Holy Thursday "Qui pridie"

Question: Doesn't the traditional Mass prayer before the Consecration on Holy Thursday admit of universal salvation in the same way that the Novus Ordo does in its "Narrative of Institution"? Isn't it equally a falsification of our Lord's words?

Answer: No. There are two significant differences. But first, here is the prayer in question, followed by the Consecration of the Host:

Qui prídie, quam pro nostra omniúmque salúte paterétur, hoc est hodie, accépit panem in sanctas, ac venerabiles manus suas, et elevátis óculis in cælum ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipoténtem, tibi grátias agens, † benedíxit, fregit, dedíque discípulis suis, dicens: Accípite, et manducáte ex hoc omnes.	Who, on the day before He suffered for our salvation and that of all mankind, that is on this day, He took bread into His holy and venerable hands, and having raised His eyes to heaven, unto Thee, O God, His Father Almighty, giving thanks to Thee, He † blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take and eat ye all of this.
Hoc Est Enim Corpus Meum	For This Is My Body

First, while the Modernists consider the entire account of the Last Supper, including the Consecration, to be a narrative, such thinking is foreign to orthodox Catholicism. In the traditional rite the priest reads the prayer Qui prídie acting as the Church's narrator, but then "shifts gears" to utter the words of Consecration acting "in persona Christi -- in the person of Christ." The change in typography above is typical of what is printed in the Missal to denote the two separate actions. The narrative part does not contain the words of Christ, so the Church's adjustment of them to reflect the anniversary character of the Holy Thursday Mass is in no way a falsification of His words.

The Qui prídie narrative is also theologically correct, in that Christ did suffer to make possible the salvation of all mankind -- it does not allege universal salvation because it does not speak to the fruits of our Lord's effort -- with free will man is still capable of sinning, even though our Lord suffered for him. Through man's own will, his unrepentent sin will not be forgiven -- which is why our Lord said (and the priest says with Him in consecrating the wine): "For this is a chalice of My Blood ... which will be poured out for you and for many in remission of sins." He used the word "many" to indicate the relatively large but undetermined number of the elect; those whose sins would be forgiven in eternity.

Grammatically speaking, "many" might include "all," but our Lord's words to us in the New Testament suggest, gently but firmly, (Matthew 8:12; 25:41; Luke 13:28; 16:19ff; Apocalypse 14:10) that hell is real and that bad people will go there. His words make any assumption that all men will be saved -- that all men will have their sins forgiven -- a mighty sin of presumption. That is not what the Church is doing on Holy Thursday when It tells us that He suffered with the intent that all could cooperate with graces necessary to salvation -- even though He knew that some might not.