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false imaginings?
We cannot love God, nor even Jesus Christ, in the same way as we love men
living with us in this world. The latter have passible bodies through which
their impressions pass to the soul. They suffer, they are hurt by other men
and by exterior circumstances. God is pure Spirit, and the glorified Christ
cannot be moved or suffer either in His body or in His souls. The
remembrance of His past sufferings must arouse our emotions, make us feel
our unworthiness and our ingratitude; but our love for Him must go beyond
this. From the feelings we must pass to the oblation of the will. If out
love afterwards finds an outlet in the feelings, and takes hold of our
"Heart of flesh," so much the better; there is no danger then.
Let us rather seek our inspiration in the Gospels and other sacred
writings. Our concepts will get a new nobility and dignity in the
consideration of God's greatness, of the unspeakable mercy of Jesus Christ,
of His condescension in leaving us a complete and life-giving memorial of
His Passion. Therein shall we find ample cause to offer ourselves, to
abandon and lose ourselves in God-ample, we say, to satiate a heart hungry
for love, a heart which longs to live in returning God love for love. We
can say in another way that this union effected by the Sacrament is brought
about by an increase in the theological virtues of faith and charity. They
are called theological -that is, "divine"-precisely because, unlike the
moral virtues, which a moment ago I called "Human," they God Himself for
their object. They unite us directly to Him . The moral virtues perfect our
human qualities, and only enter into our new life, our supernatural life,
when attuned to that life; that is, when made fruitful by grace, and
directed towards God as a means of imitating our Savior and forming His
image in ourselves.
The first thing, then, that we must do in our Communions is to unite
ourselves to Christ by Faith and Charity. We must make those two virtues
our chief aim, and seek with a firm will and ardent love to adhere to God
by faith and to increase in love. To souls that are united to Him, God will
accordingly give special graces of the virtues, the particular help and
support called for by our daily needs.
This then, is the union brought about by the Eucharist. It gives grace to
understand and to will as Christ does, to know and love Him better. Proofs
are not wanting to show that this is the special purpose of the Sacrament.
There are in the first place our Lord's own words when He promised this
gift of His love; "He who eats My Flesh remains in Me and I in him...he who
eateth Me shall live for Me...Hence the outward sign that constitutes the
Sacrament: The Eucharist is given to us in the form of food; that is, by
assimilation, which is the most complete form of union between natural
substance. Hence also its name: "Communion."
Then there is the ceremonial rite. Into the liturgical setting of each
Sacrament the Church has introduced prayers and ceremonies which open the
mind and dispose the heart for the reception of each special grace. In the
case of the Eucharist, indeed, it is true that the abbreviated rite of
administering Holy Communion outside Mass helps us little to understand
what this grace is. But in the liturgy of the Mass, which is the rite
proper to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, there are several prayers
and ceremonies that are clearly expressive of union and preparatory
thereto. Some of them we have already spoken when, speaking of the
Sacrifice. One of the most impressive of these signs was the Offertory
procession, wherein the faithful carried to the altar the bread and wine
destined for the Sacrifice. These offerings, so soon to be changed in the
Body and Blood of Christ, represented the faithful themselves seeking their
own transformation into Christ. And today the mingling of the wine and
water in the chalice is still accompanied by a prayer of profound meaning,
which expresses the reality and nature of this union. On the other hand,
the kiss of peace which proceeds the Communion, the movement of the
worshippers advancing side by side to the holy table, remind us each in
their turn that we must by and in this Sacrament unite ourselves to our
brethren, as we shall later explain at greater length.
D. DURATION OF SACRAMENTAL ACTION IN THE SOUL:
At what moment does the Sacrament produce grace in the soul? How long does
the particular effects of this grace last?
These questions, which may at first sight seem useless, have nevertheless a
real relation with our way of doing things; and it is always better to base
our conduct on ideas that are at once accurate and reliable. Sacramental
grace is received in an instant; and that instant is the moment when we
receive the sacramental sign. We know, of course, that every Sacrament is
the outward sign of the inward grace which it confers. Now the "sign" in
the Eucharist; for it was in this way that our Lord instituted it: "Take
and eat." At the moment of eating, therefore, and I mean (taking the words
in their obvious and ordinary sense) at the moment when the Eucharist Bread
has been swallowed, God infuses into the soul, by this means, sanctifying
grace and the special grace attached to the Sacrament of the Eucharist-as
we have explained earlier.
It follows that invalid who had received the sacred Host into his mouth but
was unable to swallow it and rejected it, has not received sacramental
grace: he would not in fact have received communion; and if in the course
of the day he or she felt better, he could on the same day be again
admitted to Communion; sacramental grace would have infused in him, and
this accident would not withdraw that grace in any way.
Let us now consider the counterpart of this doctrine!!!! Once infused, how
long does sacramental grace remain in our souls? Of course, I am not
speaking of the benefits which we gain from our Communion: fervor, greater
fidelity to duty, etc. It is with a view to these fruits that we receive
all the Sacraments and fulfil all our acts of piety. They are the essence
of our spiritual progress; they are not sacramental grace itself, but the
result of our efforts under the influence of sacramental grace. Undoubtedly
the primary grace of every Sacrament, sanctifying grace, is either given or
increased in the lasting manner by the Eucharist; when received, we can
lose it only through our own fault--by SIN!
But there is no doubt either the special graces infused by the Sacrament
lasts in us without any time limit. This divine aid given to the soul to
incite in it acts of the love of God, to establish and consolidate its
union with Jesus Christ, was conferred by the same sacramental "sign" as
sanctifying grace, and there is no reason why it should be given in a
different manner.
To clarify our ides at this point, we must carefully distinguish between
sacramental grace and the other graces which the Real Presence brings us.
The Humanity of our Savior, what ever may be our manner of contact with it,
by approaching it, by touching it-as does the priest who is distributing
Holy Communion-No, laity man or women are permitted to give Holy Communion,
only a Priest or Deacon/or by receiving it our selves, is (independently of
sacramental grace) the source of actual graces as it was long ago when our
Saviour passed and repassed through the crowds of Palestine.
These graces can take a thousand forms: at one time it may be a secret
influence acting on our imagination at the thought of Jesus Christ
substantially present near us or in us; at another, an invitation to
meditation, prayer, to contrition and love, and so on. But they are
short-lived graces directly dependent on, and attached to, the Real
Presence.
SACRAMENTAL GRACE, on the contrary, is a increase of divine life, of
supernatural power imparted to us by the heavenly food of the Eucharist. It
has been conferred upon us by the Real Presence, but it is acquired by us
and is implanted in us; it continues to live within us even after the
disappearance of the sacred species and, with our cooperation, to work in
us.
It is the thought, then, of this lasting efficacious grace rather than of
the actual graces which accompany the Real Presence, that will guide us in
our thanksgiving, during the rest of the day and throughout our life. By it
Jesus has given Himself to us spiritually and does not withdraw Himself; it
is fitting, then, for us to abide with Him in a perpetual thanksgiving.
To limit this divine gift to a few moments would indeed impair it, and
would reduce the effect of the Eucharist to an initial impulse given to our
life of union; the rest would depend only on us, and would no longer be
under the causal influence of the Sacrament. Our real "Eucharist life"
would be limited to the brief morning exercise of preparation, Communion
and thanksgiving, after which sacramental grace would be with drawn until
the next Communion.
How much more worthy of divine Providence, how much more in with the nature
of the Sacraments is full harmony of the sacramental life spinning in our
souls from a living source, and at all times under the deifying influence
of grace-as we hope to explain further on.
At the moment I shall not only one consequence of all this.
The useful and much recommended practice of spiritual Communion would not
be considered only as a desire, a simple impulse of our will. It can be and
ought to be a renewal of the Eucharist grace which lives always within us;
it can be and ought to be a resumption of our thanksgiving, as closely and
substantially united to the sacramental presence of Jesus Christ as was our
morning thanksgiving immediately after Communion.
Its efficacy is divine, because that Communion was a participation in the
Passion of Christ. Does this thought not urge us to multiply our spitirual
Communions, and thus graft on to sacramental grace as many acts of love as
we can make each day?
But then, why receive Communion frequently, even daily?
Leaving aside the analogy with natural food, which I have always found
inadequate-for which of us would be satisfied with one meal per day?-the
reasons which urge us to daily Communion are serious. Let us say at once
that these reasons come from our own human nature and do not arise from any
lack of efficacy on the part of the Sacrament itself.
1. We must first of all mention the order given to His Apostles by Our
Lord: "Do This In Memory Of Me" Communion is one part of the
Memorial-Sacrifice which must be renewed often so that the memory of the
"Passion Of Jesus Christ might not be dimmed; and in our human life,
divided as it is into days, this "Frequent" renewal has come to mean..
"Daily Renewal."
2. Our soul cannot live without grace. According as it grows, as it tries
to draw nearer to God, so much more will it feel the need of more abundant
grace. Now each Communion increase sanctifying grace in our soul. Often
indeed we are drawn to the holy table by the everyday needs of our
spiritual life-to fight against the weakness which lets us relapse into
lukewarmness, or against outside dangers and temptations. But even apart
from these particular needs for frequent Communion, will not our love be
enough to urge us to look "to have life more abundantly" and to strengthen
ever more the bonds of our union with Jesus Christ.
3. In order to acquire the fruits of the Sacraments, we must cooperate with
grace and certain acts of which we shall speak later in details. But our
fervor easily becomes cold and vanishes, our good intentions and spiritual
desires become blunted. A new Communion gives new life to our efforts. And
I am not thinking there of sacramental grace itself, of whcih we spoke in
the preceding paragraph and which is increased by the very reception of the
Sacrament. I mean rather that the contact with the Real Presence of our
Lord, which is renewed during the hour or so that the sacred species
remains in us, brings us actual graces which touch our hearts, revive our
good dispositions, make us collaborate aborate anew more faithfully with
sacramental grace, and thus allow it to act more powerfully in the depths
of the soul.
4.The devotion with which we are filled at these moments is also desirable
grace. St Thomas calls it a "Spiritual delight", and he considers it to be
one of the fruits of the Sacrament. It sustains us during our thanksgiving.
For so many Christians the precious moments which follow Communion are
almost their only experience of interior life, of the happiness of living
consciously in the presence of God, in intimate society with Jesus Christ.
5. Finally, on of the effects of the Sacrament is the remission of venial
sins. Unfortunately, we sink back again every day , and that alone should
make us eager to receive the Holy Eucharist every day.
SPIRITUAL FOOD
We, must now say a word about the different effects of the Sacrament in
what is called the work in our spiritual life, although the subject is
fully dealt with by all Catholic spiritual writers, who usually follow St.
Thomas and treat of them under the analogy of material food.
We, have often repeated that in practice is a good thing to remember the
origin of these effects. Instead of seeing in them so many separate
benefits, let us rather seek to draw from the Eucharist an increase of
life, a stronger more vital union with Christ, raising our thoughts to a
higher plane that we may uproot vices and foster the growth of our virtues.
The special effect of the Eucharist may be grouped under three headings:
A. PURIFICATION
Whether it be a question of our personal sins or of evil inclinations more
or less inherent in the soul, the grace emanating from the sacramental
contact with the most pure Body of the Son of God must be purifying force,
detaching us from all that is base as well as from what is actually
blameworthy, and enabling us to unite with Him "That no stain of sin remain
in us, who have refreshed by this pure and holy Sacrament."
The supernatural good sense of our Mother the Church, as far removed from
the spirit of the Pharisee who will not recognize his sin as from that of
the "Jansenist" who will not believe that he can be cleansed from it, has
filled the post communion of the Mass with prayers for purification. Let
us, then, remember that this Sacrament, through the acts of love it arouses
in us, has the power of remitting venial sins (provided that we keep no
attachment to them) and of blotting out our debt to God by canceling
something of the temporal punishment due to the. It also lessens the
influence of bad habits and sinful inclinations, and accustoms us to dwell
in an atmosphere of greater purity of soul.
B. STRENGHT
With the grace of Jesus Christ within us, we must face life with courage,
look at it in all its grandeur and accept its difficulties, whether these
be temptations from within or trials from without.
A Christian is a man whose whole life is dedicated to warfare, and he
cannot, as long as he remains in this world, carve out for himself a life
of ease. It is because of this that the Eucharist is called the Food of the
Strong. The most fruitful disposition with which to receive it and the most
efficacious use we can make of it is to draw near to Christ, to confide in
Him our needs, and to lean on His strength in our frequent weaknesses and
discouragement's.
C. JOY
The Eucharist brings to the soul a broadening of life, and overflowing joy.
Insipid and worn-out expressions have discredited that true "Joy Of Living"
which St. Thomas would have included his "Spiritalis dulcedo."
And still, joy is a necessity for the soul. Man cannot live without
happiness, and if he has none in his spiritual life, he would turn to the
more eagerly towards the fleeting joys of this world. But, thank God, he
can gather happiness in full measure from the Eucharist; Jesus Christ
Himself brings it us , in the full development of our life informed by His.
"Taste and see that the Lord is sweet" (Ps.33,9).
We should not make this spiritual sweetness the one object of our efforts,
the sole barometer by which to judge our fervor; but we may enjoy it, so
that "moderating our earthly desires we may learn to love the things of
heaven." Let us, then, thank God who bestows this joy upon us, and let us
try to live with that purity, uprightness and generosity which will enable
it to flower in our souls. God is good, and He will not fail us; but let us
not fail Him. Spiritual joys must withdraw us for false joy, and even
detach us from all earthly joys: "terrena desideria mitigantes" May this
deep joy, deep and holy, strengthen our union with God and our longing for
the good things that do not pass away.
C. COLLABORATION WITH SACRAMENTAL GRACE
Before going on to speak on the way in which we should live by the
Eucharist, let us briefly consider the cooperation of grace and free will
necessary for this life. Grace is infused in our souls by the Sacrament
independently in part, if I may say so, of our own activity; for we have no
direct influence over it: we cannot by our own efforts either produce or
increase this grace. We can, however, either facilitate or prevent
infusion; and to make its effects our own, our conscious cooperation is
needed. In other words, our share in the work is simply to expand our
souls; that is, to place ourselves in those dispositions in which grace
will freely move us, and then to act as grace moves us. This is our
indirect influence in the of the Sacraments.
1. The "OBEX"
(a) The Sacramental "OBEX." There is one point in the sacramental doctrine
laid down by the Council of Trent whose importance and practical
significance. The Council of Trent did not develop the general doctrine of
the Sacraments. It was content to give by a very summary enumeration in the
form of a prologue (prooemium) to the detailed decrees concerning each
Sacrament in particular. This summary opens the seventh session and is
followed by canons fixing certain essential points. Now the sixth canon
says: "If anyone should say that the Sacraments of the New Law do not
contain what they signify, and they do not confer (and the eight canon adds
"ex opere operato," that is ,by application of the Sacrament alone) grace
to those who put no obstacle to it (non ponentibus obicem), let him be
anathema."
If we put this condemnation in the form of a positive doctrine, we must say
that according to Catholic teaching the Sacraments, by the mere fact of
their reception, confer grace on all who, in receiving them, put no
obstacle to their action.
Neither the Council nor the Catechism published by its orders to explain
its teaching speak of the "OBEX" or obstacle. But we can deduce from it
results of the utmost importance.
All the graces of the Sacraments come from God alone, but man must dispose
himself for them. He must make some effort which will enable grace to be
received, to take possession of him and to act in him. We cannot of
ourselves love God as He wishes to be loved, nor blot out our sins: that is
the forgiveness and the divine charity which must be God's gifts to us. But
our soul must be so dispose that it may be forgiven, that it may love God
above all things.
The first thing to be done, thus, the efficacious, is to remove from our
soul all that is opposed to these graces of God: feeling of hatred or
indifference, attachment to sin, and so on.
That is what the Council meant when it spoke of the obex. If we put no
obstacle-and since these obstacles are generally present in us, if we
remove them, that is if we turn our will away from them and do what is in
our power to correct ourselves-then the grace of the Sacrament will find
free access and of itself, by its own power, will sanctify us.
Doubtless this is not all. Our cooperation should not stop there, but the
first step has been taken and sacramental grace has been received.
To see that it bears fruit, we must not make use of all the means put at
our disposal by Christian asceticism; above all we must be on the watch
that the obstacle does not crop up again on our path to hender of check the
stream of divine life.
(b) THE "OBEX" OF THE EUCHARIST
Just as the Sacrament bestows grace in two different ways, as we have seen,
so there are two obstacles to be considered.
1. Mortal sin is opposed to sanctifying grace. It is not opposed in the
same way, for example, to the Sacrament of Penance, whcih was instituted
for it remission.
The obstacle to grace in the Sacrament of Penance is attachment to sin, not
its mere presence. But as regards the Eucharist, the presence of a mortal
sin in the soul is the fundamental obex.
As long as we are conscious of such a fault, we receive no grace from the
Sacrament of the Eucharist; more than that, Communion under such conditions
is a sacrilege. In different degree infidelity, that is lack of faith, bars
the way to the infusion of sanctifying grace, for this is the supreme
Sacrament of faith, "Mysterium Fidei"
2. It is, however, more important perhaps in considering the increase of
our devotion towards the Eucharist to enter with some detail into the
question of the special obex; that is, the obstacle to the special grace of
this Sacrament. We have seen that the particular grace of the Eucharist is
union with Christ. There is no doubt that our own efforts in prayer and
meditation my help to bring our thoughts in line with those of Christ and
make us conform our lives to His will. But they cannot-no human agent
can-bring about that intimate, reciprocal, strong, living union which is
necessary for real life with Him, under His immediate control. Although it
was not of the Eucharist that St. Paul was then speaking, we may take as a
very apt expression of this union the word in which he resumes his own
life: "Not I, but Jesus Christ that lives within me."
By the "obex", then, is implied all that prevents union, all that tends to
come between ourselves and Christ, to transfer outside of Him the
fundamental interest of our lives. How wisely the Holy Mother Church makes
us ask, in the second prayers before Communion at the Mass: "fac me tuis
semper inhaerere mandatis, et a te nanquam separari permittas-that I may
always do Thy will, and never be seperated from Thee.
Accumulated infidelities lead to indifference; and eagerness for pleasure,
and especially for human affection, little by little absorbs us and
separates us from Christ. A too great preoccupation with worldly
interests, affairs and ambitions, reverse the pivot of our lives, so that
instead of living for heaven as a Christian should, by means of, and if
necessary in spite of, temporal things, we stop this life and its
attractions as if they were our only good. We shut our eyes to our immortal
destiny and live as though there were no hereafter. Such things constitute
obstacle to the development of Eucharist grace within us. So long as we
live thus attached to passing things, thinking as the world thinks, having
all our desires and out actions controlled by worldly consideration, any
true union with Christ is out of the question. We can feel not real desire
for the Eucharist, nor can we taste its strength and it sweetness. Our
Communion are most probably limited to the minimum prescribed by the
Church; they are tepid and bear not fruit. We are here speaking of a total
servitude to this world; but what we have said holds good, in all due
proportion, to any degree of attachment to "the world and to its pomps."
Frequent Communion will no doubt be the most efficacious antidote to these
dispositions; but if, by a steady application of our own will, we do not
remove the obstacle and dis-associate ourselves from these bonds, our
Communions will never be fervent, grace will not be able to penetrate into
our souls, and we shall never enjoy the full benefits of union with Jesus
Christ, the true good of our hearts.
But there is another aspect of this union with Christ which must not be
overlooked. Since the Son Of God assumed our human nature, He has made us
His brothers, and sister members of His Body. It is through this Mystical
Body in it entirety that He now acts, and in it He wishes to be loved. We
cannot offer Him an acceptable homage if we do not include our fellow men.
This truth was ever present to the early Christians, and the Fathers of the
Church constantly remind us of the social character of the Eucharist: on
Bread, one banquet unites us to one another and so the Christ. To wish to
be united with Him, and at the same time to nourish feelings of hatred or
even of contempt for our brothers, is a vain desire. We must remember the
Master's warning: "If thou offer thy gift at the altar"-this for the Jews
evidently referred to some sacrificial act of the Old Law, but to us
Christians it applies to the New Covenant, to the complete and pure
offering which we bring to the altar at Mass, and which will be consummated
when we are united to Christ in Communion-
"if therefore thou offer they gift at the altar, and there thou remember
that thy brother hath something against thee, leave there thy offering
before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother; then
returning, thou shalt offer thy gift. (Matt.5,23-24).
Now it is surely worthy of note that this commandment of our Lord is made
in reference to the Sacrifice only, as being the condition of its
acceptance by God; it is not given to the man who is about to give up all
to follow Him, not to the poor man who comes to beg for a cure; and it is
the only condition imposed. No doubt the fundamental disposition of faith
and self-abnegation are necessary; but the supreme test, the last
preparation, the "Pass" so to speak which we must present before being
admitted to the holy table, is charity: "go and be reconciled." Our Lord
Himself prepared His Apostles at the Last Supper by washing of the feet, a
symbolic act
which He immediately explained to them by giving "His Commandment:" "Love
one another as I have loved you."
Hence the insistence of the Fathers upon unity. For them nothing is more
opposed to the spirit of Christianity than division. The name given to the
Eucharist, not merely "union" but "Communion"; the name of the penalty
which penalizes an unworthy member of the Church, "Excommunication" these
things emphasize the fact that it is above all by the Eucharist that we are
brought together, and that therefore the Sacrament of Love cannot bear its
fruits unless we are united in fraternal charity.
Let us of this when we go to Communion. The union with Christ which we
seek in the Sacrament is not individualistic. It is indeed effected in the
depths of each soul and sealed by the contact of the grace of Jesus Christ;
but it is a union with the "Whole Christ," that is to say, all His members
with Him.
Let us think of it in our intercourse with our brethren, who live as we do
by the sacramental grace of the Eucharist, and who are united to us by the
same ties which unite them to Christ, who are loved by Him, as we are
loved, because they are members of "His Mystical Body," and offered Him to
be loved by us.
This is easy during the liturgical celebration of the Mass where all
together take part in the Sacrifice. But we should not forget it even when
we communicate apart from the Mass; for although our brethren are then
unseen by us, it is nevertheless united to them Christ comes to us. If we
wish to make our Communion fervent and to feel the benefits of these
repeated visit of our Lord, we must remove all obstacles on the part of
charity; then will grace be given us in full measure, we shall be carried
along by it, and our progress will be greater that we could have imagined.
2. OUT POSITIVE WORKS:
This is in fact but a repetition, in positive form, of what we have just
said; but I do not think it a waste of time to dwell a little longer on so
important a point. The object of these notes is above all to sketch the
main lines of a life nourished by the Eucharist.
(a) A certain immediate preparation for Communion is necessary. Ever since
the piety of the faithful has been in large measure separated from the
liturgy, it has been found necessary to multiply "methods of preparation.
"Some of these preparations are excellent, but as a rule they are
incomplete; they consisit for the most part of "Acts" (of faith, of sorrow,
etc.) and aspirations conceived solely in view of Communion. They do not
dispose the soul to communicate "In Memory" of our Lord, to share thereby,
that is, in His Sacrifice and offer with Him the great act of thanksgiving.
How far more intense and complete, more eloquent and captivating, is the
"Method" followed by the Church. She places Communion in the midst of her
family gathering-the Mass-which opens with a preparation of unrivaled
richness and variety. Therein our whole Christian life is stimulated; the
Church recalls to us some divine truth which give our faith a new vision, a
deeper joy. We sing with our lips and hearts the goodness and the marvels
of God. And, coming to the noble lessons of Christian morality, we gain a
clearer knowledge of the duties of our state. Prophets and Apostles in turn
preached to us from the Epistle, and the Gospel we hear again the sweet
word of life from the lips of Christ.
And so we learn to give these truth new life in us, to glory in our
Christian dignity, and ever seek to quench our thirst of soul at these
perennial wells. Today on mystery of Christ's life is brought before us,
tomorrow it is the lives of the Saints and the thought of their
intercession that encourage us. The liturgy does not present Communion to
us as a separate "Devotion". The celebration of the Eucharist is the
flowering of the life of the Church, enclosing the great prayer of
thanksgiving which is the "Canon of the Mass" and the memorial of Christ's
Passion. And when the solemn moment, the essential and central act of the
Consecration, draws near, the Church brings us back to the heart of the
Eucharist mystery. She makes us breathe the very atmosphere of the Cenacle,
the faith of the disciples vibrating with their love of the Master. And
then she leaves grace free to sink into our hearts, there to arouse
feelings which will best enable us to respond to the call of Christ.
Neither are our personal needs forgotten; but even there she continues to
be our guide. At the moment of Communion she lays aside the plural forms
she has been using so far. After the great common prayer comes the quite
and recollection of our private speech with God, and she resumes for us in
there prayers our essential needs: peace and union in the Church;
inviolable union with Christ, and His purifying and life-giving influence;
finally, the healing and protection of which the precarious condition of
our souls makes us always stand in need.
As St. Thomas insists, every Sacrament, but more especially the Eucharist,
is a reminder of and an appeal to the Passion of Christ. Did not St. Paul
say: "As often as you shall eat this Bread....you shall show forth the
death of the Lord."? Can there be a better preparation for eating this
Bread than the Sacrifice in which we live again through the moments of the
Last Supper and of the Passion...in memory of Christ?
(b) Remote Preparation. Yet more important is our remote preparation; that
is, our whole life directed in accordance with those dispositions which
will enable us to draw the greatest fruit from the Sacrament. The immediate
preparation is but passing, and may even be rather superficial; the remote
preparation must of necessity be deep and lasting. It consists in fact only
in what is called living the Eucharist life, a life nourished on the
sacramental grace of the Eucharist. Now the activity of this grace is not
limited to the few moments which follow the reception of the Sacrament; it
remains in us as a perennial spring, flowing ever more abundantly, as we
give it free course in our lives. According to what has been said about the
"Obex", this Eucharistic life will mean in practice the continual removal
or lessening of this obstacle; that is to say, to strengthen by our
habitual thoughts and deeds the opposite virtues. Then grace will be able
to act freely, inspiring and sustaining our efforts; it will become the
vital principle acting in us and transforming us. Not only the few happy
moments of our "thanksgiving" but our whole life will be lived for God and
by God: "vivere Deo de Deo." How consoling and encouraging it is for us to
know, even if we do not feel it, that the love which inspired the "acts" of
our morning Communion continues in our hearts throughout the day with the
same intensity and efficacy, because the same grace flows into us at every
attempt we make to remove the obstacle in its path.
What, then, are the acts of the dispositions which will allow the grace of
the Sacrament to act within us? The Chief are:
(1) The spirit of Faith. To live by faith, and in all that touches the
Eucharist, a faith joined to reverence and love.
(2) Desire of spiritual good. Under this special aspect I would like to
represent here God's love. It means: an efficacious longing for all those
things which unite us to Him; a spirit of prayer, showing itself in
recollection and in actual prayer and by attention to all that concerns the
service of God, and in the midst of the occupations and attractions of the
world a gaze ever fixed on the joys of the world to come.
(3) Besides this divine charity, there is required a true and practical
love for our neighbor. This is not the place in which to develop this
point, to show how all-embracing a role true Christian brotherhood will
have to play in the daily round of life. Frater, Marmion would say many
times that anyone who was faithful in this respect, not merely to the
extent of not sinning against charity, but in a positive way, really and
sincerely living for the advantage of his brethren, was always in a fit
state to receive Communion, even at a moment's notice.
(C) THANKSGIVING: A word must now be said about this most important duty. I
am thinking here rather of the disposition of the soul than any special
"exercise."
In many places, following St. Paul, the Church makes us as for the grace to
be always "giving thanks." After having received the Sacrament of Love, it
is fitting that we spend some time in prayer, thanking God for the
ineffable gift of Himself which we have received. We should do the same
after the reception of any other Sacraments, but none calls for more
recollection and prayers than the Eucharist. Without such we could not
enter thoroughly into the union which Christ has once again effected in us.
It is the moment par excellence in which we should yield ourselves to Him,
in which our souls can be steeped in a supernatural atmosphere,
acclimatizing us to the life of the children of God which should be our
life. But this prayer is only a starting point. The Church makes it very
short, so short indeed that some people have been surprised at the
simplicity of the end parts of the Mass. It has even been said that the
Church seems in a hurry to set the priest at liberty, that he may be able
to open out his heart to God in mental prayer. Such an idea is in direct
opposition to the Church's attitude of respect and to the spirit of the
liturgy. If it were true for the Priest, it would be true also for the
faithful, who should then stop "assisting at Mass" to busy themselves with
their own mental prayer.
Here as in many parts of the liturgy, we cannot fairly judge by the
abbreviated and more fleeting ceremonies of the Low Mass. At the High Mass,
the usual Mass of the early ages, where all the faithful communicated, the
greater number of them had plenty of time for quiet prayer while the rest
were still going up to the holy table. "When you have received the
Eucharist," St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorted his newly baptized, "as you
await the moment of the Prayer (i.e. post-Communion).
Thank God who has deigned to make you a sharer in so great a mystery." And
for the priest himself, what a consoling thanksgiving it is to be able to
carry to his brethren the Christ whom he has just received.
No, the Church does not hurry . Her thoughts is far wiser and more
profound. The thanksgiving does not consist, strictly speaking, in the few
words of gratitude we are able to say to God during the quarter or half
hour. It must be both longer and more complete: it should continue
throughout our whole life. Let us indeed open our hearts to God during the
ordinary occupations of our day that life with Him to which the Sacrament
has just given new vigor. It is not only the moment of Communion, even
including a short preparation and thanksgiving, that we must give our Lord
free access to our souls, that he may penetrate them with His grace and act
in us. We receive this grace that we may live by it, not during a few
moments of prayer, but in performing our daily duties united with God. That
is the proof we can give Him that we understand the gift He has given us,
and that we are grateful to Him for it. The real thanksgiving begins when
we leave the Church.
(D) THE EUCHARIST, LIFE OF THE CHURCH: We have reached the main point of
this study. All that I have so far tried to say the splendor of this
Sacrament, of its place in our lives, of its effects, has been with a view
to this thought: By the Eucharist, Jesus Christ contracts on earth (while
awaiting its full consummation in heaven) a union with His Church. to which
He imparts His own life. He applies to her the merits of the Sacrifice He
offered for her to the Father, and He continues the mission confided to Him
by the Father, unceasingly gathering us all into this unity whcih is
modeled on the life of the Most Holy Trinity itself. He draws His Church
towards the final consummation, in which God will be all in all.
1.THE CHURCH AND DIVINE WORSHIP: The Church is the society made up of the
souls whom Christ has redeemed by His Blood, in order to bring man back to
his one essential end, the worship of God The Father. Now the Eucharist is
the supreme and most expressive act of this worship, the perfect Sacrifice,
whether we consider the offered, Jesus Christ, or those who share in it,
and whose adoration it expresses, that is mankind. For us it is the great
comprehensive act which gathers into one all the efforts of our progress
towards God; for in it we have the fount of every perfection and sanctity,
and by it we are enabled to fulfill perfectly our calling of "rational
creatures." This Sacrifice gives adequate answer to man's double duty and
need: the duty of adoring and serving God; and the need of his own
sanctification by the imitation of God. We may apply to it, with reference
to our piety and spiritual life, that which St. Paul says of the whole
Christian faith and life: ""Other foundation no man can lay but that which
is laid, which is Christ Jesus...(1 Cor.3:11). Our divine Founder has
enriched His Church with this marvelous means of leading us in truth. She
is the "Mystical Body of Christ," and it is from Her, in her doctrine and
her practice, that we must learn how to act. It is she who must teach us ,
that we may be caught up into the vital action of Christ, our Head.
All His life was a preparation for "this hour," the hour of the sacrifice
of the Cross, which we re-enact in the Holy Eucharist. The life of the
Mystical Body is, then, most intense and perfect in the Eucharist, which in
memory of Christ repeats His action and each day shows forth His death in
expectation of His coming. Perhaps Catholic have forgotten His coming; our
expectation, because it concerns something so far distant, has lost its
keenness and its love. The Eucharist reminds us that we are not here
forever; it warns us that the order in which we now live, in which others
will live after us, is passing, and that we are made to desire and love
above all the Kingdom where Christ shall reign forever at the right hand of
the Father .