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Title: |
Mirae Caritatis
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Descr.: |
On The Holy Eucharist
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Pope: |
Pope Leo XIII
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Date: |
May 28, 1902
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To
Our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Other Local Ordinaries, Having Peace and Communion
with the Holy See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1.
To examine into the nature and to promote the effects of those
manifestations of His wondrous love which, like rays of light,
stream forth from Jesus Christ - this, as befits Our sacred office,
has ever been, and this, with His help, to the last breath of Our
life will ever be Our earnest aim and endeavor. For, whereas Our
lot has been cast in an age that is bitterly hostile to justice
and truth, we have not failed, as you have been reminded by the
Apostolic letter which we recently addressed to you, to do what in
us lay, by Our instructions and admonitions, and by such practical
measures as seemed best suited for their purpose, to dissipate the
contagion of error in its many shapes, and to strengthen the
sinews of the Christian life. Among these efforts of Ours there
are two in particular, of recent memory, closely related to each
other, from the recollection whereof we gather some fruit of
comfort, the more seasonable by reason of the many causes of
sorrow that weigh us down. One of these is the occasion on which
We directed, as a thing most desirable, that the entire human race
should be consecrated by a special act to the Sacred Heart of
Christ our Redeemer; the other that on which We so urgently
exhorted all those who bear the name Christian to cling loyally to
Him Who, by divine ordinance, is "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life," not for individuals alone but for every rightly
constituted society. And now that same apostolic charity, ever
watchful over the vicissitudes of the Church, moves and in a
manner compels Us to add one thing more, in order to fill up the
measure of what We have already conceived and carried out. This
is, to commend to all Christians, more earnestly than heretofore,
the all-holy Eucharist, forasmuch as it is a divine gift
proceeding from the very Heart of the Redeemer, Who "with
desire desireth" this singular mode of union with men, a gift
most admirably adapted to be the means whereby the salutary fruits
of His redemption may be distributed. Indeed We have not failed in
the past, more than once, to use Our authority and to exercise Our
zeal in this behalf. It gives Us much pleasure to recall to mind
that We have officially approved, and enriched with canonical
privileges, not a few institutions and confraternities having for
their object the perpetual adoration of the Sacred Host; that We
have encouraged the holding of Eucharistic Congresses, the results
of which have been as profitable as the attendance at them has
been numerous and distinguished; that We have designated as the
heavenly patron of these and similar undertakings St. Paschal
Baylon, whose devotion to the mystery of the Eucharist was so
extraordinary.
2.
Accordingly, Venerable Brethren, it has seemed good to Us to
address you on certain points connected with this same mystery,
for the defense and honor of which the solicitude of the Church
has been so constantly engaged, for which Martyrs have given their
lives, which has afforded to men of the highest genius a theme to
be illustrated by their learning, their eloquence, their skill in
all the arts; and this We will do in order to render more clearly
evident and more widely known those special characteristics by
virtue of which it is so singularly adapted to the needs of these
our times. It was towards the close of His mortal life that Christ
our Lord left this memorial of His measureless love for men, this
powerful means of support "for the life of the world"
(St. John vi., 52). And precisely for this reason, We, being so
soon to depart from this life, can wish for nothing better than
that it may be granted to us to stir up and foster in the hearts
of all men the dispositions of mindful gratitude and due devotion
towards this wondrous Sacrament, wherein most especially lie, as
We hold, the hope and the efficient cause of salvation and of that
peace which all men so anxiously seek.
3.
Some there are, no doubt, who will express their surprise that for
the manifold troubles and grievous afflictions by which our age is
harassed We should have determined to seek for remedies and
redress in this quarter rather than elsewhere, and in some,
perchance, Our words will excite a certain peevish disgust. But
this is only the natural result of pride; for when this vice has
taken possession of the heart, it is inevitable that Christian
faith, which demands a most willing docility, should languish, and
that a murky darkness in regard of divine truths should close in
upon the mind; so that in the case of many these words should be
made good: "Whatever things they know not, they
blaspheme" (St. Jude, 10). We, however, so far from being
hereby turned aside from the design which We have taken in hand,
are on the contrary determined all the more zealously and
diligently to hold up the light for the guidance of the well-disposed, and, with the help of the united prayers of the
faithful, earnestly to implore forgiveness for those who speak
evil of holy things.
The
Source of Life
4.
To know with an entire faith what is the excellence of the Most
Holy Eucharist is in truth to know what that work is which, in the
might of His mercy, God, made man, carried out on behalf of the
human race. For as a right faith teaches us to acknowledge and to
worship Christ as the sovereign cause of our salvation, since He
by His wisdom, His laws, His ordinances, His example, and by the
shedding of His blood, made all things new; so the same faith
likewise teaches us to acknowledge Him and to worship Him as
really present in the Eucharist, as verily abiding through all
time in the midst of men, in order that as their Master, their
Good Shepherd, their most acceptable Advocate with the Father, He
may impart to them of His own inexhaustible abundance the benefits
of that redemption which He has accomplished. Now if any one will
seriously consider the benefits which flow from the Eucharist he
will understand that conspicuous and chief among them all is that
in which the rest, without exception, are included; in a word it
is for men the source of life, of that life which best deserves
the name. "The bread which I will give is my flesh, for the
life of the world" (St. John vi., 52). In more than one way,
as We have elsewhere declared, is Christ "the life." He
Himself declared that the reason of His advent among men was this,
that He might bring them the assured fullness of a more than
merely human life. "I am come that they may have life, and
may have it more abundantly" (St. John x., 10). Everyone is
aware that no sooner had "the goodness and kindness of God
our Savior appeared" (Tit. iii., 4), than there at once burst
forth a certain creative force, which issued in a new order of
things and pulsed through all the veins of society, civil and
domestic. Hence arose new relations between man and man; new
rights and new duties, public and private; henceforth a new
direction was given to government, to education, to the arts; and
most important of all, man's thoughts and energies were turned
towards religious truth and the pursuit of holiness. Thus was life
communicated to man, a life truly heavenly and divine. And thus we
are to account for those expressions which so often occur in Holy
Writ, "the tree of life," "the word of life,"
"the book of life," "the crown of life," and
particularly "the bread of life."
5.
But now, since this life of which We are speaking bears a definite
resemblance to the natural life of man, as the one draws its
nourishment and strength from food, so also the other must have
its own food whereby it may be sustained and augmented. And here
it will be opportune to recall to mind on what occasion and in
what manner Christ moved and prepared the hearts of men for the
worthy and due reception of the living bread which He was about to
give them. No sooner had the rumor spread of the miracle which He
had wrought on the shores of the lake of Tiberias, when with the
multiplied loaves He fed the multitude, than many forthwith
flocked to Him in the hope that they, too, perchance, might be the
recipients of like favor. And, just as He had taken occasion from
the water which she had drawn from the well to stir up in the
Samaritan woman a thirst for that "water which springeth up
unto life everlasting" (St. John iv., 14), so now Jesus
availed Himself of this opportunity to excite in the minds of the
multitude a keen hunger for the bread "which endureth unto
life everlasting" (St. John vi., 27). Or, as He was careful
to explain to them, was the bread which He promised the same as
that heavenly manna which had been given to their fathers during
their wanderings in the desert, or again the same as that which,
to their amazement, they had recently received from Him; but He
was Himself that bread: "I," said He, "am the bread
of life" (St. John vi., 48). And He urges this still further
upon them all both by invitation and by precept: "if any man
shall eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread
which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world"
(St. John vi., 52). And in these other words He brings home to
them the gravity of the precept: "Amen, Amen, I say to you,
unless you shall eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, you shall not have life in you" (St. John vi., 54).
Away then with the widespread but most mischievous error of those
who give it as their opinion that the reception of the Eucharist
is in a manner reserved for those narrow-minded persons (as they
are deemed) who rid themselves of the cares of the world in order
to find rest in some kind of professedly religious life. For this
gift, than which nothing can be more excellent or more conducive
to salvation, is offered to all those, whatever their office or
dignity may be, who wish - as every one ought to wish - to foster in
themselves that life of divine grace whose goal is the attainment
of the life of blessedness with God.
6.
Indeed it is greatly to be desired that those men would rightly
esteem and would make due provision for life everlasting, whose
industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to shape
the course of human events. But alas! we see with sorrow that such
men too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred
upon this world as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity,
inasmuch as by their own energetic action they are urging it on to
the race for wealth, to a struggle for the possession of
commodities which minister to the love of comfort and display. And
yet, whithersoever we turn, we see that human society, if it be
estranged from God, instead of enjoying that peace in its
possessions for which it had sought, is shaken and tossed like one
who is in the agony and heat of fever; for while it anxiously
strives for prosperity, and trusts to it alone, it is pursuing an
object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that ever eludes the
grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their being
from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus
Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever
proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these
gifts is the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and
sustains that life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous
efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of
which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more
honorable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as
far as possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now
this is precisely what Christ does for us in the Eucharist,
wherein, after having raised man by the operation of His grace to
a supernatural state, he yet more closely associates and unites
him with Himself. For there is this difference between the food of
the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed
into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that
St. Augustine makes Christ Himself say: "You shall not change
Me into yourself as you do the food of your body, but you shall be
changed into Me" (Confessions 1. vii., c. x.).
The
Mystery of Faith
7.
Moreover, in this most admirable Sacrament, which is the chief
means whereby men are engrafted on the divine nature, men also
find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind of
virtue. And first of all in faith. In all ages faith has been
attacked; for although it elevates the human mind by bestowing on
it the knowledge of the highest truths, yet because, while it
makes known the existence of divine mysteries, it yet leaves in
obscurity the mode of their being, it is therefore thought to
degrade the intellect. But whereas in past times particular
articles of faith have been made by turns the object of attack;
the seat of war has since been enlarged and extended, until it has
come to this, that men deny altogether that there is anything
above and beyond nature. Now nothing can be better adapted to
promote a renewal of the strength and fervor of faith in the human
mind than the mystery of the Eucharist, the "mystery of
faith," as it has been most appropriately called. For in this
one mystery the entire supernatural order, with all its wealth and
variety of wonders, is in a manner summed up and contained:
"He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, a
merciful and gracious Lord; He hath given food to them that fear
Him" (Psalm cx, 4-5). For whereas God has subordinated the
whole supernatural order to the Incarnation of His Word, in virtue
whereof salvation has been restored to the human race, according
to those words of the Apostle; "He hath purposed...to
re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on
earth, in Him" (Eph. i., 9-10), the Eucharist, according to
the testimony of the holy Fathers, should be regarded as in a
manner a continuation and extension of the Incarnation. For in and
by it the substance of the incarnate Word is united with
individual men, and the supreme Sacrifice offered on Calvary is in
a wondrous manner renewed, as was signified beforehand by Malachy
in the words: "In every place there is sacrifice, and there
is offered to My name a pure oblation" (Mal. i., II). And
this miracle, itself the very greatest of its kind, is accompanied
by innumerable other miracles; for here all the laws of nature are
suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed
into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread and wine are
sustained by the divine power without the support of any
underlying substance; the Body of Christ is present in many places
at the same time, that is to say, wherever the Sacrament is
consecrated. And in order that human reason may the more willingly
pay its homage to this great mystery, there have not been wanting,
as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honor, both
in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place
there exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain
that by this Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its
nourishment, the objections of rationalists are brought to naught,
and abundant light is thrown on the supernatural order.
8.
But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken
is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For
if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of
man's intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims
[even] of pagan philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine
to teach us, the keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily
pleasures, how much more, in the region of revealed truths, do
these same pleasures obscure the light of faith, or even, by the
just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these pleasures
at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all
classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet
even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in
the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on
lust by increasing charity, according to the words of St.
Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, "As it grows, lust
diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more" (De
diversis quaestionibus, lxxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste
flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril
of Alexandria taught, "For Christ abiding in us lulls to
sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members" (Lib.
iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most
pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the
words of the prophet: "What is the good thing of Him,"
that is, of Christ, "and what is His beautiful thing, but the
corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins" (Zach.
ix., 17), producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a
strong and constant purpose of virginity which, even in an age
enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and spread abroad in the
Catholic Church, with those advantages to religion and to human
society, wherever it is found, which are plain to see.
9.
To this it must be added that by this same Sacrament our hope of
everlasting blessedness, based on our trust in the divine
assistance, is wonderfully strengthened. For the edge of that
longing for happiness which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of
all men from their birth is whetted even more and more by the
experience of the deceitfulness of earthly goods, by the unjust
violence of wicked men, and by all those other afflictions to
which mind and body are subject. Now the venerable Sacrament of
the Eucharist is both the source and the pledge of blessedness and
of glory, and this, not for the soul alone, but for the body also.
For it enriches the soul with an abundance of heavenly blessings,
and fills it with a sweet joy which far surpasses man's hope and
expectations; it sustains him in adversity, strengthens him in the
spiritual combat, preserves him for life everlasting, and as a
special provision for the journey accompanies him thither. And in
the frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the
immortal Body of Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a
seed of immortality, which one day must germinate. That to this
source man's soul and body will be indebted for both these boons
has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has dutifully
reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: "He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life; and I will
raise him up at the last day" (St. John vi., 55).
10.
In connection with this matter it is of importance to consider
that in the Eucharist, seeing that it was instituted by Christ as
"a perpetual memorial of His Passion" (Opusc. Ivii.
Offic. de festo Corporis Christi), is proclaimed to the Christian
the necessity of a salutary self-chastisement. For Jesus said to
those first priests of His: "Do this in memory of Me"
(Luke xxii, 18); that is to say, do this for the commemoration of
My pains, My sorrows, My grievous afflictions, My death upon the
Cross. Wherefore this Sacrament is at the same time a Sacrifice,
seasonable throughout the entire period of our penance; and it is
likewise a standing exhortation to all manner of toil, and a
solemn and severe rebuke to those carnal pleasures which some are
not ashamed so highly to praise and extol: "As often as ye
shall eat this bread, and drink this chalice, ye shall announce
the death of the Lord, until He come" (1 Cor. xi., 26).
The
Bond of Charity
11.
Furthermore, if anyone will diligently examine into the causes of
the evils of our day, he will find that they arise from this, that
as charity towards God has grown cold, the mutual charity of men
among themselves has likewise cooled. Men have forgotten that they
are children of God and brethren in Jesus Christ; they care for
nothing except their own individual interests; the interests and
the rights of others they not only make light of, but often attack
and invade. Hence frequent disturbances and strifes between class
and class: arrogance, oppression, fraud on the part of the more
powerful: misery, envy, and turbulence among the poor. These are
evils for which it is in vain to seek a remedy in legislation, in
threats of penalties to be incurred, or in any other device of
merely human prudence. Our chief care and endeavor ought to be,
according to the admonitions which We have more than once given at
considerable length, to secure the union of classes in a mutual
interchange of dutiful services, a union which, having its origin
in God, shall issue in deeds that reflect the true spirit of Jesus
Christ and a genuine charity. This charity Christ brought into the
world, with it He would have all hearts on fire. For it alone is
capable of affording to soul and body alike, even in this life, a
foretaste of blessedness; since it restrains man's inordinate
self-love, and puts a check on avarice, which "is the root of
all evil" (1 Tim. vi., 10). And whereas it is right to uphold
all the claims of justice as between the various classes of
society, nevertheless it is only with the efficacious aid of
charity, which tempers justice, that the "equality"
which St. Paul commended (2 Cor. viii., 14), and which is so
salutary for human society, can be established and maintained.
This then is what Christ intended when he instituted this
Venerable Sacrament, namely, by awakening charity towards God to
promote mutual charity among men. For the latter, as is plain, is
by its very nature rooted in the former, and springs from it by a
kind of spontaneous growth. Nor is it possible that there should
be any lack of charity among men, or rather it must needs be
enkindled and flourish, if men would but ponder well the charity
which Christ has shown in this Sacrament. For in it He has not
only given a splendid manifestation of His power and wisdom, but
"has in a manner poured out the riches of His divine love
towards men" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIIL, De Euch. c. ii.).
Having before our eyes this noble example set us by Christ, Who
bestows on us all that He has assuredly we ought to love and help
one another to the utmost, being daily more closely united by the
strong bond of brotherhood. Add to this that the outward and
visible elements of this Sacrament supply a singularly appropriate
stimulus to union. On this topic St. Cyprian writes: "In a
word the Lord's sacrifice symbolizes the oneness of heart,
guaranteed by a persevering and inviolable charity, which should
prevail among Christians. For when our Lord calls His Body bread,
a substance which is kneaded together out of many grains, He
indicates that we His people, whom He sustains, are bound together
in close union; and when He speaks of His Blood as wine, in which
the juice pressed from many clusters of grapes is mingled in one
fluid, He likewise indicates that we His flock are by the
commingling of a multitude of persons made one" (Ep. 96 ad
Magnum n. 5 a. 1 6). In like manner the angelic Doctor, adopting
the sentiments of St. Augustine (Tract. xxxvi., in Joan. nn. 13,
17), writes: "Our Lord has bequeathed to us His Body and
Blood under the form of substances in which a multitude of things
have been reduced to unity, for one of them, namely bread,
consisting as it does of many grains is yet one, and the other,
that is to say wine, has its unity of being from the confluent
juice of many grapes; and therefore St. Augustine elsewhere says:
'O Sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of charity!' "
(Summ. Theol. P. IIL, q. lxxix., a.l.). All of which is confirmed
by the declaration of the Council of Trent that Christ left the
Eucharist in His Church "as a symbol of that unity and
charity whereby He would have all Christians mutually joined and
united...a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the
head, and to which He would have us, as members attached by the
closest bonds of faith, hope, and charity" (Conc. Trid., Sess.
XIIL, De Euchar., c. ii.). The same idea had been expressed by St.
Paul when he wrote: "For we, being many, are one bread, one
body, all we who partake of the one bread" (I Cor. x., 17).
Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian
brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all
conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and
unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this
heavenly banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is
deservedly reckoned to the special credit of its first ages that
"the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one
soul" (Acts iv., 32), there can be no shadow of doubt that
this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the
Divine table; for we find it recorded of them: "They were
persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communion
of the breaking of bread" (Acts ii., 42).
12.
Besides all this, the grace of mutual charity among the living,
which derives from the Sacrament of the Eucharist so great an
increase of strength, is further extended by virtue of the
Sacrifice to all those who are numbered in the Communion of
Saints. For the Communion of Saints, as everyone knows, is nothing
but the mutual communication of help, expiation, prayers,
blessings, among all the faithful, who, whether they have already
attained to the heavenly country, or are detained in the
purgatorial fire, or are yet exiles here on earth, all enjoy the
common franchise of that city whereof Christ is the head, and the
constitution is charity. For faith teaches us, that although the
venerable [Eucharistic] Sacrifice may be lawfully offered to God alone, yet it
may be celebrated in honor of the saints reigning in heaven with
God Who has crowned them, in order that we may gain for ourselves
their patronage. And it may also be offered - in accordance with an
apostolic tradition - for the purpose of expiating the sins of those
of the brethren who, having died in the Lord, have not yet fully
paid the penalty of their transgressions.
13.
That genuine charity, therefore, which knows how to do and to
suffer all things for the salvation and the benefit of all, leaps
forth with all the heat and energy of a flame from that most holy
Eucharist in which Christ Himself is present and lives, in which
He indulges to the utmost. His love towards us, and under the
impulse of that divine love ceaselessly renews His Sacrifice. And
thus it is not difficult to see whence the arduous labors of
apostolic men, and whence those innumerable designs of every kind
for the welfare of the human race which have been set on foot
among Catholics, derive their origin, their strength, their
permanence, their success.
14.
These few words on a subject so vast will, we doubt not, prove
most helpful to the Christian flock, if you in your zeal,
Venerable Brethren, will cause them to be expounded and enforced
as time and occasion may serve. But indeed a Sacrament so great
and so rich in all manner of blessings can never be extolled as it
deserves by human eloquence, nor adequately venerated by the
worship of man. This Sacrament, whether as the theme of devout
meditation, or as the object of public adoration, or best of all
as a food to be received in the utmost purity of conscience, is to
be regarded as the center towards which the spiritual life of a
Christian in all its ambit gravitates; for all other forms of
devotion, whatsoever they may be, lead up to it, and in it find
their point of rest. In this mystery more than in any other that
gracious invitation and still more gracious promise of Christ is
realized and finds its daily fulfillment: "Come to me all ye
that labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you"
(St. Matt. xi., 28).
15.
In a word this Sacrament is, as it were, the very soul of the
Church; and to it the grace of the priesthood is ordered and
directed in all its fullness and in each of its successive grades.
From the same source the Church draws and has all her strength,
all her glory, her every supernatural endowment and adornment,
every good thing that is hers; wherefore she makes it the chiefest
of all her cares to prepare the hearts of the faithful for an
intimate union with Christ through the Sacrament of His Body and
Blood, and to draw them thereto. And to this end she strives to
promote the veneration of the august mystery by surrounding it
with holy ceremonies. To this ceaseless and ever watchful care of
the Church, our Mother, our attention is drawn by that exhortation
which was uttered by the holy Council of Trent, and which is so
much to the purpose that for the benefit of the Christian people
We here reproduce it in its entirety. "The Holy Synod
admonishes, exhorts, asks and implores by the tender mercy of our
God, that all and each of those who bear the name of Christian
should at last unite and find peace in this sign of unity, in this
bond of charity, in this symbol of concord; and that, mindful of
the great majesty and singular love of Jesus Christ our Lord, Who
gave His precious life as the price of our salvation, and His
flesh for our food, they should believe and revere these sacred
mysteries of His Body and Blood with such constancy of unwavering
faith, with such interior devotion and worshipful piety, that they
may be in condition to receive frequently that supersubstantial
bread, and that it may be to them the life of their souls and keep
their mind in soundness of faith; so that strengthened with its
strength they may be enabled after the journey of this sorrowful
pilgrimage to reach the heavenly country, there to see and feed
upon that bread of angels which here they eat under the
sacramental veils" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXII, c. vi).
16.
History bears witness that the virtues of the Christian life have
flourished best wherever and whenever the frequent reception of
the Eucharist has most prevailed. And on the other hand it is no
less certain that in days when men have ceased to care for this
heavenly bread, and have lost their appetite for it, the practice
of Christian religion has gradually lost its force and vigor. And
indeed it was a needful measure of precaution against a complete
falling away that Innocent III, in the Council of the Lateran,
most strictly enjoined that no Christian should abstain from
receiving the communion of the Lord's Body at least in the solemn
Paschal season. But it is clear that this precept was imposed with
regret, and only as a last resort; for it has always been the
desire of the Church that at every Mass some of the faithful
should be present and should communicate. "The holy Synod
would wish that in every celebration of the Mass some of the
faithful should take part, not only by devoutly assisting thereat,
but also by the sacramental reception of the Eucharist, in order
that they might more abundantly partake of the fruits of this holy
Sacrifice" (conc. Trid., Sess. XIII. de Euchar. c. viii).
The
Sacrifice of the Mass
17.
Most abundant, assuredly, are the salutary benefits which are
stored up in this most venerable mystery, regarded as a Sacrifice;
a Sacrifice which the Church is accordingly wont to offer daily
"for the salvation of the whole world." And it is
fitting, indeed in this age it is specially important, that by
means of the united efforts of the devout, the outward honor and
the inward reverence paid to this Sacrifice should be alike
increased. Accordingly it is our wish that its manifold excellence
may be both more widely known and more attentively considered.
There are certain general principles the truth of which can be
plainly perceived by the light of reason; for instance, that the
dominion of God our Creator and Preserver over all men, whether in
their private or in their public life, is supreme and absolute;
that our whole being and all that we possess, whether individually
or as members of society, comes from the divine bounty; that we on
our part are bound to show to God, as our Lord, the highest
reverence, and, as He is our greatest benefactor, the deepest
gratitude. But how many are there who at the present day
acknowledge and discharge these duties with full and exact
observance? In no age has the spirit of contumacy and an attitude
of defiance towards God been more prevalent than in our own; an
age in which that unholy cry of the enemies of Christ: "We
will not have this man to rule over us" (Luke xix., 14),
makes itself more and more loudly heard, together with the
utterance of that wicked purpose: "let us make away with
Him" (Jer. xi., II); nor is there any motive by which many
are hurried on with more passionate fury, than the desire utterly
to banish God not only from the civil government, but from every
form of human society. And although men do not everywhere proceed
to this extremity of criminal madness, it is a lamentable thing
that so many are sunk in oblivion of the divine Majesty and of His
favors, and in particular of the salvation wrought for us by
Christ. Now a remedy must be found for this wickedness on the one
hand, and this sloth on the other, in a general increase among the
faithful of fervent devotion towards the Eucharistic Sacrifice,
than which nothing can give greater honor, nothing be more
pleasing, to God. For it is a divine Victim [that is, Christ] which is here
immolated; and accordingly through this Victim we offer to the
most blessed Trinity all that honor which the infinite dignity of
the Godhead demands; infinite in value and infinitely acceptable
is the gift which we present to the Father in His only-begotten Son; so that for His benefits to us we not only signify our
gratitude, but actually make an adequate return.
18.
Moreover there is another twofold fruit which we may and must
derive from this great [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. The heart is saddened when it
considers what a flood of wickedness, the result - as We have said
- of forgetfulness and contempt of the divine Majesty, has
inundated the world. It is not too much to say that a great part
of the human race seems to be calling down upon itself the anger
of heaven; though indeed the crop of evils which has grown up here
on earth is already ripening to a just judgment. Here then is a
motive whereby the faithful may be stirred to a devout and earnest
endeavor to appease God the avenger of sin, and to win from Him
the help which is so needful in these calamitous times. And they
should see that such blessings are to be sought principally by
means of this [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. For it is only in virtue of the death
which Christ suffered that men can satisfy, and that most
abundantly, the demands of God's justice, and can obtain the
plenteous gifts of His clemency. And Christ has willed that the
whole virtue of His death, alike for expiation and impetration,
should abide in the Eucharist, which is no mere empty
commemoration thereof, but a true and wonderful though bloodless
and mystical renewal of it.
19.
To conclude, we gladly acknowledge that it has been a cause of no
small joy to us that during these last years a renewal of love and
devotion towards the Sacrament of the Eucharist has, as it seems,
begun to show itself in the hearts of the faithful; a fact which
encourages us to hope for better times and a more favorable state
of affairs. Many and varied, as we said at the commencement, are
the expedients which an inventive piety has devised; and worthy of
special mention are the confraternities instituted either with the
object of carrying out the Eucharistic ritual with greater
splendor, or for the perpetual adoration of the venerable
Sacrament by day and night, or for the purpose of making
reparation for the blasphemies and insults of which it is the
object. But neither We nor you, Venerable Brethren, can allow
ourselves to rest satisfied with what has hitherto been done; for
there remain many things which must be further developed or begun
anew, to the end that this most divine of gifts this greatest of
mysteries, may be better understood and more worthily honored and
revered, even by those who already take their part in the
religious services of the Church. Wherefore, works of this kind
which have been already set on foot must be ever more zealously
promoted; old undertakings must be revived wherever perchance they
may have fallen into decay; for instance, Confraternities of the
holy Eucharist, intercessory prayers before the blessed Sacrament
exposed for the veneration of the faithful, solemn processions,
devout visits to God's tabernacle, and other holy and salutary
practices of some kind; nothing must be omitted which a prudent
piety may suggest as suitable. But the chief aim of our efforts
must be that the frequent reception of the Eucharist may be
everywhere revived among Catholic peoples. For this is the lesson
which is taught us by the example, already referred to, of the
primitive Church, by the decrees of Councils, by the authority of
the Fathers and of the holy men in all ages. For the soul, like
the body, needs frequent nourishment; and the holy Eucharist
provides that food which is best adapted to the support of its
life. Accordingly all hostile prejudices, those vain fears to
which so many yield, and their specious excuses from abstaining
from the Eucharist, must be resolutely put aside; for there is
question here of a gift than which none other can be more
serviceable to the faithful people, either for the redeeming of
time from the tyranny of anxious cares concerning perishable
things, or for the renewal of the Christian spirit and
perseverance therein. To this end the exhortations and example of
all those who occupy a prominent position will powerfully
contribute, but most especially the resourceful and diligent zeal
of the clergy. For priests, to whom Christ our Redeemer entrusted
the office of consecrating and dispensing the mystery of His Body
and Blood, can assuredly make no better return for the honor which
has been conferred upon them, than by promoting with all their
might the glory of his Eucharist, and by inviting and drawing the
hearts of men to the health-giving springs of this great Sacrament
and Sacrifice, seconding thereby the longings of His most Sacred
Heart.
20.
May God grant that thus, in accordance with Our earnest desire,
the excellent fruits of the Eucharist may daily manifest
themselves in greater abundance, to the happy increase of faith,
hope, and charity, and of all Christian virtues; and may this turn
to the recovery and advantage of the whole body politic; and may
the wisdom of God's most provident charity, Who instituted this
mystery for all time "for the life of the world", shine
forth with an ever brighter light.
21.
Encouraged by such hopes as these, Venerable Brethren, We, as a
presage of the divine liberality and as a pledge of our own
charity, most lovingly bestow on each of you, and on the clergy
and flock committed to the care of each, our Apostolic
Benediction.
[Given
at St. Peter's, Rome, on the 28th day of May, the Vigil of
the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in the year 1902, in the
twenty-fifth year of Our
Pontificate.]
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