3 had formed for himself;1 he would have the Spirit of Love, who proceeds from him, be the soul of this flesh of his flesh. Love became thy life, O Church of Jesus! and yet, He, towards whom thou wast irresistibly drawn, withdrew himself from thy sight. In place of the Beloved One, they were mortal men, commissioned by Him to receive thee at thy Birth, who had to transmit to thee the Testament of his Alliance, and the dowry of the Blood which had redeemed thee, and all the priceless pledges of Divine Union. These Apostles, these Messengers of thy Spouse, who had been eye-witnesses of his works,-yet, at the time, understood them so imperfectly; his chosen Friends who had, at first, no idea of his heavenly designs, with what humble devotedness, with what enthusiastic fidelity, now that they have been enlightened and inflamed by the same Holy Ghost, do they not impart to thee all the exquisite secrets intrusted to them by Jesus, and tell thee all about the most beautiful among the sons of men! Dear Church, not a single word of theirs escaped thee. The sacred pageantry of thy Liturgy, wherewith thou each Year celebratest the Mysteries achieved by the Man-God, is proof enough of how thou hast made the memories of thy Spouse become the very life thou livest. But, thanks to the omnipotent grace of the Holy Ghost who ever dwells within thee, the life here below is not merely the charm of the remembered magnificences of thy Jesus' Mysteries; those magnificences, by thy celebration of them, become thy realities, for it is not in name only that thou art Spouse of the Jesus who worked all those Mysteries. The Holy Ghost, by thy inspired Liturgy, puts into thy possession the whole dower of thy Spouse's Works. Beautiful land! where the Seed, the Word of the Father, is all thickly sown! The whole of that land belongeth to the Lord 15 Land of beauty, thy ceaseless fertility, which all these ages have not impaired, is evidence enough that thy Beloved, though he has fled away to the everlasting hills, is still thy Sun of Justice, and that even from behind the cloud where he is hid, he darts straight upon thee his life-giving rays.1 It is this permanent fact of the Union between Christ and his Church,-it is the fruit-bearing existence of his Bride throughout all ages,—that the holy Liturgy signifies by the long months of the Time after Pentecost. No wonder that this last season of the Liturgical Year is as long, and frequently longer, than all the others put together; because, it has for its object, first, the real life of the Church which she is living, and will live, till the end of time, and secondly, that reign of love which is intended to absorb the whole life of every Christian during his sojourn on earth. It is in this Season of the Time after Pentecost that Jesus wins the end towards which all his previous labours and Mysteries had been directed, that is, the Union of Members with himself their Head,-Union which is to be produced by the persevering action of the Holy Ghost. It is by this longest Season that Incarnate Wisdom gets fuller possession of mankind, and produces in them more abundant fruits for his eternal Father. It is the Season when the seed of the Word, which had been so unstintedly sown by the previous Mysteries, is now producing, perhaps a hundred fold. Love is in its fullest Season, and makes its power tell, in the souls of the Faithful, by Prayer, and Suffering, and Action. Yes, that third result, Action, is imperative; for there is nothing so impossible for genuine love, as false quietude. Such absurd pretence of habitual reposing in God without working for him, is a dangerous 1 Ps. lxxxv. 5, 2 St. Matt. xxii. 36-40. 3 1 Cor. vi. 15-17. 5 St. Luke, viii. 8. system, for, under the pretext of letting nothing be in the soul but Love, the powers of the soul get clogged ; the action of the Holy Ghost is paralyzed; and, sooner or later, it will seem to a soul who adopts such a spirituality, that the exercise of the most indispensable virtues is a distraction, and, therefore, an imperfection. Perfect love, when it enters a soul, rules all her faculties; that is quite true; but far from crushing, or even indiscretely using them, it makes each one of them more vigorous, and each one tends to make love itself more intense. Because of all this, therefore, the Time after Pentecost is the longest Season of the Liturgical Year; and the Church, during that most precious Time, will be filling her children with this manifold doctrine, which is included in the action of the Holy Ghost, who is governing us in the Unitive Way, and is gradnally forming in each of us the perfect man, even unto the measure of Christ himself.1 Moreover, this latter portion of the Liturgical Year teaches us, that, from the very fact of the Holy Ghost's leading the Church to divine Union, all her labours tend to one result: that one result is RELIGION, or Worship of God. The Liturgy is the worthy and official expression of the Church's Worship of God; and happy we, who have made that Liturgy our guide in the Ways which lead to God! As it is with the Church herself, so must it be with us her children, -the virtue of RELIGION characterises every degree made towards divine Union. As where charity rules the seven great Virtues, there supernatural movement and life is most vigorous, so, when all the acts of virtue, prompted by love, have the glory of God for their aim, (and this is RELIGION,) there is the most unequivocal proof that the Holy Ghost has worked Union in that soul; the 1 Eph. iv. 13-15. degree is in proportion with the degree wherein the soul is advanced in Religion. Religion was the life of Jesus upon earth;1 and it is so now, for he is the eternal High Priest, ever offering Sacrifice to the Trinity. So, then, if we have attained to any degree of true Union with Him, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, we must have a corresponding degree of RELIGION within us. The Apostle tells us, that he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit with him. We repeat it the seeking to give glory to the Blessed Trinity, is the characteristic feature of a soul's being united with Christ Jesus. The Church's being united to Him necessitated her making RELIGION (or, what is the same,- Worship,) be the very essence of her existence. The magnificent celebrations of her Liturgy, joined with the perfect integrity of her Faith, will ever distinguish her, amidst the countless sects that lay claim to truth, as the True Bride of, and the truly United to, Jesus. Hence, the Temple,-where God is most solemnly worshipped by the adorable Sacrifice and its accompaniment, its preparation, its sequel, of the choral service of Divine Office,-the Temple consecrated to God is the Church's home. If she leave it for a time, it is only to bring back with her more and more worshippers. It is there that she convenes her children to join her in celebrating the mysteries wrought by our Lord, or in honouring his Blessed Mother, or the Angels, or the Saints. It is there she becomes the joyful Mother of children to her Spouse; there she blesses them with the gifts, and enlightens them with the truth, imparted to her by that same Lord of hers. And as she made his House be their happiest dwelling during their life, so, after their death, she would (if men did not interfere with her wishes) have them rest in peace under the shadow of those consecrated walls. The Among the souls whom God has intrusted to the Church's care, there are some who are so taken with admiration at her ceaseless voice of praise, breathing forth all over the world her adoring love of her Spouse's works and mysteries and perfections,1-that they aspire to do in like manner, and keep uninterrupted company with their Mother, who is ever in search of the Beloved; they will do as she does, that is, have but one thought, and one occupation, and one ambition,-divine Union and a life of perfection. The Mother gives them a hearty welcome; she admits them into her closest intimacy; she gladly and unreservedly imparts to them all her own secrets of how best to please, and how soonest find, their same beautiful Lord. And because they are thus filled with her spirit, the spirit of RELIGION, she distinguishes them from all the rest of her Sons and Daughters by the grand title of RELIGIOUS. world cannot understand them. The life they lead is such a puzzle to them that live a life of very different occupations, that it creates a habit of irritation against these men and women who thus live RELIGION. The irritation makes them watchful to discover imperfections; or it makes them ingenious in putting forward theories about the Religious State which would minimise its excellence; or it will make them pull down Monasteries, and disband the Monks and Nuns who live there wasting (!) their lives in the worship of God, in RELIGION towards him! All this is quite natural. But these RELIGIOUS are one of the most unmistakeable manifestations of the Church's Union with Christ; and, for that very reason, no human power can deprive her of that manifestation. She, by being Bride of Christ, is one Body with him; that Body exists only for the purpose of being 4 8 4. Cantic. iii. 2-4. 5 Gen. ii. 24. |