Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

57 Secreta and becomes like a technical term indicating these specific sacrifi- cial gifts currently placed on the altar and offered to God during a specific Holy Mass 8 . The word is used in the same sense by the rubrics describing the priest’s actions during the celebration of the Holy Mass, e.g. in Ritus servandus in celebratione Missæ , there is the instruction: “Cum dicit: Hanc ígitur oblatiónem, expandit manus simul super oblata ” 9 . Similarly, in the part before the consecration in the Canon of the Holy Mass [ Canon Mis- sae ] there are words indicating these sacrificial gifts ( haec oblatio ) made to God, that they may become the Body and Blood of Christ. 10 Essentially, the theology of the Tridentine Missal identifies the Eucharistic Sacrifice with the oblatio . This clearly transpires from the very content of the prayer re- cited by the priest at the beginning of the Eucharist: “Súscipe, sancta Trí- nitas, hanc oblatiónem, quam tibi offérrimus ob memóriam passiónis, res- urrectiónis, et ascensiónis Iesu Christi Dómini nostprein et in honor beáti Ioánnis Baptistæ, et sanctórum Apostolórum Petri et Pauli, et istórum, et ómnium Sanctórum.” 11 Although the oblatio offered to God by the cele- brant in this prayer is still the bread and wine before the consecration, at the same time, it is also “in memory of the passion, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In a strict sense, the oblata as bread and wine will later become, after the transubstantiation, the Body and Blood of Christ thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit and the consecration prayer recited by the priest, in which the words of Christ are repeated. In a certain sense, the above prayer preceding the Secreta is complemented by that part of the Canon of the Holy Mass, which comes right after the words of consecration and in which the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord are spo- ken of in nearly the same words: “Unde et mémores, Dómine, nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta, ejusdem Christi Fílii tui, Dómini nostri, tam beátæ passiónis, nec non et ab ínferis resurrectiónis, et in cœlos gloriósæ ascen- siónis: offérimus præcláræ majestáti tuæ de tuis donis acamamis, Panem 8 As an example, let us examine the prayer over the gifts from the Octave of the Nativity: Pro Octava Nativitatis, Secreta : “Oblata, Dómine, múnera, nova Unigéniti tui Nativitáte sanctí- fica: nosque a peccatórum nostrorum máculis emúnda. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum”; MRT p. 29. 9 Cf. MRT p. 69. 10 The entire formula from this part of the Mass is worth quoting here: “Quam oblatió- nem tu, Deus, in ómnibus, quǽsumus, Signat ter super Oblata, bene  díctam, adscríp  tam, ra  tam, rationábilem, acceptabilémque fácere dignéris: Signat semel super Hostiam, ut nobis Corpus, et semel super Calicem, et Sanguis fiat dilectíssimi Fílii tui, Jungit manus, Dómini nostri Jesu Christi”; MRT , p. 337. 11 MRT , p. 277.