The Octave of Corpus Christ!

Let us adore Christ, the King, who roleth the nations : who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him.

Christinn regem adoremns dominantem gentibus, qui se manducanubns dat spiritus pingnedinem.

The bright Octave, consecrated to the glory of the Blessed Sacrament, closes to-day ; and, although we began the subject three days before the Feast itself, we have been able to do little more than slightly touch upon the sublime subject proposed for our consideration and love by the Church. The Memorial left us by our Lord of all his wondrous mercies 1 far exceeds the measure of our poor thoughts ; the extremity of the infinite love, which God bears to his own 2 creatures, is far beyond any possibility of ours to make it a return such as it would deserve, and very far beyond the capabilities of human words to express.

Eternal Wisdom was, even from his Father's bosom, betrothed to human nature ; he came down into this world, which sin had marred, and there he found man, who had become the slave of sin ; 5 he assumed this nature ; he became man ; he was thus able to make a Sacrifice, which gives infinite glory, and full satisfaction, to God ; and, by that same, he perfected his union with his creature, by means, that is, of a divine banquet, at which, as food and drink, he himself is served, for he is the divine Victim, 4 immolated on the Cross, and at our Altars.

» Ps. ex. 4. * Heb. ii. 14, 15.

• St. John, xiii 1. 4 Prov.ix. 2.

O Man ! 0 child of Adam, that wast formed of earthy slime, 1 what art thou, that thou shouldst be remembered in the court of heaven P 2 Thou desired one of the everlasting hills, 3 — (for we may apply this name even to thee,) — what hast thou done, that thou shouldst thus be glorified ? 4 Yet, doubt it not, thou hast had all these favours. " Let not my few weak " words stagger thee," cries out St. Cyril, the brave defender at Ephesus, of the sacred nuptials, of which the Eucharist is, what the Fathers call, 5 the glorious extension, — "heed not my unworthiness, but listen " to the voice, respect the authority of them that have " gone before us, and have preached these truths. " They were not men of the common sort, they were " not men undeserving of notice, who went about, like " hired criers, to proclaim these things on the high- " roads ; no, they were such men as the great Solo- " mon, who was sent as the herald of the King of " kings ; he sat on his high throne, and proclaimed the " mysteries of the Most High ; he was clad in scarlet " robes, and wore a diadem on his brow, and he was "the one to publish the mandate of the God who "makes and unmakes kings." 6

Christians ! ye people of kings ! 7 who are to have crowns and thrones yonder in heaven, 8 — it is to you this Solomon speaks. Your dignity is great. Listen to this herald of God ; learn whence comes your greatness, and live up to it. Hearken, ye kings, and understand ! Give ear, ye kings ! To you are these my words. If ye love your thrones and your sceptres, love Wisdom, that ye may reign for ever. 9 I preferred this Wisdom before kingdoms and thrones; I loved him above all treasures, and health, and beauty, and chose

^en. ii. 7. 'Ps.viii. 5. 8 Gen. xlix. 26. * Job, vii. 17. 5 J>age 394,

6 Horn. div. x in Myst. ccen.

7 St. Matth. xxv. 34.

8 Apoc. v. 9, 10.

9 Wisd, vi. 2, 3, 10, 22}, to have him instead of light 1 What this Wisdom is, and what his origin, I will declare, and I will not hide from you the mysteries of Ood ; but will seek Wisdom out from the beginning of his birth, and bring the knowledge of him to light, and will not pass over the truth. 1 I have learned him without guile, and I communicate him to you without envy? Receive, therefore, instruction by my words, and it shall be profitable unto you. 4

Would to God, that we had been able to tell the wonderful mystery we have been celebrating ! 5 Divine Wisdom himself has been pressing us, during all these days, to study the excellencies of that sacred Bread, which yields delights to the kings, his guests ! 6 The Church has kept close to the throne of her Jesus, that cloud in which he dwells out of love for us. 7 She is full of love for him ; he has given her unity by the Sacrament of union ; and she, like a strong compact city, summons her tribes of Israel, 8 the holy nation, the people of the redeemed, the chosen race of the priests and kings, 9 to come together again on this octave-day, that they may testify their faith, and sing their love, and be grateful for the peace which, by the holy Eucharist, is secured to them, and for the abundance of grace and blessing it gives to us her children. 10 These days of universal joy and festivity around the holy Host were revealed, by the Holy Ghost, to the son of Sirach ; and the vision made him exolaim : Wisdom shall praise her own self and shall be honoured in Ood, and shall glory in the midst of her people, and shall open her mouth in the churches of the Most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power. And in the midst of her own people, she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly. And in the

1 Wild. vii. 8-10. 6 Gen. xlix. 20. Cf. Ant. 3am laud in dieFesti.

2 Ibid. vi. 24 ; vii. 15. 7 Ecclus. xxiv. 7,

3 Ibid, vii, 13. 8 Ps. cxxi. 3, 4. * Ibid. vi. 25-27. 9 1 St. Pet. ii. 9. 8 Ibid, vii, 15. 10 Ps. cxxi, 4-8, multitude of the elect, she shall have praise, and among the blessed (of the Father) she shall be blessed. 1

Blessed the man, continues the inspired writer, still speaking in the future, that shall dwell in Wisdom ! Blessed the man that considereih her ways in his heart, and hath understanding in her secrets, who goeth after her as one that traceth, and prepareth for her snares of love ; 2 who looketh in at her windows, and hearkeneth at her door I Blessed is he that lodgeth near her house, and, fastening a pin in her walk, shall set up his tent nigh unto her, where good things shall rest in his lodging for ever. He shall set his children under her shelter, and shall lodge under her branches. He shall be protected, under her covering, from the heat, and shall rest in her glory. 3

0 House of God, House of the feasting of kings 4 filled with the fragrance of sweetest incense ! 5 better is one day in thy precincts, than a*thousand elsewhere. It is a joy to my soul to think of days spent there ! 6 The poor bird that once was lonely, and sat moaning on a roof that could never give her rest, 7 here, in the House of God, finds all she wants. The turtle-dove, having found, at the Altar of her Lord, a nest for her young ones, 8 has no further solioitude. In the secret of that little cloud, far from the conflicts and disturbances of the world, and where there is no contradiction of tongues, — there, from early dawn, eternal Wisdom is pouring out upon souls the multitude of his light and sweetness ; 9 there, eaoh of the Churoh's hours, choirs will be singing psalms and canticles of praise and joy, around the tabernacle, 10 wherein resides the Lamb who, though slain, is ever living, 11 beautiful on his throne of love, the God of gods in our Sion. 12

1 Ecclus. xxiv. 1-4. 7 Ps. ci. 8. * Juxta graec. 8 Ibid, lxxxiii. 4.

8 Ecclus. xiv. 22-27. 9 Ibid. xxx. 20, 21.

*Ps.xli. 5. 10 Ibid. xxvi. 6.

5 Ecclus. xxiv. 20, 21. 11 Apoc v. 6.

6 Ps. Ixxxiu. 2, 11, m p 8 . frxxjii. 8,

O ye children of men, Sons of the Most High, the Psalmist may well give you the name of gods, 1 for you are so olosely united with God ; you reoeive Him into suoh intimaoy with your own selves ; you feast upon the Lamb, and divine Wisdom is within you by that communion. It is by the same Lamb, that he abides among you !

Truly, he abides among us ; our earth has received the Mysfcery of the Marriage-Feast, of the divine Espousals with human nature, and she ever possesses the Lord her God, dwelling with her in the Eucharist. 0 thou gladness of morning ! 2 0 heavenly wine that bringest forth virgins ! 3 the happy moments wherein the beauty of that Jesus of ours, whose full vision is the joy of the Angels, gives Itself, under the sacramental veil, to our souls, — 0 happy moments ! you leave behind you something more than a joyous recollection. The Altar of Sacrifice, and the House of the great Banquet, — they both continue as the throne ever ocoupied by our King ; they are the earthly abode of that Wisdom, who, though he is seated at the right hand of the Father, in the brightness of the Saints, and is loved by the Lord of all things, 4 yet has he not changed towards us poor children of men ; he still delights to be with us, and keep up his loved union with us ; and, as he tells us he did at the beginning, so he does still, he loves this world of ours, and, to use his own word, he still plat/8 with it. 5 On the throne of his tabernacle, he, beautiful Wisdom, receives the adorations of them that rule this world, for it is from him they have their crowns and sceptres ; and, when they have wisdom, it is from Him they have it, and they asked him for it, on bended knees. 6 On that same throne, he hears and grants the prayer of those little ones, little by i Ps. lxxxi. 8. 4 Wisd. viii. 3 ; Ps. cix. 5.

• Ibid. xxix. 6. 5 Prov. viii. 31.

» Zach t ix, 17, 6 Ibid. xiv. 16, humility and simplicity of heart, whom he so sweetly presses to go to him ; 1 they are attraoted to him, hy his divine loveliness and riches ; 2 and they go to him, that he may teach them how to love him, and fill their treasures to the brim. 3

Glory be to the Lamb, whose Sacrifice has given us this wondrous Presence in the Blessed Sacrament ! To him be power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediotion, for ever and ever ! 4 By his lovely light, 5 let us, as a close to this day and the Octave, respectfully contemplate what this ineffable permanence is, which thus seoures to us, and in its fulness, and to the end of time, the great Mystery of Faith.

How different is the divine Lamb of the true Passover, from that ancient one of the Jewish people, which we now so well understand ! 6 In prescribing the rites to be observed in the saorifioe of the figurative Paschal Lamb, and which was to be eaten but once a year, Moses laid down this strict injunction : "Neither shall there remain anything of it until "morning" 1 nothing was to be left, all was to be consumed ! Let us listen, now, to an Apostle of the New Law : it is Andrew, brother to Peter ; he is speaking to a Eoman Proconsul, and, through him, to all the Gentiles : " Every day,*I offer up to the " almighty God, who is one and true, not the flesh "of oxon, nor the blood of goats, but the spotless " Lamb, upon the Altar ; of whose Flesh the whole u multitude of the people eat ; and the Lamb that is u sacrificed, remains whole and living." 8

" How can that be P" asks the Proconsul. "Be- " come a disciple of mine, and thou shalt learn," replies Andrew. But, that could not be : the representative

1 Prov. ix. 4 ; St. Mark, x. 14.

2 Ecclus. xxiv. 26.

3 Prov. viii. 21. 4 ;Ap<JC. v. 12.

5 Apoc. xxi. 23.

6 Paschal Time, vol. 1, p. 201.

7 Exod. xii. 10. p Pass. S f Andr, ap. Lipom. of the pagan world was officially appointed to perseoute the crucified Jesus in his members; and as to the sublime dogma he had just heard, and which was the very basis of the religion proscribed by the State, he had but one way of dealing with it and its preacher, — laugh at it, and hang Andrew on the cross. The Apostle thus sealed his testimony by his death, leaving to the Holy Ghost, who had inspired him with the words he had spoken, 1 the future victory which that teaohing was to win. His brother- Apostles, who had been his fellow-guests at the Last Supper, also laid down their lives for Jesus and hi doctrines ; and, by that sacrifice of themselves, the; made themselves food to the same dear Lord. S did Andrew. He followed the counsel of the Man : When thou shalt sit to eat with a Prture, to sider diligently what is set before thy face, and lay t> to thy heart, and know that it behoveth thee to gk* like feasting to the Prince. 2 Having, therefore, V fed with Jesus' Cross in the banquet of his Body the Last Supper, as St. Augustine expresses Andrew made a right noble return.

And so was it with the other Martyrs, who c after him ; — the joy they showed, in the midst of t tortures, kept up the proof of the power that e in the precious Wine and heavenly Bread, * oan thus gladden man's heart and make it bi The time would come, when the demonstration < Mystery of Faith, so sublimely expressed b Apostle St. Andrew, would convince the world indeed by the force of argument, or by the sequel ef learned deductions, — but by the worl<3 becoming transformed, from paganism to Christi That transformation was an impossibility, as the world's own misery and power were cone

1 St.Matth. x. 20. 3 In, JPs. c.

8 Prov. xxiii. 1 (etjuxta grac.) 2, * Ps. ciii. ] and yet, it was an undeniable fact ; and it was the Result of an irresistible influence ; and the influence was that of the divine leaven, whioh in the language of the Gospel, was put into the whole measure of east to west, everywhere throughout the globe, the children of the Church now sing these words, which are but St. Andrew's expression that has triumphed over the world, won its faith, and is set to rhythm And music : " Christ's Flesh is food, and his Blood " is drink ; yet is he whole, under each species. He " is not cut by the receiver, nor broken, nor divided : " he is taken whole. He is received by one, he is "received by a thousand ; the one receives as much " as all ; nor is he consumed, who is received. And " when the Sacrament is broken, waver not ! but re- " member, that there is as much under each frag- " ment, as is hid under the whole. Of the substance " that is there, there is no division ; it is but the " sign that is broken ; and He who is the Signified, "is not thereby diminished, either as to state or "stature." 1

The Church's doctrine is this : that " under each "species, and under each part of each species, "there is contained, truly, really, and substantially, "the Body, and the Blood, together with the "Soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, "and, therefore, the whole Christ." 2 Of themselves, it is true, the words of Consecration in the Sacrifice, do but produce what they signify ; and, therefore, exclusively and isolatedly, under the twofold species, produce the Body and the Blood ; but our Risen Lord, who liveth now for ever, remains indivisible. As the Apostle teaches us, Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more ; for, in that he died to sin (that is, because of our sin), he died

• Sequen. Lauda Sion. 2 Cone. Trid. Sess. xiii. can. 1 ? 3,

From south to north, from once; but, in that he liveth, he liveth unto God} Therefore, wheresoever, in virtue of the words of consecration, there is the most holy Body, or the Blood of our Redeemer, there, also, by an essential and necessary concomitance, is there the wh^le entire sacred Humanity, united with the Word.

And here, for the sake of greater preoision, we are going to adopt the scholastic phraseology. And firstly, the change of bread into the Body, and of wine into the Blood, is one of substance into substanoe ; but in this miraculous change, very appropriately, on that account, called trans-substantiation, the accidents or modes of the two terms of the change are, in no ways, altered or destroyed. So that, being deprived of their natural subject, or support, the species, or appearances of bread and wine are immediately sustained by (rod's omnipotence, and they produce and receive the same impressions as they would do if they were joined to their own proper substances. They are the sacramental sign ; and although they do not inform the Body of Christ, that is, do not give It their own qualities or properties, yet they determine and maintain Its presence, so long as these species are not essentially modified. As regards the Body of our Lord, — which, in Its own true substance, is substituted for the substance alone of bread and wine, — It is withdrawn, by the sacred formula, from those mysterious laws of extension, which are so far from being thoroughly understood by human science ; It is whole under the whole species, and whole under each sensible portion of the species, and, in this, It resembles spiritual substances, such as, for instanoe, the soul of man, which is whole in his whole body, and whole in each member of the same. Such, then, is the mystery of the sacramental state : whilst present to us under the dimensions of the host, and

• Itom. vi. 9, JO. 1 Cone. Trid- Sess. xui, can. 3, not beyond them, by reason of his substance being independent of our known laws of extension, Christ our Lord abides in himself precisely what he is in heaven. As St. Thomas of Aquin expresses it : " The " Body of Christ, in the Sacrament, retains all Its " accidents, as a necessary consequence ; and its several "parts are just as they are in his sacred Body, " although they are not subject to the conditions of " external space." 1

The very notion of Sacrifice required this passive appearance ; in the same way as the idea of a banquet, in whioh he is received, determined what were to be the peculiar nature of the sacramental elements selected by our divine Lord. Of course, when we behold the sacred Host, we must banish every such thought as bondage, or actual suffering, or laborious virtues, on the part of the divine Guest who dwells under the sacred species : under this external passivenese or apparent death, there abound life, and love, and beauty of the Lamb, who has vanquished death, — of Jesus, that is, — of Him, who is the immortal King of ages.

He resides under the white Host, with all his power and brightness, the most beautiful of the children of men ; 2 he has all those admirable proportions, and all the perfect finish of those divine members, which were formed from the flesh of the most beautiful of the daughters of Adam, and the purest of Virgins. Let us venerate, with all the respeot we are capable of, those feet, whioh were watered by the tears of the repentant Magdalene, and dried with her hair, 3 and embalmed with the sweetest ointment, beforehand, as our Jesus emphasises her act, when he praised it ; 4 those feet of our merciful Bedeemer, more beautiful

1 P. 3. Q. lxxyi., a, 4 ; Sent. lib. iv. dist. 10, art. 2. a Pa. xliv. 3. 8 St. Luko, vii. 37. 4 St. Mark, xiv. 8. than the feet of them who come to tell us of his having oome among us ; 1 they are bright, beyond the brightness of fine brass when in a burning furnace. 2 Let us send our reverential kisses, beyond the veil, to those hands, which are spotless, and consecrated for the office of High Priest ; 8 those hands, which worked at the wood in Joseph's shop ; those hands, which scattered blessings and miracles throughout the land of Israel ; they are there, under that Host, just as the Bride of the Canticle saw and described them, bright as gold, formed to the model of perfection, and full of something extremely precious, which she called hyacinths , 4 and which perhaps signify those wounds of which the prophet speaks, saying, that horns are in his hands, and there is his strength hid. 5 Would that we might look beneath the little cloud which hides from us that divine head, the admiration of the Angels, — that face, once disfigured, and buffeted, and covered all* over with reproaches, out of love for us, 6 but now resplendent as the sun when he shineth in his power ! 7 O mouth of our Jesus, thou instrument of the "Word, whose voice is as the sound of many waters, 8 and whose breathing is death to the wicked ! 9 O lips, which our Scriptures tell us, are as lilies dropping ohoioe myrrh ! 10 And you, O eyes, whioh shed tears over Lazarus, 11 and now are lighting up with your brightness 12 the abode of the Saints ! Oh ! that we might see all, see thee thyself, Jesus, beneath the mystery and the veil ! But, no ! the mystery and veil may not be removed ; and surer are we, than if our eyes were the witnesses, that thou, O Beloved of our l Is. Iii. 7. 7 Apoc. i. 16.

2 Apoc. i. 15.

3 Lev. xxi. 10. *Cant. v. 14.

8 Hab. iii. 4.

8 Ibid. i. 16.

9 Is. xi. 4.

10 Cant. v. 13.

11 St. John, xi. 36. "Apoc. i. 14.

6 Lament iii. 30. hearts 1 that thou art behind our wall, looking at us through the lattices ; 1 and this is enough to make us adore thee. Verily the sweetest test to which thou couldst put our love, was that we should have faith in this mystery of the adorable Sacrament !

0 precious Blood, thou prioe of our ransom, shed profusely on this earth, but now again within the sacred veins of Jesus ! thou art now, as during his years here below, diffusing thy life-giving qualities to his divine members, under the action of that sacred Heart, which we are so solemnly to honour to-morrow ! Most holy soul of Jesus, present in the Sacrament as form substantial 2 of that most perfect Body, whioh, through thee, is the ever- living Body of the Man- God, — thou possessest within thee all the treasures of eternal Wisdom ! 8 thou hadst the office intrusted to thee, of putting into a varied and sensible language, the ineffable beauty of that Wisdom of the Father, who was taken with love for the children of men, and desired, by a manifestation whioh they could understand, to secure their love to himself ! Every word, every step, of Jesus, every mystery of his public or hidden life, was a gradual revelation, to us men, of that divine brightness. Truly, as we have it in the Gospel, this Wisdom, like the grace that was within him, advanoed in his manifestation to the creatures, whose love he had come down from heaven to win. 4 When, at length, he had achieved all his work, — given us his teachings, and examples, and mysteries, those marvellous manifestations of his own infinite perfections, — he gave them perpetuity, that so all ages to come might possess them and benefit by them ; he fixed them, so to say, in the Sacrament of love, that abiding source of grace and light to men, that living Memorial, wherein divine love is ever ready to bestow upon us

1 Cant. ii. 9. 1 Coloss. ii. 3.

• Concil. Vienn. 4 St. Luke, ii. 52. the graces of the wonderful works he has wrought by his Inoarnation. " The Flesh, the Blood of Christ, " is the "Word made manifest," says St. Basil ; " it is " Wisdom made visible by the Incarnation and by all " that mystery of his life in the flesh, whereby he un- " folds to us, all moral perfection, and all the beautiful, " both natural and divine. It is that which is the " food of our soul, and which is preparing her, even in "this world, for the contemplation of the divine "realities." 1

The solemn Exposition, during which the Blessed Sacrament has been receiving our most fervent homage of adoration and love, is concluded, as it began, with a Procession. As soon as the Vespers are over, (and they are the same as those of the Feast, page 294), the Deacon takes the Monstranoe from the throne, and gives it to the Priest. The sacred Host is, onoe more carried outside the Church, with the same holy ceremonies, and chants, and joyous worship of the Faithful. Again, It has all nature doing homage to its Creator ; It sanotifies every place through which It is carried, drives away the hostile power which, as the Apostle tells us, seeks to infest this air, 2 blesses our streets and our country lanes, and imparts to our fields a pledge of rich harvest. It is then brought back to the Churoh, not to leave the hallowed precincts again, save for the sake of the • dying, to strengthen them for their last long journey, or for the sick, that it may be administered to them, since they are not able to go to their Lord. The Benediotion is then given to the adoring assembly, and the Saored Host is replaced in the Tabernacle.

Whilst these sentiments of faith and love are so

1 Epist. viii. * Eph. ii. 2 ; vi. 12. aotive within us, let us give them expression, by the beautiful hymn, Adoro te devote : it was composed by the Angelical Dootor, St. Thomas of Aquin ; and it is hard to say which of the two predominates in these verseg, — the theologioal science of the Saint, or his humble and glowing love.

But, when the Tabernacle-door closes upon our Jesus in his holy Sacrament, our hearts will still continue with him. This octave always brings with it euoh an increase of light regarding the great Mystery ! It has been so, this year. More than ever, for the future, will we reverence and loye the Banquet whioh is, and produces, all that we have been considering during these days : we know so much better now, than formerly, the perfections of eternal Wisdom, who has given himself to us in the Eucharist ; we will let him guide us into all grace and truth.

RHYTHMUS S. THOMJB.

I devoutly adore thee, 0 hidden Deity, who truly Kest concealed under these forms: to thee my whole heart subjects itself, because it finds it* self quite lost in contemplating thee.

Sight, feeling, taste, tell us not of thy presence; but the hearing alone may be safely believed. I believe whatsoever the Son of God has spoken ; nothing is more true, ttian this word of truth.

Upon the Cross the divinity alone was concealed ; but here the humanity also lies hid : but I believe and confess them both, and ask for what the penitent thief asked. tOXi. Xi

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,

Qruee sub his figuris vere la- titas :

Tibi se cot meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit. Yisus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto ere- ditur.

Credo (juidquid dixit Dei Eibus,

Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius. In cruce latebat sola Deitas,

At hie latet simul et huma- nitas;

Ambo tamen credens atque confitens, Peto quod petivit latro poe- mtens.

2»

Plagas, siout Thomas, non intueor, Deum tamen meum te confiteor.

Fao me tibi semper magis credere, In te spem habere, te dili- gere.

0 memoriale mortis Domini,

Panis vivus, vitam prses- tans homini : Prsesta mese menti de te vivere,

Et te illi semper dulce eapere. Pie Pelicane, JesuDomine, Me immundum munda tuo sanguine, Oujus una stilla salvum facere

Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere. Jesu, quern yelatum nunc aspicio, Oro fiat illud quod tarn sitio :

Ut te revelata cernens facie Yisu aim beatus tuse gloriee.

Amen.

I see not the wounds, as Thomas did ; yet do I confess thee to be my God. Oh ! grant that I may ever believe in thee, more and more, and put my hope in thee, and love thee.

0 memorial of my Lord's death ! 0 living Bread, that givest life to man ! Grant, that my soul may ever live on thee, and may ever relish thy sweetness.

O loving Pelican; Jesu Lord ! cleanse me, an unclean sinner, with thy Blood, one drop whereof could save the whole world from all its guilt.

0 Jesus, whom I now see beneath a veil ! I beseech thee, let that be done, for which I do so thirst : that I may see thine unveiled face, and be happy in the vision of thy glory.

Amen.

The devout Batpert, Monk of St. Gall, friend of Notker, and, like him, a writer of liturgical compositions, shall provide us with an appropriate conclusion to this our Ootave of Corpus Christi, in the following devout hymn, whioh he composed for the Faithful of his own times, — the 9th Century.

AD EUCHARIST! AM SUMKNDAM.

Laudes, Omnipotens, ferimus tibi, dona colentes Corporis immensi, Sanguinis atque tui.

Tangimus ecoe tuam, Eeo-

We offer thee our praises, 0 Almighty Lord, honouring the gifts bestowed upon us of the adorable Body and Blood.

Lo ! we are approaching thy table, 0 most holy Guide! have mercy on us thy servants, though unworthy ones.

Here is repeated : We offer thee.

Have mercy, 0 loving Lord ! compassionately forgive us our sins: That our approaching these triumphant sacred Mysteries may be to our profit.

Here is repeated: Bestowed upon us.

May there descend upon us, from the high heavens, the holy Angel, who will lovingly cleanse both our body and soul.

We offer thee.

May this powerful remedy lead us to the heavenly abode, giving us meanwhile, here on earth, the restoring power

Bestowed upon us.

O merciful Lord ! look down upon us frail ones, who are honouring thy Majesty ; 0 best of shepherds, protect us thysheep, now feeding on it !

We offer thee.

Protect them whom thou refreshest, lest the enemy may crush us ; for ever strengthen us by the gift

Bestowed upon us.

For we are unworthy that thou shouldst honour us with such a gift :

Do thou, in thine own mercy, O King, rule thine own soldiers !

We offer thee.

0 Almighty Father, in thy clemency, grant us our prayer, together with Christ and the all-powerful Spirit, the perfect Three and One giver of the gifts

Bestowed upon us. tor sanctissime, mensam:

Tu licet indignis propitiare tuis :

Here is repeated : Laudes,

Omnipotens. Propitiare pius, peccata absolve benignus : Prosit ut invictis appropiare sacris

Here is repeated : Corporis immensi. Angelus sethereis sanctus deeoendat ab astris, Purificans corpus, cor pari- terque pius. Laudes, Omnipotens. Haec medicina potens coeli nos ducat in arces, Interea terris dans medica- men opis Corporis immensi. Quod colimus fragiles, reBpice clemens, Summeque pascentes protege Pastor oves.

Laudes, Omnipotens. Protege quas recreas, hostis ne proterat illas, Consolidans dono nos sine fine tuo Corporis immensi. Nam 8umus indigni quos ornes munere tali :

Tu pietate tua, Bex, rege castra tua.

Laudes, Omnipotens.

Hoc, Pater omnipotens, cum Christo perfice, clemens,

Spiritus atque potens, trinus et unus apex Corporis immensi.

FRIDAY

AFTER THE OCTAVE OF OOEPU8 CHEI8TL

THE FEAST OP THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.

A new ray of light shines to-day in the heaven of holy Church, and its light brings warmth. The divine Master giren to us by our Redeemer, that is, the Paraclete Spirit, who has come down into this world, continues his teachings to us, in the sacred Liturgy. The earliest of these his divine teachings was the mystery of the Trinity ; and we have worshipped the Blessed Three : we have been taught who God is, we know him in his own nature, we have been admitted, bv faith, into the sanctuary of the infinite Essenoe. Then, this Spirit, the mighty wind of Pentecost, 1 opened to our souls new aspects of the truth, which it is his mission to make the world remember ; 2 and his revelation left us prostrate before the sacred Host, the Memorial whioh God himself has left us of all his wonderful works. 3 To-day, it is the sacred Heart of the Word made flesh that this Holy Spirit puts before us, that we may know and love and adore it.

There is a mysterious connexion between these three Feasts, of Trinity \ Corpus Christi, and the Sacred Heart The aim of the Holy Ghost, in all three, k this, — to initiate us more and more into that knowledge of God by faith, whioh is to fit us for the face-to-faoe Vision in heaven. We have already seen how dtad being made known to us, by the first, in himself, mani-

1 Actt, ii. 2. » St. John, xiv. 26. » Fa. ez. 3. feste himself to us, by the seoond, in bis outward works, — for the holy Eucharist is the memorial, here below, in whioh he has brought together, aud with all possible perfection, all those his wondrous works. But, by what law oan we pass, so rapidly, so almost abruptly, from one Feast, which is all directly regarding God, to another, which celebrates his works, done by him to and for us ? Then again : how came the divine thought, how oame, that is, eternal Wisdom, from the infinite repose of the eternally blessed Trinity, to the external activity of a love for us poor creatures, which has produoed what we call the Mysteries of our Redemption ? The Heart of the Man- God is the solution of these difficulties ; it answers all suoh questions, and explains to us the whole divine plan.

We knew that the sovereign happiness which is in God, we knew that the life eternal communicated from the Father to the Son, and from these two to the Holy Ghost, in light and love, — was to be given by the will of these Three Divine Persons, to created beings ; not only to those whioh were purely spiritual, but, likewise, to that creature whose nature is the union of spirit and matter, that is, to Man. We are of this lower nature ; and a pledge of this life eternal was given to us in the Saorament of the Eucharist. It is by the Eucharist that Man, who has already been made a partaker of the divine nature 1 by the grace of the sanctifying Spirit, is united to the divine Word, and is made a true member of this Only Begotten Son of the Father. Yes : though it hath not yet appeared what we shall be, says St, John, still we are now the sons of Ood ; we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like to him, 2 for we cure called to live, as the Word himself does, in the society of that eternal Father of his, for ever and ever. 3

But the infinite love of the saored Trinity, whioh thus called us frail creatures to a participation in its 1 2 St. Jty, i, 4, M St, John, iii. 9, » 1 St, John, i. 3, own blessed life, would accomplish this merciful design by tbe belp and means of another love, a love more like what we ourselves can feel ; that is, the created love of a human soul, evinced by the beatings of a Heart of flesh like our own. The Angel of the great Counsel, who is sent to make known to the world the merciful designs of the Ancient of days, took to himself, in order to fulfil his divine mission, a created, a human form ; and this would enable men to see with their eyes, yea, and even touch with their hands, the Word of life, that life eternal which was with the Father, but appeared even unto us} This human nature, which the Son of God took into personal union with himself, from the womb of the Virgin-Mother, was the docile instrument of infinite love, but it was not absorbed into, or lost in, the Godhead ; it retained its own substance, its special faculties, its distinct will, whioh Will ruled, under the influence of the divine Word, the acts and movements of his most holy Soul and adorable Body. From the very first instant of its existence, the human Soul of Christ was inundated, more directly than was any other creature, with that true light of the Word, which enlighteneth every man who cometh into this world; 2 it enjoyed the face-to- face vision of the divine essence ; and, therefore, took in, at a single glance, the absolute beauty of the sovereign Being, and the wisdom of the divine decree, whioh oalled finite beings into a participation of infinite bliss. It understood its sublime mission, and conceived an immense love for man and for God. This love began simultaneously with life, and filled not only his soul, but impressed, in its own way, the Body too, — the Body which was formed from the substance of the Virgin-Mother, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. The effeot of his love told, consequently, upon his Heart of true human flesh ; it set in motion those beatings, whioh made the JJlood of redemption circulate in his sacred veins. * I St. John, i. 2, 2 St. John, i, 9,

For, it was not with him as with other men, the pulsations of whose hearts are, at first, the consequence of nothing but the vital power whioh is in the human frame ; and, later on, when age has awakened reason into act, the ideas so produced will produce physical impressions on us, which will, now and then, quicken, or dull, the throbbings of these our hearts. With the Man- God it was not so : his Heart, from the very first moment of its life, responded, that is, throbbed, to the law of his soul's love, whose power to aot upon his human Heart was as incessant, and as intense; as is the power of organic vitality, — a love as burning at the first instant of the Inoarnation, as it is this very hour in heaven. For the human love which the Incarnate "Word had, resulting as it did from his intellectual knowledge of God and his creatures, was as perfect as that knowledge, and, therefore, as incapable of all progress ; though, being our Brother, and our model in all things, he, day by day, made more manifest to us the exquisite sensibility of his divine had forgotten how to love, for he had forgotten what true beauty was. His heart of flesh seemed to him as a sort of excuse for his false love of false goods : his heart was but an outlet, whereby his soul oould stray from heavenly things to the husks of earth, there to waste his power and his substance. 1 To this material world, which the soul of man was intended to make subserve its Maker's glory, — to this world, which, by a sad perversion, kept man's soul a slave to his senses and passions, — the Holy Ghost sent a marvellous power, which, like a resistless lever, would replace the world in its right position : — it was the sacred Heart of Jesus ; a Heart of flesh, like that of other human beings, from whose created throbbings there would ascend to the eternal Father an expression of

Heart.

At the period of Jesus' this earth, man i St. Luke, xv. 13.

44© nun* of tbs siciiD HSAR of jam lore, which would be a homage infinitely pleasing to the infinite Majesty, because there was in that love of that human Heart the dignity of its union with the Word. It is a harp of sweetest melody, that is ever vibrating under the touch of the Spirit of Love ; it gathers up into its own music the music of all creation, whose imperfections it corrects, and supplies its deficiencies, and tunes all discordant voices into unity, and so offers to the glorious Trinity a hymn of perfect praise. The Trinity finds its delight in this Heart. It is the one only organism, as St. Gertrude calls it, 1 the one only instrument which finds acceptance with the Most High. Through it must pass all the inflamed praises of the burning Seraphim, just as must do the humble homage paid to its God by inanimate creation. By it alone are to come upon this world the favours of heaven. It is the mystic ladder between man and God, the channel of all graces, the way whereby man ascends to God, and God descends to man.

The Holy Ghost, whose master-piece it is, has made it a living image of himself ; for although, in the ineffable relation* of the divine Persons, he is not the source of love, he is its substantial expression, or, in theological language, the term ; it is he who inclines the holy Trinity to those works outside itself, which first produce creatures, and then, having given them being, (and to some life,) he (the Holy Spirit) pours out upon them all the effusion of their Creators love for them. And so is it with the love whioh the Man-God has for God and Man, — its direct and, so to say, material expression is the throbbing it produoes upon his sacred Heart; and again, it is by that Heart, that, like the Water and Blood whioh came from his wounded Side, he pours out upon the world a stream of redemption and grace, whioh is to be followed by the still richer one of glory.

• Legatus dwintt' pietatia ; lib. ii, c. 23 ; lib. iii. c. 25,

One of the soldiers, as the Gospel tells us, opened Jesus' Side with a spear, and, immediately, there came out blood and water. 1 We must keep before us this text and the fact it relates, for they give us the true meaning of the Feast we are oelebrating. The importance of the event here related is strongly intimated, by the earnest and solemn way in which St. John follows up his narration. After the words just quoted, he adds : And he that saw it hath given testimony of it, md his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe ; for these things were done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 2 Here the Gospel refers us to the testimony of the Prophet Zaoharias, who, after predicting the Spirit of grace being poured out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 3 says : They shall look upon Him whom they pierced. 4

And, when they look upon his side thus pieroed, what will they see there, but that great truth whioh is the summary of all Soripture — of all history : — God so loved the world, as to give it his Only Begotten Son ; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have eternal life? This grand truth was, during the ages of expectation, veiled under types and figures ; it could be deciphered but by few, and, even then, only obscurely ; but it was made known with all possible clearness on that eventful day, when, on Jordan's banks, 6 the whole sacred Trinity manifested who was the Elect, the Chosen One, of the Father, — the Son in whom he was so well pleased. 7 Yes, it was Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary : but, there 'was another revelation, of deepest interest to us, whioh had still to be made : it was — how, and in what way, would the eternal life brought by this Jesus

1 St. John, xix. 34. 6 St. John, iii. 16.

2 Ibid. xix. 35, 36. 6 St. Luk«, iii. 21, 22.

3 Zaoh. xii. 10. 7 Is. xlii. 1. * Ibid., as quoted by St. John, xix. 37, into the world, pass from him into each one of us ? This second revelation was made to us, when the soldier's spear opened the divine source, and there flowed from it that Water and Blood, which, as the Scripture tells us, completed the testimony of the Blessed Three. There are three, says St, John, who give testimotiy in heaven : the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are One. And there are three that give testimony on earth : the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood: and these three are one, that is, they are one, because they conour in giving the one same testimony. And, this, continues St. John, is the testimony : — that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son} These words contain a very profound mystery ; but we have their explanation in to-day's Feast, which shows us how it is through the Heart of the Man-God that the divine work is achieved, and how, through that same Heart, the plan, which was conceived, from all eternity, by the Wisdom of the Father, has been realised.

To comraunioate his own happiness to creatures, by making them, through the Holy Ghost, partakers of his own divine nature, 2 and members of his beloved Son, — this was the meroif ul design of the Father ; and all the works of the Trinity, outside itself, tend to the accomplishment of that same. When the fulness of time had come, there appeared upon our earth He that came by ycater and blood, Jesus Christ, — not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit, who, together with the Father and the Son has already, on the banks of Jordan, given his testimony, gives it here again, for St. John continues : And it is the Spint which testifieth, that Christ is the truth ; 1 and that he spoke the truth when he said of himself, that he is Life.* Yes, the Spirit, as the Gospel teaches us, 5