Of Holy Communion

It would be a waste of time to attempt to prove the efficacy of the adorable Eucharist in enabling us to acquire solid virtue. The eloquent silence of the Eternal Word, completely concealed as He is under the sacramental species, sufficiently extols its power. If we fail to experience its happy effects, it is simply because the tepidity with which we usually approach the Holy Table opposes great impediments to our doing so. It is all-important, therefore, that we should understand the pressing motives which urge us to communicate with fervour. They are the excellence and effects of the adorable Eucharist, the love which Jesus Christ manifests in this adorable mystery, the dignity of the Holy Sacrifice and of the Christian priesthood. We shall terminate a matter of such vital import by pointing out the means of participating worthily in this heavenly banquet.

Article I

Of the excellence of the Blessed Eucharist

The excellence of the mystery of the Eucharist is infinite, divine, and incomprehensible, on account: 1, of p. 191the dignity of Him who resides there; 2, of the manner in which He resides there; 3, of the end for which He resides there.

1. The dignity of Him who is concealed in this mystery

It is the body of the Saviour, born of the Virgin Mary, torn in the scourging, pierced with a lance, crowned with thorns, cruelly nailed and hanging for three hours on an infamous gibbet, and finally dead there for our salvation. It is this same body that remains concealed under the mystic shades of this adorable Sacrament. It is there that the adorable Soul of Jesus Christ dwells, in all the perfection of its virtues, hypostatically united to the Word, and participating by this ineffable union in the infinite power of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and the goodness of the Holy Ghost.

In a word, He is there present, “at whose name every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth;”¹1Philip. ii. 10. a God-man, to whom “all power has been given in heaven and in earth;”²2Matt. xxviii. 18. Jesus Christ, the happiness of the elect, the terror of the demons, the “Lord of Lords,”³3Apoc. xix. 16. “the Saviour of the world,”⁴4John iv. 42. “the brightness of God’s glory, and the figure of His substance,”⁵5Heb. i. 3. “the Judge of the living and the dead;”⁶6Acts x. 42. it is there, in fine, that the Eternal God, the Divinity itself, abides by the august presence of the three persons of the invisible Trinity.

2. The manner in which Jesus Christ dwells in the Eucharist

He dwells there not attired in royal magnificence, and in the “splendour of the saints,”⁷7Ps. viii. 10. but veiled under weak species and under the appearance of a morsel of p. 192bread, to be eaten as ordinary food. He subjects Himself, so to speak, to a state of violence, to a constraint which would deprive Him of life were He not immortal, since, in this state He cannot naturally either feel, or speak, or hear, or make any bodily movement. And yet, O ye heavens, be astonished! to reduce Him to such impotence it is not necessary to recur to the strength of the Principalities and Powers of heaven; five words suffice, five words pronounced by a priest, even though he were a sinful one; every time, and in every place, this priest pronounces them in accordance with the regulations of the Church, Jesus Christ obeys the summons. Thus humbled, He remains under the sacred species until they are consumed, and sometimes even till they are destroyed and decomposed, there He is, exposed to the injuries, the blasphemies, the sacrilegious outrages of Jews, infidels, heretics, and the impious of all denominations.

3. The end for which He remains concealed

Oh, mystery worthy of the admiration of angels! mystery, whose excellence is infinitely enhanced by the end which “the King of glory”⁸8Ps. xxiii. 10. proposes to Himself in reducing Himself to so abject a condition. In effect, this omnipotent God who stands in need of no one, conceals Himself under the Eucharistic veils, not for His own interests, but for ours, to prove His love for us, and to beg for ours in return; to render us participators in His graces and His kingdom, and to manifest to the entire universe that “His delights are to be with the children of men.”⁹9Prov. viii. 31. “This” truly “hidden God,”¹⁰10Isaias xlv. 15. has withdrawn into the sacred obscurity of His Tabernacle to console the afflicted, sustain the tempted, enrich the p. 193indigent, protect the unfortunate, heal the sick, and load with benefits all those who visit Him.

He withholds the dazzling splendour of His glory, He conceals from us the magnitude of His power, that we may approach Him with perfect confidence. He desires to be a salutary aliment to the living, an efficacious remedy to the sick, a heavenly viaticum to the dying; He wishes “always living” in a state of victim incessantly “to make intercession for us,”¹¹11Heb. vii. 25. to deliver Himself up wholly to us and for us, according to our necessities and as far as it is possible. For this Good Shepherd, not content with having once given up His life for His sheep on the altar of the cross, wishes likewise to nourish them continually with His sacred flesh and blood.

My God! we believe in this excess of love, and yet we languish in a degrading tepidity! we requite such matchless tenderness with the darkest ingratitude; and, far from adequately esteeming so incomparable a mystery, we audaciously despise it! Culpable that we are, we know, O great God! that Thou art present on the altar, and yet we sin in every possible way against the respect which is due to Thee! The angels tremble in Thy presence, the Princes of the Heavenly Court humble themselves into the abyss of their nothing, it is we alone, vile insects that we are, who dare to appear before Thy tremendous majesty in an irreverent posture. Thou invitest us to Thy adorable Banquet, but we are desirous only of a perishable food, and receive with disgust the Bread of Angels!

O Jesus! divine God of the Eucharist! which prodigy is the greater, Thy bounty or our malice? Yes, we are more insensible than the brute creation; our heart is p. 194harder than the rocks, since Thy benefits are incapable of softening it or elevating our thoughts above the level of our senses. O Divine Sun! veiled under the sacramental species, melt, I implore Thee, this icy heart, and inflame it with the sacred fire of Thy love, that it may be a “fiery furnace” before Thy Tabernacle whence the incense of fervour may perpetually ascend to Thee.

Article II

Of the effects of the Eucharist

A second motive for communicating with fervour is the double but very different effects which the Blessed Eucharist produces according as our souls are well or ill disposed for its reception. “This sacrament,” says St. Thomas, “imparts life to the good, and death to the wicked;” in other words, it is a throne of grace for those who participate in it devoutly, and a tribunal of justice for those who approach it with tepidity.

1. The Holy Eucharist is a throne of grace for pious souls

In the Eucharist we receive the infinitely good and merciful God, who has the power and the will to bestow all kinds of blessings upon us: for He loves us with an infinite love, and His Heart yearns to enrich us with His gifts and graces, provided we oppose no obstacles to His doing so.

Hence it is that the Fathers of the Church affirm that one single communion, made with the requisite dispositions, would suffice on the spot to transform a sinner, however steeped in crime, into a saint. For, whosoever approaches the Holy Table with true piety, sits down at the Source of Sanctity, he there receives the very Author of sanctification, and finds, as it were, under his hand, and in their plenitude, all the means necessary for attaining to the perfection of justice. Rejoice then, faithful soul, and indulge in the most magnificent hopes; this God to whom thou openest thy heart is able and willing to render thee holy, and shouldst thou seriously desire it thyself, He will undoubtedly accomplish this design of His love.

Who could prevent His doing so? If “a coal which one of the Seraphim had taken off the altar”¹²12Isaias vi. 6. could, in touching the lips of Isaias, purify him from all his iniquities and sins; if the hem of Christ’s garment healed an inveterate disease; if the shadow of St. Peter walking through the streets of Jerusalem restored health to the sick, what cannot He who is the Lord of life effect in thee when thou hast received Him? “He who is salvation and power”¹³13Apoc. xii. 10. itself, the great Physician come down from Heaven to “heal the sick,”¹⁴14Ezech. xxxiv. “to sanctify us by His own Blood,”¹⁵15Heb. xiii. 12. and purify our souls from their least stains? The Royal Prophet teaches us that we become “holy” by “living in intimacy with one who is holy;”¹⁶16Ps. xvii. 26. shall he then be less favoured who not only penetrates into the Holy of Holies, but who, more favoured than Zacheus, receives and entertains the Holy of Holies Himself, and this not only in His house, but in his own heart?

Jesus Christ brings us in the Eucharist the most exuberant gifts: He offers us His exhaustless largesses, and urges us to accept them. He desires that we draw thence a copious supply of His most precious graces. Even foreseeing our indifference for so priceless a benefit, and p. 195desirous of inspiring us with an ardent longing to receive Him, “He has exhausted,”¹⁷17Sess. xiii. 2. in this adorable Sacrament, all the treasures of His love, for it is truly in this Mystery that “the Lord, who is merciful and gracious, hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works in giving Himself for food to them that fear Him.”¹⁸18Ps. cx. 4.

This august memorial of the divine omnipotence, as St. Thomas calls it, is not merely the greatest of God’s gifts and miracles in our regard, it moreover comprises and is an admirable compendium of them all. When the Almighty assumed human nature, He elevated man to the throne of the Divinity, and admitted him to the bosom of His infinite charity; but here His majesty debases itself to our nothing, His immensity conceals and imprisons itself within the narrow precincts of our heart. In the Incarnation one Man alone was, by an ineffable bond, personally united to the Word: in the Eucharist the Word, by an excess of His love, associates, unites Himself to each one of us by an alliance so noble that, after the hypostatic union, it is impossible to conceive anything more admirable.

Jesus Christ merited for us by each of the actions of His life some particular grace; but here He makes over to us a full proprietorship of the very Source of grace. In the other mysteries and sacraments we receive, as it were, drop by drop the heavenly gifts which flow from them restrictedly; but in this we quaff copious draughts from the limitless ocean of all graces—our soul is inundated and inebriated with them. O God! truly magnificent in Thy dealings with Thy creatures! oh, inestimable treasure of which the angels would envy us the possession were they capable of that passion!

Who will recount, Lord, all the blessings “Thou hast provided for poor man?”¹⁹19Ps. lxvii. 11. No, there is no tongue that could express, no mind conceive, what Thou bestowest in this Mystery on those who love Thee! Thou givest to the faithful soul “the Food of angels; Thou givest it Bread from Heaven, having in it all that is delicious and the sweetness of every taste;”²⁰20Wisd. xvi. 20. “Thou inebriatest it with a torrent of delights;”²¹21Ps. xxxv. 9. “Thou bringest it into Thy storerooms,”²²22Cant. i. 3. into the inner sanctuary of a holy familiarity with Thee; Thou contractest with that soul a mysterious alliance; it becomes Thy spouse, Thou art unreservedly its own in all things. Elevated with St. Paul to the third heavens, it hears Thee saying to its heart words “which it is not granted to man to utter.”²³232 Cor. xii. 4. “Thy left hand is under its head,”²⁴24Cant. ii. 5, 6. that is, Thou illuminest its understanding with the clearest light, and “Thy right hand embraces it” by inflaming its heart with burning love, “Thy fruit is sweet to its palate,” it frees it from all relish for sensual pleasures. O Heavenly Spouse! truly “white and ruddy,”²⁵25Cant. v. 10. white in the shadows of the Host, ruddy in the clouds which conceal Thy adorable Blood. “How dainty is Thy Food,”²⁶26Gen. xlix. 20. “how goodly and inebriating Thy Chalice.”²⁷27Ps. xxii. 5.

“Oh, sacred Banquet, where the soul is replenished with grace, where it receives the pledge of future glory,” according to the promise transmitted to us by the Beloved Disciple, “He that eateth this Bread shall live for ever.”²⁸28John vi. 59. Yes, “O God of my salvation,”²⁹29Ps. xxxvii. 23. if I worthily receive this Food, “Thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life; I will dwell in Thy house unto length of days.”³⁰30Ps. xxii. 6. “This hope is laid up in my bosom.”³¹31Job xix. 27. Whom should I fear? “Thou hast prepared a Table before me, against them that afflict me,”³²32Ps. xxii. 5. and who lay snares for my soul. No, if “armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear.”³³33Ps. xxvi. 3.

If Elias, “strengthened by” material “food, walked forty days and forty nights unto Mount Horeb, the mountain of God,”³⁴343 Kings xix. 8. the type and figure of the “everlasting hills,”³⁵35Gen. xlix. 26. how much more easily cannot we, sustained by a divine nutriment, ascend to the summit of the heavenly Jerusalem? If the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of the Eucharistic Lamb, could, by the impress of its blood “on the door-posts of the houses,”³⁶36Exod. xii. 7. protect the Israelites from the exterminating angel; if a handful of flour mingled by Elisius with pernicious food could avert the danger of death which threatened the children of the prophets, what power shall not this divine drink, this food of life, possess to preserve us from death? Oh! blessed a thousand times be the happy effects which flow so copiously from this ineffable mystery whose source is in a paradise of delights! Having duly pondered each of these characteristics, who can fail to recognise the adorable Eucharist as the throne of grace for pious souls?

2. The Blessed Eucharist is the tribunal of Justice for the tepid

But on the other hand, this adorable Sacrament is for those unhappy souls who communicate with tepidity, a tribunal of inexorable severity, a tribunal rendered still more awful by the respective qualities of the Judge and p. 197of the criminal. “Who,” cries out St. John, “shall be able to stand when the day of the wrath of the Lamb is come?”³⁷37Apoc. vi. 17. Mark well, “the day of the wrath of the Lamb!” not the wrath of a tiger or of a furious bear, “from which they have carried away her whelps,”³⁸382 Kings xvii. 8. but of the Lamb—that Lamb who formerly “opened not His mouth before His shearers.”³⁹39Acts viii. 32. Alas! these tepid souls will then cry out to the mountains and rocks: “Fall upon us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.”⁴⁰40Apoc. vi. 16. But the latter with all the insignia of a Judge, seated upon the clouds, encompassed by His angels, will roar like a lion. He will exclaim in a voice of thunder. The Lord is “a great God, mighty and terrible, who accepteth no person nor taketh bribes.”⁴¹41Deut. x. 17.

Miserable that I am! With what terror shall I not be seized when I perceive that I must appear as a culprit before Him whom I have treated with such indignity and contempt in the Eucharist, when I hear from the lips of this inexorable Judge these appalling words: “I am that Jesus whom thou didst receive with coldness and indifference when He went to abide with thee, that Jesus to whom thou didst offer so many outrages in the sacrament of His love; whose infinitely holy Body thou didst receive into thy heart with as little attention as if it were but ordinary bread. I am no longer the Spouse of thy soul, I am the avenger of thy offences; I am no longer a lamb, but a lion about to expiate in His wrath His Blood profaned by thy tepidity and irreverences.” With what sentiments do these threats inspire me? For if the blood of Abel “crying out from the earth”⁴²42Gen. iv. 10. to the throne of God obtained such severe retribution, what p. 198effect shall not the blood of Jesus Christ invoking vengeance of His Father for my profanations produce?

What shall also be my terror when, descending from the Judge to the delinquent, I shall find that by my tepidity in communion I remained dry and sterile though immersed in an ocean of graces; cold and gelid though environed with glowing furnaces of love; poverty-stricken though in the midst of divine riches? When I recall that, seated at the Sacred Table, I have shamefully sighed for the flesh-pots of Egypt; that after having so frequently extinguished my thirst at the Source of sanctity, I have afterwards plunged into the ordure of vice, and that desiring to quench my thirst at the rivers of Babylon, I have drunk of the cup of its infidelities; that, in fine, after so many communions I have not become better, I have not corrected any fault or acquired any virtue?

How awful shall be my anguish and dismay when I perceive that I could have easily attained perfection, and that I would not do so, but preferred remaining buried in a mortal tepidity? What shall I reply to Jesus Christ my Judge, when in a voice of fury He will bitterly reproach me for my sloth: ‘What is there that I ought to do more for my vineyard that I have not done to it?’⁴³43Isaias v. 4. What gift is there more precious that I have not given it? Now then, ‘inhabitants of Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard,’⁴⁴44Ibid. v. 3. ‘I have brought up children, and have exalted them, but they have despised me.’⁴⁵45Ibid. i. 2. Those who ‘did take sweetmeats together with me,’⁴⁶46Ps. liv. 15. and of whom I was myself the food, ‘have violated me for a handful of barley and a piece of bread.’⁴⁷47Ezech. xiii. 19. ‘My beloved grew fat and kicked; he grew fat and thick and p. 199gross;’⁴⁸48Deut. xxxii. 15. satiated with my flesh and inebriated with my blood, he forsook me, who made him. ‘He has repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.’⁴⁹49Ps. cviii. 5. Ingrate! what can I reply to such reproaches?

Ah! I acknowledge to so many accusations ‘I cannot answer one for a thousand;’ convinced of my tepidity, ‘my own mouth shall condemn me.’⁵⁰50Job ix. 3, 20. For whoever is nourished on the Divinity without becoming fervent is utterly inexcusable. Alas! I have repeatedly lodged the Author of purity in my heart, and I am still stained with so many vices! I have been so often satiated with the Bread of Angels, and I still continue the slave of irregular affections and even of sin! The God of the Eucharist, not content with annihilating Himself within me, has accumulated miracle upon miracle to beg at the door of my heart for some little return of love, and my insensibility is unmoved, I repay such incomparable love with the coldest ingratitude. I remain immersed in indifference.

Oh, heavens! ‘we should withdraw from this Sacred Table audacious as lions, breathing only fire and terrible to hell,’⁵¹51St. Chrys. Hom. and we quit it with an icy heart, a subject of derision to Satan. Nourished on the heavenly Lamb, Sanctity Itself, we still remain steeped in iniquity: satiated with a God, we still entertain a relish for earthly things: replenished with Jesus Christ, we still run after creatures: inebriated with the divine drink, we thirst for the turbid waters of the world! O Seraphim! veil your faces with your wings, that you behold not such behaviour.

Alas! at the awful Judgment, ‘what excuse shall we allege for having succumbed to such weakness after having been nourished on such fortifying food?’ Ah, woe, woe to us on account of the wrath of the Lamb! Seized with a salutary fear at the thought of the dread tribunal which shall be erected against tepid souls, ‘let us go with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find that grace and the seasonable aid,’⁵²52Heb. iv. 16. which Jesus Christ so liberally offers to those who devoutly approach the Blessed Eucharist.

Article III

Of the love of Jesus Christ for us in the Blessed Eucharist

The charity which Jesus Christ bears to us in the Eucharist is truly excessive and incomprehensible; for He gives Himself whole and entire, he gives Himself to all, in all places and in all times. Cannot a love so prodigal of itself succeed in inducing us to approach the holy Mysteries with fervour?

1. He gives Himself entire

In this sacrament of His love Jesus Christ gives us not the stars of the firmament with their lustre, nor earthly riches, nor the treasures contained in the bosom of the deep, but He bestows Himself, and Himself whole and entire with His Body, His Blood, His Soul, His Divinity, with the infinite and inexhaustible exuberance of His merits: He excepts, reserves, refuses nothing; on the contrary, ‘He most gladly spends Himself for the salvation of our souls.’⁵³532 Cor. xii. 15. Not only does He desire to repose ‘as a bundle of myrrh on our breast,’⁵⁴54Cant. i. 12. but He descends into our hearts to become our food. What astounding charity! ‘but there is not any other nation p. 200so great, so favoured that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to us.’⁵⁵55Deut. iv. 7.

Divine Redeemer, passionately enamoured of our nothing! it does not then satisfy Thee to have given us Thy stars to enlighten us, the earth to supply our wants, Thy angels to protect us, to have imprinted Thy image on this clay of which we are formed; to have exalted our nature in Thy person to the Throne of the august Trinity, and to have destined us to a heavenly inheritance by ransoming us from hell at the price of a painful and ignominious death: Thou deignest also, infinitely great as Thou art, to give, to dispense Thyself to us, to lavish Thyself wholly upon us in such an admirable manner. ‘Who hath ever heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like of this?’⁵⁶56Isaias lxvi. 8.

O Seraphim! be silent with astonishment at so astounding a prodigy, ‘and let there be’ also ‘silence in heaven;’ suspend your eternal canticle to the thrice holy God, to worship this new miracle. ‘My God is become my food, the Word of the Father, my aliment! the wisdom of God, the Banquet of my soul!’ ‘O men! Him whom the angels do not behold without trembling, and whom they do not even dare to look upon, being unable to support the dazzling splendour of His glory, we eat, we unite to our being.’

‘O God! truly prodigal of Thyself in Thy desire to give Thyself to men.’ Ah! if I am already indebted to Thee for everything, since Thou hast created and redeemed me, with how much greater reason should I not belong to Thee, when Thou becomest my food? What ingratitude should I presume to refuse Thee, my love, if, repaying Thy ardent charity by a callous insensibility, p. 201I approached Thy divine Banquet with coldness and tepidity.

2. He gives Himself to all

The goodness of this loving Saviour extends still farther; He gives Himself to all without exception or distinction. ‘Come all to me,’ He cries, ‘and I will refresh you.’⁵⁷57Matt. xi. 28. But what sayest Thou, O Divine Jesus! how far then does Thy love carry Thee? ‘What is man that Thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him.’⁵⁸58Job vii. 17. What is the son of man that Thou visitest him? We are but ‘vanity, dust, and ashes,’⁵⁹59Ps. xxxviii. 6. ‘and dost Thou think it meet to open Thy eyes upon such an one?’⁶⁰60Job xiv. 3.

Alas! those to whom Thou thus givest Thyself as food are not merely despicable, blind, ignorant, slow to do good, prompt to commit evil, subject to instability, corruption, and countless miseries; they are cold, irreverent, ungrateful, sometimes even sacrilegious, new Judases, who do not hesitate to profane the Bread of Angels.

Thou knowest it, O my God! and still Thou persistest in Thy design with unalterable bounty. Thou invitest us all without distinction, Thou criest out to us: ‘Come, eat my bread and drink the wine which I have mingled for you.’⁶¹61Prov. ix. 5. Thou even invitest to this great feast ‘the poor, and the weak, and the blind, and the lame.’⁶²62Luke xiv. 21. Thou commandest the exercise of a sweet violence to compel them to enter. Oh! inconceivable miracle of Thy yearning charity for us! Divine Lover of souls! hadst Thou prepared this banquet for the heavenly spirits or even the august Queen of angels, it would be an incomprehensible miracle: what then must it be to have prepared p. 202it for the entire human race? For men, contemptible worms of the earth, a handful of ashes, a covering of corruption; that Thou hast prepared it not merely for the mighty and the learned, but for all, for the dregs of the people, the illiterate, the poor, in a word, for those of the most infamous condition! That Thou admittest to it not alone simple, fervent, pious souls, but wicked, impious men, defiled with every abomination. What! can it be also that Thou invitest us all with the tenderest affection, lovingly receiving at Thy table those who present themselves, calling and inviting those who have a repugnance for this sacred manna, and making a precept of it to oblige them to approach Thee, thus to conquer their resistance? This it is that immeasurably enhances the greatness of Thy benefit. There it is more than any of the other mysteries, yes, there it is that our divine Assuerus ‘shows us all the riches of His Kingdom,’⁶³63Esther i. 4. and displays to us the generosity and the magnificence of His love: and nevertheless the effusions of His love are not yet exhausted.

3. He gives Himself without any distinction of time or place

‘Hear, O ye heavens! and give ear O earth’⁶⁴64Isaias i. 2. to hear the ‘wonders God hath wrought’⁶⁵65Ps. cv. 2. in our behalf. Not content with having given Himself wholly as food to a miserable creature, He multiplies this benefit by being ready to make us participators in it at all times and in all places. Had He deigned to be consecrated in one place of the universe alone, in one single city, one temple, and to assume the appearance of bread, I do not say to be eaten, but merely to be adored; had He limited the concession of so priceless a grace to some days, months, or at most a few years: had He empowered the Sovereign Pontiff alone to sacrifice Him on the altar, every tongue should extol such an excess of bounty! What shall we say, then, O too loving Jesus! when not only Thou grantest us Thy presence in so admirable a manner, but also condescendest to be received by us as ordinary food, and that in every place, in every country of the world, during nineteen centuries? Thousands of priests have been honoured with the power of immolating Thee; and this astounding miracle shall last until the end of time, according to Thy promise: ‘I am with you even to the consummation of the world.’⁶⁶66Matt. xxviii. 20.

Oh, Divine Master! ‘meek and humble of heart!’⁶⁷67Matt. xi. 29. No! there is no hovel so wretched, no temple so poor, no sanctuary so unadorned wherein Thou refusest to dwell for us; there is no street so miserable through which Thou dost not pass; no hut so indigent to which Thou dost not repair; no invalid so repulsive that Thou dost not visit; ‘Thou settest Thy tabernacle in the midst of us,’⁶⁸68Levit. xxvi. 11. ‘Thou becomest one of us.’⁶⁹69Gen. iii. 22. Thou art not ashamed either of our poverty or our baseness; Thou dost not repulse any of our ministers; Thou comest to us wretched creatures as often as we please; Thou makest no exception of seasons, or months, or days, or moments of the day. To what an excess does Thy love, this ruling passion of Thy heart, incite Thee! to what a state of abjection does it reduce Thee, ‘O King of kings!’⁷⁰70Apoc. xvii. 14. The manna which was preserved formerly as a memento of Thy benefits could only be deposited in the one Ark of the Covenant and preserved in one Temple, the most august in the p. 203universe, in one only city, the royal Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies, where none but the High Priest, and he but once a year, was permitted to enter. And by a miracle which overwhelms the understanding, Thou ‘under whom they stoop that bear up the world,’⁷¹71Job ix. 13. Thou givest Thyself whole and entire to us who are so wretched.... Thou immolatest Thyself at all hours, Thou descendest into the poorest churches. Ah! ‘my breath is stopped,’⁷²72Dan. x. 17. astonishment and admiration deprive me of speech! ‘O hidden God!’⁷³73Isaias xlv. 15. Were a Cherub, clothed with our nature, to visit a poor cottage, were he to permit us to see and honour him there, it would be a great favour; were a Seraph to make us the priceless present of the fringe of Thy robe, a curl of Thy hair, a drop of Thy sweat, it would be a magnificent gift; and yet all that would not fully satisfy the insatiable desires of our heart.

But that Thou, the Master of heaven and earth, who ‘thought it not robbery to be equal with God,’⁷⁴74Philip. ii. 6. that Thou shouldst give Thyself to us entire, concealed under weak species, on all altars, in all chalices, frequently laid on soiled and torn linen, not merely to be adored but to be eaten by all men without distinction; not once, nor in one place only, but in all times, in all places, and sometimes even at the will of an impious priest, this is a miracle so stupendous, so exalted, that it exhausts in some manner the efforts of Thy omnipotence, the inventions of Thy wisdom and the tenderness of Thy love!

In presence of this ineffable mystery what can we do except to imitate in our weakness the ‘four-and-twenty ancients’ of the Apocalypse, who, laying aside their crowns, ‘fell down’ before ‘the Lamb,’ offering Him the p. 204incense of their adorations and singing ‘a new canticle on golden harps.’⁷⁵75Apoc. v. 8. Yes, at the sight of this adorable Sacrifice, we also, in transports of gratitude, should proclaim aloud ‘with all living creatures: The Lamb is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction.’⁷⁶76Apoc. v. 12.

And wherefore should we not proclaim the marvellous effects of His love? If Solomon, looking at the temple he had built, and where ‘God dwelt only in a’ miraculous ‘cloud,’⁷⁷772 Paralip. vi. 1. cried out, in his astonishment: ‘Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on earth?’⁷⁸782 Paralip. vi. 18. If Miphiboseth, a prince of the blood royal, son of Jonathan and heir to the throne, surprised at the condescension of David, who had deigned to say to him: ‘Thou shalt eat bread at my table always,’ could only answer him: ‘Who am I, thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?’⁷⁹792 Kings ix. 7. what should be our sentiments, oh, infinitely holy God, who not only eat at the ‘King’s table,’⁸⁰802 Kings ix. 7. who not only behold the Lord’s glory, but who absolutely receive the Lord of Glory, concealed under the appearance of ordinary bread, and who often receive Him into a heart but ill-prepared!

When Mary, who was but a pure creature, and her cousin, went to visit Elizabeth, the latter, unable to restrain her admiration, cried out in the transports of her joy: ‘Whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?’⁸¹81Luke i. 43. St. Peter, when Jesus wished to enter his bark, wholly astonished, fell down at the knees of his Divine Master, saying: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.’⁸²82Luke v. 8. O heavens! what should be the ardour of our affection when we behold ‘the Lord of lords’⁸³83Apoc. xvii. 14. p. 205giving Himself wholly to us in all places and times in so surprising a manner?

O Divine Victim of love! ‘Thy eyes did see my imperfect being.’⁸⁴84Ps. cxxxviii. 16. Thou knowest that ‘we are not sufficient to think anything good of ourselves, as of ourselves;’ but that ‘all our sufficiency is from God.’⁸⁵852 Cor. iii. 5. I, at length, abhor the apathy with which I have till now approached the holy mysteries. Grant me grace to believe with St. Peter that ‘Thou art the Son of the living God,’⁸⁶86Matt. xvi. 16. to adore Thee with St. Thomas as ‘my Lord and my God,’⁸⁷87John xx. 28. to confess with the centurion that ‘I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof:’⁸⁸88Matt. viii. 8. to strike my breast like the publican, and, in the bitterness of my grief, to cry out with him: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’⁸⁹89Luke xviii. 13.

Grant that, with the afflicted woman of the Gospel, I may firmly believe that ‘I shall be made whole,’⁹⁰90Matt. ix. 22. since I so frequently touch not the hem of Thy robe, but Thy adorable Body itself. Grant me, like David, ‘to love Thee, Lord, who art my strength,’⁹¹91Ps. xvii. 2. ‘to render to Thee for all Thou hast rendered to me,’⁹²92Ps. cxv. 12. ‘to offer Thee a heart humble and contrite,’⁹³93Ps. l. 19. and inflamed with Thy love. Assist me ‘to offer’ Thee ‘the widow’s two mites,’⁹⁴94Mark xii. 42. by correcting myself of such a vice which displeases Thee most, and practising such a virtue which Thou particularly demandest from me.

Article IV

Of the excellence of the Holy Sacrifice and the dignity of Priests

The motives we have just adduced for the fervent reception of the Bread of Angels are applicable to all the faithful, whatever may be their condition. Let us now consider the peculiar ones which render it incumbent on a minister of the altar to participate worthily in the sacred Banquet: they are based on the excellence of the Holy Sacrifice and on the sublimity of the sacerdotal state.

1. The excellence of the Holy Sacrifice

We can conceive nothing more excellent than the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, if we consider—1, the dignity of the principal Sacrificer; 2, the sanctity of the Victim; 3, the majesty of Him to whom it is offered; 4, the manner in which He immolates Himself; 5, the admirable ends of this divine Sacrifice.

1. The principal Sacrificer: It is the only son of God made man, who has been anointed by His Eternal Father ‘a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech:’⁹⁵95Heb. v. 6. as for us His ministers, we are at the altar but His representatives and the instruments of His boundless charity.

2. The victim which is offered: It is the person of Jesus Christ who resides in the Eucharist, and in some degree in a more admirable manner than in heaven; it is His human nature, hypostatically united to the Word, seated now ‘at the right hand of the power of God;’⁹⁶96Luke xxii. 69. impassible, immutable, glorious, ‘and higher than the heavens.’⁹⁷97Heb. vii. 26. Could there be a victim more holy or more perfect?

3. The God who receives and believes it worthy of Him is the omnipotent Monarch, the one Eternal, the supreme Lord, who ‘does not give His glory to another,’⁹⁸98Isaias xlii. 8. because His divinity is incommunicable.

4. ‘The immolation of this august Victim,’ says the Council of Trent, ‘is accomplished by an act of transubstantiation, that is to say, by the changing of the offerings into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and five words suffice to operate in an instant this prodigy which contains the perfection of miracles and of the most incomprehensible wonders.’

This august Sacrifice is offered to adore God, to thank Him, to implore the pardon of our sins, and to obtain His graces. This holy oblation renders to the sovereign Lord all the honour due to Him; it is an adequate thanksgiving for all the benefits He has bestowed upon the universe. Each time that it is renewed it possesses a sovereign efficacy, an omnipotent power to obtain for us all blessings, and to expiate, by a condign satisfaction, the sins of the whole human race. It possesses, in fine, an infinite value, though limited in its application, which God always proportions to our merits and the dispositions of our soul.

Of all the actions which can engage the mind of man, the immolation of this adorable Victim is the most beneficial and august. A single Mass not alone honours the Divine Majesty, more than all the virtues and the praises of the saints, but it also gives Him more glory than all the sins of men, taken collectively, can deprive Him of.

So countless and stupendous are the miracles wrought during the Holy Sacrifice, so important, and of such absorbing interest, that the most momentous negotiations of the mightiest earthly potentates are but as child’s play compared therewith.

Lastly, the oblation made at the holy altar is not only a vivid representation of the painful death which our loving Redeemer endured for us on Mount Calvary; it is a real renewal of it, for it reiterates in an unbloody p. 207manner the same holocaust which Jesus Christ, at once the Priest and Victim, offered on the Cross by the effusion of His Blood.

The virtue of a Victim so spotless effaces our sins, closes hell, opens heaven, ransoms our souls, merits innumerable graces for us, and elevates us to so sublime a dignity that we are entitled ‘to be called, and are in effect the children of God.’⁹⁹991 John iii. 1.

2. On the dignity of Priests

The excellence of the Holy Sacrifice is the most just criterion of the excellence of the Christian Priesthood.

Priests excel the angels, not by the superiority of their nature, but by the power which is given them. ‘The most High and infinitely good God,’ says St. John Chrysostom, ‘has not granted to angels the power with which He has invested priests;’ ‘and when the latter offer the adorable Victim,’ adds St. Augustine, ‘the blessed spirits assist thereat only as servants.’ ‘But,’ resumes the same holy doctor, ‘if the heavenly Intelligences are at the altar the servants of the priest, he, by the excellence of his ministry, rises above the condition of his nature to a superiority over the Cherubim and Seraphim.’

The sacerdotal dignity surpasses, in some measure, even that of the august Mother of God. ‘It is not to Mary but to priests,’ says Pope Innocent III., ‘that the Almighty has entrusted the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven, with power to renew in all places and at all times, in a mystical manner, the great mystery of the Incarnation.’ Therefore it is that St. Augustine cries out: ‘Oh, venerable dignity of priests, in whose hands the Son of God becomes incarnate anew, as He formerly p. 208became incarnate in the womb of Mary,’ and even with circumstances which enhance the prerogatives of their exalted ministry. For Mary gave life only once to the Saviour, and it was a life subject to outrages, sufferings, and death; while, on the contrary, the priest who celebrates gives Him a life, which is impassible, immortal, and glorious.

The sacerdotal dignity is, then, not merely superior to all that is great among creatures, but we may also say its pre-eminence reaches to the throne of the Divinity itself, since it is granted to the priest to operate wonders, the accomplishment of which demands the exercise of the divine omnipotence. For, ‘the dispenser of the mysteries of God’¹⁰⁰1001 Cor. iv. 1. takes his place at the sacred tribunal, judges souls, and remits sins: in the consecration of the Eucharist he commands Jesus Christ, and God obeys the voice of a man. At his behest He descends from the highest heavens to the altar, attended by the magnificent retinue of His infinite perfections. What miracles!

Inspired by the Holy Ghost, and addressing the Lord’s anointed, the Royal Prophet enthusiastically exclaims: ‘I have said: you are gods, the strong gods of the earth, and the sons of the Most High:’¹⁰¹101Ps. lxxxi. 6, and Ps. xlvi. 10. it is really true, the Almighty ‘hath done great things’¹⁰²102Luke i. 49. in His priests. He has given them ‘a great name, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth.’¹⁰³1032 Kings vii. 9. He has exalted them above the Principalities and Dominations, by communicating to them a power truly divine.

We must acknowledge, therefore, that there is nothing more venerable, nothing more glorious, than the dignity of priests, and exclaim with St. Augustine that ‘their sublime prerogatives should excite the astonishment of heaven, elicit the admiration of earth, transport the heavenly spirits with joy, and fill the reprobates and hell with horror and dismay.’

3. Consequences of this doctrine¹⁰⁴104(Note of French translator.) All this number, and some paragraphs of No. 4, of 5th article of this chapter, relate so especially to priests that it has appeared to us useless to translate them. We shall only give them, therefore, in the Latin text of our author, at the end of this chapter.