And when the weak disciples had departed, Jesus tested the faith of the Twelve; "Then Jesus said to the Twelve: 'Will you also go away?'

"And Simon Peter answered Him: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.'"

A beautiful profession of faith, which we must make with Peter. Christ, who is the Author of the work, is also the Witness of its truth; and if we have an unshakable faith in Him, there can never be any difficulty about understanding and accepting this pledge of His ardent love for mankind. Taking this gift of His Sacred Heart, means no more than accepting Christ's words. He says: "The Bread that I will give is My Flesh," and who can say or even be tempted to say that It is not? The words are surely not hard to believe when we consider the authority of the Speaker and His motive in pronouncing them. Do not, then, examine only what is said, but heed the One who says it.

So simple and clear are the words of Our Lord that no one can entertain the least doubt if petty human prejudices are put aside.

5.

INSTITUTION BY CHRIST

At the Last Supper, about a year after the Great Promise, Our Lord fulfilled it, and here again we are listening to words that cannot be interpreted in any other than their literal sense without falling into the most manifest absurdities.

The following, according to the combined narrative of the Evangelists, describes the institution of the Blessed Sacrament.

"The evening before His death, immediately after the celebration of the Paschal sacrifice, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, blessed, brake, and gave to His disciples, saying:

"Take ye and eat. This is My Body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of Me.' In like manner He took the chalice also, after He had supped, gave thanks and gave it to His Apostles, saying: 'Drink ye all of this, for this is My Blood, the Blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for you, and for many for the remission of sins.' And they all drank of It.” 7

That the Apostles always understood these words in the literal sense may be seen from many instances, but particularly from a passage in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. There he rebukes them for irreverence at the Holy Banquet, and in order to stimulate their minds to appreciate this great Gift of God, Paul describes what It

means.

"I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and, giving thanks, broke and said: "Take ye and eat; this is My Body, which shall be delivered for you; this do for the commemoration of Me.' In like manner also the chalice, after He had supped, saying: "This chalice is the New Testament in My Blood; this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of Me. For as often as ye shall eat this Bread and drink the Chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until He come. Therefore, whosoever shall eat this Bread. and drink the Chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall 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 that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord'." 8

These words cannot be understood unless we admit that St. Paul believed the words of the Lord in their literal sense, for, if anyone receiving unworthily, is guilty of the Body and the Blood of the Lord, he must of a truth have

7 Matt. xxvi, 26; Luke, xxii, 19; Mark, xiv, 23. 8I Cor. ii, 23.

received that actual Body and Blood, and not merely a symbol of the Passion of Christ,

And when the same Apostle wishes to turn away the Corinthians from any participation in idolatrous sacrifices, he speaks of the new Sacrifice which Christ had instituted, the Mass.

"I speak as to wise men," he says. "Judge ye yourselves what I say. The Chalice of Benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? And the Bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the Body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one Bread. . . You cannot drink the Chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils; you cannot be partakers of the Table of the Lord and the table of devils." 9

And if we examine the teachings of the early Fathers of the Church, we shall find them unanimous on the subject of the Real Presence, using the most charming expressions to inculcate in the people a strong faith and a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament. Let us present a few of the earliest descriptions of this kind, and, while reading them, remember that they are only one or two examples indicative of the universal faith of the early Church.

St. Cyril was Bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century, and when instructing the people on the Eucharist, he uses the above words of St. Paul, and then continues thus:

"When He [Christ] Himself has declared it and said: "This is My Body,' who shall henceforth presume to doubt? And when He has positively affirmed and said 'This is My Blood,' who shall be uncertain and say 'It is not His Blood'?

"He once changed water into wine, which is not unlike blood, at Cana of Galilee. And does He not deserve to be trusted when He turns wine into blood? He wrought that strange and extraordinary miracle when He was invited to an earthly marriage. Shall we not much rather 9 I Cor. x, 15.

acknowledge with thankfulness that He has granted to the children of His Bridechamber the enjoyment of His Body and Blood?

"Let us, therefore, partake of them with the fullest assurance as the Body and Blood of Christ. For under the appearance of bread is His Body given thee; and under the form of wine is His Blood given thee, that by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, thou mayest be of one Body and one Blood with Him.

"For thus we come to bear Christ in us, to be Christophers (Christ-bearers), His Body and His Blood being diffused through our members, and thus, according to St. Peter, we are made partakers of the Divine Nature

"Do not, then, look on the Bread and Wine as mere bread and wine, for according to the Lord's own assertion, they are the Body and Blood of Christ. For even if thy senses suggest a doubt to thee, let faith confirm and strengthen thee. Judge not of the reality of the matter by taste, but let faith fully and without any doubt assure thee that thou hast been thought worthy to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ." 10

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, and the Master of the great St. Augustine, describes not only the Eucharist, but the Mass.

"How can that which is bread be the Body of Christ?" he demands, and hastens to answer, "By consecration. And by what words is consecration effected, and by whose words? By those of the Lord Jesus. For all that is said in the Liturgy [Mass] before the consecration, is said by the priest. Praises are offered to God; prayers are asked for the people, the rulers and the rest. But the moment the - Adorable Sacrament is to be produced, the priest ceases to speak in his own name. He uses the words of Christ. It is the words of Christ, therefore, which makes this SacraAnd if the words of the Lord Jesus had such power that things which had no existence began to exist,

ment..

10 Cat. 4.

how much more efficacious shall it be in causing what already exists to be changed into another being. There was no heaven; there was no earth; but 'He spake, and they were made'; He commanded, and they were created."

St. Augustine, in giving an explanation of the thirtythird Psalm, makes this remark, which shows clearly his belief in the Real Presence:

"How this is to be understood of David himself, I do not see. But I do see how it is to be understood of Christ. For Christ was borne in His own hands when, speaking of His own very Body, He said: "This is My Body.' For that Body is borne in His own hands." 11

"How many," says St. Chrysostom, "how many are there that say: 'How I should have wished to see His fair form, His figure, His clothes, His very shoes.' Why, here you see Him; you touch Him; you consume Him; and while you are longing to see His clothes, He gives you Himself, not to look at only, but to touch and to eat and to receive within you. For it was not enough for Him to become man, nor yet to be buffeted and slain. He ever mingles Himself with us, and makes us His Body, not by faith alone, but in very truth and reality.

"What purity, then, can be too great for him who partakes of this Sacrifice? Purer than the very sunbeam, should be the hand that divides His Flesh, and the mouth that is filled with spiritual fire, the tongue that is purpled with that most awe-inspiring Blood.

"Think what an honor has been done thee! Of what a Table thou art a partaker! That which the Angels behold with trembling and dare not gaze on without fear because of the radiance that beams from Him, with that are we fed! With that are we commingled, and we ourselves become Christ's one Body and one Blood. Who shall speak of the mighty works of the Lord and make all His praises heard." 12

The power of God's mere word so strikingly exercised 11 On Ps. 33. v, 10. 12 Homily 82 on Matthew.