the Philippians, "If I be made a victim upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and congratulate with you all."[1] This it may be he also said of the martyrdom which was before him; but it was spoken out of the consciousness that he had long and daily offered himself to his Divine Master, as a partaker of His sufferings for the sake of the elect.[2] The same words might have been written by S. John, who always had a martyr's will, though he died in the way of nature; the same, too, is implied in every Mass, by every priest who offers himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. The participation of the priest in the priesthood of Christ requires also a share in the law of self-oblation, of which the prophet writes: Oblatus est quia ipse voluit; and S. Paul, who says of our Lord that He, "by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself unspotted unto God."[3] And, as S. John says, "in this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."[4] The offering of the Body and Blood of Christ requires of the priest a spirit of self-sacrifice and of self-oblation without reserve. The obligation of charity, which binds all
