be made to us the perfection of salvation." For "these words" are spirit and life, and the flesh pierces not into the understanding of this depth, unless faith come";" but then "the bread is food, the blood is life, the flesh is substance, the body is the church." For the body "is indeed shewn, it is slain and given for the nourishment of the world, that it may be spiritually distributed to every one, and be made to every one the conservatory of them to the resurrection of eternal life," saith S. Athanasius*. "Therefore because Christ said, This is My body, let us not at all doubt, but believe, and receive it with the eye of the soul; for nothing sensible is delivered us; but by sensible things He gives us insensible or spiritual," so S. Chrysostomy; "for Christ would not that they who partake of the divine mysteries should attend to the nature of the things which are seen, but let them (by faith) believe the change that is made by grace." "For according to the substance of the creatures it remains after consecration the same it did before; but it is changed inwardly by the powerful virtue of the holy Spirit, and faith sees it, it feeds the soul and ministers the substance of eternal life. For now faith sees it all whatsoever it isa." From these excellent words we are confirmed in these two things.First, that the divine mysteries are of very great efficacy and benefit to our souls. Secondly, that faith is the great instrument in conveying these blessings to us. For as S. Cyprian affirms, "The sacraments of themselves cannot be without their own virtue; and the divine majesty does at no hand absent itself from the mysteries." But then unless by faith we believe all this that Christ said, there is nothing remaining but the outward symbols, and the sense of flesh and blood, which profits nothing. But to believe in Christ is to eat the flesh of Christ. "I am .the bread of life, he that cometh to Me shall not hunger" (that is, he shall be filled with Christ) "and he that believeth in Me shall not thirst;" coming to Christ and believing in Him is the same thing. That is, he that believes Christ's words and obeys His commandments; he that owns Christ for his law-giver and his master, for his Lord and his redeemer; he who lays down his sins in the grave of Jesus, and lays down himself at the foot of the cross, and his cares at the door of the temple, and his sorrows at the throne of grace; he who comes u Auctor lib. de cœna Dom. [ad calc. opp. S. Cyprian. p. 40.] Fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio præbet experimentum.-S. Gregor. [in evang. hom. xxvi. § 1.-tom. i. col. 1552.] ▾ Arcanum cœli Dominus pro tempore celat, Ut sic nostra fides ad justitiam doceatur, De peccat. in Spir. S. [scil. in epist. iv. ad Serapion.-tom. i. p. 710 C.] S. Chrysost. ubi supra [p. 110.] in Matt. xxvi. z Theodoret. dial. i. [tom. iv. p. 26.] Ubi supra. [not. u.-p. 41.] to Christ to be instructed, to be commanded, to be relieved and to be comforted, to this person Christ gives His body and blood, that is, food from heaven. And then the bread of life' and 'the body of Christ,' and 'eating His flesh and drinking His blood,' are nothing else but mysterious and sacramental expressions of this great excellency,That whoever does this shall partake of all the benefits of the cross of Christ, where His body was broken, and His blood was poured forth for the remission of our sins, and the salvation of the world. But still, that I may use the expression of S. Ambrosed, "Christ is handled by faith, He is seen by faith, He is not touched by the body, He is not comprehended by the eyes." 5. But all the enquiry is not yet past. For thus we rightly understand the mysterious propositions, but thus we do not fully understand the mysterious sacrament. For since coming to Christ in all the addresses of christian religion, that is, in all the ministries of faith, is eating of the body and drinking the blood of Christ, what does faith in the reception of the blessed sacrament that it does not do without it? Of this I have already given an accounte; but here I am to add, that in the holy communion all the graces of a Christian, all the mysteries of the religion are summed up as in a divine compendium; and whatsoever moral or mysterious is done without, is by a worthy communicant done more excellently in this divine sacrament. For here we continue the confession of our faith which we made in baptism: here we perform in our own persons what then was undertaken for us by another: here that is made explicit which was but implicit before: what then was in the root, is now come to a full ear; what was at first done in mystery alone, is now done in mystery and moral actions, and virtuous excellencies together: here we do not only hear the words of Christ but we obey them: we believe with the heart, and here we confess with the mouth, and we act with the hand, and incline the head, and bow the knee, and give our heart in sacrifice: here we come to Christ, and Christ comes to us; here we represent the death of Christ as He would have us represent it, and remember Him as He commanded us to remember Him: here we give Him thanks, and here we give Him ourselves here we defy all the works of darkness, and hither we come to be invested with a robe of light by being joined to the Sun of righteousness; to live in His eyes, and to walk by His brightness, and to be refreshed with His warmth, and directed by His spirit, and united to His glories. So that if we can receive Christ's body and drink His blood out of the sacrament, much more can we do it in the sacrament. For this is the chief of all the christian mysteries, and the union of all christian blessings, and the investiture in all christian rights, and the exhibition of the charter of all christian promises, and the exercise of d In Lucam, lib. vi. cap. 8. [ver. 45. § 57. tom. i. col. 1397.-But see vol. vi. VIII. p. 35, note.] e Chap. i. sect. 2. I all christian duties. Here is the exercise of our faith, and acts of obedience, and the confirmation of our hope, and the increase of our charity. So that although God be gracious in every dispensation, yet He is bountiful in this; although we serve God in every virtue, yet in the worthy reception of this divine sacrament there must be a conjugation of virtues, and therefore we serve Him more; we drink deep of His loving kindness in every effusion of it, but in this we are inebriated; He always fills our cup, but here it runs over. The effects of these considerations are these ; First, that by faith' in our dispositions and preparations to the holy communion, is not understood only the act of faith, but the body of faith; not only believing the articles, but the dedication of our persons; not only a yielding up of our understanding, but the engaging of our services; not the hallowing of one faculty, but the sanctification of the whole man. That faith which is necessary to the worthy receiving this divine sacrament, is all that which is necessary to the susception of baptism, and all that which is produced by hearing the word of God, and all that which is exercised in every single grace all that by which we live the life of grace; and all that which works by charity, and makes a new creature, and justifies a sinner, and is a keeping the commandments of God. Secondly, if the manducation of Christ's flesh and drinking His blood be spiritual, and done by faith, and is effected by the Spirit, and that this faith signifies an entire dedition of ourselves to Christ, and sanctification of the whole man to the service of Christ: then it follows that the wicked do not communicate with Christ; they eat not His flesh, and they drink not His blood. They eat and driuk indeed, but it is gravel in their teeth, and death in their belly; they eat and drink damnation to themselves. For unless a man be a member of Christ, unless Christ dwells in him by a living faith, he does not eat the bread that came down from heaven. 66 They lick the rock," saith S. Cyprians, "but drink not the waters of its emanation;" they receive the "skin of the sacrament and the bran of the flesh," saith S. Bernard". But it is in this divine nutriment as it is in some fruits; the skin is bitterness, and the inward juice is salutary and pleasant; the outward symbols never bring life, but they can bring death and they of whom it can be said, according to the expression of S. Austin', "they eat no spiritual meat, but they eat the sign of Christ," must also remember what old Simeon said in his prophecy of Christ, "He is a sign set for the fall of many:" but His flesh and blood spiritually eaten, is resurrection from the dead. 'Panis qui de cœlo descendit non nisi ab eo accipitur qui Dominum habet et Christi membrum est.-S. Hilar. de Trinit., lib. viii. [vid. § 13 sqq. col. 955.] [Pseudo-Cypr. de cœna Dom.-Appeud., p. 42.] h [In cantic. serm. xxxiii. col. 669 B.] Non manducant spiritualiter, sed premunt dentibus signum corporis et sanguinis. [vid. tract. xxvi. in Joan.tom. iii. part. 2. col. 501 A.] SECTION VI. MEDITATIONS AND DEVOTIONS RELATIVE TO THIS PREPARATORY GRACE TO BE USED IN THE DAYS OF PREPARATION; OR AT ANY TIME OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. 8. BERNARD'S MEDITATION AND PRAYER. THE calice which Thou, O sweetest Saviour Jesus, didst drink, hath made Thee infinitely amiable; it was the work of my redemption. Certainly nothing does more pleasingly invite, or more profitably require, or more vehemently affect me than this love for by how much lower Thou didst for me descend in the declinations of humility, by so much art Thou dearer to me in the exaltations of Thy charity and Thy glory. Learn, O my soul, how thou oughtest to love Christ, who hath given us His flesh for meat, His blood for drink, the water of His side for our lavatory, and His own life for the price of our redemption. He is stark and dead cold who is not set on fire by the burning and shining flames of such a charity. I. BLESSED Saviour Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the fountain of life and salvation; by Thee let us have access to Thy heavenly Father; that by Thee He may accept us, who by Thee is revealed to us. Let Thy innocence and purity procure pardon for our uncleanness and disobedience; let Thy humility extinguish our pride and vanity, Thy meekness extinguish our anger, and Thy charity cover the multitude of our sins. II. O BLESSED advocate and mediator, intercede for us with Thy Father and ours, with Thy God and ours; and grant that by the grace which Thou hast found, by the prerogative which Thou hast deserved, by the mercy which Thou hast purchased for us, that as Thou wert partaker of our sufferings and infirmities, so we by Thy death and resurrection and by Thy infinite gracious intercession may be made partakers of Thy holiness and Thy glory. III. LET the brightness of the divine grace for ever shine upon Thy servants, that we, being purified from all error and infidelity, from weak fancies and curious enquiries, may perceive and adore the wisdom and the love of God in the truth and mysteriousness of this divine sacrament; and be pleased to lighten in our spirits such a burning love and such a shining devotion, that we may truly receive Thee, and be united unto Thee; that we may feed on Thee the celestial manna, and may with an eye of faith see Thee under the cloud and in the veil; and at last may see Thee in the brightest effusions of Thy glory. Amen. A CONFESSION OF FAITH IN ORDER TO THE MYSTERIES OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT; TO BE USED IN THE DAYS OF PREPARATION, OR COMMUNION. "HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God of sabaoth! and blessed is Thy name for ever and ever, Amen. "For Thou art holy, and in all things Thou art sanctified and most exalted, and sittest on high above all for ever and ever. "Holy is Thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ; who in all things did minister to Thee His God and Father, both in the creation of the world and in the excellent providence and conservation of it. He suffered not mankind to perish; but gave to him the law of nature, and a law written in tables of stone, and reproved them by His prophets, and sent His angel to be their guards: and when men had violated the natural law and broken that which was written; when they had forgotten the divine judgment manifested in the deluge upon the old world, in fire from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, in many plagues upon the Egyptians, in the slaughters of the Philistines, and when the wrath of God did hang over all the world for their iniquity; according to Thy will, He who mnade man resolved to become a man; He who is the lawgiver would be subject to laws; He that is the high-priest would be made a sacrifice, and the great shepherd of our souls would be a lamb and be slain for us. Thee His God and Father He appeased and reconciled unto the world, and freed all men from the instant anger: He was born of a virgin, born in flesh, He is God, and the Word, the beloved Son, the first-born of every creature; according to the prophecies which went before of Him, of the seed of Abraham and David and of the tribe of Judah. "Ile who is the maker of all that are born, was conceived in the womb of a virgin: and He that is void of all flesh, was incarnate and made flesh: He was born in time who was begotten from eternity. He conversed piously with men, and instructed them with k [Constit. apost., lib. viii. cap. 12.] |