[Footnote 483: Romans viii, 35.]
38. The last benediction of the altar signifieth that final benediction when it shall be said, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father,' etc. [Footnote 484] Afterwards the altar is wiped over with a white linen cloth, to notify that we ought to cleanse our heart by chastity of life. Then the vessels, vestments, and linen cloths, devoted to the divine worship are blessed. For Moses also during the forty days was instructed by the Lord to provide linen cloths and the ornaments necessary for the Temple.
[Footnote 484: S. Matthew xx, 34.]
39. Assuredly, thus to bless the utensils is to refer all our works unto the Lord. After this, the altar is covered with white and clean cloths: concerning which ceremony we have spoken under the head of the Altar. Lastly, the church is ornamented and the lamps are lighted: for then shall the works of the just shine forth, 'Then shall the just shine, as sparks run swiftly among the stubble.' [Footnote 485] And then upon the altar, consecrated after this order, the Mass is celebrated and the sacrifice offered unto the Most Highest: that sacrifice, namely, of which the Prophet speaketh, 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise': [Footnote 486] as shall be declared in the introduction to the fourth book. [Footnote 487] For consecration ought not to be performed without a Mass, according to Pope Gelasius, [Footnote 488] because then there is revealed a sacrament, which hath been hidden from the angels even from the beginning.
[Footnote 485: Wisdom iii, 7.]
[Footnote 486: Psalm li (Miserere mei Deus). 17.]
[Footnote 487: The blessed Bernard saith, My brethren, let us in sacrificing add the sacrifice of praise unto our words, let us add sense to sense, affection unto affection, exaltation unto exaltation, maturity unto maturity, and humility unto humility. Wherefore, he that is about to celebrate must offer unto the Highest that sacrifice of which the Psalmist speaketh, 'The sacrifices of God are a troubled spirit.' And again, 'Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving.' And the Apostle, 'Present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service, mortifying upon the altar of your heart your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry'; in order to sacrifice yourselves with a pure heart and chaste body unto God.—Proem, lib. iv, 17.]
[Footnote 488: Quoted also in the Decretal De Consecrat. Distinct. I.]
And observe, that in the aspersion of the church the bishop useth only the linen and inferior vestments: but at the Mass he is adorned with pontifical and precious vestments, because the high priest in the law used to expiate the sanctuary in a linen ephod, and afterwards used to offer the ram for the burnt offering being washed and arrayed in the high priest's vestments. But because he used to send forth the scapegoat after the expiation being clothed in the same linen ephod, on this account some, in the consecration of fonts and immersion of the catechumens where their sins are transferred, do use the simple linen vestments.