitution and need to
humble himself, sinner that he was, worthy of the chastisements of Divine
Justice; finally he recognized too the need that his life be a continual
act of thanksgiving to God whom he should invoke as Author of every good
gift.
5. Divine worship by
means of official sacrifices had the important purpose of prefiguring the
Sacrifice of the Cross,- that is of representing in symbolic form to the
Chosen People the nature, characteristics and ends of the future bloody
sacrifice of the Messias they awaited and its perpetuation in the Mass:
the One Sacrifice that can make reparation to God, render Him due honour,
obtain the remission of all sins and restore to man divine sonship through
the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. These
official sacrifices were moreover a means of
leading the people away from idolatry and of uniting them in the
worship of the one true God.
6. It is important to
distinguish clearly between the sacrifices according to the Order of
Melchisedech in the Old Testament, and other sacrifices, particularly the
Levitical. Although they were
all of finite value, nevertheless those of the Order of Melchisedech were
far superior to the rest, on account of the real and true character of
priesthood in the offerers, as well as for the identity of their offerings
with those of the Mass. In
those spiritual sacrifices, the priest according to the Order of
Melchisedech enjoyed the privilege of having, holding and offering in his
Mystical priestly heart all the sacrifices of the Church of the Old
Testament.
7. Given the character
of priesthood impressed on their souls, the holy Patriarchs were able to
offer the finite sacri-fice of the Church of their time, and to do so
independently of their personal dispositions, good or bad.
All other priests - including the Levitical,- lacking as they did
true priestly character, could not offer the finite sacrifice of the
Church; though vested with their respective priestly and sacred authority
they performed merely outward functions.
8. Thus comes to light
the high mission of the priesthood according to the Order of
Melchisedech,- namely to unite the finite sacrifice of the ancient Church
to the Infinite Sacrifice of Calvary through the person of Saint John, who
consummated the union of the two sacrifices, that of the Church with that
of Christ and Mary, so that the former acquired infinite value through the
union. The value which the
sacrifices of the Old Testament had when they were offered they received
through the infinite merits of the Sacrifice of the Cross, applied in
antici-pation by the Souls of Christ and Mary.
These sacrifices formed part of that of the Cross, and had
therefore the same object, which was to make reparation to the Father and
to redeem mankind, howbeit in immensely inferior degree.
All the effects produced by these sacrifices in men were truly
redemptive, related as they were to the Sacrifice of Calvary.
9. We at present
receive Redemption thanks to the Repara-tion once accomplished.
In the Old Testament we see that the effects of their sacrifices
were anticipated fruits of future Redemption, and therefore they had -
redemptive value; thus we conclude that they had as well reparative value,
since Redemp-tion is the gratuitous consequence of the work of Reparation.
10. Although the
reparative value of the sacrifices of the Old Testament was of lowest
degree, it nevertheless produced the redemptive effects of these
sacrifices; because, without at least a minimum of prior reparation, God
could not have condescended to favour mankind with His grace.
11. The reparative
effectiveness as much as the redemptive effectiveness of these sacrifices
arose from the infinite merits of the Sacrifice of the Cross.
12. We cannot end this
chapter without mentioning how God through His prophets rebukes the
corruption of Levitical sacri-fices.
13. Let us hear for
example the words of Isaias: "Of
what use to Me is the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am
full, I desire not holocausts of rams and fat of fatlings and blood of
calves and lambs and buck-goats ..." (I, 11).
"Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to Me
..." (I, 13). "My
soul hateth your new moons and your solemnities: they are troublesome to
Me. I am weary of bearing
them. And when you stretch
forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply
prayer, I will not hear. For
your hands are full of blood" (I, 14-15).
14. Now let us hear
the reason for these reproaches, in the words also of Isaias: "Wash
yourselves: be clean. Take
away the evil of your devices from my eyes.
Cease to do perversely. Learn
to do well. Seek judgement.
Relieve the oppressed. Judge
for the fatherless. Defend
the widow" (I, 16-17).
15. In the light of
these sacred texts, we see clearly that they lacked the true interior
dispositions for offering sacrifice pleasing to God.
They imagined that they could fulfill their obligations with mere
externals and thereby attain the effects and graces of true sacrifice.
