Explanation of the Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass, Dom Prosper Guéranger - Supplices te rogamus

During the following Prayer, the Priest no longer has his hands out-stretched, because he is bowing down, in lowly supplication; placing his joined hands on the Altar, he says: Supplices Te rogamus, Omnipotens Deus: jube haec perferri per manus sancti Angeli tui in sublime Altare tuum, in conspectu divinae Majestatis tuae.  Dread words are these, says Innocent III., in his treatise on the Mass!  The Priest designates his offering by the simple word haec, these Things; he knows that God sees them, and knows their priceless worth, so he contents himself with merely saying: jube haec perferri, command that these Things be carried.

And whither does he want them to be carried? in sublime altare tuum.  This altar of ours here on earth suffices us not; we aspire even so far, as that this our Offering may be placed on that Altar which St. John saw in heaven, and on which he pictures to us a Lamb, as it were, slain: et vidi Agnum stantem tamquam occisum.  This Lamb is standing, says St. John; nevertheless, he adds: tamquam occisum, as it were, slain.  Truly, Our Lord will ever bear the marks of His Five Wounds, but, now all resplendent as suns; and this Lamb is standing, because He is living, and dieth now no more; thus does St. John show Him unto us.  Such is the Altar, on which the Lord standeth, in His Immortal Life, bearing the marks of what He has suffered for us: Agnum tamquam occisum, there is He for ever, before the Throne of Divine Majesty.  So now, the Priest begs of God to send His Angel to take up the Victim from this our Altar on earth, and to place It on the Altar of Heaven.

To what Angel does the Priest here refer?  There is neither Cherub, nor Seraph, nor Angel, nor Archangel that can possibly execute what the Priest here asks God to command to be done.  It is an Act wholly beyond the power of any created being.  Now, observe the meaning of the word Angel; it signifies sent, and the Son of God was the One Sent, by the Father; He came down upon earth among men, He is the true Missus, Sent, as He says of Himself: Et qui misit me Pater (S. John, v. 37). Our Lord is not simply in the rank of those spirits whom we term Angels and Archangels, placed near to us by God.  No, He is the Angel by excellence, He is, as the Scripture expresses it, the Angel of the Great Counsel, Angelus magni consilii, of that great Counsel of God whereby willing to redeem the world, He gave His own Son.  So then, the Priest begs of God that the Angel may bear away haec (What is upon the Altar), and may place It upon the Altar of heaven; he makes this petition in order to show the identity of the Sacrifice of Heaven, with the Sacrifice of earth.

Here we have something similar in idea, to what is found in the Greek Liturgy.  After the Consecration, the Orientals beg of the Holy Spirit to come down and operate the Mystery, as we before noticed, in order to show that it is the Holy Ghost who works here, just as he operated in the Blessed Virgin.  The Act is accomplished, it is true, and the Greek Priest should refrain from such a Prayer, seeing that, without it, the Holy Ghost has already operated the Mystery.  But no; this is but their way of affirming what we have just seen expressed in the Latin Prayer we are now studying, namely, the identity of the Sacrifice of the Lamb, whether on the Altar of Heaven or that of earth.  In Heaven, the Lamb is standing, although, as it were, slain; here below, He is in like manner slain.  Now Who is it that can make these two Sacrifices, to be both one?  It is Jesus Christ, the Sent, the Angel of the Great Counsel.

The Priest then adds: ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione.  The Priest kisses the Altar, whilst pronouncing these words.  Holy Church has the profoundest veneration for this Altar which represents Jesus Christ, Who is himself the Living Altar; therefore, in its sanctification and consecration, does she lavish her most beauteous rites.  The Priest continues: Sacrosanctum Filii tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus (here he signs with the cross the Host and Chalice, as also himself), omni benedictione coelesti et gratia repleamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.  So we here beg to be filled with all graces and blessings, just as if we were already admitted in Heaven, to the participation of that Living Altar there, Jesus Christ, Who sheds around Him grace and benediction.  We crave these graces and blessings, in virtue of our participating at this Altar of earth, which Holy Church treats with such veneration.  It is in the name of this Altar that the Priest asks all sorts of blessings for all mankind.  Observe how the Priest never speaks for himself alone, so here he says repleamur, that we may be filled, he signs himself with the cross, whilst saying these last words, in order to show that this benediction comes to us by the Cross, and also to signify that we accept it with our whole heart.

Here ends the second part of the Canon, that which is consecrated to the Offering.  These three Prayers wrap the Act of Consecration, just as the preceding ones prepared for it.  Now, Holy Church would bring us back to Intercession.