Chapter IV. - SACRIFICE OF MELCHISEDECH AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF HIS ORDER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE INTERVENTION OF THE DIVINE SOULS OF CHRIST AND MARY IN THE TRIPLE BENEDIC-TION.

            1.  The most sublime figure of the Mass is the Sacrifice of Mel-chisedec-h.  Melchisedech, King of Salem, that mysterious Personage who, "having neither beginning of days nor end of life, without father, with-out genealogy" appears in the Old Testament as "Priest of the Most High God".  Melchisedech, as we know by dogmatic definition, is the Most Divine Soul of Christ united to the Word of God, who, long before the Incarna-tion, took the appearance of a body and offered to the Father in thanks-giving for the victory of Abraham a sacrifice of bread and wine.  That sacrifice was the most vivid and exact figure of the future sacrifice of the Mass, as well as a real manifestation of the priestly ministry of Christ.  Although there was in that sacrifice of bread and wine no bloody immolation of Christ,- such as there was to be on the Cross,- nor was there a mystical immolation, as there is in the Mass,- there was the spi-ritual offering of the Souls of Christ and Mary, though in a manner distinct from that of the offertory of the Mass,- because the bread and wine offered by Melchisedech were mere symbols of His personal, continual of-fertory.  At the same time the continual oblation of the two Divine Souls found liturgical expression in the sacrifice of Melchisedech, -sacrifice of infinite value by reason of the Offerer and not by reason of the thing offered.  And that made it the most sublime sacrifice of the Old Testament, clearly distinct from all the rest and towering above them.

            2.  While treating the Sacrifice of Melchisedech, we turn our attention to an event of utmost importance in the history of Priesthood and sacrifice, an event contained implicitly in the Sacred Texts, and explicitly in the revelations of the Holy Doctor, Catherine Emmerick, who describes it with delicately beautiful detail.  The Eternal High Priest, Melchisedech, during the sacrifice, conferred the Priesthood on Abraham with the imposition of hands and with the words: "Thou art Priest forever according to the Order of Melchi-sedech",- true matter and form of this singular grace of priesthood in its fullness.  This Priesthood, the Patriarch Abraham later conferred on his first born, Isaac, who in his turn conferred it on Jacob in the same manner and within the solemn cere-mony of the Blessing of the First born, a rite distinct from and posterior to that of the Triple Benedic-tion.  Thus were the Patriarchs constituted real and true Priests like those of the New Law though of very inferior grade.  This very special and singular grace was lost by the Chosen Peo-ple because of their prevarication, which made way for the later insti-tution of the Levitical Priesthood.  This latter was very inferior to the former, since it was a merely figurative priesthood without inner character, whereas the desire of the Most High had been to have only the one real and true priesthood, that of the Order of  Melchisedech.  We affirm that the sacrifice offered by the three Patriarchs was, in virtue of this Priesthood, the same as that of Melchisedech: a spiritual sacri-fice of bread and wine, but of finite value.

            3.  The essential difference between the Levitical Priesthood and that of the Order of Melchisedech is found in the inward character of the latter, a character which is eternal.  This character is the par-ticipation of the Priest's soul in the Divine Souls of Christ and Mary, whereby, in virtue of a mystical espous-al with the Most Divine Soul of Christ through espousal with the Divine Soul of Mary, he is converted into an authentic mediator between God and man.  The Levitical Priesthood was, on the other hand, a mere figure of Priesthood, with out-ward signs and ceremonies, but without the inner character of real and true Priesthood.  For this reason it was extinguished at the death of the Priest.

            4.  In the light of the authentic Priesthood of the three great Patri-archs who, previously during their lifetime, in virtue of the Tri-ple Benedic-tion deposited within them, had received in their souls Sanc-tifying Grace along with a character similar to that of Baptism,- in this light we understand now the insistence with which the Sacred Texts so frequently and emphatically speak to us of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob,- and this precisely to single out their Priesthood,- and to mark their superiority over the Levitical Priests through the real character of Priesthood lacking in the latter, -and as well to mark their superiority through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost,- and, in fine, to mark their spiritual paternity over the true faithful of the Church.  This spiritual paternity of theirs embraces firstly those who, not merely outwardly circumcised, also followed the steps of the faith of Abraham - as Saint Paul tells us - those who, like Abraham, believed in Christ to come, and who, through faith, obtained justification, howbeit in imperfect degree.  They, in virtue of the anticipated merits of Calvary, obtained that justification which is the true circumcision of heart, a bond of relationship or quasi-incorporation in the Mystical Soul of the Church, the one only Ark of Salvation.  This jus-tification was an imperfect grace, not yet the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, not yet the perfect state of justice as in the singular case of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Yet it was a permanent state, that could be lost by sin and recovered by perfect contri-tion.  In this state one could attain holiness, while retaining the right to Sanctifying Grace, once Re-demption had been accomplished.  Here we recall the words of Christ in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: "This man went down into his house justified rather than the other".  Besides those mentioned, the spi-ritual paternity of the three Patriarchs embraces as well all the uncircum-cised and true faithful of the New Church, washed and renewed on Calvary, incorporated through Baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ through the merits of the Cross perpetuated and applied in the Mass.

            5.  Referring to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, Our Lord Jesus Christ says: "He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

            6.  But we cannot pass over in silence the Most Holy and Myste-rious Sacrament of the Old Testament, which the Holy Doctor Catherine Emmerick describes with particular reserve and simplici-ty, and which His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII in his Documents admirably interprets and pre-sents as infallible doctrine.  This Sacrament, or Triple Benediction, was composed of three mysteries: "The Soul of the Divine Mary, the mysterious flesh with which God filled the place from which He had taken the rib, and a seed of Adam himself".  The mysterious flesh was a particle of Eve with an ovum of hers.  This Mystery, or Sacrament, had been deposited by the Soul of Christ in Adam's side, then later, before Adam sinned, it was extracted.  The Triple Benediction, possessing the state of glory, consis-ted of three essential elements of the future Immacu-late Conception of Mary Irredeemed.  The two material elements of this Mystery would one day be deposited by the Most Divine Soul of Christ in the body of Saint Joa-chim, in whom the seed of Adam would transform one of his own fertilizing elements.  Saint Joachim, in the mystical and sublime embrace beneath the Golden Gate in Jerusalem, would in turn transmit to his Spouse the ovum of Eve, which similarly would transform an ovum of Saint Anne.  Seven days later, in the course of a sublime and authentic con-jugal act, would take place the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

            7.  This Sacrament or Mystery, guarded and venerated by the representatives of the Chosen People, had been in the Ark of Noe as living Tabernacle of that Temple riding out the storm.  Later it was deposited by an Angel in the body of Abraham, and through the rite of the Triple Benediction, was transmit-ted in turn to Isaac and to Jacob, the latter of whom passed it on to his son Joseph.  After the death of Joseph, it was removed from his bones by Moses and placed in the Ark of the Covenant as the most sacred and inviolable element contained in that Tabernacle.  This sacros-anct Mystery filled the priests and faith-ful with holy vigour and fortitude, fruits of the supernatural inter-vention of the Divine Soul of Mary as Tabernacle of God; since, when they drew near to this Sacrament, they saw and felt the hope of future salvation.  O Mystical and real spiritual presence of Mary in the Sacra-ment of Her future Conception!  O real and immaculate seed of the future bodily nature of the Redeemer!  O most blessed Tabernacle never absent from the Church of God!  First through this Mysterious Sacrament, and later through the Most Holy, Most Divine and Most August Sacrament of the Altar!  O prodigy of the most loving Fatherhood and Motherhood of Christ and Mary, unflagging and unfailing for all who desire to obtain grace and thereby attain to salvation!  O spiritual espousal!  O true sacrament of the Souls of Christ and Mary.

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