CHAPTER XII: REVERENCE FOR THE HOLY EUCHARIST.-- WORSHIP OF THE MOTHER OF GOD, AND OF THE
REVERENCE FOR THE HOLY EUCHARIST.-- WORSHIP OF THE MOTHER OF GOD, AND OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN.
§ 1. The Holy Eucharist.
§ 2. The worship of the Virgin Mother of God ought to be most acceptable to a. spiritual soul.
§ 3. The veneration and invocation of the Saints.
§ 4. It is lawful, pious, and profitable, to pay religious honour to their images. __________________________________________________________________
§ 1. The Holy Eucharist.
WHEN thou art about to be admitted to that heavenly banquet in which Christ is received, reflect with piety on the benefits of God, and chiefly on the Passion of our Lord, in which the unspeakable love of Christ towards us especially shines forth. He Himself saith, speaking of this banquet, "This do for the commemoration of me " (1 Cor. xi. 24). Therefore if thou hast leisure, think over or meditate on what the Lord Jesus did and suffered for thee, and at the same time beseech Him to prepare in thee a grateful and pleasing habitation for Himself. Ask of Him, that all thy sins being blotted out, He would adorn thy destitute soul with His merits and virtues.
Receive the holy Eucharist with humble reverence, believing with firm faith that under the appearance of a little bread thou receivest the true and immortal Body of Christ. For by the divine power, operating through the words of consecration which the priest pronounces, the substance of bread and wine is supernaturally converted and transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. If this same Eucharist be given even to many thousands of men, each one of them receives the Body of the Lord, and Christ undivided; also if one consecrated Host be divided into many parts, Christ is entire in each fragment. And nevertheless the Body of the Lord remains whole, Christ remains entire at the Right Hand of the Father in heaven. This great mystery, this incomprehensible transubstantiation (as it is called), is accomplished by the operation of God, to whom nothing is impossible. Verily Christ in the Eucharist gives thee His whole Self; that is, He gives His supreme Divinity, His perfect Body with His Blood, and His Holy Soul.
If thou worthily and fittingly receivest this venerable and adorable Sacrament, thou art greatly confirmed and strengthened in well-doing, and receivest an especial remedy against sin; thou art also more closely joined to God, and more intimately united with Him; lastly, thou art made more excellently a par taker of all the merits of Christ, and of all the virtues which He exercised in His Life and Passion, and art enriched with unspeakable grace. No tongue can indeed express, no heart can understand, what immense gifts accrue to men from the pious reception of this Sacrament. Glorify thy God, who out of His most abundant goodness has left and given to His Church in this miserable exile, so great a treasure.
When thou dost not receive Christ sacramentally, neglect not to receive Him spiritually, preparing thyself, and desiring that He should come into thy soul. No one surely can prevent thee from making a spiritual communion every day, if thou wilt. As often as thou art present at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, devoutly offer the Host consecrated in it by the priest to God the Father, in full expiation and satisfaction for thy sins; offer it to Him in the odour of sweetness and to His eternal praise, for thy own salvation, and that of others. __________________________________________________________________
§ 2. The worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Love purely, and sedulously venerate and invoke the most sweet Mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, who is the most benign consoler and advocate not only of the perfect but also of the imperfect; for she repels no one, hut is ready to listen to all. She gently receives, cherishes, and protects sinners who piously and humbly have recourse to her, and with motherly confidence reconciles them to her Son. Sooner would heaven and earth perish, than would she deprive of her help any one earnestly imploring her aid. Give thanks to the Lord, who has given her to thee for a Mother and a helper. __________________________________________________________________
§ 3. The invocation of the Saints.
Venerate also the other citizens of heaven, as illustrious princes, and glorious kings and queens. Listen not to the unhappy heretics of these times, who with stupid temerity assert that the Saints in heaven can not hear our prayers, nor help us, and therefore should not be invoked. For the Catholic and Apostolic Church, which "is the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15), holds an utterly different opinion. Assuredly the beatitude of the Saints in the heavenly kingdom admits not of the ignorance and powerlessness under which heretics say they labour; for there all things are perfect. The Saints in heaven clearly contemplate God, they doubtless see Him as He is: for if they did not thus discern and know Him, they would not be blessed. Christ saith to the Father in the Gospel: "This is eternal life; that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent " (St. John xvii. 3). Therefore the Saints seeing God face to face, are in a most excellent manner united to God. And since they are one with Him who knows all things, and can do all things, they also in Him are able to know and to do all things which concern their glory; doubtless they can know and do whatsoever they will. Wherefore they perceive not only the words of our prayers, but also our holy desires and thoughts, by which we speak to them and honour them, and they succour with great fidelity all who devoutly invoke them. Since they are the intimate friends and most dear children of God, and are gloriously reigning with Him, it is highly pleasing to God that they should be held in great veneration by all Christians. __________________________________________________________________
§ 4. The images of the Saints.
Venerate them, therefore (as we have said), and piously honour their images. Utterly senseless are the heretics of our age, who reject the images of the Saints, because God saith in His Scripture; "Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight" (Deut. v. 7). And, "Thou shalt not make any graven thing, to adore it" (Levit. xxvi. 1). Heretics either will not or cannot distinguish between idols, and images of the Saints. Assuredly Christians, sons of the Catholic Church, do not, after the manner of the heathen, adore graven images as gods (which God certainly forbids), but they piously honour the Saints in their images. For this practice is derived from Apostolical tradition, and has hitherto been faithful] y observed by the Church the Spouse of Christ, which is taught and ruled by the Holy Spirit. __________________________________________________________________