Chapter 20. Meditation on the Washing of the Feet of the Disciples and on the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament ; for Monday Morning

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Having made the sign of the cross with the preparation mentioned in the second chapter, the subject for meditation will be the washing of the feet and the institution of the most blessed Sacrament.

§ 1.—The text of the Evangelists is as follows.

1.—“* And when the hour was come he sat down and the

Luke xxii. 14,15. twelve apostles with him, and he said to them; with desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer.” ‘And whilst they were eating he said; Amen I say to you that one of you is about to betray me. Matt. xxvi.21. And they being very much troubled began eyery one to say; Is it I, Lord? But he answering said;

He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me. The Son of Man indeed goeth, as it is written of him; | but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed. It were better for him if that man had not been born. And Judas that betrayed him, answering said: Is it I, Rabbi? He saith to him; thou hast said it.”

2.—‘ And when the supper was done, he riseth from supper and layeth aside his garments, and having taken a ORIN E towel, girded himself. After that, he putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. He cometh therefore to Simon Peter, and Peter saith to him, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered, and said to him ; what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith to him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him; If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. Simon Peter saith to him: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him: He that is washed, needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly. And you are clean, but not all. For he knew who he was that would betray him; therefore he said, you are not all clean. Then after he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, being set down again, he said to them; know you what I have done to you? You call me Master, and Lord: and you say well, for so lam. If then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.”

3.—‘ And after the washing was done, Jesus took bread,

Matt, xxvi.26. and blessed and broke; and gave to his disciples and said; Take ye and eat: this is my body. And Mark xiv, taking the chalice he gave thanks; and gave Hauke xii. to them, saying; Drink ye all of this. For Cor. 1. this is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many, unto remission of sins.”

§ 2.—A meditation on the foregoing teats.

4.—Oontemplate then, Oh my soul, thy sweet and kind Jesus at this supper, and admire his wonderful humility in rising from the table and washing the feet of his disciples. Oh Good Jesus! what art thou doing? Oh sweet Jesus! why does thy Majesty so debase itself? What wouldst thou feel, Oh my soul, to see thy God on bended knees before the feet of man, and before the feet of Judas? Oh cruel wretch! How comes it thy heart is not softened by this great humility ? How is it thy feelings are not moved by this great meekness ? Is it possible that thou art resolved upon selling this innocent Lamb? Is it possible that thou art not filled with compunetion with this example? Oh fair and delicate hands! How ean ye touch such filthy abominable feet? Oh most pure hands! How is it ye revolt not against washing those feet, about to wade through streams of your own blood? Oh, ye blessed spirits from above, behold the deeds of your Creator ! Come from your heavenly dwellings to witness them, and ye will see him on bended knees at the feet of men, and say if ever he shewed such courtesy to you. Oh Lord, I have heard thy words and have trembled; I have considered thy works, and have stood astonished. Oh, happy apostles! How comes aba. iit. it ye do not tremble at the sight of this wonderful humility? Peter, what art thou doing? Dost thou consent to the Lord of Glory washing thy feet ?

5.—Saint Peter filled with wonder and astonishment, when he saw his Lord on bended knees before him, began to say; thou Oh Lord, dost thou wash my feet? No, art thou not the son of the living God? Art thou not the Creator of the world, the beauty of heaven, the paradise of the angels, the refuge of man, the splendour of the glory of the Father, the fountain of the wisdom of God on high? Dost thou then wish to wash my feet? Thou the Lord of Majesty and Glory, dost thou wish to perform so mean an office? Thou that didst lay the earth upon its foundations, and didst beautify it with so many wonderful things? Thou who holdest the world in thy hand, who rulest the heavens, who dividest the waters and regulatest the seasons, thou the universal cause, that beatifies the angels, directs the paths of men and governs all things with thy wisdom? Art thou about to wash my feet? Mine, the feet of a mortal man, naught but dust and ashes, a vessel of corruption, a creature full of vanity and ignorance and all sorts of miseries; and what is worse than misery full of sin? Thou, my Lord, and the Lord of all things! Thy exalted Majesty and the depth of my wretchedness compel me to refuse this. Vouchsafe then, Oh my Lord, to leave this office to servants; lay aside that towel; resume.

thy dress and thy seat at table; and stoop not to wash my feet. Will not the heavens blush at beholding a ceremony that lowers them beneath the earth, since thou placest those hands to which the Father entrusted the heavens and all things besides beneath the feet of men? See that all creation. be not shocked at being put below other feet than thine. See lest the daughter of King Saul on beholding thee girded with

TI Kings, vi. a towel like a servant, refuse to take thee as her Spouse or acknowledge thee as her God when thou art undertaking so mean an office.

6.—Thus said Peter, like a man who understood not yet the things of God, and who comprehended not the amount of glory that lay shrouded in that act apparently somean. But our Saviour, who knew so well how, and longed so much, to leave us on that occasion such a wonderful example of humility, satisfied the simplicity and removed the scruples of his disciple immediately. Behold here, how much our Lord has done to induce us to be humble, for at the threshold of his passion, where he was about to shew wonderful examples of humility enough to astonish heaven and earth, not satisfied with them, he desired to add this further instance in order to recommend still more this virtue. Oh wonderful virtue how great must be thy value, since thou art so much praised, and

Y = a ren | how thy value should be made known since thou art in so many ways brought to our notice! Oh humility preached and taught in the whole life of Christ, sung and praised by the Luke i. mouth of his Mother, flower of all virtues, divine loadstone that attractest to thyself the Creator of all things! He who despises thee will be “despised by God, though he should dwell in the highest heaven, and he who embraces thee, will be embraced by God, though he be the greatest sinner in the world. Great are thy favours and wonderful is thy wealth. Thou appeasest men, thou delightest the angels, thou confoundest the devils, and thou tiest the hands of the Creator. Thou art the foundation of virtue, the death of vice, the mirror of virgins and the house of welcome of the most holy Trinity. He who binds without thee, seatters, he who builds not on thee, destroys; he who heaps up virtues without thee, will find them swept away with the dust before the face of the wind. Without thee the virgin is rejected at the gate of heaven, and with thee the public sinner is welcomed at the feet of Christ. Embrace then this virtue Oh ye Virgins, for it will be profitable to your virginity. - Seek it Oh ye religious, for without it vain will be your religion. And not less so, ye who live in the world, for through it ye will be delivered from the snares of the world.

7.— Consider further how after washing the feet, he wiped | them with the sacred towel with which he was girt; and lift up the eyes of the soul, and thou wilt in that act see prefigured the mystery of our redemption. See how that towel collected within its folds all the impurities of those feet which | were unclean. And thus were they made clean, but the towel on the contrary would be soiled and dirty after the ceremony was finished. What then is there so unclean as man conceived in sin? And what more pure and beautiful than Christ con-

Cant. y. 10. ceived of the Holy Spirit? ‘My beloved is white and ruddy,” says the Spouse, “chosen out of thousands.” Thus did he who is so pure and beautiful choose to take upon himself all the stains and impurities of our souls ; that is to say, the punishments due to our sins; and leaving our souls purged and cleansed from their sins, he, as thou seest, stretched himself upon the cross, defiled and disfigured with them. * Well may the angels behold with wonder this strange defilement, and ask, through the mouth of the Pro-

Isaiah Ixili. 2. phet Isaiah, saying; “Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the wine press ?” Then if this blood and these stains are foreign, that is, are derived from our offences, tell me, Oh King of Glory, should not men have received their deserts and not thou? Would not this ordure have been better cast upon its own dunghill than upon thee, the mirror of beauty? "What excess of compassion caused thee to desire so earnestly the purity of my soul, that thou shouldst bestow it upon me at such a cost and © sacrifice of thy own comeliness? - Where is the man who would set himself to clean a dirty broken dish with a towel of golden cloth? Blessed be thou, Oh Lord my God, and may thy angels ever bless thee, because thou hast sought to make thyself the clout of the world, taking upon thee all our stains and miseries, that is, the punishments of our sins, in order to deliver us from them. 8.—Consider next those words with which our Saviour concluded the ceremony, saying: ‘‘I have given you an example that as I have done, so ye also may do.” These words not only haye reference to this particular example of humility, but to all the actions and the whole life of Christ, which is the most perfect pattern of every virtue, especially of that of humility more especially figured on this occasion, as that happy martyr St. Cyprian most eloquently explains in a sermon, in these words: “It was in the first place a wonderful work of patience and humility that his divine Majesty should choose to descend from heaven upon the earth, and Johni. Lukei, Clothe himself in human clay; and veiling Matt. iii, &v. the glory of his immortality should take upon himself mortality in order that he who was innocent and without sin might suffer the punishments due to sinners. The Lord desired to be baptized by his servant, and he who came to give remission of sins chose to be washed with the water of sinners. He who gives food to all, fasted forty days in the desert, and at the end bore the pangs of hunger, that we who hunger after the words of God and his grace might be supplied with the abundance thereof. He contended with the devil who tempted him, and satisfied with overcoming him punished him only with a rebuke. He treated not his disciples as a master does his servants but behaved to them with the love and kindness of a brother. And it is no wonder that he thus treated his obedient disciples, since he bore with Judas to the very last with such long enduring patience, eat at the same table with his enemy knowing his plots, without disclosing them, and refused not the false kiss of peace with which he betrayed him. Then what patience did he shew towards the Jews even to his last hour ? How he laboured to bend their unbelieving hearts to the faith by his teaching ; how he strove to subdue their ingratitude by his acts of kindness; how he replied with meekness to those who upbraided him; with what clemency he bore the insolence of the haughty; with what humility he bent before the anger of his enemies and persecutors; what pains he took to reclaim those who had murdered his prophets and were rebels against God, even to Mar. xxvi. and xxvii! his last hour upon the cross. Then in that last hour before all his blood was spilt, and his cruel death accomplished, how great were the insults, and wonderful the patience with which he listened to them? How bitter the John ix, scofis that mocked him? With what patience did he bear to be spit upon by those infernal mouths, he who with his own spittle had just given sight to the blind?- How he bore their stripes, he, in whose name his disciples had with pone xix. wonderful efficacy scourged the powers of darkness. How is he crowned with thorns, who crowns his martyrs with everlasting flowers? How is he smitten in the face with the open palm, who bestows the palm of victory upon conquerors? How is he spoiled of his earthly dress who clothes the saints with the robes of immortality? | How is he regaled with gall who gives us the bread of heaven, and his thirst allayed with vinegar who offers us the chalice of salva-

Matt. xxvii, tion? That innocent one, that just one! > J

Mark xv. Yea innocence itself and justice itself is numsara bli. bered amongst robbers, the eternal truth is accused by false witnesses, the Judge of this world is tried by the wicked, and the Word of God receives sentence of death in silence. Behold how in the hour of death upon the cross of the Saviour of the world, the stars of heaven are darkened, the elements are disturbed, the earth trembles, night envelopes the day, and the sun to avoid the sight of such cruelty, turns aside his beams of light from the earth; but he speaks not, moves not, does not in the very agony of death display the majesty of his glory but to the last endures that long struggle, to bequeath to us a model of perfect patience. And even after all, if his butchers and executioners turn to repentance he at once receives them to his bosom and shuts upon no one the gates of his Church. What kindness, what endurance can compare with this, that the blood of Christ should give life, even to those who shed the blood of Christ? Such is and

Acts ix. so great was the patience of Christ; had it not been such, and so great, there would not this day have been a St. Paul in the Church.” So far St. Cyprian.

§ 3.—On the most blessed sacrament, and on the various causes for which it was instituted.

9.—One of the principal reasons for our Saviour coming into the world was his desire to inflame the hearts of men with the love of God. Therefore he says by St. Luke, “I Lukexii. cametocast fire upon the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?” This fire did our Saviour cast by conferring upon men such wonderful favours and performing such great works of love, to steal their hearts and inflame them with the fire of love. Since then every act of his most sacred life is directed to this object, so more particularly are those of its close, as the Evangelist St. John signifies, where ORO he says, ‘‘ Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” He then therefore conferred on them greater favours, and left them pledges of his love. The chief of these was the institution of the most blessed sacrament, and this may be clearly seen by attentively considering the reasons which led to its institution. To enable us to do this, open our eyes, Oh most sweet Saviour, and give us light to see the reasons that moved thy tender heart to institute and bequeath us this most wonderful sacrament. 10.—To comprehend something of this, thou must presuppose that no mortal tongue is able to express the infinite love that Christ entertains for his Spouse the Church, and consequently for every soul in a state of grace, each of which is also his Spouse. Therefore one of the things St. Paul the Apostle so prayed for and desired, was that God would give Hphes., iy. us grace to know the greatness of this love; Phillip. ii. which is so great as to exceed all created wisdom and knowledge, even that of the angels. The first reason for the institution of this sacrament. 11.—This most sweet Bridegroom being about to take leave of this life and absent himself from his Spouse the Church, that his absence might not produce forgetfulness, left her as a remembrance this most holy sacrament, in which he himself remained present. He was desirous that between him and her there should be no less a pledge than himself to keep alive the remembrance of him. Therefore he then spoke those Luke xxii. endearing words: ‘‘ Every time you shall do Cor. xi. this, do it in commemoration of me, in order to remind you of my great love for you and of the great things I am about to do and suffer for your salvation.”

The second reason. 12.—This loving Bridegroom wished also during his long absence to leave his Spouse a companion that she might not remain alone, and accordingly left her this holy sacrament, where he himself dwells, the best companion he could bequeath her.

The third reason.

13.—He desired at the same time also to suffer death for his Spouse and redeem and save her with the price of his blood; and in order that she might at her pleasure enjoy this treasure, ‘he left her the keys of it in this sacrament, ““Because,” as St. Chrysostom says, ‘‘every time we approach it we put our lips to the side of Christ, we drink his precious blood and become partakers of this sovereign mystery.” See then the conduct of those, who through laziness neglect to approach this high banquet and to enjoy this great and inestimable treasure. These are those unfortunate slothful ones of Proverb xix. 24. whom the wise man spoke. “The slothful hideth his hand under his arm-pit, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth.” What sloth can be greater, than that of him who to save the slight trouble of preparing himself for this sacrament is ready to lose the most precious treasure in the world ?

The fourth reason.

14.—This heavenly Bridegroom was further anxious to be devotedly beloved by his Spouse, and consequently instituted this mysterious food, which by the words of consecration causes the worthy recipient to be touched and inflamed with love. Oh mystery to be engraved on the inmost recesses of our hearts! Tell me then, Oh man; if a prince became so much enamoured of a slave as to make her his wife and queen of all his dominions, what should we say of the earnestness of his love? And after the nuptials, should that slave begin to cool in her affections towards her husband, and he conscious of this should wander about distracted in search of some elixir to regain her waning love, how could we sufficiently express our admiration of the feelings prompting that prince to such an act? But, Oh King of Glory, the excess of thy love did not satisfy thy heart with taking my soul for thy Spouse whilst I was the slave of thy enemy, but seeing her in spite of this cooling in her affection for thee, thou didst devise for her this mysterious food, and so changed it with the words of consecration as to confer on it the virtue of changing the souls of all who partook of it into thee, and of kindling in them the burning flames of love! Nothing shews love so much as the desire to be loved, and since thou hast so desired our love, as to seek it by such arts, who can henceforth doubt thy love? I know, Oh my Lord, if I only love thee, that thou lovest me. I know that I stand not in need of any new arts to draw thy heart to mine, like those thou hast discovered to draw mine to thine.

The fifth reason.

15.—Moreover this most sweet Bridegroom was about to absent himself from his Spouse; and as love brooks not the absence of its beloved, he wished not to leave entirely, but to depart so as still always partially to enjoy her company He was no longer to remain with her, nor could she at that time follow him; and he invented this means to prevent an entire separation from each other. Therefore he instituted this divine sacrament, that by means of it our souls might be spiritually made one body with Christ, bound with chains of love so strong as with him to form only one being. For as food and he who eats it become one, in the same manner is it with our souls and Christ, “With this difference only,” according to St. Augustin, “that Christ does not change himself into our souls, but changes our souls into himself; not by nature, but by love and similarity of life.”

The siath reason.

16.—He was also anxious to leave her a full assurance of a glorious and happy inheritance, that sustained by the hope of that, she might cheerfully submit to all the troubles and bitterness of this life. For nothing serves so well to induce us truly to despise the things of this world, as the firm hope of obtaining what we are promised to enjoy in the next. Our Saviour would have us to understand this by those words he addressed

John xi: 139, to his disciples before his passion. “Tf you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father,” as if he would say; it is so great a good for me to go to the Father, that though I go to = through stripes and thorns, through nails and the cross, and through martyrdom and all the pains of this life, it is for an inestimable gain and a subject of joy for you. To fill the Spouse with a firm hope of this good, he left here as a pledge this inestimable treasure, worth all to be expected there, that she might not doubt that God would bestow that in a state of glory where she will live entirely as a spirit, since he has not refused it in this vale of tears, where she lives in the flesh.

The seventh reason.

17.—He was also desirous at the hour of his death to make his will, and to leave his Spouse a valuable bequest for her comfort, and he left her this the most valuable and profitable he could bestow. When Elias was about to leave this earth, he left his mantle to his disciple Eliseus, having no other property of which he could make him heir; and our Saviour and Master when about to ascend to heaven, left us here the mantle of his sacred body in this sacrament, making us as his children the heirs to this great treasure. With that mantle Eliseus crossed the waters of the Jordan without being drowned or even wet, and by the virtue and grace of this sacrament the faithful are able to pass through the waters of the vanities and tribulations of this life without sin and without danger. The eighth reason. a

18.—Finally he was desirous of bequeathing to our souls sufficient provision and sustenance for their support. For the soul has not less need of proper nourishment to support her spiritual life than has the body for its corporal life. But say, why does the body require sustenance every day? No doubt because natural heat is always consuming its substance, and hence it is necessary daily to repair with sustenance the waste that is daily occasioned by this heat, otherwise man would soon lose all his strength and consequently perish. Oh would to God that men would learn by this the need they have of this divine sacrament and the wisdom and mercy of him who instituted it! Is it not certain that we have in our interiors a pestilential heat arising from sin, which consumes all the good within us? ‘This is what inclines us to the love of the - world and the flesh, and of all vices and pleasures, and thus separates us from God, makes us lukewarm in his love, numbs us for all that is good and invigorates us for everything wicked. Since then we bear within us this perpetual consumer so firmly rooted, ought we not always to be engaged in supplying that which is always being consumed? If the waste be continuous and the relief not, what can be expected but a continual sinking to end in total destruction? To prove this look at the conduct of the early Christians of the Primitive Church. See how they always partook of this food, lived upon it and obtained strength thereby not only sufficient to keep the law of God, but also to die for his love. But if men now-a-days are so weak and fallen away, itis because they eat not, hence they die of hunger, as signified by the prophet

Isai. y. 12. where he said; ‘‘ Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with. famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst.” For this then did that wise Physician, who had felt the pulse of our weakness, ordain this sacrament ; and ordained it under the form of food, that the form under which it was instituted might point out its efficacy and the need our souls had of it.

19.—Was it possible for God to give the world a greater proof of his love than bequeathing to it his own body and blood for its maintenance and its cure? We often read in history of mothers who have been driven by want and the pangs of hunger to lay hands upon their own children, and impelled by the love of life, have deprived their offspring of life to preserve their own. We have often read of this, but who ever read of a mother feeding her starving child with her own flesh? cutting off a limb to provide it with maintenance, cruel to herself out of compassion to it? No such mother was ever heard of; but he, more compassionate than any mother descended from heaven to thee, seeing that thou wast perishing of hunger, and that he had no better means to support thee than bestowing upon thee for thy sustenance his own flesh, here delivers himself to his executioners and to death, that thou mightest live upon this food. And not only on one occasion did he this, but anxious repeatedly to do: so, he instituted this sacrament as a further proof of greater love; shewing in it, as he continues to provide for thee the same food, that he is always ready to do so, at the same cost, were it necessary for thee.

The ninth reason.

20.—After this thou shouldst consider that this most holy Redeemer of the world was anxious to restore man to his former dignity, and to raise him as much by grace, as he had fallen by sin; and as his fall was from the life of God to that of beasts, so he desired to elevate him from that of beasts into which he had sunk, to the life of God which he had forfeited. For this end did he ordain the communion of this divine sacrament as a means by which man might be made a participator of God and live a godly life, as he himself expresses it John vi. in those exalted words; ‘‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me‘and I in him, as the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.” Therefore this is the greatest of all the sacraments, in which God is bodily received; not that he may be changed into man, but that man may be changed into him by love and the conformity of the will. For this divine food works in him who receiveth worthily that which is worked and symbolized in it when it is consecrated. For as by virtue of the words of consecration, that which was bread is changed into the substance of Christ, so by virtue of this holy communion, that which was man becomes in a miraculous manner transformed spiritually into God. So that as that sacred bread is one thing, and appears to be another, and is one before consecration, and another after; so he that eateth of it is one thing before communion, and another after: and appears outwardly to be one thing, but is a much more exalted and excellent thing inwardly, since one state is the state of man, the other that of the spirit of God. What glory then can surpass this? What more bountiful gift? What greater benefit? What greater evidence of love? Be silent all ye works of nature, and be silent also all ye works of grace, for this is beyond all other works and surpasses all other graces.

21.—Oh most wonderful sacrament! What shall I say of thee? In what words shall I praise thee? Thou art the life of our souls, the balsam of our wounds, our comfort in troubles, a memorial of Christ Jesus, a testimony of his love, the most precious legacy in his will, the companion of our wanderings, the joy of our exile, the fuel to kindle the fire of divine love, the medium of grace, the pledge of happiness and treasure of a christian life. By this food the soul is united to her Spouse, by this is the understanding enlightened, the memory awakened, the will warmed with love, the interior taste delighted, devotion invigorated, the inner man thawed, the fountains of tears opened, the passions calmed, good desires aroused, our weakness supported and breath supplied to enable us to ascend the mountain of God. What tongue can adequately describe the virtues of this sacrament? Who can shew sufficient gratitude for so great a benefit? Who can avoid melting into tears at seeing his Gud so closely united to him? Words fail and the understanding gives way at the contemplation of this sublime mystery.

22.—Then what delight, what sweetness, wlfat a fragrant breath of life pervade the soul of the just at the time of receiying. No sound is heard save the sweet canticles of the interior man, the longings of desire, thanksgivings and tender praises of the beloved. Because here the devout soul, by virtue of this venerable sacrament is interiorly entirely renovated, is full of joy, refreshed with devotion, maintained in peace, fortified in faith, confirmed in hope, and bound with the chains of love to her most sweet Redeemer. Hence she becomes daily more fervent in love, stronger against temptation, more ready to bear labours, more anxious to work well and more desirous of frequenting this sacred mystery. >

23.—Such are thy gifts, Oh good Jesus! such the fruits and delights of thy love, which thou bestowest upon thy friends in this divine sacrament in order by these great and overpowering pleasures to make them despise all vain and deceitful enjoyments. Open then now Oh mellifluous love! Open Oh divine light the interior eyes of thy faithful servants, that*by the rays of faith they may know thee, and open their hearts to receive thee, that instructed by thee, they may seek thee for thyself and dwell within thee, and in the end through the medium of this sacrament may be as members united with thee as their head, like the vine shoots with their vine, that they may thus live by thy strength and enjoy the influence of thy grace for ever and ever. Amen.

24.—At the conclusion of the meditation, make an act of thanksgiving and a petition, as mentioned before in the second chapter.