Amongst the many gifts and graces wherein those par-
ticipate who hear Mass devoutly one of the principal is
this, that the blood of Christ, shed upon the altar, pleads



148 The Shedding of Chrisfs Blood Renewed in the Mass*

for us with God, and obtains mercy for us. How profita-
ble, how salutary, for the sinner is this voice of impetra-
tion, how powerful is it in averting the wrath of God !
All the grievous sins we commit cry to God for ven-
geance, and excite His anger against us, as we learn from
Holy Scripture. For in the Book of Genesis God says:
**The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and
their sin is become exceedingly grievous. I will go down
and see whether they have done according to the cry that
is come to me." (Gen. xviii. 20, 21.) Again, St. James
says : '' Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped
down your fields, which by fraud hath been kept back
by you, crieth; and the cry of them hath entered into
the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." (James v. 4.) The
prophet Isaias represents God as denominating all sins of
whatever nature as a cry. Hence we perceive that our
sins, as a great clamor, ascend continually to God, and
challenge Him to manifest His just wrath against the
world.
