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II.9. Vox Sponsae

Summary. — The Divine praise forms an essential part of the sanctifying mission confided by Christ to the Church. — I. The Eternal Word, the Divine Canticle ; the Incarnation associates humanity with this canticle. — II. The Church charged to organize, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, the public worship of her Spouse ; the use that is made of the psalms ; how these inspired canticles exalt the Divine perfections, express our needs and speak to us of Christ. — Ill. The great power of intercession this divine praise has on the lips of the Bride. — IV. Numerous fruits of sanctification : the prayer of the Church, source of light ; it makes us share in the sentiments of the Soul of Christ. — V. It likewise gives us a share in His mysteries ; a sure and infallible way of making us one with Jesus. — VI. Why and how the Church honours the Saints.

? | ‘HE Holy Sacrifice in which the soul participates by sacramental communion constitutes, as we have seen, the centre of our religion; it includes in one and the same act the commemoration, renewal and application of the immolation of Calvary.

But the Mass in itself alone does not supply the place of all the religious actions we ought to accomplish; although it is the most perfect homage we can render to God and contains the substance and virtue of all homage, it is, however, not the only homage. What do we yet owe to God? The homage of prayer, at one time public, at another individual. I will speak in the following conference of private and mental prayer. Let us now see in what the homage of public prayer consists.

If you read the letters of St. Paul, you will see he exhorts us to it more than once. He writes to the Colossians telling them to teach and admonish one another ” in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God*”. And again: ” Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things,

  1. Col. m, 16.

Christ, the life of the soul. 20 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father”. While he himself was in prison, with his companion Silas, he would rise during the night to offer to God with a glad heart praises for his sufferings and thanksgiving for his wounds”: Media autem nocte Paulus et Silas orantes laudabant Deum *.

This Divine praise is closely linked with the Holy Sacrifice and we see that Our Lord wished to show us this by His example. The Evangelists, in fact, tell us that Christ did not leave the Cenacle, after the institution of the Eucharist, until He had said a hymn of praise: Hymno dicto *. Public prayer gravitates all around the sacrifice of the altar; it is there it finds its best support, it is thence it draws its greatest value in the sight of God. This is because it is presented to Him by the Church, in the name of the Bridegroom, the Eternal High Priest, Who, by His Sacrifice unceasingly renewed, has merited that all glory and honour should be rendered to the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost: Per ipsum et cum ipso et im ipso est tibi... omnis honor et gloria ®.

Let us see in what this homage of the official prayer of the Church consists, and how, whilst constituting a work most acceptable to God, it becomes for us a pure and abundant source of union with Christ and of eternal life. kk

Before ascending into Heaven, Christ Jesus bequeathed to His Church its greatest treasure — the mission of continuing His work here below *. This work, as you know, is double: it is a work of praise in regard to the Eternal Father, a work of salvation in regard to men. The Word was made flesh for us: Propter nos et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis™, That is true; but this work of our redemption has for its cause the love of Christ for His Father: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem... sic facto *.

The Church receives her mission from Christ: she receives the sacraments and the privilege of infallibility in order to sanctify men; but she has a part too in the religion

  1. Ephes. v, 19-20. — 2. Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Paul. — 3. Act. xvi, 25, — 4. Matth. xxv, 30; Marc. xiv, 26. — 5. Canon” of the

Mass. — 6. See the conference on The Church. — 7. The Nicene Creed. — 8 Joan. xIV, 31.: of Christ towards His Father in order to continue upon earth the homage of praise that Christ in His sacred humanity offered to His Father.

Christ Jesus, in this as in all things, is our Model. Let us for an instant contemplate the Incarnate Word. Christ is the only Son of the Father; He is the Eternal Word. In the adorable Trinity, He is the Word by which the Father eternally says to Himself all that He is; He is the living expression of all the perfections of the Father, the ” figure of His substance”, says St. Paul, and the ” brightness of His glory’”. The Father contemplates His Word, His Son; He sees in Him the perfect, substantial, living image of Himself ; such is the essential glory that the Father receives. If God had created nothing, had left all things in the state of possibility, He would, however, have had His essential and infinite glory. By the very fact of being what He is, the Eternal Word is like a Divine canticle, a living canticle, singing the praise of the Father, expressing the plenitude of His perfections. It is the infinite hymn which resounds unceasingly Jn sinu Patris.

In taking a human nature, the Son remains what He was: Quod fuit permansit ?; He does not cease to be the only Son, the perfect image of the perfections of the Father; He does not cease to be of Himself the living glorification of His Father. The infinite canticle, sung from all eternity, began to be sung upon earth when the Word became incarnate. By the Incarnation, humanity is, as it were, drawn by the Word into this work of glorification; the canticle sung in the sanctuary of the Divinity is prolonged by the Incarnate Word in His humanity.

Upon the lips of Christ Jesus, true Man as well as true God, this canticle takes a human. expression and human accents, and likewise a character of adoration that the Word, equal to the Father, could not offer Him as such. However, if the expression of this canticle is human, its perfection is all-holy; it is of Divine price and infinite value. Who amongst us could measure the greatness of the worship Christ rendered to His Father ? Who could recount something of the song of praise Christ sang in His thrice blessed soul to the glory of His Father ? The soul of Christ contemplated, in a continual vision, the divine perfections, and from this contemplation sprang forth the fulness of religion, perfect adoration and sublime praise. At the end of His earthly life, Christ Jesus declares to His Father that He has always glorified Him. This was the chief work of His life and He has perfectly fulfilled it : Ego te clarificavt super terram : opus consummavi, quod dedisti mihi ut faciam : ”T have glorified Thee on the earth ; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do*”.1

But it is note-worthy that in personally uniting our nature to Himself, the Word incorporated, so to speak, all humanity with Himself. He associated, by right and in principle, all humanity in the perfect praise He gives to His Father. Here again we have received of the fulness of Christ, so that, in Christ and by Christ, every Christian soul, united to Him by grace, should sing divine praises. Christ is our Head, all the baptized are the members of His mystical body; in Him and through Him, we should give all glory and honour to God.

Christ has left us a share of praise to fulfil as He has given us a share of suffering to bear. Does our adoration and praise add something to the merit or the perfection of those of Christ ? Certainly not. But Christ has willed that, through the Incarnation, all humanity, of which He holds the place, should be by right indissolubly united to all His states and to all His Mysteries. Let us never forget this. He makes only one with us. He rendered His adorations and praises to His Father not only in our favour but also in our name. And that is why the Church, His mystical Body, must be associated here below with this work of religion and praise which the humanity of Christ now renders to His Father in splendoribus sanctorum?. The Church must offer, after the example of her Spouse, this ” sacrifice of praise’, as St. Paul calls it * that is due to the infinite perfections of the Father.

Ley

Let us see how the Church, guided in this by the Holy Ghost, fulfils her mission. At the centre of her worship she places the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the veritable sacrifice which renews the work of our redemption on Calvary and applies the fruits of it. She accompanies this oblation with sacred ceremonies which she carefully regulates and these are like the protocol of the court of the King of kings. She surrounds it with readings, canticles, hymns and psalms which serve as preparation or thanksgiving for the eucharistic immolation.2

This constitutes the ” Divine Office”; you know that the Church imposes the recitation of it as a grave obligation on those whom Christ, by the sacrament of Holy Order, has made partakers of His Eternal Priesthood. As to the elements, the ” formulae” of her praise, the Church composes some of them herself — as the hymns — by the pen of her doctors, who are also great saints, for example, St. Ambrose; but she principally borrows them from the books of the sacred Scriptures, the books inspired by God Himself. St. Paul tells us ” we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but”, he adds, ” the Spirit Himself asketh for us”: Sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gemtibus inenarrabilibus+. That is to say God alone knows how He ought to be besought. This is true of the prayer of petition, but it is especially true of the prayer of praise and thanksgiving. God alone knows how He ought to be praised. The most magnificent conceptions of God formed by our intelligence are human. To praise God worthily, it is necessary that God Himself should compose the expression of these praises. And that is why the Church places the psalms upon our lips as the most perfect praise we can, after the Holy Sacrifice, offer to God ”.

Read the divine pages. You will see how these canticles, inspired by the Holy Ghost, relate, proclaim and exalt all the perfections of God. The canticle of the Eternal Word in the Holy Trinity is simple, yet infinite; but upon the lips of creatures, incapable of comprehending the infinite, praises are multiplied and repeated. With wonderful and great variety of expression, the psalms sing by turns the power, magnificence, holiness, goodness, mercy and beauty of God *. ” He hath done all things whatsoever He would, for He spoke and they were made: He commanded and they were created... O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name in the whole earth... Thou hast made all things in wisdom... The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God... The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord: the heavens declared His justice and all people saw His glory... May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works. He looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble: He touched the mountains and they smoke... ’”.3

And hear in what terms the psalms speak to us of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. ” The Lord is faithful in all His words; He is gracious and merciful. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works... The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of them that fear Him: He will hear their prayer and save them. The Lord keepeth all them that love Him... Let all that is within me bless His holy name, for His mercy endureth for ever...” Quoniam in aeternum misericordia ejus...

These are some of the accents the Holy Ghost Himself places on our lips. Let us love to use these inspired accents to praise God; let us repeat with the psalmist: ” I will sing to the Lord as long as I live”. A soul that loves God feels indeed the need of praising and blessing Him and exalting His perfections; she delights in celebrating them as they merit’; it is a torment for her to feel herself incapable of celebrating them as is due, and that is why in the psalms we so often invite all creatures to praise God with us. ” The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the works of His hands... O praise the Lord, all ye nations : praise Him, all ye people.” These are for the soul so many acts of perfect love, of pure complacency, extremely pleasing to God.

At the same time as they celebrate the Divine perfections, the psalms wonderfully express the sentiments and needs of our souls. The psalms know how to weep and rejoice; to desire and supplicate*. There is no inward disposition of our souls they cannot express. The Church well knows our needs, and that is why, like a solicitous mother, she places upon our lips all these deep and ardent aspirations of repentance, confidence, joy, love and complacency, dictated by the Holy Ghost Himself: ” Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy great mercy... against Thee only have I sinned... My soul hath hoped in the Lord... because with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption... O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul... Thou art become my support and my refuge. Protect me under the shadow of Thy wings; though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”... Quoniam tu mecum es, ” Thou art with me”! What an act of confidence !4

At times too we feel the need of telling God how much we thirst for Him, and how we wish only to seek after Him. Here again we find the most adequate expression of this need in the psalms. ”O Lord, Thou art my glory and my salvation... For what have I in heaven, but Thee: and beside Thee what do I desire upon earth... Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength, Thou shalt fill me with joy with Thy countenance; at Thy right hand are delights for evermore. As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after Thee, O God... When shall I come and appear before the face of God... I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear” : Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria twa! Where else could we find such profound accents wherewith to tell God the ardent desires of our souls ?...

Finally, and this is the highest motive for the choice that the Church makes of the psalms, they, like all the inspired books, speak to us of Christ.

According to the beautiful expression of an author of the first centuries, the Law, that is to say, the Old Testament, ” bore Christ in its loins” : Lex Christo gravida erat*, I have shown this when speaking of the Eucharist. All was

  1. This text is found in a sermon attributed to St. Augustine (the cxvi of the appendix to his Works) ; but the substance of this sermon is from Faust de Riez. The Church gives an extract from it in the Breviary on the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. symbol and figure for the Jews, says St. Paul; the reality announced by the prophets, figured by the sacrifices, symbolized by so many rites, was the Incarnate Word, and His work of redemption. And this is especially true of the psalms. You know that David, to whom many of these sacred songs refer, was the figure of the Messias, as Jerusalem, so often mentioned in the psalms, is the type of the Church. Our Lord said to His Apostles : ” All things must needs be fulfilled, which are written... in the psalms, concerning Me’”. These are full of Christ: His divinity, His humanity, many of the circumstances of His life and details of His death are clearly shown forth. ” The Lord hath said unto Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee... With Thy comeliness and beauty go forth, proceed prosperously, and reign. The kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts... God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness; Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech... He shall deliver the poor from the mighty, and the needy that hath no helper... ”

In the following accents, listen to the voice of Christ Himself speaking to us of His sorrows and humiliations: ” The zeal of Thy house hath eaten Me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon Me... And they gave Me gall for My food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink ... They parted My garments amongst them; and upon My vesture they cast lots... ”. Then we hear the psalmist celebrate the triumph of the victorious Christ: ” The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner... Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One to see corruption... Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive... Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of Glory shall enter in... Let His name be blessed for evermore: His name continueth before the sun. And in Him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify Him!” Sit nomen ejus benedictum im saecula! Ante solem permanet nomen ejus: et benedicentur im ipso omnes tribus terrae: omnes gentes magnificabunt eum.

You see how wonderfully all these words apply to Christ Jesus. During His mortal life, He certainly recited or

  1. Lucy XXIV, (aas

VOX SPONSAE. Buiey | sang these canticles composed by the Holy Ghost. He alone, indeed, could sing them with all the truth they contain about His Divine Person.

And now that, all having been fulfilled, Christ has ascended into glory, the Church has gathered up these canticles to offer them as daily praise to her Divine Bridegroom and the Holy Trinity: Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia*. For she ends all the psalms in the same way by chanting: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto: " Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ” or, according to another formula: ” Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end 2. » The Church wills by this to refer all glory to the Holy Trinity, the first principle and last end of all that exists. She associates herself, by faith and love, with the eternal praise that the Word renders to His Father as being the prototype of all creation. j

III

But it is in Christ she finds her support. All her prayers end by recalling the titles of her Spouse: Per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum. It is through Him, now seated at the right hand of His Father and reigning with Him and the Holy Spirit, that the Church claims to be heard. Qui tecum vivit et regnat. Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride, as St. Paul says. What is here the dowry of the Bride? It is her miseries, her weakness, but likewise her heart to love with and her lips with which to praise. And what does the Bridgroom bring? His satisfactions, His merits, His precious Blood, all His riches. Christ being united to the Church gives her His power of adoring and praising God. The Church is united to Jesus and leans upon Him. Seeing her, the Angels ask: Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto, delicus affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? " Who is this who cometh up from the desert, (but) flowing with delights, leaning upon her Beloved *”? It is the Church who, from the desert of her native poverty, mounts towards God, adorned like a virgin with the glorious treasures her

  1. Hymn Te Deum. — 2. Cf. S. Leo, Sermo I de Nativitate Domini:5

Bridegroom gives her. And in the name of Christ, and with Him, she offers the adoration and praise of all her children to the Heavenly Father. This praise is the voice of the Bride: Vox Sponsae, the voice that delights the Bridegroom. It is the canticle sung by the Church in company with Christ and that is why, when we join in it with faith and confidence, it is so pleasing to Christ Jesus : Vox tua dulcis; in God’s sight, it surpasses in value all our private prayers. Behold this Bride, proud of her condition and state and assured of the eternal rights gloriously won by her Divine Bridegroom, penetrating boldly into the sanctuary of the Divinity where Christ, her Head and her Bridegroom, ever lives and prays for us. Between the two, there is all . the distance from earth to heaven, but the Church bridges over this distance by faith and blends her voice with that of Christ in simu Patris: it is one and the same prayer, the prayer of Jesus united to His mystical body with whom He offers one and the same homage to the adorable Trinity. How should such a prayer fail ‘to be acceptable to God since He receives it from Christ? What power will it not have over the Heart of God? How too could such praise fail to be a source of graces for the Church and for all her children? It is Christ Who prays, and Christ has always the right to be heard: Pater, sciebam quia semper me audis 1.

See how already, in the Old Testament, the prayer of the leader of the children of Israel was all-powerful over the Heart of God; and yet this chosen people was only a figure, only a shadow of the Church. An important combat is being fought between the Hebrews and their enemies the Amalecites*. The struggle lasts some time with alternate success. At one time the Israelites give way, at another time they have the upper hand. Finally the victory rests with the Hebrews. And what was the event, the fact that decided this victory? Let us suppose for an instant that those who conducted the battle had left detailed reports upon the varying fortunes of the day, and that these reports were submitted to a general of modern times in order to learn his opinion. This general would find that such or such a fault of tactics had been committed, that such or such a measure of strategy had not been realized, that such a manceuvre had failed, such an attack been badly sustained. He would give every reason except the true one. And what was that ? God Himself has made known to us the reason of the alternating success and the happy issue of the combat for the Israelites. It was that, upon the neighbouring mountain, Moses, the leader of Israel, prayed with arms upraised, for his people. Each time that Moses, being out-wearied, let his arms fall, the Amalecites had the victory; each time that Moses raised his suppliant hands, the victory was on the side of the Israelites. At the end, Aaron and_ his companions supported the arms of Moses until the victory _ was won for Israel... What a grand scene is that of the leader obtaining, by his prayer, the victory for his people ! If we were to give this explanation ourselves, many would smile pityingly; but it is God in person Who has given it, the God of Hosts of Whom Israel was the chosen people, and Moses the friend ?.6

Doubtless, this teaching is to be applied to all prayer, but with how much greater truth to the prayer of Christ, the Head of the Church, praying by the voice of the Church, for His mystical body struggling here below against ” the Prince of this world?” and ” of this darkness 3”; renewing every day upon the altar the prayer He made for us with extended arms upon the mountain of Calvary, and offering to His Father the infinite merits of His passion and death : Exauditus est pro sua reverentia *.

IV

This praise that the Church offers to God in the Holy Sacrifice and in the ” Canonical Hours” that circle around the Mass, possesses not only power of intercession but has besides great value of sanctification. Why is this?

Because of the way in which the Church has disposed the liturgical cycle, public prayer becomes for our minds a source of light, of union with the sentiments of the soul of Christ and with the mysteries of His life. See, in fact, how the Church disposes the cycle of feasts during which she comes before God to celebrate His praises officially and render Him homage?

  1. "The hands that are raised to God break through more battalions7

As you know, this liturgical cycle can be divided into two sections : one lasts from Advent, the season preparatory to Christmas, until Pentecost ; the other comprises the Sundays after Pentecost.

The first part is essentially founded on the mysteries of Christ. The Church commemorates, in broad outline, the principal stages of the earthly life of her Spouse : during Advent, the preparation for this coming of Christ under the ancient alliance; at Christmas, His birth at Bethlehem; His Epiphany, that is to say, His manifestation to the Gentiles in the person of the Magi; Christ’s presentation in the Temple; then, during Lent,His fast in the desert. Next, during Holy Week, the Church celebrates His Passion and Death; she sings His Resurrection at Easter; His Ascension; the mission of the Holy Ghost to the apostles, and the founding of the Church.

Like a bride who holds nothing dearer than her bridegroom, the Church unfolds before her children’s eyes all the events of the life of Jesus in their real succession, and even at times follows a detailed chronology, as from Holy Week to Pentecost.

Tf our souls are attentive, this representation will be for them an abundant source of light. From this vivid representation, renewed every year, we derive a sure and deep knowledge of Christ’s mysteries.

Moreover this representation is not a simple and dry reproduction; but the Church, by the choice and arrangement of the extracts taken from the sacred books, makes us penetrate into the very sentiments that animated the Heart of Jesus. How can this be?

You will have already noticed that the Evangelists often give only a purely historical narration even of the most important events of Christ’s life, without adding anything or hardly anything of all that filled the soul of Jesus. For example, during the passion, the Evangelist, thus recounts the Crucifixion of Jesus: Eduxerunt Jesum in Calvariae locum, ubi crucifixerunt eum, the soldiers ” took Jesus and led Him forth to Calvary where they crucified Him?’ It is the simple attestation of the fact; nothing more. But who will tell us of the sentiments with which the soul of8

Jesus overflowed? It is true we are here upon the threshold of a sanctuary of which God alone knows the sacred depths; however, we would gladly know something of them, for this knowledge would bring us nearer to our Divine Model.

The Church, our Mother, raises for us a corner of the veil. You know that Christ when hanging upon the cross exclaimed: ” My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me”? These words form the first verse of a messianic psalm only to be applied to Jesus, and where not only the circumstances of His crucifixion, but the thoughts and feelings which must, at this moment, have filled His blessed soul are expressed in a wonderful manner?. St. Augustine says explicitly that Christ upon the Cross recited this psalm which is ” an anticipated gospel?”. Read it: you will hear Our Lord, crushed beneath the weight of Divine justice, reveal His inmost anguish. ” I am a worm and no man; the reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me, have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver him: let Him save him seeing He delighteth in him... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered. My heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels... But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy help to a distance from me: look towards my defence... save me from the lion’s mouth” !... These words are a revelation of what was passing in the Heart of Jesus in His Passion. The Church knows this well. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she makes us recite this psalm during Holy Week, so that our souls may share in the feelings of Christ’s Heart. '

So it is with the other mysteries. You will see that the Church, at the same time as she recounts and reproduces under the eyes of her children the history of the mystery, interweaves with it these psalms, these prophecies, these passages from the letters of St. Paul, wherein the sentiments of Jesus are expressed. ;

Thus the Church not only gives us, each year, a living representation of the life of her Bridegroom, but she makes us penetrate as far as the creature is able to penetrate into

  1. Ps. xxt. — 2. Verba psalmi voluit esse sua, in cruce pendens.

Enarr. in Ps. txxxv, c. 1. — Passio Christi tam evidenter quasi Evangelium recitatur. Enarr. in Ps. XXI. the soul of Christ so that, reading His inmost dispositions, we may share them and be more intimately united to our Divine Head. The Church, with profound art and wonderful ease, helps us to fulfil the precept of St. Paul: ” Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”, Hoc enim sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesw+. Is not this to fulfil the very rule of our predestination?

VI

This is not all. These mysteries of Christ that the Church causes us to celebrate each year are siill living mysteries.

Place a believer and an unbeliever before the representation of the passion at Oberammergau or Nancy. The unbeliever might admire the beautiful way in which the drama is unfolded and the scenes are rendered; he would be moved from the aesthetic point of view. The influence on the believer would be yet more marked. Why? Because although he might not be struck by the artistic side of the representation, the scenes before his eyes would recall events touching his faith very closely. But, even with him, this influence would be produced only by an outward cause : the spectacle at which he assists. The representation does not contain inward extrinsic value, able of itself to touch his soul supernaturally. That belongs only to the mysteries of Christ celebrated by the Church; not that they contain grace as the sacraments do, but these mysteries are living, they are sources of life for the soul.

Each of Christ’s mysteries is not only an object of contemplation for the mind, a remembrance we evoke the better to praise God and thank Him for what He has done for us ; it is something more; each of these mysteries constitutes, for a soul having faith, a participation in the different states of the Incarnate Word.

And this is very important. The mysteries of Christ were first lived by Him, but in order that we may live them in our turn in union with Him. How can we do so? By being inspired with their spirit and appropriating their virtue, so that living by them we may be made one with Christ.

It is true that Christ Jesus is now glorious in heaven; His earthly life, in its physical duration and outward form, only lasted thirty three years. But the virtue of each of these mysteries is infinite and remains inexhaustible. » When we celebrate them in the holy liturgy, we receive from them, according to the measure of our faith, the same graces as if we had lived with Our Lord and been present at all His mysteries *. These mysteries had the Incarnate Word for their author. As I have said, Christ, by His Incarnation, associated all humanity with His Divine mysteries and merited for His brethren the graces he has willed to attach tothem. It is in the Church’s celebration of these mysteries, since it is to her He has confided the care of continuing His mission here below, that Christ, in the course of the centuries, makes faithful souls partakers of the graces these mysteries contain. They are, says St. Augustine ?, the type of the Christian life we ought to lead as disciples of Jesus.9

Thus it is for the Nativity. ” In adoring Our Saviour’s birth”, says St. Leo, ” it follows that it is our own origin we celebrate. In fact, this temporal generation of Christ is the source of the Christian people, and the birth of the Head is at the same time the birth of His mystical body. Every man, in whatever part of the world he dwells, may find through this mystery a new birth in Christ?”. Fach year Christmas brings to our souls when we celebrate this mystery with faith, — for it is first of all by faith and next by Eucharistic communion that we enter into contact with the mysteries of Christ, — a grace of newness of life that increases the degree in which we are made partakers of the Divine filiation in Christ Jesus.

So it is with the other mysteries. The celebration of Lent, ofthe Passion and Death of Jesus during Holy Week, brings with it a grace of ”death to sin” helping us. to destroy sin more and more within us, and all attachment to sin and to the creature. For, as St. Paul explicitly says, Christ has caused us to die and be buried with Him: Si unus mortuus est, ergo ommes mortui sunt... coNsepulti enim sumus cum illo*. That is in right and principle for all, but the application of it is made, in the course of the centuries, to

  1. See above p. 78 and the following pages. — 2. Quidquid gestum est in cruce Christi, in sepultura, in resurrectione tertia die, in ascensione ii coelum, in sede ad dexteram Patris, ita gestum est ut his rebus, non mystice tantum dictis sed etiam gestis, configuraretur vita christiana quae each of our souls by the participation we have in Christ’s death,above all during the season when the Church especially recalls the remembrance of it to us.10

Again at Easter, when we sing the glory of Christ coming forth from the tomb, victorious over death, we receive, by being partakers of this mystery, a grace of spiritual life and liberty. God, says St. Paul, raises us up with Christ: conresuscitavit nos; and he says again speaking of the grace proper to this mystery: Si consurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite... non quae super terram?. ” Therefore if you be risen with Christ seek (and savour not that which is of the earth and being created contains the germ of corruption and death but) the things that are above”, and which will lead you to eternal life: Ur QUOMODO CHRISTUS surrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris. ITA ET NOS im novitate vitae ambulemus *.

After having associated us with His risen life, Christ makes us share in the mystery of His Ascension. And what is the special grace of this mystery? St. Paul tells us: Deus... consedere fecit nos in caelestibus in Christo Jesu . The great Apostle — who, by all these examples, wonderfully illustrates the doctrine so dear to him of our union with Christ as members of His mystical body — tells us in very explicit terms that God has made us sit together with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven. An ancient author likewise writes: ” Let us follow Christ to Heaven by faith and love while we are here below, so that we may follow Him thither on the day designed by the eternal promise”. Is not this what the Church makes us ask in the collect of this feast ? Ut qui Redemptorem nostrum in caelos ascendisse credimus, ipst quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus. " Grant... that we who believe... Our Redeemer to have this day ascended into the heavens, may ourselves also in mind dwell amid heavenly things ”.

So, year by year, the Church places before our eyes the representation of the events marking the earthly life of her

  1. Ephes, u, 6. — 2. Col. mr, 1-2. — 3. Rom. vi, 4. — 4. Ephes. 1, 4-6. — 5. Ascendamus cum Christo interim corde, cum dies ejus promissus advenerit sequamur et corpore. Si ergo recte, si fideliter, si sancte, si pie ascensionem Domini celebramus, ascendamus cum illo et sursum corda habeamus. ‘This sermon, from which an extract is read in the breviary at the 2nd nocturn of the Sunday in the octave of the Ascension, is wrongly attributed to St. Augustine. The substance of it is, however, taken from the works of the great Doctor.

Spouse. She first makes us contemplate these mysteries, and each year a new light enlightens us; she discloses the inmost sentiments of the Heart of Christ, and each year we enter more deeply into them. She makes all these mysteries of our Divine Head to live again in us. She supports our prayer that we may obtain the special grace proper to each of the mysteries lived by Christ; and so, by faith and love, and the imitation of our Divine Model ever placed before our eyes, we advance towards that supernatural transformation that is the end and object of union with Jesus: Vivo ego, jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus}. Does not all sanctity and the very form of our divine predestination consist in this: To become so like to the Beloved Son that His life becomes ours ?

Let us then be guided by the Church our Mother in this primordial devotion which is to make us share in the worship rendered by Christ to His Father. Christ has placed the - celebration of these mysteries in the hands of His Bride. The prayer established by the Church is the true and authentic expression of the homage worthy of God. When the Church, knowing the secret of Jesus, prepares herself, and us with her, to celebrate Christ’s mysteries it is as if we heard from heaven those words of the Canticle of Canticles: Sonet vox tua in auribus meis; vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora. "Let thy voice sound in my ears, for thy voice is sweet and thy face comely?”. The Church is adorned with the riches of the Divine Bridegroom, she has the right to speak in His name; that is why the homage of adoration and praise she places on the lips of her children is extremely pleasing to Christ and to His Father.

This prayer of the Church is also a sure way for us. We could not take one that would lead us more directly to Christ, and make our life more one with His. The Church leads us as by the hand straight to Him. To let oneself be guided by her is an act of humility and obedience, for she has received all from Christ. Qui vos audit me audit, qui vos spernit me spermit*. It is likewise for us a means of arriving infallibly to know Christ, of sounding the depths of His mysteries and remaining united to Him, so as to find in Him, not only a model, but the source of eternal life which He has caused to spring forth from the abundance of His merits: Sacri-

  1. Gal. u, 20, — 2. Cant. u, 14. — 3. Luc. x, 16.

Christ, the life of the soul. 21 ficium laudis honorificabit me, et ilhc ITER quo ostendam ili salutare Det?. VI.

Besides the mysteries of Christ, the Church celebrates the Feasts of the Saints.

What has led the Church to keep the feasts of the saints ? That ever fruitful principle of the union existing, since the Incarnation, between Christ and His members.

The saints are the glorious members of Christ’s mystical body ; Christ is already ” formed” in them ; they have ” attained their plenitude” and, in praising them, it is Christ we glorify inthem. ” Praise Me”, Christ said to St. Mechtilde, ” in that I am the crown of all the saints”. And the nun saw all the beauty of the elect was nourished with the Blood of Jesus and shone with the virtues practised by Him. And answering to the Divine bidding, she praised the blessed and adorable Trinity ”’ for having vouchsafed to be the diadem and admirable dignity of the saints 7”.

It is indeed, as you know, to the Trinity that the Church still offers up her praises in keeping the festivals of the saints. Each saint is a manifestation of Christ ; each bears the features of the Divine Model, but in a special and distinct manner*. This is the result of the grace of Christ, and it is to the glory of this grace that the Church delights to exalt her triumphant children: Jn laudem gloriae gratiae suae *.

Complacency is the form the Church’s piety takes towards the saints. She is proud of these legions of the elect who are the fruit of her union with Christ and already make part of the kingdom of her Spouse. She celebrates Christ in them: ” O Lord, how admirable is Thy name... Thou hast crowned (Thy saint) with glory and honour:” Domine Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra... Gloria et honore coronasti eum®. The Church renews in them the remembrance of the joy that took possession of their souls when they entered into heaven: ” Enter, good and faithful servant, into the joy of thy Lord... Come, spouse of Christ, receive the crown which the11

Lord hath prepared for thee from all eternity...” She exalts the virtues and merits of her apostles, and martyrs, of her pontiffs, confessors and virgins; she rejoices in their glory, she sets before us their example, if not always to be imitated, at least to be praised by their brethren on earth : St martyres sequi non vales actu, sequere affectu; si non gloria, certe laetitia; si non meritis, votis; si non excellentia, connexione }.

And after having praised them, the Church recommends herself to their suffrages. Is this derogatory to the infinite power of Christ without Whom we can do nothing? Certainly not. Christ is pleased, not in diminishing His action but in extending it, to listen to the saints who are the princes of His heavenly court, and through them to give us the graces we ask*. Thus a supernatural current of exchange is established between all the members of His mystical body.

Lastly, not being able to celebrate all the saints individually, the Church reunites them at the end of the liturgical cycle in one solemn feast, the festival of All-Saints, when she exhausts, as it were, her most triumphant praises.

Transporting us into Heaven, in the company of the apostle St. John, she shows us that glorious portion of the kingdom of her Bridegroom, those legions of the elect, that ” great multitude which no man could number... standing before the throne... clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands”. And from their ranks rises a mighty acclamation: Glory to God, glory to the Lamb immolated for us. Who by His blood hath redeemed us out of ” all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues?”. Before this glorious vision, the Church is thrilled with joy. Hear how she calls upon her triumphant children: ” Bless ye the Lord, all His elect, keep days of joy and give glory to Him. A hymn to all His saints, to the children of Israel, the people who form His court... this glory is to all His saints” : Benedicite Domino, omnes electi ejus ; agite dies laetitiae et confitemini ih: hymnus omnibus sanctis ejus... gloria haec est omnibus sanctis ejus *.

  1. St. Augustine, Sermo CCLXXx, c. 6. — 2. Haec vero nostra et sanctorum cohaerentia est, ut nos congratulemur eis, ipsi compatiantur nobis, militent pia intercessione. St. Bernard. Sermo V. in festo omnium12

We too are cailed-to share this triumph, to form the court of Christ in splendoribus sanctorum, to share in sinu Patris the glory of the Son, after having shared in, His mysteries here below. Let us as a prelude to the praises of Heaven, where an eternal Alleluia resounds, associate ourselves as much as possible while upon earth, with great faith and ardent love, in the prayer of the Church, the Bride of Christ and our Mother.

Footnotes

    1. Hebr. 1, 3. — 2. Antiphon for the Feast of the Circumcision.
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    1. Joan. xvm, 4. — 2. Ps. cix, 3. — 3. Hebr. xm, 15.
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    1. Rom. vim, 26. — 2. Ut bene laudetur Deus, laudavit seipsum Deus; et ideo quia dignatus est laudare se, invenit homo quemadmodum laudet eum. S. Augustin. Enarr. in Ps. 144. — 3. So as not to overcrowd these pages with notes, we do not give here the many references to the texts Wwe are about to quote, which are all taken from the book of Psalms.
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    1. Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis of Sales. Book V, Chap. 7, 8 a. 9. — 2. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. xxx ; sermo TU, tee
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  5. Agamus Deo gratias Patri per Filium ejus in Spiritu Sancto. — 3. Cant. Vill, 5. ↩

    1. Joan. xt, 42. — 2, Exod. xvun, 8-16.
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  7. than those that strike.” Bossuet, Funeral oration on Maria Teresa of Austria. — 2. Joan. xu, 31. — 3. Ephes. vi, 12. — 4. Hebr. v, 17. ↩

    1. Joan x1x, 16-18.
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    1. Philipp. oii ess
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  10. hic gevitur. S. Augustin, Enchiridion, c. uu. — 3. Serm. IV. In nativitate Domini, — 4. Rom. VI, 4. ↩

    1. Ps. XLIx, 23,— 2. The Book of Special Grace.—3. See above pp.223- 234. —4. Ephes. 1,6. See the development of this idea in the conference Christ the Crown of all the Saints in our volume Christ in His Mysteries. — 5. Ps. vim, 2-6.
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  12. sanctorum. — 3. Apoc. VU, 9-10; V, 9. — 4. Antiphons of the Vespers for All Saints) €f Tob. xi, to 7 Ps. cxivin, 14; Ps. cxiix, 9. ↩

Chapter 17 of 21