21 JUNE – SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA (Confessor)

Aloysius was born in 1568 in the castle of Castiglione near Brescia. His father was Ferdinand Gonzaga, the marquis of Castiglione delle Stivere, and his mother was a lady of honour to Queen Isabella, the wife of King Philip II of Spain. He was so hurriedly baptised on account of danger that he seemed to be born to Heaven almost before he was born to Earth, and he so faithfully kept this his first grace that he seemed to have been well near confirmed in it. From his first dawn of reason, which he used in offering himself to God, he led a more holy life by the day. At Florence, when he was nine years old, he made a vow of perpetual virginity before the altar of the Blessed Virgin on whom he always looked as a Mother, and by a remarkable mercy from God, he kept this vow wholly and without the slightest impure temptation, either of body or of mind, during his entire life.

At the age of 12 Aloysius was put under the spiritual guidance of Saint Charles Borromeo and received his first Holy Communion from him. In 1581 he went with his father and brother to Spain, and was made a page to the infante James, the son of King Philip II. He kept three days as fasts in every week, and that mostly upon a little bread and water. But indeed, he, as it were, fasted every day, for he hardly ever took so much as an ounce weight of food at his meal. Often also, even three times a day, he would, with cords or chains scourge himself to blood. Sometimes he would supply the place of a discipline or hair-shirt, by his own spurs or dog-thongs. He secretly strewed his soft bed with pieces of broken wood or potsherds, that he might find it easier to wake to pray. He passed great part of the night even in the depth of winter clad only in his shirt, either kneeling on the ground, or lying prostrate, when too weary to remain upright, occupied in heavenly contemplation. Sometimes he would keep himself thus immoveable up to five hours until he had spent at least one without any distraction of mind. Such constancy obtained for him the reward of being able to keep his understanding quite concentrated in prayer without any wandering of mind, as though rapt in God, in unbroken ecstasy.

In Spain Aloysius, called by a voice from Heaven, he resolved to join the Society of Jesus. In order that he might adhere to God alone, having overcome his father’s bitter resistance in a sharp contest of three years’ duration, and having procured the transfer of his right to the Marquessate to his brother, he took his vows in Rome in 1585 and received minor Orders. In his noviciate he began to be held as a master of all virtues. His obedience even to the most trifling rules was exact, his contempt of the world was extraordinary, and his hatred of self was implacable. His love of God was so ardent that it gradually undermined his bodily strength. Being commanded, therefore, to divert his mind for a while from divine things, he struggled vainly to distract himself from Him Who met him everywhere. He joyfully ministered to the sick in the public hospitals, and in the exercise of this charity he caught an infection and died in 1591 at the age of 23 years. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1621 and was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Saint Aloysius is the patron of youth.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“O how exceeding great is the glory of Aloysius, Son of Ignatius! Never could I have believed it, had not my Jesus shown it to me. Never could I have believed that such glory as that was to be seen in Heaven!” Thus cries out Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, whose memory we were celebrating a month ago: she is speaking in ecstasy. From the heights of Carmel from which her ken may reach beyond the heavens, she reveals to Earth the splendour with which the youthful hero of this day shines amid the celestial phalanxes.

Yet short was the life of Aloysius, and nothing had it offered to the superficial gaze of a vast majority save the preliminaries, so to say, of a career broken off in its flower, ere bearing fruit of any kind. God does not account of things as men do: of very slight weight are their appreciations in His Judgement! Even in the case of the Saints themselves, the mere fractional number of years or brilliant deeds goes far less to the filling up of a lifetime, in His view, than does love. The usefulness of a human existence ought surely to be measured as a matter of fact by the amount produced in it of what is lasting. Now, beyond this present time, charity remains alone, fixed forever at that precise degree of growth attained during this life of passage. Little matters it, therefore, if without any long duration or any apparent works, one of God’s Elect have developed in himself a love as great or greater, than some others have done, in the midst of many toils, be they never so holy, and throughout a long career admired of men.

The illustrious Society that gave Aloysius Gonzaga to Holy Church owes the sanctity of her members and the benedictions poured on their works to the fidelity she has ever professed to this important truth which throws so much light on the Christian life. From the very first age of her history it would seem that our Lord Jesus, not content to allow her to assume His own blessed Name, has been lovingly determined so to arrange circumstances in her regard that she may never forget in what it is her real strength lies in the midst of the actively militant career which He has especially opened before her. The brilliant works of Saint Ignatius her Founder, of Saint Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, of Saint Francis Borgia, the noble conquest of Christ’s Humility, manifested truly wondrous holiness in them, and to the eyes of all. But these works of theirs had no other spring nor basis than the hidden virtues of that other glorious triumvirate in which, under the Eye of God alone, by the sole strength of contemplative prayer, Saints Stanislaus Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga and John Berchmans rose to such a degree of love, and consequently to the sanctity of their heroic Fathers.

Again, it is by Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, the depository of the secrets of the Spouse, that this mystery is revealed to us. In the rapture during which the glory of Aloysius was displayed before her eyes, she thus continues while still under the influence of the Holy Ghost: “Who could ever explain the value and the power of interior acts? The glory of Aloysius is so great, simply because he acted thus, interiorly. Between an interior act and that which is seen, there is no comparison possible. Aloysius, as long as he dwelt on Earth, kept his eye attentively fixed on the Word, and this is just why he is so splendid. Aloysius was a hidden martyr. Whoever loves you, my God, knows you to be so great, so infinitely amiable, that keen indeed is the martyrdom of such a one, to see clearly that he loves you not so much as he desires to love you, and that you are not loved by your creatures, but are offended!.. Thus he became a martyrdom to himself. Oh he did love, while on Earth, wherefore now in Heaven he possesses God in a sovereign plenitude of love. While still mortal, he discharged his bow at the Heart of the Word, and now that he is in Heaven his arrows are all lodged in his own heart. For this communication of the Divinity which he merited by the arrows of his acts of love and of union with God, he now verily and indeed possesses and clasps forever.”

To love God, to allow His grace to turn our heart towards Infinite Beauty which alone can fill it, such is then the true secret of highest perfection. Who can fail to see how this teaching of today’s feast answers to the end pursued by the Holy Ghost ever since His coming down at our glorious Pentecost? This sweet and silent teaching was given by Aloysius wherever he turned his steps during his short career. Born to Heaven in holy Baptism, almost before he was born to Earth, he was a very Angel from his cradle. Grace seemed to gush from him into those who bore him in their arms, filling them with heavenly sentiments. At four years of age he followed the Marquess, his father, into the camps, and thus some unconscious faults which had not so much as tarnished his innocence became for the rest of his life the object of a penitence that one would have thought rather beseemed some grievous sinner. He was but nine years old when, being taken to Florence there to be perfected in the Italian language, he became the edification of the Court of duke Francis: but though the most brilliant in Italy, it failed to have any attraction for him and rather served to detach him more decisively than ever from the world. During this period, likewise, at the feet of the miraculous picture of the Annunziata, he consecrated his virginity to Our Lady.

The Church herself, in the Breviary Lessons, will relate the other details of this sweet life in which, as is ever the case with souls fully docile to the Holy Ghost, heavenly piety never marred what was of duty in earthly things. It is just because he really was a model for all youth engaged in study that Aloysius has been proclaimed Protector thereof. Of a singularly quick intelligence, as faithful to work as to prayer in the midst of the gay turmoil of city life, he mastered all the sciences then exacted of one of his rank. Very intricate and ticklish negotiations of worldly interest were more than once confided to his management: and thus was opportunity afforded of realising to what a high degree he might have excelled in government affairs. Here again, he comes forward as an example to such as have friends and relatives who would fain hold them back when on the threshold of the religious state under pretense of the “great good they may do in the world, and how much evil they may prevent.” Just as though the Most High must be contented with useless non-entities in that select portion of men He reserves to Himself amid nations. Or, as though the aptitudes of the richest and most gifted natures may not be turned all the better, and all the more completely to God their very principle, precisely because they are the most perfect. On the other hand, neither State nor Church ever really loses anything by this fleeing to God, this apparent throwing away of the best subjects! If, in the old Law, Jehovah showed Himself jealous in having the very best of all kinds of goods offered at His altar, His intention was not to impoverish His people. Whether admitted or not, it is a certain fact that the chief strength of society, the fountain-head of benediction and protection to the world, is always to be found in holocausts well pleasing to the Lord.

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VENERABLE old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years, but the understanding of man is grey hairs and a spotless life is old age (Wisdom iv. 8). And therefore, Aloysius, you hold a place of honour amid the ancients of your people. Glory be to the holy Society in the midst of which you, in so short a space, fulfilled a long course. Obtain that she may ever continue to treasure, both for herself and others, the teaching that flows from your life of innocence and love. Holiness is the one only thing when one’s career is ended that can be called true gain, and holiness is acquired from within. External works count with God only in as far as the interior breath that inspires them is pure. If occasion for exercising works be wanting, man can always supply that deficiency by drawing near to the Lord in the secret of his soul, as much and even more than he could have done by their means. Thus did you see and understand the question. And therefore prayer which held you absorbed in its ineffable delights succeeded in making you equal to the very martyrs. What a priceless treasure was not prayer in your eyes, what a Heaven-lent boon, and one that is indeed in our reach too, just as it was in yours!

But in order to find in it, as you expressed it, the short cut to perfection, perseverance is needed and a careful elimination from the soul, by a generous self repression, of every emotion which is not of God. For how could muddy or troubled waters mirror forth the image of Him who stands on their brink? Even so, a soul that is sullied, or a soul that without being quite a slave of passion, is not yet mistress of every earthly perturbation, can never reach the object of prayer, which is to reproduce within her the tranquil Image of her God. The reproduction of the one great Model was perfect in you, and hence it can be seen how nature (as regards what she has of good), far from losing or suffering anything, rather gains by this process of recasting in the divine crucible. Even in what touches the most legitimate affections you looked at things no longer from the earthly point of view, but beholding all in God, far were the things of sense transcended with all their deceptive feebleness, and wondrously did your love grow in consequence. For instance, what could be more touching than your sweet attentions, not only on Earth, but even from your throne in Heaven, for that admirable woman given to you by our Lord to be your earthly mother, where may tenderness be found equal to the affectionate effusions written to her by you in that letter of a Saint to the mother of a Saint, which you addressed to her shortly before quitting your earthly pilgrimage? And still more, what exquisite delicacy did you evince in making her the recipient of your first miracle, worked after your entrance into glory! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost by setting you on fire with the flame of divine charity, developed also within you immense love for your neighbour: necessarily so, because charity is essentially one, and well was this proved when you were seen sacrificing your life so blithely for the sick and the pestiferous.

Cease not, dearest Saint, to aid us in the midst of so many miseries. Lend a kindly hand to each and all. Christian youth has a special claim on your patronage, for it is by the Sovereign Pontiff himself that this precious portion of the flock are gathered around your throne. Direct their feeble steps along the right path, so often enticed as they are, to turn into dangerous by-roads. Be prayer and earnest toil for God’s dear sake, their stay and safeguard. Be they illumined in the serious matter before them of the choosing a state of life. We beseech you, dearest Saint, exert strong influence over them during this most critical period of their opening years so that they may truly experience all the potency of that fair privilege which is ever yours, of preserving in your devout clients the angelical virtue! Yes, furthermore, Aloysius, look compassionately on those who have not imitated your innocence, and obtain that they may yet follow you in the example of your penance: such is the petition of Holy Church this day.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Demetria, virgin, who was crowned with martyrdom under Julian the Apostate.

At Syracuse in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Rufinus and Martia.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Cyriacus and Apollinaris.

At Mayence, St. Alban, martyr, who was made worthy of the crown of life after long labours and severe combats.

The same day, St. Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, who, in the time of the Arian emperor Constantius, disguised himself under a military dress and visited the churches of God to confirm them in the faith. By Valens he was banished into Thrace, but when peace was restored to the Church in the reign of Theodosius, he was recalled. As he again visited the churches, an Arian woman struck him with a tile, which fractured his skull and made him a martyr.

At Iconium in Lycaonia, St. Terentius, bishop and martyr.

At Pavia, St. Urciscenus, bishop and confessor.

At Tongres, St. Martin, bishop.

In the diocese of Evreux, St. Leutfrid, abbot.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

21 JUNE – SATURDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Man has been cast forth from Eden, and is gone into the dreary land of his exile. He has nothing left him of the Tree of Life but the recollection that it was once his. It remains in the happy land where it was first planted. How could it go after the sinner man now that he is banished into the vale of tears?

No, it remains in Paradise, far from the abode of suffering. And out of mortals’ sight it continues in all its loveliness, bearing testimony to the primitive intentions of God, which were peace, innocence and love. The day will come when we will see it again, for it is to be one of the charms of the new Earth into which our Lord will lead His chosen people on the day of the great Pasch, and the restoration of all things (Apocalypse xxii. 2) Happy day, after which, as the Apostle tells us, every creature longs, bowed down as it now is, and made subject, by reason of a fault which was not its own, to the inconstancy of ceaseless change. Man, who, against the creature’s will, subjected it to the servitude of corruption, that same man keeps up within it the hope that the time of deliverance being come, it, too, will partake, in its own way, of the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans viii. 19-22). The glory of the new Paradise will be greater than that of the one of old, for it is not under the veil of symbols or in a passing way that the deifying union is to be fulfilled, but divine Wisdom will give Himself, and forever, and without veil, to man, and in an eternal embrace. And yet, this union whose permanent enjoyment is to make the eternal bliss of heaven is to be contracted even now, and on this very Earth of ours: for it is the economy of the divine plan that in all things, the future life should have its roots in the present one, and should be but the revelation, in the light of glory, of the ineffable realities formed here by grace. What, then, after the Fall, will be the conditions of the alliance from which eternal Wisdom has not been turned by the sin committed by His creature Man?

O the depth of the riches of this Wisdom of God! (Romans xi. 33). His love is strong as death (Canticles viii. 6), and even after man’s disloyalty will be infinitely admirable in its delicate ways of gaining its object. There is to be nothing unbecoming in the alliance He is bent on! He will admit no compromise with the depravity which has befallen our now sinful race! His mercy is infinite and, through that, He has pardoned the offence the moment the offender expressed his sorrow. But the pardon is not one which was to mean no compensation, no expiation, on man’s side. That would have ill-suited the dignity of such a Spouse as He. And since sinful man cannot offer an adequate expiation, He, Wisdom, undertakes to pay the culprit’s whole debt and give Him back the holiness he has forfeited. This done, Ge will take our human nature and espouse her to Himself as His much loved Bride. “I will espouse you to me, injustice and judgement,” says this God to man, by His prophet Osee (Osee ii. 19). And He adds: “I will espouse you to me in faith” (Osee ii. 20).

For, just as the entrance of divine Wisdom into this world, which He comes to save from pride by humility, is to be without exterior parade or glory, so, likewise, the divine union is to be accomplished in the mystery of the sacred species of the nuptial banquet, and these species will offer nothing to view but the appearance of bread and wine, such as one could find on any table. But Faith will see through that veil and the unspeakable dignity conferred on the children of men by this heavenly food will reflect its brightness on the whole creation. The whole world of creatures, each in its own way, was in expectation of this marvellous manifestation which was to be made on the sons of God (Romans viii. 19) by the union to be contracted between Wisdom and Man. The Prophet thus speaks of this universal expectation: “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, says the Lord, I will hear the heavens; and they will hear the earth; and the earth will hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and these will hear Jezrahel” (Osee ii. 21-22). Jezrahel means “the seed, or race, of God.” God will give to man, through corn and wine, the substance to be offered in the mysteries, and through oil, the priesthood, which is to transform them into the marriage-dowry, in the very action of the Sacrifice. It is to be by the Sacrifice, and by Blood that this alliance of justice and love is to be contracted.

We read in Scripture that Moses was one day traversing the desert. He had on him a legal transgression. Tthe Angel of the Lord met him and was about to slay him, when Sephora, the wife of this future leader of Israel, averted the divine vengeance by the rough and speedy circumcision of her son Eliezer: then marking with his blood the feet of the guilty one, she said to him: “A Spouse of blood are you to me” (Exodus iv. 24-26).Thus, and with far greater truth, could divine Wisdom say to the human race, for He is not to save, He is not to be united with man, except by the Blood of this Son of Man, who is one in person with that same Wisdom.

Nay, far from lessening, this very sight of man’s misery has increased the ardour of his love. Later on this Man-God will say: “I have a baptism, with which I am to be baptised: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” (Luke xii. 50). It was the same from the very first: no sooner has expiation been shown as the royal way by which humanity is to be restored to Him and again made worthy of Him by the shedding of divine Blood — Wisdom has ever had that thought before Him. He is impatient for the great immolation of Calvary, and until its time is come He will suggest to His people rites and sacrifices figurative of that one Sacrifice, and of the banquet of the adorable Victim, the Marriage-Feast.

His garden, the place of his delight, is no longer Paradise. It is this parched Earth of ours where man has now, more than ever, need of being loved of God. “You Cherubim, whom God has stationed to guard the Tree of Life, 'tis well that sinful man be kept from approaching it; But the flaming sword you hold in your hands will not prevent divine Wisdom from leaving Paradise and joining our human race here in its banishment. He was not only the Tree, but He is, likewise, the River of Life.” Speaking of Himself, He says in the Book of Ecclesiasticus: “like a brook out of a river of a mighty water, as though I were but a mere channel of a river, I came out of Paradise. I said: ‘I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.’” “And behold, my brook became a great river, and my river became like a sea; for I make doctrine to shine forth to all, as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off, yes, even to the most distant ages. I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the Earth, and will visit all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord” (Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 41-45).

This living Light, which from early morning enlightens the whole Earth with divine Wisdom, is the varied teaching of prophecies and figures which were given by God through the course of ages and, from the very moment of man’s creation, put the shadow of the Messiah on the whole universe. By means of this manifold teaching, Wisdom conveys Himself through nations into holy souls (Wisdom vii. 27), rouses man up, when discouragement makes him slumber (Psalms cxviii. 28), cherishes his hopes, and bids him hope, by looking at the future. Those bloody sacrifices which were prescribed immediately after man’s departure from Eden as the ritual expression of his early worship of God will be offered up by all after generations and, even when idolatry will have led mankind into the abyss of every crime, those sacrifices will raise up their voice and keep up the prophecy which they are intended to proclaim — the prophecy of a Victim who will be one of infinite worth. The stream of primitive traditions will, as it flows through time and space, get impregnated with foreign elements, and transmit many worthless or even dangerous material. Still, it is through the rite of Sacrifice, observed as it is by the whole world, that the desire and expectation of Christ will be maintained among all nations (Genesis xlix. 10) Satan, that old serpent thief, may succeed in inducing men to build altars to himself, and on those altars offer him sacrifice which is due to God alone: but he cannot stifle the voice of truth which accompanies every sacrifice, the voice which teaches that an innocent and pure victim may be substituted in place of guilty man and work his expiation. This will arouse the notion of the promised Mediator in many a soul that had got bewildered amid the orgies of this satanic worship. And here again the very sight of the serpent was made to be the cure of them he had stung, and became the sign and ensign of the son of Jesse (Numbers xxi. 6-9; Isaias xi. 10). O root of Jesse! Root of the Wisdom of the Most High! Who is there that can understand the depth of His counsels, or penetrate the devices of His immense love? (Ecclesiasticus i. 6) Verily you are more beautiful than any light of day, for that light yields when night comes on, whereas you, Wisdom, are overcome by no evil, be it as black as sin! (Wisdom vii. 29, 30).

All those ancient Sacrifices were powerless to produce grace. Their very multiplicity proved their inability to do so (Hebrews x. 1-4), but what they could and did effect was the keeping alive in mankind the remembrance of the Fall, and the expectation of a Redeemer. They were, likewise, the basis of those supernatural acts which are requisite for man’s justification and salvation. But, besides their representing the redemptive element, which the Fall of man has introduced into the plan of God, these bloody Sacrifices express also the union of that God with His creature, which was the primary and chief object of creation. That union was to be effected in the banquet prepared by Wisdom, the Eucharistic banquet, in which He, Wisdom, the Son of God, was to be received by man, and thus united with him. Yes, this sublime mystery was also expressed by those figurative Sacrifices in which the people partook of the victims offered: for in the Eucharist the Victim is Man-God, offered to God, and eaten of by man. The Deity is appeased by the Blood of the divine Lamb, and mankind is restored, because nourished by His Flesh, which thus feeds him to a new and a divine life.

Such was the general law observed by all nations when offering Sacrifice: the portion intended for God was consumed by fire, and this was a transmitting it to Heaven. But another portion of the same victim was taken and eaten by the people: and all this signified that there was communion between Heaven and Earth, and that the receivers were all made one because they all partook of the same sacred food. How admirably are thus grouped together all the mysteries of God’s goodness towards his creature man! And what a prophecy this was! It was unceasing, for it was proclaimed each time a sacrifice was offered up, and there were thousands every day. It was in these that the divine Lamb, whom they foretold, was slain from the very beginning of the world (Apocalypse xiii. 8). His Blood, in all those early ages, was applied, through hope and faith, on the souls of men, and cleansed them from their sins. And the mysterious ritual with its inspired code of prescriptions was keeping man on the alert, and preparing him for the banquet of the Nuptials of the Lamb (Apocalypse xix. 7-9). Then, let Wisdom extol His own triumph! It is He that made that in the heavens there should rise a light which never fails, and covers the whole earth as with a cloud. He alone has compassed the circuit of heaven, has penetrated into the bottom of the deep, has traversed the waves of the sea, and has stood in all the earth, and in every people, as the King of all, holding the chief rule, and vanquishing, strongly and sweetly, the hearts of all, both high and low (Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 6-11).

Meanwhile, the time of banishment is running on. The long period of expectation is more than half over. The nearer the realisation of the promised Alliance comes, the more ardent are the longings of chosen souls. As to our Jesus Himself, that is, Wisdom, He seems to desire a preparation of a more telling kind than any of these others that have preceded. He will turn his attention to the very spot where He is to dwell on this Earth. And where is that? His Father, the Creator of all things —that Father, whose every word is fulfilled by His Son — has a chosen people,; and among these He would have His Son be nationalised, if we may reverently use such a word. He said to Him: “Let your dwelling be in Jacob, and your inheritance in Israel!” (Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 12, 13). In obedience to this His Father’s will, He establishes Himself in Sion, He takes his rest in the holy City, and fixes His power in Jerusalem (Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 15). Jerusalem, it is the City of Peace, and is to be the scene of such stupendous mysteries! It was here that Isaac, the child of promise, had come carrying on his shoulders the wood for his self-sacrifice. Here his father is about to slay him, when a ram is mysteriously substituted , and the Mount of the one true Sacrifice is thus selected. It was here, also, that there then lived a King-Priest who bore the likeness of the Son of God (Hebrews vii. 3): it was Melchisedech, and when Abraham, the father of believers, came to him, this Melchisedech offered what was to be the sacrifice of the Alliance to come. He offered a sacrifice of bread and wine, and thereby showed to Abraham, who saw into the future, the day of Christ, his Son (John viii. 56).

It is at the very period, when the world, at large has fallen into idolatry and offered to false gods the homage of its sacrifices, that divine Wisdom leads into this chosen dwelling-place the people of whom He is to be born as Man. It is the fulfilment of the command: “Let your dwelling be in Jacob! Let your inheritance be in Israel!” In this one people, Wisdom will maintain His Father’s claims, and keep alive and pure the light of the expectation of nations. He delivers it, at the cost of countless prodigies, from the Egyptian bondage (Wisdom x. 15). The feast of the Paschal Lamb, slain the same day on which, at a future time, is to be celebrated the true Supper of the Lord and the immolation of the Lamb — the feast of the Paschal Lamb is the signal of the deliverance, and the triumphant march through the waters of a sea, to the Mount where is to be contracted, through the blood of victims, the union between God and the house of Jacob: the chosen people becomes the Bride of God (Ezechiel xvi; Osee ii.), the priestly kingdom, and the holy nation (Exodus xix. 6). Figure, in all things, of God’s true people traversing the desert of this world, Israel drinks of the waters which come from the Rock, and the Rock is Christ (1 Corinthians x. 4, 11); a bread rained down daily from Heaven, strengthens him amid the fatigues of journey and battle, and this “bread of Angels,” as the Scripture terms it, took the taste of anything the eater wished it to have (Wisdom xvi. 20-22). God Himself dwells with Israel, under his tents. He has had a tabernacle made for Him, on the plan of one shown by God on the mount. And in front of this tabernacle there is an altar on which a chosen family, consecrated by oil of unction, may alone offer, under the direction of a high-priest, the manifold legal sacrifices, each of which points to some excellency or other, of the one great Sacrifice of the future. From this altar on which burns a fire that is never quenched, here goes up to Heaven without interruption the smoke of the flesh and blood of the victims slain. They are a supplication for the coming of that saving Host which is to put an end to these hecatombs. There are also offerings of flour and wine. They are the necessary accompaniment of holocausts and peace offerings. They prefigure the august Memorial which is to keep up and perfect the divine Sacrifice of the Cross by an unbloody application of it. There is, in these early days, a sacrifice which goes under the name of a memorial. It is an offering by itself, consisting of fine flour and unleavened loaves and wafers (Leviticus ii. 2, 9). Then there are the proposition loaves. They are kept within the veil as the most holy of the sacrifices, as being a perpetual memorial of sacrifice and covenant (Leviticus xxiv. 7-9) and what a mysterious, yet unmistakeable, figure is all this of the future Eucharistic Presence, kept up in the Church under the sacred species even when the celebration of the mysteries is over?

As there is but one altar in Jacob which, by its oneness, points towards Him who at a future time is to be both victim and altar, so there is but one place, the tabernacle and its surroundings and, later on, the temple and holy city, where it is lawful to celebrate those sacred banquets of communion which according to universal custom close the sacrifice in which they are offered. The last time that Moses had his people assembled around him in the plains of the Jordan he thus spoke to them: “Beware lest you offer your holocaust in every place that you will see. In the place which the Lord your God will choose, that His name may be therein, there will you bring your holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands. There will you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your men-servants and maid-servants, and the Levite that dwells in your cities, and you will rejoice, and be refreshed, before the Lord your God, in all things, whereunto you will put your hand” (Deuteronomy xii. 7, 11-13).

The material prosperity promised to the Jewish people as a reward of his faithfully observing the numerous figurative prescriptions of the law of Sinai was itself but a figure of the spiritual blessings which were to transform the soul, and prepare it for the coming of Divine Wisdom in the flesh. But Israel is slow to raise himself above material things. He easily falls a prey to all the scandals he witnesses among the Gentiles. Severe punishments teach him that he is not safe, except in his keeping the law given to him. He keeps it, that is, he keeps the letter of the ritual precepts with scrupulous exactitude, but sees nothing of their chief meaning, which is the Redeemer to come, and the spiritual dispositions which those outward observances were intended to prompt. God is continually warning him by the Prophets, and seeking to reclaim him to the spirit of his divine institutions. Thus, in the Psalms, he remonstrates with him, but, with such paternal affection, that one can scarcely suspect a complaint, though there is a most bitter one: “Hear, my people! and I will speak: Israel! And I will testify to you. I am God, your God. I will not reprove you for your sacrifices; and your burnt-offerings are always in my sight. I will not take calves out of your house, nor he-goats out of your flocks, for all the beasts of the wood are mine, the cattle on the hills, and the oxen. I know all the fowls of the air, and with me is the beauty of the field. If I should be hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bullocks? or will I drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High!... The sacrifice of praise will glorify me; and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God” — show him, that is, my Christ, who is the Saviour signified by all these sacrifices (Psalms xlix. 7-14, 23).

Later on, however, to this people, stiff necked as it is, and uncircumcised in heart and ears (Acts vii. 51), which has gone deeper and deeper into outward formalism, and knows no other virtue or perfection, God speaks in strong language, expressing His disgust for sacrifices which they have robbed of the only worth they possessed in His sight, that is, their prophetic sense. “To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims,” says He by the Prophet Isaias, “I am full; I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck-goats. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk, (defiling), my courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: your incense is an abomination to me! (Isaias i. 11-13). But these warnings are not heeded. Pride increases in the carnal Jew in proportion to his narrow heart and views. He dreams of a Messiah who is to be an earthly conqueror. As to the true Messiah, whose divine characteristics are foretold by the victims offered in sacrifice, this Jew will deny Him, for he finds Jesus too closely resembling those poor victims by his sufferings and meekness.

Then comes the last of the Prophets, Malachias. He turns to the Gentiles: they have been less favoured than Israel, but they have kept up the expectation of a Saviour, and when He comes, will lovingly receive Him. Malachias announces the final abrogation of a worship which had been so perverted, and the substitution of a divine memorial, which will be the same in all places, and will make all people one by their all partaking of the great Sacrifice to come: “I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of hosts, to the priests of Israel: “I will not receive a gift of your hand; for, from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation” (Malachi i. 10, 11).

The fullness of time is come. Then, bless God, you Gentiles! Make the voice of His praise to be heard! Too long life has been to you but the empty dream of night. You hungered after the fruit of life. You thirsted for living water. But like the hungry man who dreams of a sumptuous repast, yet never satisfies the hunger which gnaws him, like the thirsty man who dreams that he drinks, yet, on waking, is tormented with the same burning thirst, and finds his soul still empty — so was the multitude of your erring people (Isaias xxix. 7, 8). Yet, now, behold! The standard of Jesse appears on the mountain and rallies them around it. You Gentiles that once were strangers feed now to your heart’s content in the deserts turned into fruitfulness! (Isaias xxix. 17). The Water from the rock flows plentifully through your once parched lands. The glory of Libanus, the beauty of Carmel and Saron, adorn your hills, and refresh your lonely plain. Your wilderness will rejoice, and flourish like the lily (Isaias xxxv. 1, 7). Rain will be given to your seed, and the bread of the corn of your land will be delicious (Isaias xxx. 23). Tis just it should be so, for, will the labourer plough all day long? Will he be ever opening and harrowing his ground? No, the time comes when, having made smooth the surface of his field, he sows and scatters his seeds and puts wheat in the rows he has marked. Such is the providence shown to the Gentiles by the Lord God of hosts and, thereby, he evinces both the sureness of His divine counsels, and the magnificence of His justice (Isaias xxviii. 24, 29).

No: eternal Wisdom had not given up the mysterious designs of His love. He kept close to the fallen human race even when He severely chastised it. He owed it to Himself to put guilty man to the test, so to make him feel, before raising him up, how deep had been his fall. It was on this account that He permitted him to be overtaken by night, and fear, and anguish. He Himself sends him sufferings in order that, having thus brought him to sound the frightful depth of his misery, he might trust Himself to the safe welcome and keeping of His creature’s humility. This done, He would raise him up by repentance, and strengthen him with hope, and, joyously meeting him, disclose to him again His divine charms, and enrich him with the treasures which are in the keeping of His love (Ecclesiasticus iv. 18, 21).

This is Saturday. Let us turn to Mary who was made for us Gentiles, the Seat of Wisdom. It was in her chaste womb that was wrought the mystery of mercy which had been the expectation of all the long ages past. It was her most pure blood which provided the substance of that spotless Body with which the most beautiful of the sons of men contracted the indissoluble alliance of our nature with eternal Wisdom. Mary’s soul is enraptured at seeing the ineffable mystery of these divine nuptials effected in her chaste womb. She is that enclosed Garden where, more delightedly than in the early days of the universe, Wisdom enjoys light and love; the flowery couch of the Canticle (Canticles i. 15) perfumed, by the Holy Spirit with the sweetest fragrance; the glorious tabernacle, incomparably more holy than that of Moses. It is within her, under the immaculate veil of her flesh, that, by the unspeakable embrace of the two natures in the unity of God’s Only Begotten Son, the Holy Ghost pours forth the unction, which makes Him Spouse and, at the same time, Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.

Let man, then, be of good courage. The Bread of Heaven, the Bread of the Covenant, is at last come down upon our Earth. And although nine months must pass before the great night comes when He is to be made visible to us all in Bethlehem, yet even now the High Priest is at His work in this His holy temple. “Sacrifice and oblation you would not,” says He to His eternal Father, “but a body you have fitted to me. Holocausts for sin did not please you. Then said I: ‘Behold I come; in the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will, God!’” Hebrews x. 5, 7).

20 JUNE – SAINT SILVERIUS (Pope and Martyr)

Silverius succeeded Pope Saint Agapetus to the See of Rome in 536 AD. During his papacy the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. Silverius resisted interference in religious affairs by the empress Theodora and for that he was expelled from Rome and persecuted. After having been taken to Constantinople, he was exiled to the Italian island of Pandataria which had become infamous as a place of banishment to which the enemies of pre-Christian emperors had been sent. Here Pope Silverius died in 538 AD at the hands of his enemies.

Silverius was the son of Pope Saint Hormisdas who had been married before becoming a bishop. Silverius entered the Church as a subdeacon upon the death of Pope Saint Agapetus and succeeded him to the See of Peter in 536. During his pontificate the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. The empress Theodora sought to have Pope Silverius enter into communion with the heretical Monophysites but he resisted and for that he was persecuted and exiled on the island of Palmarola in the Bay of Naples where he died in 537.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the demise of St. Novatus, son of the blessed senator Pudens and brother of the saintly priest Timothy, and of the holy virgins of Christ Pudentiana and Praxedes, who were instructed in the faith by the Apostles. Their house was converted into a church and bore the title of Pastor.

At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Paul and Cyriacus.

At Petra in Palestine, St. Macarius, a bishop who suffered much from the Arians and was banished to Africa where he rested in the Lord.

At Seville in Spain, the holy virgin Florentina, sister of the holy bishops Leander and Isidore.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

20 JUNE – 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.

19 JUNE – SAINT JULIANA FALCONIERI (Virgin)

Juliana of the noble family of Falconieri was the daughter of the illustrious nobles Chiarissimo and Reguardata Falconieri who founded and built the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, still to be seen in Florence. When she was born in 1270 both were already advanced in years and up to this, quite childless. From her very cradle, she gave tokens of the holiness of life to which she afterwards attained. And from the lisping of her baby lips was caught the sweet sound of the names of Jesus and Mary. As she entered on her girlhood, she delivered herself up entirely to the pursuit of Christian virtues, and so excellently shone therein that her uncle, the blessed Alexius, scrupled not to tell her mother that she had given birth to an Angel rather than to a woman. So modest, indeed, was her countenance, and so pure her soul from the slightest speck of indiscretion, that she never in her whole life raised her eyes to a man’s face, and that the very mention of sin made her shiver; and when the story of a grievous crime was told her, she dropped down fainting and almost lifeless.

Before she had completed her fifteenth year, she renounced her inheritance, although a richone, and all prospect of earthly marriage, solemnly making to God a vow of virginity, in the hands of St.Philip Benizi, from whom .she was the first to receive the religious habit of what are called the “Mantellatoo”. Juliana’s example was followed by many young women of noble families, and even her own mother put herself under her daughter's instructions. Thus in a little while, their number increased, and she became foundress of the Order of the Mantellatffi, to whom she gave a rule of life, full of wisdom and holiness. St. Philip Benizi having thorough knowledge of her virtues, being at the point of death, thought that to none better than to her, could he leave the care not only of the women but of the whole Order of Servites, of which he was the propagator and head; yet of herself she ever deemed most lowly; even when she was the mistress of others, ministering to her sisters in the meanest offices of the household work. She passed whole days in incessant prayer, and was often rapt in spirit; and the remainder of her time, she toiled to make peace among the citizens, who were at variance amongst themselves; to recall sinners from evil courses; and to nurse the sick, to cure whom she would sometimes use even her tongue to remove the matter that ran from their sores, and so healed them. It was her custom to afflict her body with whips, knotted cords, iron girdles, watching, and sleeping upon the bare ground. Upon four days in the week, she ate very sparingly, and that only of the coarsest food; on the other two she contented herself with the Bread of Angels alone, except Saturday whereon she took only bread and water.

This hardship of life caused her to fall ill of a stomach complaint, which increasing,brought her to the point of death, when she was seventy years of age. She bore the daily sufferings of this long illness with a smiling face and a brave heart; the only thing of which she was heard to complain being, that her stomach was so weak, that unable to retain food, she was withheld, by reverence for the holy Sacrament, from the Eucharistic Table. Finding herself in these straits she begged the Priest to bring her the Divine Bread, and as she dared not take It into her mouth, to put It as near as possible to her heart exteriorly. The Priest did as she wished, and to the amazement of all present, the Divine Bread at once disappeared from sight, and at the same instant, a smile of joyous peace crossed the face of Juliana, and she gave up the ghost. This matter seemed beyond all belief, until the virginal body was being laid out in the accustomed manner; for then there was found, upon the left side of the bosom, a mark like the stamp of a seal, reproducing the form of the Sacred Host, the mould of which was one of those that bear a figure of Christ crucified. The report of this and of other wonders procured for Juliana a reverence not only from Florence, but from all parts of the Christian world, which reverence so increased through the course of four hundred years, that Pope Benedict XIII commanded a proper Office in her honour to be celebrated by the whole Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Clement XII. the munificent Protector of the same Order, finding new signs and wonders shedding lustre upon her glory every day, inscribed the name of Juliana upon the catalogue of holy virgins in 1737.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This day witnesses the close of the pilgrimage of one, who was miraculously supplied with the divine Viaticum: Juliana presents herself at heaven’s gate, showing upon her heart, the impress of the Sacred Host. The lily emblazoned on the city escutcheon of Florence, glistens with fresh radiance today, for it was she gave birth to our Saint, as well as to so many others, some of whom have already beamed across our path, and some are about to follow,—all of them brilliant in sublime virtues practised within the ancient walls of this “City of flowers”, under the delighted glance and the urging influence of the Spirit of Love. But what shall we say of the glory of yonder mountains, that nobly crown this fair city, —a diadem lovely in men’s eyes and still more so, to Angels’ gaze? What, of Vallombrosa, and further in the blue distance, of Camaldoli, of Alberno? —all sacred fortresses, at whose foot hell trembling howls—all sacred reservoirs of choicest grace, guarded by Seraphim, whence flow in gushing streams more abundant and more pure than Arno’s tide, living waters of salvation on all the smiling land around! In 1233, just thirty seven years previous to Juliana’s birth, Florence seemed destined to be, under the holy influence of such a neighbourhood, a very paradise of sanctity; so common did the higher Christian life become—of such everyday occurrence were supernatural prodigies. The Mother of Divine Grace was then multiplying her gifts. Once on a certain festival of the Assumption, seven of the citizens the most distinguished for nobility of blood, fortune, and public offices of trust, were suddenly inflamed by a heavenly desire to consecrate themselves unreservedly to the service of Our Lady. Presently, as these men passed along, bidding adieu to the world, babes at the breast cried out, all over the city: “Behold the Servants of the Virgin Mary!” Among the innocents whose tongue was thus unloosed to announce divine mysteries, was the new-born son of the illustrious family of Benizii, he was named Philip and had first seen the light on the very feast of the Assumption, whereon Mary had just founded for her glory and that of her Divine Son, the Order of the Servites. We shall have to return to this child, who was to be the chief propagator of the new order; for holy Church celebrates his birthday into heaven, on the morrow of the Octave of the Assumption. He was destined to be Juliana’s spiritual father. In the meanwhile, the Seven invited by Mary to the festival of penitence, who all persevering faithful unto death, are inscribed on the catalogue of the Saints—had retired three leagues from Florence to the desert of Monte Senario. There Our Lady, during seven years, formed them to the great work, of which they were the predestined though unwitting instruments.

According to His wont, the Holy Ghost, during all this preparatory season, though of long duration, —kept from them every idea save that of their own santification, employing them in the mortification of the senses, and in a spirit of exclusive contemplation of the sufferings of Our Lord and those of His divine Mother. Two amongst them, daily came down to the city to beg bread for themselves and their companions. One of these illustrious mendicants was Alexius Falconieri, the most eager for humiliations, amongst all the seven. His brother who, still continuing in the world, held one of the highest positions amongst the citizens, was in every way worthy of this blessed man, and paid homage to his heroic self-abasement. He likewise took an honourable share in the united gift bestowed, with the concurrence of all classes of these religious citizens, upon the solitaries of Monte Senario, whereby a magnificent Church was added to the poor retreat, they had been induced to accept, for greater convenience, at the gates of Florence. To honour the mystery wherein their Sovereign Lady declared herself to be the humble servant of the Lord,—this church and monastery of the Servites of Mary received the title of the “Annunziata.” Among the marvels which wealth and art, in succeeding ages, have lavished upon its interior, the principal treasure which puts all the rest in the shade, is a primitive fresco of the angelical salutation, dating from the lifetime of the founders—the painter whereof, more devout to Mary, than skilful with his pencil, deserved to be aided by the hands of Angels. Signal favours obtained without interruption, from this sacred picture, still attract flocks of devout visitors. If the city of the Medici and of the Tuscan Grand Dukes, though swallowed up by the universal brigandage of the house of Savoy, has preserved better than many others, the lively piety of better days—she owes it to this her ancient Madonna, as well as to her numerous saints, who seem gathered within her walls, to serve as a cortege of honour for Our Lady.

These details seem necessary to throw light on the abridged account given in the Liturgy, regarding our Saint. Juliana, born of a sterile mother and of a father advanced in years, was the reward of the zeal displayed for the Annunziata, by her father, Carissimo Falconieri. Beside this picture of the Madonna was she to spend her life and to yield up her last breath; close by, her sacred relics now repose. Educated by her uncle, Saint Alexius, in the love of Mary and of humility, she devoted herself from her very youth to the Order founded by Our Lady; ambitioning no title save one, that of Oblate, which would entail upon her the serving, in the lowest rank, the Servites of God’s Mother: for this reason, she was later on, acknowledged to be the foundress of the Third Order of the Servites, and was Superioress of the first community of these female tertiaries, surnamed “Mantellatae.” But her influence extended further still, so that the whole Order, both the men and the women, alike hail her as their Mother; for it was indeed she who put the finishing stroke to the work of its foundation, and gave it the stability it has been possessed of for centuries.

The Order which had become marvellously extended during forty years of miraculous existence and under the government of Saint Philip Benizi, was at that moment passing through a dangerous crisis, the more to be feared because the storm had taken rise in Rome itself. There was question of everywhere carrying into effect, the canons of. The Councils of Lateran and Lyons, prohibiting the introduction of new Orders into the Church; now,. the institute of the Servites being posterior to the first of these Councils, Innocent V was resolved on its suppression. The superiors had already been forbidden to receive any novice to Profession or to Clothing; and whilst awaiting the definitive sentence, the goods of the Order were considered, beforehand, as already devolved on the Holy See. Philip Benizi was about to die, and Juliana was but fifteen years of age. Nevertheless, enlightened from on high, the Saint hesitated not: he confided the Order to Juliana’s hands, and so slept in the peace of our Lord. The event justified his hopes: after various catastrophes which it were long to relate, Benedict XI, in 1304, gave to the Servites the definitive sanction of the Church. So true is it, that in the Counsels of Divine Providence, nor rank, nor age, nor sex, count for aught! The simplicity of a soul that has wounded the Heart of the Spouse, is stronger in her humble submission, than highest authority; and her unknown prayer prevails over powers established by God Himself.

* * * * *

To serve Mary, was the only nobility that had any attraction in your eyes, Juliana! to share her Dolours, was the only recompense which your generous soul in its lowliness, could ambition. Your desires were granted: but from that lofty Throne where She reigns as Queen of Angels and of men, She who confessed Herself the Handmaid of the Lord and beheld God to have regard to her humility—was also pleased to exalt you, like herself, above all the mighty ones. Counteracting that hidden silence wherein you would fain have had the human brilliancy of your pedigree forgotten and lost for ever —she has made your holy glory eclipse the fair honour of your sires, in Florence; so that if the name of Falconieri has now a world-wide fame, it is on your account, humble Tertiary, lowly Servant of the Servites of Our Lady! Further still: in that fair Home of true Nobility, in yonder City of God, where ranks are distinguished by the varying degree of radiance shed by the Lamb on the brow of each one of the Elect—you shine resplendent with an aureola, which is nothing less than a participation of Mary’s glory. Just as she acted in regard of Holy Church, after the Ascension of our Lord, so did you in respect of the Servite Order; for while leaving to others, such action as appears externally, and such authority as must rule souls—you were nonetheless, in your lowliness, the real mistress and mother of the new Family, formed of the men and the women chosen by God for that Order. More than once, in other centuries likewise, has the divine Mother been pleased thus to glorify her faithful imitatrices, by making them become, beyond all calculation of their own, faithful copies of herself. Just, as in the family confided to Peter by her Divine Son, Our Lady was the most submissive of all others to the rule of Christ’s Vicar and that of the other Apostles; whereas all knew right well that she was their Queen, and the very fountain-head of the graces of consolidation and growth, that were inundating the Church—so, Juliana, the weakness of your sex and age in no way restrained a strong religious Order, from proclaiming you its light and its glory. This was because the Most High, ever liberal in His gifts, was pleased to grant to your youthfulness, results which He refused to the greater maturity, to the genius—yes, to the sanctity of your Father, Saint Philip Benizi!

Continue, then, to shield your devout family of Servites of Mary: stretch forth your protecting mantle over every religious Order severely tried in these our days. May Florence, through your aid, ever hold in most precious remembrance the favours lavished on her by Our Lady and the Saints, because of her Faith, in the good days of old. May Holy Church ever have more and more cause to sing your power, as a Bride, over the Heart of the Divine Spouse. In return for the signal grace He bestowed on you, as the crown of your life, and the consummation of His Love in you, be propitious to us in our last struggle: obtain for us that we may not die unhelped by the reception of the holy Viaticum. The whole of this portion of the Cycle is illumined with the rays of the adorable Host, proposed to our prostrate worship in so special a manner, at this season, by another Juliana: Oh may that sweet Host be the one Love of our life’s career; may It be our strong bulwark in life’s final combat! Yes, may our death be nothing else than a passing from the divine Banquet of Earth’s land of shadows, up to the delicious Festal Board of Eternal Union.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Milan, the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, brothers. The former, by order of the judge Astasius, was so long scourged with leaded whips, that he expired. The latter, after being scourged with rods, was beheaded. Through divine revelation their bodies were found by St. Ambrose. They were partly covered with blood, and as free from corruption as if they had been put to death that very day. When the translation took place, a blind man recovered his sight by touching their relics and many persons possessed by demons were delivered.

At Ravenna, St. Ursicinus, martyr, who remained firm through many torments in the confession of the Lord, and consummated his martyrdom by capital punishment under the judge Paulinus.

At Sozopolis, under the governor Domitian, during the persecution of Trajan, St. Zosimus, martyr, who suffered bitter tortures, was beheaded and thus triumphantly went to heaven.

At Arezzo in Tuscany, the holy martyrs Gaudentius, bishop, and Culmatius, deacon, who were murdered by furious Gentiles during the reign of Valentinian.

The same day, St. Boniface, martyr, a disciple of blessed Romuald, who was sent by the Roman Pontiff to preach the Gospel in Russia. Having passed through fire uninjured, and baptised the king and his people, he was killed by the enraged brother of the king and thus gained the palm of martyrdom which he ardently desired.

At Ravenna, St. Romuald, anchoret, founder of the monks of Carnaldoli, who restored and greatly extended monastic discipline which was much relaxed in Italy. He is also mentioned on the seventh of February.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

19 JUNE – SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

A great solemnity has this day risen upon our Earth: a Feast both to God and men, for it is the Feast of Christ the Mediator who is present in the sacred Host that God may be given to man, and man to God. Divine union — yes, such is the dignity to which man is permitted to aspire, and to this aspiration, God has responded, even here below, by an invention which is all of Heaven.

It is today that man celebrates this marvel of God’s goodness. And yet, against both the Feast and its divine object there has been made the old fashioned objection: “How can these things be done?” (John iii. 9; vi. 53). It really does seem as though reason has a right to find fault with what looks like senseless pretensions of man’s heart. Every living being thirsts after happiness, and yet and because of that it only aspires after the good of which it is capable, for it is the necessary condition of happiness that in order to its existence there must be the full contentment of the creature’s desire. Hence, in that great act of creation which the Scripture so sublimely calls “His playing in the world” (Proverbs viii. 30, 31), when with His almighty power, He prepared the heavens and enclosed the depths, and balanced the foundations of the earth (Proverbs viii. 27, 29), we are told that Divine Wisdom secured the harmony of the universe by giving to each creature, according to its degree in the scale of being, an end adequate to its powers. He thus measured the wants, the instinct, the appetite (that is, the desire) of each creature, according to its respective nature so that it would never have cravings, which its faculties were insufficient to satisfy.

In obedience, then, to this law, was not man, too, obliged to confine, within the limits of his finite nature, his desires for the good and the beautiful, that is, his searching after God, which is a necessity with every intelligent and free being? Otherwise, would it not be that, for certain beings, their happiness would have to be in objects, which must ever be out of the reach of their natural faculties? Great as the anomaly would appear, yet does it exist. True psychology, that is, the true science of the human mind, bears testimony to this desire for the infinite. Like every living creature around him, man thirsts for happiness. And yet, he is the only creature on earth that feels within itself longings for what is immensely beyond its capacity. While docile to the lord placed over them by the Creator, the irrational creatures are quite satisfied with what they find in this world. They render to man their several services, and their own desires are all fully gratified by what is within their reach: it is not so with Man. He can find nothing in this his earthly dwelling which can satiate his irresistible longings for a something which this Earth cannot give, and which time cannot produce: for that something is the infinite.

God Himself, when revealing Himself to man through the works He has created, that is, when showing Himself to man in a way which His natural powers can take in: God, when giving man to know Him as the First Cause, as Last End of all creatures, as unlimited perfection, as infinite beauty, as sovereign goodness, as the object which can content both our understanding and our will — no, not even God Himself, thus known and thus enjoyed, could satisfy man. This being, made out of nothing, wishes to possess the Infinite in his own substance. He longs after the sight of the face, he ambitions to enjoy the life, of his Lord and God. The Earth seems to him but a trackless desert where he can find no water that can quench his thirst. From early dawn of each wearisome day, his soul is at once on the watch, pining for that God who alone can quell his desires. Yes, his very flesh too has its thrilling expectations for that beautiful Infinite One (Psalms lxii.) Let us listen to the Psalmist, who speaks for us all: “As the hart pants after the fountains of water, so my soul pants after you, God! My soul has thirsted after the strong, living, God: when will I come and appear before the face of God? My tears have been my bread, day and night, while it is said to me daily:Where is your God? These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me, for I will go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. With the voice of joy and praise, the noise of one that is feasting. Why are you sad, my soul? and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God” (Psalms xli.)

If reason is to be the judge of such sentiments as these, they are but wild enthusiasm and silly pretensions. Why talk of the sight of God, of the life of God, of a banquet in which God Himself is to be the repast? Surely, these are things far too sublime for man, or any created nature, to reach. Between the wisher and the object longed for, there is an abyss— the abyss of disproportion, which exists between nothingness and being. Creation, all powerful as it is, does not in itself imply the filling up of that abyss. If the disproportion could ever cease to be an obstacle to the union aspired to, it would be by God Himself going that whole length, and then imparting something of His own divine energies to the creature that had once been nothing. But, what is there in man to induce the Infinite Being, whose magnificence is above the heavens, to stoop so low as that? This is the language of reason.

But, on the other hand, who was it that made the heart of man so great and so ambitious that no creature can fill it. How comes it that while the heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declares how full of wisdom and power is every work of His hands (Psalm xviiii. 2), how comes it, we ask, that in man alone there is no proportion, no order? Could it be that the great Creator has ordered all things, excepting man alone, with measure, and number, and weight? (Wisdom xi. 21) That one creature who is the masterpiece of the whole creation, that creature for whom all the rest was intended as for its king, is he to be the only one that is a failure, and to live as a perpetual proclaimer that his Maker could not, or would not, be wise, when he made Man? Far from us be such a blasphemy! God is love, says Saint John (1 John iv. 8), and love is the knot which mere human philosophy can never loosen, and therefore must ever leave unsolved the problem of man’s desire for the Infinite.

Yes, God is charity. God is love. The wonder in all this question is not our loving and longing for God, but that He should have first loved us (1 John iv. 10). God is love, and love must have union. And union makes the united like one another. Oh the riches of the Divine Nature in which are infinite Power, and Wisdom, and Love! These three constitute, by their divine relations, that blessed Trinity which has been the light and joy of our souls ever since that bright Sunday’s Feast, which we kept in its honour! Oh the depth of the divine counsels in which that which is willed by boundless Love finds, in infinite Wisdom, how to fulfil in work what will be to the glory of Omnipotence!

Glory be to you, Holy Spirit! Your reign over the Church has but just begun this year of grace, and you are giving us light by which to understand the divine decrees. The day of your Pentecost brought us a new Law, a Law where all is brightness. And it was given to us in place of that Old one of shadows and types. The pedagogue, who schooled the infant world for the knowledge of truth, has been dismissed. Light has shone on us through the preaching of the Apostles, and the children of light, set free, knowing God and known by Him, are daily leaving behind them the weak and needy elements of early childhood (Galatians iii. 5, 24, 25; iv. 9). Scarcely, divine Spirit, was completed the triumphant Octave in which the Church celebrated your Coming and her own birth which that Coming brought, when all eager for the fulfilment of your mission of bringing to the Bride’s mind the things taught her by her Spouse (John xiv. 26), you showed her the divine and radiant mystery of the Trinity, that not only her Faith might acknowledge, but that her adoration and her praise might also worship it. And she and her children find their happiness in its contemplation and love. But, that first of the great mysteries of our faith, the unsearchable dogma of the Trinity, does not represent the whole richness of Christian revelation. You, O blessed Spirit, hasten to complete our instruction, and widen the horizon of our faith.

The knowledge you have given us of the essence and the life of the Godhead, was to be followed and completed by that of His external works, and the relations which this God has vouchsafed to establish between Himself and us. In this very week when we begin under your direction, to contemplate the precious gifts left us by our Jesus when He ascended on high (Psalms lxvii. 19), on this first Thursday, which reminds us of that holiest of all Thursdays — our Lord’s Supper — you, O divine Spirit, bring before our delighted vision the admirable Sacrament which is the compendium of the works of God, one in Essence and three in Persons; the adorable Eucharist, which is the divine memorial (Psalms cx. 4) of the wonderful things achieved by the united operation of Omnipotence, Wisdom and Love. The Most Holy Eucharist contains within itself the whole plan of God with reference to this world of ours. It shows how all previous ages have been gradually developing the divine intentions which were formed by infinite love and, by that same love, carried out to the end (John xiii. 1), yes, to the furthest extremity here below, that is, to Itself. For the Eucharist is the crowning of all the antecedent acts done by God in favour of His creatures. The Eucharist implies them all, it explains all.

Man’s aspirations for union with God —aspirations which are above his own nature, and yet so interwoven with it as to form one inseparable life — these strange longings can have but one possible cause, and it is God Himself — God who is the author of that being called Man. None but God has formed the immense capaciousness of man’s heart, and none but God is willing or able to fill it. Every act of the divine will, whether outside Himself or in, is pure love, and is referred to that Person of the Blessed Trinity who is the Third and who, by the mode of His Procession, is substantial and infinite love. Just as the Almighty Father sees all things before they exist in themselves in His only Word, who is the term of the divine intelligence, so likewise that those same things may exist in themselves, the same Almighty Father wishes them, in the Holy Ghost, who is to the divine will what the Word is to the infinite intelligence. The Spirit of Love, who is the final term to the fecundity of Persons in the divine essence, is, in God, the first beginning of the exterior works produced by God. In their execution, those exterior works are common to the Three Persons, but they are attributed to the Holy Ghost inasmuch as He, being the Spirit of Love, solicits the Godhead to act outside Itself. He is the Love who, with its divine weight and influence of love, sways the Blessed Trinity to the external act of creation: infinite Being leans, as it were, towards the deep abyss of nothingness, and out of that abyss, creates. The Holy Spirit opens the divine counsel, and says: “Let us make man to our image and likeness!” (Genesis i. 26) Then God creates man to His own image. He creates him to the image of God (Genesis i. 27) taking His own Word as the model to which He worked, for that Word is the sovereign archetype according to which is formed the more or less perfect essence of each created being. Like Him then, to whose image he was made, Man was endowed with understanding and free-will. As such, he would govern the whole inferior creation and make it serve the purposes of its Creator, that is, he would turn it into a homage of praise and glory to its God. And though that homage would be finite, yet would it be the best of which it was capable.

This is what is called the natural order. It is an immense world of perfect harmonies and, had it ever existed without any further perfection than its own natural one, it would have been a masterpiece of God’s goodness. And yet, it would have been far from realising the designs of the Spirit of Love.

With all the spontaneity of a will which was free not to act, and was as infinite as any other of the divine perfections, the Holy Spirit wills that Man should after this present life be a partaker of the very life of God by the face-to-face vision of the divine essence. Nay, the present life of the children of Adam here on this Earth is to put on, by anticipation, the dignity of that higher life, and this so literally, that the future one in Heaven is to be but the direct sequel, the consequent outgrowth, of the one led here below. And how is man, so poor a creature in himself, to maintain so high a standing? How is he to satisfy the cravings thus created within his heart? Fear not: the Holy Ghost has a work of His own, and He does it simultaneously with the act of creation, for the Three Persons infuse into their creature, Man, the image of their own divine attributes and, upon his finite and limited powers, graft, so to say, the powers of the divine nature. This being made for an end which is above created nature: these energies superadded to man’s natural powers, transforming, yet not destroying, them, and enabling the possessor to attain the end to which God calls him — is called the supernatural order, in contradistinction to that lower one, which would have been the order of nature, had not God, in His infinite goodness, thus elevated man above his own mere state as man, and that from the very first of his coming into existence.

Man will retain all those elements of the natural order which are essentials to his human nature. And with those essential elements, the functions proper to each: but there is a principle that, in every series, that should give the specific character to the aggregate which was the end proposed by the ruling mind. Now, the last end of Man was never other in the mind of his Creator than a supernatural one, and consequently the natural order, properly so called, never existed independently of, or separate from, the supernatural. There has been a proud school of philosophy, called “free and independent,” which professed to admit no truths except natural ones, and practise no other virtues than such as were merely human: but, such theories cannot hold. The disciples of godless and secular education, by the errors and crimes into which their unaided nature periodically leads them, demonstrate, almost as forcibly as the eminent sanctity of souls which have been faithful to grace, that mere nature, or mere natural goodness, never was and never can be, a permanent and normal state for man to live in. And even granting that he could so live, yet man has no right to reduce himself to a less exalted position, than the one intended for him by his Maker.

“By assigning us a supernatural vocation, God testified the love He bore us. But at the same time He acted as Lord, and evinced His authority over us. The favour He bestowed on us has created a duty corresponding. Men have a saying, and a true one: ‘He that has nobility, has obligations,’ and the principle holds with regard to the supernatural nobility, which it has pleased God to confer on us” (Mgr. Pie, Bishop of Poitiers, First Synodical Instruction on the Chief Errors of our times, viii.). It is a nobility which surpasses every other. It makes man not only an image of God, but like Him! (Genesis i. 26). Between God — the Infinite, the Eternal — and Man, who but a while back was nothing, and ever must be a creature — friendship and love are henceforth to be possible: such is the purpose of the capabilities, and powers, and the life, bestowed on the human creature by the Spirit of Love. So, then, those longings for His God, those thrillings of his very flesh, of which we were just now reading the inspired description by the Psalmist (Psalms lxii.) — they are not the outpourings of foolish enthusiasm! That thirsting after God, the strong, the living God; that hungering for the feast of divine union — no, they are not empty ravings (Psalms xli.). Made “partaker of the divine nature” (1 Peter i. 4), as Saint Peter so strongly words the mystery, is it to be wondered at if man be conscious of it, and lets himself be drawn by the uncreated flame, into the very central Fire, it came from to him? The Holy Spirit, too is present in his creature, and is witness of what Himself has produced there. He joins His own testimonies to that of our own conscience, and tells our spirit that we are truly what we feel ourselves to be — the sons of God (Romans viii. 16).

It is the same Holy Spirit who, secreting Himself in the innermost centre of our being, that He may foster and complete His work of love — yes, it is that same Spirit who at one time opens to our soul’s eye, by some sudden flash of light, the future glory that awaits us, and then inspires us with a sentiment of anticipated triumph (Ephesians i. 17, 18; Romans v. 2), and then, at another time, He breathes into us those unspeakable moanings (Romans viii. 26), those songs of the exile, whose voice is choked with the hot tears of love, for that his union with his God seems so long deferred. There are too certain delicious hymns, which coming from the very depths of souls wounded with divine love, make their way up to the throne of God. And the music is so sweet to Him that it almost looks as though it had been victorious, and had won the union! Such music of such souls does really win: if not the eternal union — for that could not be during this life of pilgrimage, and trials, and tears — still it wins wonderful unions here below, which human language has not the power to describe.

In this mysterious song between the Divine Spirit and man’s soul, we are told by the Apostle, that “ He, who searches hearts, knows what the Spirit desires, because he asks for the saints according to God” (Romans viii. 27). What a desire must not that be which the Holy Spirit desires! It is as powerful as the God who desires it. It is a desire, new, indeed, inasmuch as it is in the heart of man, but eternal, inasmuch as it is the desire of the Holy Spirit, whose Procession is before all ages. In response to this desire of the Spirit, the great God, from the infinite depths of His eternity, resolved to manifest Himself in time and unite Himself to man while yet a wayfarer, He resolved thus to manifest and unite Himself, not in His own Person, but in His Son, who is the brightness of His own glory, and the true figure of His own substance (Hebrews i. 3) God so loved the world (John iii. 16) as to give it His own Word —that divine Wisdom, who, from the bosom of His Father, had devoted Himself to our human nature. That bosom of the Father was imaged by what the Scripture calls Abraham’s bosom, where, under the ancient covenant, were assembled all the souls of the just, as in the place where they were to rest till the way into the Holy of Holies should be opened for the elect (Hebrews ix. 8). Now, it was from this bosom of His eternal Father, which the Psalmist calls the bride-chamber (Psalms xviii. 6), that the Bridegroom came forth at the appointed time, leaving His heavenly abode and coming down into this poor Earth to seek His Bride that, when He had made her His own, He might lead her back with Himself into His kingdom where He would celebrate the eternal nuptials. This is the triumphant procession of the Bridegroom in all His beauty (Psalms xliv. 5), a procession of which the Prophet Micheas, when speaking of his passing through Bethlehem, says that his going forth is from the days of eternity (Michaes v. 2). Yes, truly from the days of eternity, for as we are taught by the sublime principles of Catholic theology, the connection between the eternal procession of the divine Persons and the temporal mission is so intimate that one same eternity unites the two together in God: eternally, the Trinity has beheld the ineffable birth of the Only Begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. Eternally, with the same look, it has beheld Him coming as Spouse from that same Father’s bosom.

If we now come to compare the eternal decrees of God one with the other, it is not difficult to recognise which of them holds the chief place and, as such, comes first in the divine intention of creation. God the Father has made all things with a view to this union of human nature with His Son — union so close, that, for one individual member of that nature, it was to go so far as a personal identification with the Only Begotten of the Father. So universal, too, was the union to be, that all the members were to partake of it, in a greater or less degree. Not one single individual of the race was to be excluded, except through his own fault, from the divine nuptials with eternal Wisdom which was made visible in a Man, the most beautiful above all the children of men (Psalms lxiv. 2). For as the Apostle says, “God, who heretofore commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has Himself shined in our hearts, giving them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in and by the face of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians iv. 6). So that the mystery of the Marriage-Feast is, in all truth, the mystery of the world and the kingdom of Heaven is well likened to a King who made a Marriage for his Son (Matthew xxii. 1-14).

But where is the meeting between the King’s Son and his Betrothed to take place? Where is this mysterious union to be completed? Who is there to tell us what is the dowry of the Bride, the pledge of the alliance? Is it known who is the Master who provides the nuptial banquet, and what sorts of food will be served to the guests? The answer to these questions is given this very day throughout the Earth. It is given with loud triumphant joy. There can be no mistake. It is evident from the sublime message which Earth and Heaven re-echo, that He who is come is the Divine Word. He is adorable Wisdom, and is come forth from His royal abode to utter His voice in our very streets, and cry out at the head of multitudes, and speak His words in the entrance of city gates (Proverbs i. 20, 21). He stands on the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths, and makes Himself heard by the sons of men (Proverbs viii. 1-4). He bids His servants go to the tower and the city walls, with this His message: “Come! Eat my Bread, and drink the Wine which I have mingled for you; for Wisdom has built herself a House, supported on seven pillars; there she has slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her table (Proverbs ix. 1-5): all things are ready; come to the marriage!” (Matthew xxii. 4).

Epistle – 1 Corinthians xi. 23‒29

Brethren, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke it and said: “Take and eat: this is my body which will be delivered for you: do this in commemoration of me.” In like manner, also, the chalice, after He had supped, saying: “This chalice is the new testament in my blood: do this, as often as you will drink, in commemoration of me. For as often as you will eat this bread and drink the chalice, you will show the death of the Lord until he comes.” Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks the chalice of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But, let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Holy Eucharist, both as Sacrifice and Sacrament, is the very centre of the Christian religion, and therefore our Lord would have a fourfold testimony to be given in the inspired writings to its Institution. Besides the account given by Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, we have also that of Saint Paul, which has just been read to us, and which he received from the lips of Jesus Himself, who vouchsafed to appear to him after his conversion, and instruct him.

Saint Paul lays particular stress on the power given by our Lord to His disciples of renewing the act which He Himself had just been doing. He tells us what the Evangelists had not explicitly mentioned that as often as a Priest consecrates the Body and Blood of Christ, he show (he announces) the Death of the Lord. And by that expression tells us that the Sacrifice of the Cross, and that of our Altars, is one and the same. It is likewise by the immolation of our Redeemer on the Cross, that the Flesh of this Lamb of God is truly meat, and His Blood truly drink, as we will be told in a few moments by the Gospel. Let not the Christian, therefore, forget it, not even on this day of festive triumph. The Church insists on the same truth in her Collect of this Feast: it is the teaching which she keeps repeating, through this formula, throughout the entire Octave: and her object in this is to impress vividly on the minds of her children this, the last and earnest injunction of our Jesus: “As often as you will drink of this cup of the new Testament, do it for the commemoration of me.” The selection she makes of this passage of Saint Paul for the Epistle should impress the Christian with this truth — that the divine Flesh which feeds his soul, was prepared on Calvary and that, although the Lamb of God is now living and impassible, He became our food, our nourishment, by the cruel death which He endured. The sinner who has made his peace with God will partake of this sacred Body with deep compunction, reproaching himself for having shed its Blood by his sins: the just man will approach the holy Table with humility, remembering how he too has had but too great a share in causing the innocent Lamb to suffer and that if he be at present in the state of grace, he owes it to the Blood of the Victim, whose Flesh is about to be given to him for his nourishment.

But let us dread, and dread above all things, the sacrilegious daring spoken against in such strong language by our Apostle — and which, by a monstrous contradiction, would attempt to put again to death Him who is the Author of Life. And this attempt to be made in the very banquet which was procured for us men by the Precious Blood of this Saviour! “Let a man prove himself,” says the Apostle, “and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice.” This proving one’s self is sacramental confession, which must be made by him who feels himself guilty of a grievous sin which has never before been confessed. However sorry he may be for it, were he even reconciled to God by an act of perfect contrition, the injunction of the Apostle, interpreted by the custom of the Church and the decisions of her Councils, forbids his approaching the holy Table until he has submitted his sin to the power of the Keys.

Sequence of Corpus Christi

Praise your Saviour, O Sion! Praise your Guide and Shepherd, in hymns and canticles. As much as you have power, so also dare; for He is above all praise, nor can you praise Him enough.

This day, there is given to us a special theme of praise—the living and life-giving Bread, which, as our faith assures us, was given to the Twelve brethren, as they sat at the Table of the holy Supper.

Let our praise be full, let it be sweet; let our soul’s jubilee be joyous, let it be beautiful; for we are celebrating that great day, on which is commemorated the first institution of this Table.

In this Table of the new King, the new Pasch of the new Law puts an end to the old Passover. Newness puts the old to flight, and so does truth the shadow; the light drives night away.

What Christ did at that Supper, that He said was to be done in remembrance of Him. Taught by His sacred institutions, we consecrate the Bread and Wine into the Victim of Salvation.

This is the dogma given to Christians — that bread passes into flesh, and wine into blood. What you understand not, what you see not — that let a generous faith confirm you in, beyond nature’s course.

Under the different species — which are signs not things — there hidden lie things of infinite worth. The Flesh is food, the Blood is drink; yet Christ is whole, under each species.

He is not cut by the receiver, nor broken, nor divided: He is taken whole. He is received by one, He is received by a thousand; the one receives as much as all; nor is He consumed, who is received.

The good receive, the bad receive — but with the difference of life or death. ’Tis death to the bad, ’tis life to the good: lo! how unlike is the effect of the one like receiving.

And when the Sacrament is broken, waver not! but remember, that there is as much under each fragment, as is hid under the whole.

Of the substance that is there, there is no division; it is but the sign that is broken and He who is the Signified, is not thereby diminished, either as to state or stature.

Lo! the Bread of Angels is made the food of pilgrims; verily, it is the Bread of the children, not to be cast to dogs.

It is foreshown in figures—when Isaac is slain, when the Paschal Lamb is prescribed, when Manna is given to our fathers.

O good Shepherd! True Bread! Jesus! have mercy on us: feed us, defend us: give us to see good things in the land of the living.

O You, who know and can do all things, who feeds us mortals here below, make us your companions in the banquet yonder above, and your joint-heirs, and fellow-citizens with the Saints! Amen. Alleluia.

Gospel – John vi. 56‒59

At that time Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father; so, he who eats me, the same, also, will live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The beloved Disciple could not remain silent on the Mystery of Love. But, at the time when he wrote his Gospel, the institution of the Eucharist had been sufficiently recorded by the three Evangelists who had preceded him, as also by the Apostle of the Gentiles. Instead, therefore, of repeating what these had written, he completed it by relating the solemn promise made by Jesus on the banks of Lake Tiberias a year before the Last Supper. He was surrounded by the thousands who were in admiration at his having miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes: Jesus takes the opportunity of telling them that He Himself is the true bread come down from Heaven, and which, unlike the manna given to their fathers by Moses, could preserve man from death. Life is the best of all gifts, as death is the worst of evils. Life exists in God as in its source (Psalms xxxv. 10). He alone can give it to whom He pleases, and restore it to him who has lost it. Man, who was created in grace, lost his life when he sinned, and incurred death. But God so loved the world, as to send it, lost as it was, His Son (John iii. 16) with the mission of restoring man to life. True God of true God, Light of Light, the Only Begotten Son is, likewise, true Life of true Life, by nature: and, as the Father enlightens them that are in darkness, by this Son, who is His Light, so, likewise, He gives life to them that are dead, and He gives it to them in this same Son of His, who is His living Image.

The Word of God, then, came among men, that they might have life, and abundant life (John x. 10). And whereas it is the property of food to increase and maintain life, therefore did He become our Food, our living and life-giving Food, which has come down from Heaven. Partaking of the life eternal which He has in His Father’s bosom, the Flesh of the Word communicates this same life to them that eat It. That, (as Saint Cyril of Alexandria observes) which, of its own nature, is corruptible, cannot be brought to life in any other way, than by its corporal union with the body of Him who is life by nature: now, just as two pieces of wax melted together by the fire make but one, so are we and Christ made one by our partaking of His Body and Blood. This life, therefore, which resides in the Flesh of the Word, made ours within us, will be no more overcome by death. On the day appointed, this life will throw off the chains of the old enemy and will triumph over corruption in these our bodies, making them immortal. Hence it is, that the Church, with her delicate feelings both as Bride and Mother, selects from this same passage of Saint John, her Gospel for the daily Mass of the Dead, thus drying up the tears of the living who are mourning over their departed friends, and consoling them by bringing them into the presence of the holy Host, which is the source of true life, and the centre of all our hopes. Thus was it to be, that not only the soul was to be renewed by her contact with the Word, but even the body, earthly and material as it is, was to share, in its way, of what our Saviour called the Spirit that quickens (John vi. 64).

“They,” as Saint Gregory of Nyssa has so beautifully said, “who have been led by an enemy’s craft to take poison, neutralise, by some other potion, the power which would cause death. And as was the deadly, so likewise the curative must be taken into the very bowels of the sufferer, that so the efficacy of that which brings relief may permeate through the whole body. Thus we, having tasted that which ruined our nature, require a something which will restore and put to right that which was disordered and that, when this salutary medicine will be within us, it may, as an antidote, drive out the mischief of the poison, which had previously been taken into the body. And what is this (salutary medicine)? No other than that Body, which had both been shown to be stronger than death, and was the beginning of our life. For, says the Apostle, as a little leaven makes the whole paste to be like itself, so, likewise, that Body, which God had willed should be put to death, when it is within ours, transmutes and transfers it wholly to Itself... Now, the only way by which a substance may be thus got into the body, is by its being taken as food and drink.”