31 MAY – FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

God has satisfied the intense desires of man’s heart. The house of the marriage-feast, built by divine Wisdom on the top of mountains, has had flowing to it all the nations of Earth (Isaias ii. 2). Yesterday the whole Catholic world was animated with sentiments of love towards the adorable Sacrament, and the people said to each other in a holy transport of gratitude: “Come! Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.” Yesterday, the bud of the Lord was seen by us all in magnificence and glory. This divine Bud, this rich ear of corn that has sprung up from our Earth was carried in triumph and excited the enthusiasm of the Faithful, making them rejoice before It, as they that rejoice in the harvest (Isaias iv. 2). It was a heavenly harvest that had been the expectation of nations. It was the precious ear of corn, despised indeed by Israel, but gleaned by Ruth, the stranger, in the field of the true Booz, in Bethlehem. It was for this day of the great meeting of nations foretold by Isaias, that the Lord had kept reserved on the mountain the feast on a victim such as had lever been seen before, a feast of wine, the richest and purest (Isaias xxv. 6).

The poor have eaten at this banquet, and they have given fervent praise to their God. The rich have eaten and have fallen down in adoration, and all the ends of the earth, prostrate in His sacred Presence, have recognised, that he who thus gave them to feast was Christ their King (Psalms xxi. 27-30). This, they said, is our God, we have waited for Him: we have patiently waited for Him (Isaias xxv. 9). He was the desire of our soul. We desired Him in the night, and, in the morning early, our first thoughts were on Him. He is the Lord, and His remembrance could not be effaced, not even through the long ages of expectation (Isaias xxvi. 8, 9). You, Lord, are my God, I will exalt you, and give glory to your name, for you have done wonderful things, your designs of old, faithful! Faithfully have you fulfilled your eternal decrees (Isaias xv. 1).

These expressions of love on the part of the human race were but a feeble echo to the infinite love which God vouchsafed to have for His creature, man. The divine Spirit who has achieved the wonderful union between the children of Adam and eternal Wisdom shows us, everywhere in the Scriptures, that this Wisdom was impatient of delay, that He was taking each obstacle as it came, and removing it, and was preparing in countless ways for the Marriage Feast so much longed for.

We will devote these first two days of the Octave to the considering the leading features in the history of this Eucharistic preparation. We will be well repaid by the additional light which these truths will reflect upon the dogma itself. We are going to review the loving ways by which eternal Wisdom sought, for so many long ages, to bring about His own union with ourselves. As a matter of course, we clothe these truths in Scripture language, for the Scriptures are our guide in this research. It is they that tell us the workings of the divine intentions in our regard. How, then, do the Scriptures speak of these before the mystery of the Incarnation was actually accomplished?

The second Person of the adorable Trinity is there brought before us under the name of Wisdom, until such time as Her union with man being accomplished in the most perfect degree possible, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the name under which He passes in the Scriptures, a name which gives Him the appearance of a Bride. But once the mystery of perfect union achieved, another name is given Him, the name of Spouse or Bridegroom. His other name of Wisdom seems almost forgotten, and yet in the ages of lively faith it was not so. The people of those days were too full of the Scriptures to forget it. Thus we find the first Christian Emperor dedicating to this ruler and centre of his every thought the trophy of his victory over paganism, and that of the triumph of the Martyrs: all burning with love for the Wisdom of God, says Eusebius. Constantine consecrated the ancient Byzantium, which he called by his own name, to the God of the Martyrs, and dedicated to Eternal Wisdom the grandest structure of this new Rome, Saint Sophia, which for many ages was the finest Christian Church in the world.

Like our forefathers in the faith, let us, too, honour divine Wisdom, and gratefully think upon the love which urged Him, from all eternity, to unite Himself to man! It is this love that explains that mysterious joy which, as the Scripture tells us, He had at the beginning of Time when this world of ours was being gradually developed in all the beauty of its fresh creation, for sin had not then come in to break the harmony of this work of the Most High. At each additional manifestation of creative power, Wisdom takes delight, and by his delight adds a new charm to this the future scene of the divine marvels, planned as those had been by His love. This Wisdom is delighted at the omnipotence which produces Creation. He plays every day, as the Creation goes on, yes, He plays in this world, for, each progress in its formation brings Man nearer —Man, whose palace it is; and His delights are to be with the children of men (Proverbs viii. 30, 31).

Incomprehensible love! It precedes, though it foresees, sin. And, though foreseeing it, loves not the less! It has its divine delights to be with us, and we have attractions for it in spite of all the bitterness caused by the sight of our future black ingratitude! The Fall of man will, as one of its terrific consequences, modify, much and cruelly, the earthly existence which Wisdom is to have upon our Earth But, in order that we may the more easily understand and more fully appreciate how immense must that love be, which could be proof against such obstacles, let us turn our thoughts today to the course that these loving intentions would have taken, had man persevered in the state of innocence. Although the Sacred Scriptures, written as they have been for the benefit of fallen man, suppose that state, and are ever telling us of the mystery of the restoration of the sinful world — yet do they make frequent allusions to God's original intention, and with these to guide us it is not difficult to mark out the leading features of the primitive plan.

Wisdom, speaking of Herself, says: “The Lord possessed me, in the beginning of His ways” (Proverbs viii. 22) Is She not the first of all creatures? (Ecclesiasticus i. 4) Not, of course, as to that divine form of which the Apostle speaks, and by which Wisdom is equal to God (Philippians ii. 6), but in that human existence which She has selected in preference to all other possible natures, for the one by which to unite Herself with finite being. That selection was one of an unlimited and most gratuitous love. It made the type and law of entire creation to be One who would be so closely resembling us human beings, and what an honour! We are told in holy Writ that the most high and almighty Creator created Wisdom before all things, and created Her in the Holy Ghost and that taking Her as His type, and number, and measure, He poured Her out upon all His works, and upon all flesh (Ecclesiasticus i. 4, 8-10). When the fullness of the appointed time came, this Wisdom Herself was to come, giving to all creation, of which She was the head and centre, its purpose and meaning: She was to blend and unite with the infinite homage, which resulted from Her own divine personality, the homage of every existing creature. And thus give perfection to the external glory of the Father by Her own adoration, which was to be eternal and infinite. Once this happy time is come, and there will appear that human nature, chosen by divine Wisdom from the beginning to be His created form, to be the instrument of that homage to the Father, which, as we were just saying, will be perfect and divine, because of the personal union of this created nature with the Nature of God the Son. Eternal Wisdom will thus be one with the Son of the purest of Virgins. The nuptial-song will be taken up by all creatures, both on Earth and in Heaven, and through this Son of Man, who will then be called the Spouse, Wisdom will continue to the end of time in the soul of every individual of the human race (that is, of every soul that does not refuse the honour), the ineffable mystery of his divine marriage with our nature.

He wishes, then, to unite Himself with each one of us, but what means will He adopt for this deifying union? Of all the Sacraments which our Lord might have instituted after His Incarnation in the supposition of man's not forfeiting his state of innocence, there is not one, says Suarez, which has so many probabilities on its side as the Eucharist. There is not one which, in itself, is so desirable and is more independent on sin, for the notion of expiation which, in our present state, lingers about It as the memorial of our Jesus’ Passion, may be prescinded from without affecting the essence of the Sacrament — that essence being, the Real Presence of our Lord, and the close union by which He unites us to Himself. It is the same with the Eucharist as a Sacrifice: the primary notion of Sacrifice, as we will see further on, does not absolutely include the idea of sin. So that when Christ, as the head of the human family, comes into this world to offer up a Sacrifice in the name of us all, that Sacrifice will be one which is worthy of His Father and Himself. Spouse as He is, and by virtue of the divine unction, Priest, too: it is by the Eucharist as a Sacrifice that He will act in this twofold character, for by that Sacrifice He brings the human race into union with Himself by the embrace of the sacred Mysteries and, when He has divinised it by union with Himself, making it one body with Himself, of which He is the Head, He offers it to His Eternal Father.

But, for the coming of the Spouse, the Bridegroom, there must be a numerous retinue to do Him honour and tell His praises when the day arrives for His entrance into the banquet-hall. And from now till the time when Earth, being peopled enough, will have ready for her King-Priest a court that is worthy of Him, so many ages are to intervene! What will He, that is, what will Wisdom be doing in the interval?

We have already seen how in the early days of creation He played before His Father, and was all transported with delight. But when the work was done, the Creator withdrew into the repose and rest of the seventh day. Seated on His Father’s right hand, in the splendours of the Saints, will Wisdom wait inactive for that day to come when He, who has begotten Him before the day- star and has betrothed Him to human nature, will send Him down to this Earth, there to consummate the alliance for which He has been eternally longing? The sacred Scriptures give a very different description of Him during the time preceding his actual coming. They tell us that Wisdom is so active, though so gentle, that He is more active than all active things, and was everywhere, and put Himself in every place, and in the Prophets, so that He was easily found by them that wanted to find Him. He even anticipated their research and was more ready to show Himself than they could possibly be to find Him. If any soul was intent, like some early riser, to find Him, He soon met such a seeker. Nay, Himself went about seeking for such as were worthy of Him, and when He met them, in the ways here or there in this wide world, this beautiful Wisdom would show Himself to them with all the cheerfulness of earnestness. Thus do the Scriptures describe Wisdom as engaged during the ages preceding His Incarnation. He does not as yet quit the throne of glory on which He sits, lighting up all Heaven with His beauty, but He is preparing the day of His Marriage, and that by impressing it on man’s mind and notice in every possible way. He meets him at every turn to speak of it, to tell him of how He, Wisdom, loves him. He selects certain symbols by which to show the generations then living a picture of the wondrous mysteries He intended to achieve when the time came. Let us take one of these symbols for our lesson today, that we too may lose not a particle of what our Jesus has ever done to make Himself known.

But before we go further, let us listen to the Scripture character drawn of this beautiful Wisdom: He is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God’s majesty, and the image of His goodness: holy, one, manifold, subtle, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is good, quick, which nothing hinders, beneficent, gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits, intelligible, pure, subtile (Wisdom vii. 22-26; vi. 13-17; ix. 4, 10). And now to a choice symbol, chosen by our Jesus by which He spoke of Himself before He came to the Nuptials. The Lord God, says Scripture, had planted a Paradise of pleasure from the beginning, in which He intended to place Man, whom He was not to create till the sixth day. In the midst of this Paradise there grew a tree of singular beauty. It was a tree to which God had attached a great mystery, and its name was the Tree of Life. A river, with four streams, watered this garden of delights (Genesis ii. 8-10), and this river was shown later on to Saint John as a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb (Apocalypse xxii. 1). This twofold symbol of the Tree and the River bear no allusion to future sin. They had been put in Paradise, the abode of innocence, before man himself, and therefore are portions of the primitive plan of God; and, therefore, in themselves signify nothing, and symbolise nothing, but what has reference, first and foremost, to the state of innocence.

Now, an ancient writer, published under the name of Saint Ambrose, says, “the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise, is Christ in the midst of his Church.” “So then,” says Saint Augustine, “Christ was the Tree of Life; neither would God have man to live in Paradise, without his having mysteries of things spiritual presented to him under corporal forms. In the other trees, therefore, he had food. But in that one (of Life), he had a sacred symbol (sacramentum). And what was it that is symbolised, but Wisdom, of which it is said, ‘She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold on her’ (Proverbs iii. 18) ... For it is right to give to Christ the name of a thing which had been previously made, that it should signify Him.” Saint Hilary, too, bears testimony to this same traditional interpretation. After quoting the same text from Proverbs, he says: “Wisdom, which is Christ, is called the Tree of Life, because, as we are taught by the authority of the Prophets, on account of its being a symbol (sacramentum) of His future Incarnation and Passion.. Our Lord compared Himself to a Tree, when He said: ‘A Tree is known by its fruit...’ This Tree, then, is living. Yes, not living only, but rational also, for it gives its fruit when it wills (and, as the Psalm says), in its own time... And what is that time? That of which the Apostle speaks, when he says, that God might make known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He had purposed in Him, in the dispensation of the fullness of times... the dispensation of the fruit, then, is reserved for the fullness of times.” But what is to be the Fruit of this Tree, the leaves of which fall not off (Psalms i. 3), and are for the healing of the nations (Apocalypse xxii. 2) —what is to be the Fruit, but divine Wisdom, in His own very self and substance? In His divine form, He is the food of the Angels too. But He is to be that of man in His two Natures, that thus, by His Flesh reaching man’s soul, He may fill that soul with His divinity, as it was beautifully expressed in the Office composed by Blessed Juliana.

Thus, therefore, divine Wisdom, our Jesus, had preceded man in Paradise: Adam was not yet there, but Wisdom was. For His love made Him hasten there and take up His abode there, ready to receive man on his arrival — receive him in that Tree of Life which, together with the Most High, He, as the Wisdom in which the Creator formed all His works, had planted in the garden of delights (Wisdom viii. 4). Speaking of this Tree, the Bride of the Canticle said: “As the apple tree among the barren trees of the woods, so is my Beloved among the sons” of the rest of men; “I sat down under his shadow whom I desired, and his fruit was sweet to my palate” (Canticles ii. 3). This sweet Fruit of the Tree of Life was a figure of the Eucharist.

But how is this? We were yesterday invited by Wisdom to eat Bread in His house, and not Fruit in His garden. What means this change of language? It is because man has brought about an immense change of purpose: in his pride, he has eaten of a fruit which was not good, a fruit which was forbidden, and has ruined him for his taking it. He has been driven from the garden of delights. Cherubim and a flaming sword have been placed to keep the way of the Tree of Life. Instead of fruits of Paradise, the food of man is henceforth to be bread, bread which costs toil and sweat, bread which means grinding under a millstone, and burning in fire. Such is the sentence passed on man by a justly angered God. But, alas, this most just condemnation is to go far beyond the guilty one. It will strike man, but it will strike divine Wisdom, too — Wisdom who has given Himself to man to be his food and companion. In the immensity of His love, Wisdom will not abandon this fallen nature of man. He will, that He may save it, take upon Himself all the consequences of the Fall and, like fallen man, become passible and mortal.

The marriage-feast is not to be in Eden, as was first intended. Poor Eden! She had been so exquisitely prepared for that feast. She had her fragrant fields of loveliest emerald, and her fruit which was so fair to behold, and so pleasant to eat of (Genesis ii. 9), and so immortalising with a youth that was to last forever! To reach man, now that he is fallen, eternal Wisdom must make His way through the briars and thickets of His new abode. The Marriage-Feast will be kept in a house which it has cost Him infinite pains to build to Himself as a cover against the miseries of the land of exile. And as to the food served for the banquet, it is not to be the fruit spontaneously yielded by the Tree of Life: it is to be the divine Wheat, ground by suffering and baked on the altar of the Cross.