The Incredible Catholic Mass Quotes

“The priest instantly replied without any sign of fear: “I will answer in the words of the holy Apostles, who said, when it was inquired of them before the Jewish Council whether they had violated the law by preaching in the name of Christ, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ (Acts 5:29). For this reason, therefore, in spite of your unjust prohibition, I said Mass to the honor of God and of His blessed Mother.” The judges, greatly infuriated by this bold reply, condemned the pious priest to have his tongue torn out in the presence of all the people. The priest suffered this cruel sentence with the utmost patience; he went straight to the church, his mouth yet bleeding, and kneeling humbly before the altar at which he had said Mass, poured out his complaint to the Mother of God. Being unable any longer to speak with his tongue, he raised his heart to her with all the more fervor, entreating her that his tongue might be restored to him. So urgent was his supplication that the Blessed Mother of God appeared to him and with her own hand replaced his tongue in his mouth, saying that it was given back to him for the sake of the honor he had paid to God the Lord and to her by saying Mass, and exhorting him diligently to make use of it in that manner for the future. After returning heartfelt thanks to his benefactress, the priest returned to the assembled people and showed them that his tongue had been given back to him, thus putting to confusion the obstinate heretics and all who had displayed hostility to the Holy Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“Now the priest does not content himself with saying: "This is the chalice of My Blood"; he continues: "which shall be shed for you and for many for the remission of sins." As the first part of the sentence is certainly fulfilled, with no less certainty will the later part be fulfilled. Consequently, the Sacred Body of Christ is verily and indeed shed in the Mass "for you and for many"; that is, for you who are present and for the many who are absent, for those who hear Mass and for those who would gladly do so if they could and therefore desire a memento in it. These are the "many" for whom Christ's Blood is shed in Holy Mass for the remission of sins.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“If the Blessed Virgin Mary were to come down from Heaven to appear to you and speak to you these consoling words, "Fear not, my child, I promise thee to take upon myself the important work of thy salvation, to entreat my Son on thy behalf, to persist in my entreaties until He promises to make thee a partaker of eternal felicity," would not your heart overflow with happiness? Would you not exult and rejoice at this favor on the part of the Blessed Mother of God and no longer entertain a doubt of your salvation, since she had assured you of her all-powerful intercession?”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“This instance has been given in order that we may know and believe that in Holy Mass Christ is not present to the imagination alone or in a purely spiritual manner, but really and truly, and in bodily form - the self-same Infant Christ to whom the Mother of God gave birth at Bethlehem, and whom the Three Kings came to adore. Here, as there, His countenance is concealed by "swaddling clothes", that is, by the external shape of the Consecrated Host which we see with our eyes. But the Tender Child who lies hidden beneath those outward forms can only be perceived by the interior sight of faith, the faith that believes undoubtedly that Our Lord is in truth concealed beneath this lowly form. the reasons why He thus conceals Himself from our view are many - the principle one is this, to give opportunity for the exercise of faith in so momentous a matter and to enable us to acquire merit every time we hear Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“And if it be asked why the priest says Mass in Latin, an unknown tongue, instead of in the vernacular, we reply: The Holy Mass is not a sermon, it is not intended for the instruction of the people; it is the offering for them of the sacrifice of the New Testament. There are good reasons why this should be done in a language which never can change. Some languages are called dead, others living; the former are no longer in common use and are consequently unchanged; the latter are the modes of speech of the various peoples and are subject to constant variation. If the Mass were said in one of the living languages, there would be great risk that, as the meaning of words changed, the original significance of the formulas would change also, and against this danger the Church must guard. As the integral part of religion cannot be altered, so the language of religion must ever remain the same. The unity of doctrine in the Catholic Church throughout the world is beautifully illustrated by the identity of the languages she employs. In whatever part of the globe the Catholic finds himself, there the great mystery of the faith he professes is celebrated in the same manner, in the same language. And lest the ordinary Christian should reman in ignorance of the meaning of the Latin prayers of the Mass, holy Church in her maternal care for her children, provides that in the prayer-books (i.e. the hand-held missals used by the laity to follow the Mass) they should be translated into the vulgar tongue of each country.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“This story teaches us the potency of Holy Mass and the guilt of despising it. It ought to inspire us with the firmest confidence so that we may follow the injunction of St. Paul: "Let us go, therefore, with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid." (Heb. 4:16) What is the throne of grace which the Apostle exhorts us to approach? It is the sacred altar whereon the Lamb of God is immolated, whereon He gives His Life for us that we may find grace and mercy. We ought to go daily to this throne of grace to implore help in our necessity. We ought to go with devotion, reverence and confidence, for it is a throne of grace, not of vengeance; a throne of mercy, not of justice; a throne where we shall find aid and shall meet with no rebuff.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“In the preface to an old missal bearing the date 1634, we find an exhortation addressed to priests, bidding them entertain a very high opinion of the excellence of the Holy Sacrifice and never doubt that, every time they celebrate it, they render God more acceptable service than by the exercise of the loftiest virtue or by suffering all conceivable tortures for His sake. Do you ask how this can be? It is because Christ exercises every virtue in the Mass and at the same time offers to God His Passion and Death. All the praise, the love, the veneration, the worship, the thanksgiving which Christ presents to the ever-blessed Trinity in every Mass far transcends all the praise of the Angels, the adoration of the Saints, so far, indeed, that were all the penances, the prayers, the good works of Apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all Saints offered to the Holy Trinity, they would be less pleasing to the Divine Majesty than one single Mass.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“What is it to go to Christ but to believe in Him, to hope in Him, to love Him? He who does this, or desires to do this, communicates spiritually and will not thirst for all eternity. Christ can bestow His grace upon the soul without the medium of the Sacraments, and some persons receive more grace in spiritual than do others in Sacramental Communion, if the former are actuated by a stronger desire for union with Him than the latter. For the more ardent our desires, the more ample is the grace imparted to us in Spiritual Communion.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“In the law of Moses, God forbade the judges to take a gift: “Thou shalt not accept person nor gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise and change the words of the just.” (Deut. 16:19).”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass (with Supplemental Reading: Novena of Holy Communions) [Illustrated]

“No less reassuring is what Cardinal Hosius says: “Although in Holy Mass we do not crucify Christ afresh, yet we make ourselves partakers in His death as much as if this were the case. In the Sacrifice of the Cross His death was with shedding of blood; in the Sacrifice of the Mass His death is bloodless and mystical, yet it produces the same fruit as the Sacrifice of Blood, just as if the latter were now being carried on.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“St. Gregory enunciates this truth still more plainly: “Although Christ dies not again, yet He suffers again for us in the Sacrifice of the Mass after a mysterious, mystical manner.” Theodoret speaks no less plainly: “We offer no other sacrifice but that which was offered upon the Cross.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“Only one thing yet remains, that we should unite our prayer to His—or rather, should implore Him to make it one with His. For this union will render it so powerful that no other prayers can compare with it.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“we hear Christ proclaiming to us by the mouth of the priest His holy Gospel, to the profit and salvation of our souls. As the Mass proceeds, we behold Him exercising His miraculous power, transforming wine into His sacred Blood, a miracle far greater than that of Cana, where He changed water into wine. Or we see Him, as at the Last Supper, changing the elements of bread and wine into His very Flesh and Blood. Finally, at the Elevation we see Christ lifted up upon the Cross; with the ears of our spiritual sense we hear Him interceding for us: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). “They know not,” that is, how deeply they have outraged Thy Divine Majesty by their transgressions. We do not, it is true, behold all these things with our bodily eyes; we discern them by the light of supernatural faith, and by this our faith we merit a greater recompense than did those who witnessed them with the organs of the body. This we know on the authority of Our Lord Himself, who said: “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.” (John 20:29). The higher and more incomprehensible are these mysteries, the more meritorious is our faith, and the greater will be our reward in Heaven. In regard to this, Father Sanchez writes: “If Christians did but know how to profit by these things, they might, by hearing one single Mass, acquire a greater store of riches than could be found in all created things.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“For the evil one robbed them of the Holy Mass to their unspeakable injury; but us Catholics, since he could not succeed in depriving us of it, he blinded in great measure so that we might not fully appreciate the magnitude of this Holy Sacrifice and its immense potency. Doubtless it was due to Satan’s devices that, for a considerable period, this Divine Mystery was so seldom made the subject of sermons that so little was said or written respecting it—and thus Catholics became careless about hearing Mass, or heard it indevoutly.”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate and lead to what is perfect as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the Cross unto God the Father by means of His death, there to operate an eternal redemption, nevertheless, because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the Last Supper on the night in which He was betrayed—that He might leave to His own beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that Bloody Sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the Cross, might be represented and the memory thereof remain even unto the End of the World and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit—declaring Himself constituted a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech, He offered up to God the Father His own Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine; and under the symbols of those same things He delivered His own Body and Blood to be received by His Apostles, whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament, and by those words, ‘Do this for a commemoration of Me’ (Luke 22:19), He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood to offer them, even as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught.” (Session xxii, Ch. 1).”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who might consummate and lead to what is perfect as many as were to be sanctified. He, therefore, our God and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once on the altar of the Cross unto God the Father by means of His death, there to operate an eternal redemption, nevertheless, because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the Last Supper on the night in which He was betrayed—that He might leave to His own beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that Bloody Sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the Cross, might be represented and the memory thereof remain even unto the End of the World and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit”
― Martin Von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass: An Explanation of the Catholic Mass