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CHRIST
THE LIFE OF THE SOUL
BY THE SAME AUTHOR :
Le Christ dans ses Mystéres. Spiritual conferences. 1 vol. 8% edi-

tion. Abbey of Maredsous. (Belgium).
Le Christ idéal du Moine. Spiritual conferences on the religious
life. 1 vol. in the press.
The present work has been translated into Dutch, Italian & Polish.
Translations are being made into German, Spanish and Portuguese.
3
oi fag
CHRIST
THE
LIFE OF THE SOUL

SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES
BY
Tue Ricut Rev. D. COLUMBA MARMION

ABBOT OF MAREDSOUS ABBEY
PREFACE
BY H. E. CARD. MERCIER
& BY H. E. CARD. BOURNE
WORK HONOURED WITH A LETTER Of APPROBATION

FROM HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT Xv
SANDS & COMPANY

LONDON AND EDINBURGH,
B. HERDER BOOK CO.
17, SOUTH BROADWay, ST. Louis, Mo.
1922
NIHIL OBSTAT :
Brugis, 6 Januarii 1922

EM. DE JAEGHER, Can. lib. cens.
IMPRIMATUR :
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H. VAN DEN BERGHE, Vic. Gen.
Theol ogu Library
SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
AT CLAREMONT
California
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XV
TO THE AUTHOR
Dilecto Filio Columbae Marmion, O. S. B.

Abbati Maredsolensi.
BENEDICTUS PP. XV.
Dilecte Fili, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.

Binos tuos illos libros, quos Nobis perhumaniter obtuleras,
quorum alter ” Le Christ, Vie de TAme”, alter " Le Christ
dans ses Mystéres" inscribitur, cum his proximis diebus,
quantum per occupationes licuit volveremus, facile cogno-
vimus jure sane ac merito eos laudari, utpote ad excitandam
alendamque in animis divinae caritatis fammam valde ac-
commodatos. Etsi enim non hic omnia exponuntur quae in
tuis ad sodales sermonibus de Jesu Christo, omnis sanctitatis
et exemplani et effectore, explicaveris, his tamen eorum tam-
quam commentarts idonee foveri studium videtur Ejus imi-
tandi de Ipsoque vivendi " qui factus est nobis sapientia
a Deo, et justitia, et sanctificatio et redemptio ”.
Optimum igitur consilium fuit haec in lucem dari volu-
mina, unde non modo sodales tui sed multo plures ad omnem
virtutem proficerent: lateque jam, ut audimus, vel laicorum
manibus versantur. Itaque cum gratias tibi agimus, tum
etiam gratulamur: atque auspicem caelestium munerum,
apostolicam benedictionem tibi, dilecte Fili, paterna cum
_benevolentia impertimus.
Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum die X mensis oc-
tobris MCM XIX, Pontificatus Nostri anno sexto.
BENEDICTUS PP. XV.

To Our beloved Son Columba Marmion, O. S. B.
Abbot of Maredsous.
BENEDICT XV. Pope.
Beloved Son, health and the Apostolic Benediction.

Having recently perused, as far as Our occupations per-
mitted, the two books : ” Christ, the Life of the Soul” and
” Christ in His Mysteries”, which you have kindly sent Us,
We readily appreciate their praiseworthiness as being sin-
gularly conducive to excite and maintain the flame of
Divine love in the soul. For although these pages do not
contain the whole of the discourses you have made to your
spiritual sons concerning Jesus Christ, the Exemplar and
Catise of all sanctity, nevertheless these commentaries, so to
speak, on the matter of your teaching, show clearly how this
doctrine is capable of fostering the desire to imitate Christ
and to live by Him ” Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and justice, and sanctification, and redemption”.
It was therefore a most happy inspiration to publish
these works so that not only your own spiritual children but
many others should be helped in the way of perfection. We
are told that these works are already in the hands of many
even among the laity. Therefore thanking you, We at the
same time congratulate you and, as a pledge of heavenly
reward, We impart to you, beloved Son, the Apostolic Be-
nediction.
Given at Rome, near St. Peter’s, October 10th. 19109, the

sixth year of Our Pontificate.
BENEDICT XV. Pope.

PREFACE.
These pages will do much good. They are restful for the
soul. They simplify Christian life.
The dominant preoccupation of the author who has re-
ceived the confidences of many restless souls, embarrassed
by the complications of their personal methods, 1s, tf I am
not mistaken, to enlarge these souls, to free them from their
self-bondage, to facilitate for them, by rendering it more
attractive, their ascension towards God. He leads them, in
each of his conferences, to Him Who is " the Way, the
Truth and the Life+.”
‘He shows them, by turns, Divine Providence enveloping,
in the same design of predestination, Christ, the Word made
Man, and ourselves (Ist conference) ; then, in the lines laid
down bySt. Thomas of Aquinas”, he describes the
mediation of Christ, the Sanctifier of our souls (2nd & 3rd
conferences), he shows in Him, true God and true Man, the
one and universal Exemplar of all holiness; the meritorious
and satisfactory Cause Who has paid the price of our
salvation to Divine justice, according to these words of the
apostle St. Paul: Et consummatus, factus est omnibus ob-
temperantibus sibi causa salutis aeternae, appellatus a Deo
pontifex juxta ordinem Melchisedech. Through the con-
summation of His mediatorial work, Christ has become, for
all who submit to His teaching, the cause of eternal salvation.
So He was " called by God a high priest according to the
order of Melchisedech*”; and lastly, the realiser, the
1. Joan. x1v, 6. — 2. Summa theol. 11, q. 24, a. 3. — 3. Hebr. v, 9-
X
efficient Cause of our holiness, for, always following the

doctrine of the apostle St. Paul whom the author is never
tired of quoting: We have our divine origin in Christ: God
has willed He should be " made unto us wisdom, and justice,
and sanctification, and redemption”, Ex ipso autem vos estis
in Christo Jesu, qui factus est nobis sapientia a Deo et
justitia et sanctificatio et redemptio ’.
The office of Christ being thus shown under all tts aspects,
the Benedictine theologian next considers the realisation of
the Divine plan in souls: Christ forms His mystical body,
the visible and invisible Church; but the Holy Ghost formed
Christ — at least it ts so expressed by theology in tts language
of " appropriation” — and, as the ” Spirit of Jesus”, He
consummates the work of our sanctification (5th & Oth
conferences). ;
Thus is completed the picture of the work of Christ con-
ceived eternally in the designs of the Heavenly Father and
realised by Christ the Mediator and by His sanctifying Spirit.
Christ is the centre of the plan and of the work of God:
as Man-God He sums up all: Tu solus sanctus, tu solus
Dominus, Jesu Christe.
The Blessed Albert the Great, the master of St. Thomas
of Aquinas, in that substantial and delightful opuscule
entitled: De adhaerendo Deo ” Of the adherence of the
soul to God”, invites us to enter into Christ, from man to
God, to pass through the open Wounds of the suffering and
dying Humanity of Christ so as to penetrate into the secrets —
of His Divinity: Nec aliud, unquam, objectum quis mente
attendat quam solum Jesum Christum vulneratum, sicque per.
eum in eum, id est, par hominem in Deum, per vulnera
humanitatis ad intima divinitatis suae sedulo et obnixe in-
tendat ?. *
1.1 Cor. 1, 30. — 2. B. Alberti Magni. De adhaerendo Deo, cap. 2.
XI
All the substance of the spirituality of the Gospel
lies in
this formula. Hence the Right Reverend Abbot Columba
says wisely: ” For certain souls, the life of Christ Jesus is
one subject of meditation among many others; this is not
enough. Christ is not one of the means of the spiritual life;
He is all our spiritual life” (p. 64).
The second part of the volume is consecrated to showin
g
forth the work of the soul that wills to receive abundantly
the Divine life of which Christ is the source.
Faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ constitutes the first
| Step towards this life; baptism, the first of all the sacraments,
renders the one on whom it is conferred, a disciple of Christ. .
The work of baptism is double, although simultaneous: it
takes away sin, the germ of death, and gives grace, the
source of life. By this sacrament of adoption and initiation,
the Christian becomes a partaker of the death and glorious
life of his Divine Head. These two aspects of spiritual
life, so clearly pointed out by St. Paul, ought to envelop the
whole existence of every Christian.
The author next shows in detail how we " die to sin” and
how we "live for God”. He develops the laws to which
the practice and growth of this life for God are subject, and
the sources whence it is especially nourished: — the Eu-
charist, Sacrifice and Sacrament; prayer, whether it be the
prayer of the Church in her liturgy " which makes us one
with Christ’, or mental prayer,” the blossoming of the gifts
of the Holy Ghost”. The love of a soul for Christ will
necessarily overflow on all who compose the mystical body
of Christ; and in the first place ranks the Virgin Mary who,
by her Divine Maternity, enters into the very essence of the
mystery of the Incarnation. The last conference shows how
” the fulness of the mystical body of Christ” 1s only attained
in the beatitude of eternal life; that is the final term of our
XII
predestination, the consummation of our adoption in Christ

Jesus.
Thus end these conferences which place the mystery of
Jesus in high relief. They refer everything to Christ, the
source of all grace, of all life, of all holiness. This leading
idea, full of significance, makes the unity of the work as
well as its strength.
The table of contents marks out with much clearness the
continuity of this idea in its different stages and renders it
superfluous for us to attempt here any detailed exposition.
Besides this book is not one to be subjected to a dry analysis.
It must be read and meditated with the heart as well as with
the head, as it was with all his apostolic soul that the author
delivered the conferences of which the book ts composed.
There are perhaps some souls who will wonder at this
simplification of spirituality; they cannot accustom them-
selves to the idea that it 1s not necessary to seek difficulties
where none exist, in order to arrive at perfection.
However, it is Christ and His Gospel that are right. And
is it not written in the Gospel: "Unless you become as
litile children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven?”
And did not our Divine Jesus say in a moment of holy
exultation, — Exsultavit Spiritu Sancto — ”J confess to
Thee, O Father... because Thou hast hidden these things
from (those the world esteems) the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them to little ones?”
The perfume of Holy Scripture, to be breathed in at each
page of this volume, gives the impression that it was con-
ceived and prepared during prayer, at the foot of the altar,
before being given to the public.
Souls desirous of living the inner life will gratefully wel-
come this work. The religious communities above all, to
whom these conferences were preached, will recall the com-
XII
municative accents they heard whilst listening to the solid

and clear doctrine now left to them as a guide, and they will
ask the Holy Spirit, as we do, to grant this inspiwing book,
Christ, the Life of the Soul, the full success it merits.
D. J. Card. MERCIER,
Archbishop of Mechlin.
October 15th. 1917.
PREFACE.
an
+ “Le Christ, Vie de ’Ame”, has received in its original
form such ample commendation both from our Holy Father
the Pope and from the learned and much venerated Cardi-
nal Archbishop of Malines that any further praise seems
almost out of place. Yet very willingly indeed I add my less
authoritative tribute to the more important words that they
have written, and I very gladly advise all those who seek
in the English language a work that will surely help and
guide them on the path of closer union with their Maker,
to read and study this translation of the extremely valuable
treatise which is the outcome of long thought and labour on
( the pari of the Abbot of Maredsous. Those who have
” been privileged to make retreats under his guidance will
know what to expect from his pen, and they will not suffer
disappointment. And by his written work and its translation
into English his teaching wiil receive a far wider and more
permanent diffusion.
Such solid teaching is much needed at the present time. .
The number of souls seeking more intimate union with God
ts rapidly increasing. But many are held back by the want
of simplicity, the discouraging complexity, and the exagge-
rated refinement and multiplication of detail, which have
lessened the value of so many modern spiritual books. The
main object of striving has been obscured by too great in-
sistance on the methods of attaining, and the freedom of the
soul under the guidance of the Holy Ghost has been impair-
ed. Abbot Marmion carries us back to a wider and more
wholesome tradition, and many will rise up to bless him,
as they find in his teaching new strength, and fresh vigour
in their striving after God.
XV
To the Clergy both in the world and in the cloister, to the

religious communtiies of women, active as well as contem-
plaitve, and to the devout laity I very earnestly commend
this book.
FRANCIS CARDINAL BOURNE

Archbishop of Westminster.
Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel
September 29th 1921.

INDEX OF CONFERENCES
THE DIVINE ECONOMY
. The Divine plan of our adoptive predestination in Jesus

@hrist 0 ea le Bp a veSy Ss
YI. Christ, the only Model of all perfection. Causa Exem-
DUAPIR TOU: BORO aT Or Ce let tay en Nice Go} ea te et e ee
Ill. Christ, the Author of our Kedemption and Infinite
Treasury of Grace. Causa satisfactoria et meritoria. . 46
ONE, Christ, the efficient Cause of all grace. Causa effictens. 64

. The Church, the mystical body of Christ . . . . . 85
Vi. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus . 99
agian ATR
Il.
FOUNDATION AND DOUBLE ASPECT

OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
. Faithra in Jesus Christ, the foundation of Christian Life 129

il. Baptism, the Sacrament of Divine adoption and
Christian initiation : death andlife . . . . . . : 152
A. DEATH TO SIN
Ill. Delitia quisxintelligit 2) > Se ae

Iv. The sacrament and the virtue of Penance.oF . . . . 187
ORR eg eF
‘
XIX
B. LIFE FOR GOD
V. Truth in Charity . 2 2n2

_ VI. Our supernatural growth in Christ. .
. 228
VII. The Eucharistic Sacrifice . 5 OY;
VIII. Panis vitae eye
IX. Vox Sponsae
- 395
X. Prayer
Sea + 325
XI, « Love one another. » . : Ria
XII. The Mother of the Incarnate Word . 368
XIII. Coheredes Christz. - 388
CHRISTUM COMITAMUR, CHRISTUM SEQUIMUR,
CHRISTUM HABEMUS ITINERIS DUCEM, LUCIS
PRINCIPEM, SALUTIS AUCTOREM, CAELUM PARI-
TER ET PATREM QUAERENTIBUS ET CREDENTI-
BUS POLLICENTEM. QUOD EST CHRISTUS ERI-
MUS, CHRISTIA NI, SI CHRISTUM FUERIMUS IMI-
TATI.
IT IS WITH CHRIST THAT WE JOURNEY, AND

WE WALK WITH OUR STEPS IN HIS FOOTPRINTS:
HE IT IS WHO IS OUR GUIDE AND THE BURNING
FLAME WHICH ILLUMINES OUR PATHS ; PIONEER
OF SALVATION, HE IT IS WHO DRAWS US TO-
WARDS HEAVEN, TOWARDS THE FATHER, AND
PROMISES SUCCESS TO THOSE WHO SEEK IN
FAITH. WE SHALL ONE DAY BE THAT WHICH HE
IS IN GLORY, IF BY FAITHFUL IMITATION OF
HIS EXAMPLE, WE BECOME TRUE CHRISTIANS,
OTHER CHRISTS.
(ST. CYPRIAN. De idolorum vanitate, C. 15.)

I
THE ECONOMY
OF THE DIVINE DESIGNS
Christ, the life of the soul.

I. — THE DIVINE PLAN
OF OUR ADOPTIVE PREDESTINATION
IN JESUS CHRIST.
Summary. — Importance, for the spiritual life, of the knowledge of
the Divine Plan. — I, General idea of this plan: the
holiness to which God calls us by supernatural adoption, is
a participation in the Divine life brought to us by Jesus
Christ. — II. God wills to make us share in His own life
so as to make us holy and fill us with beatitude; what
holiness is, in God. — If. Holiness in the Trinity ; fulness
of the life to which God destines us. — IV. Fulfilment of
this decree through Divine adcption by means of grace :
supernatural character of spiritual life. — V. The Divine
Plan, crossed by sin, re-established by the Incarnation. —
VI. Universality of the Divine adoption; the ineffable love
it manifests. — VII. Primordial aim of the Divine plan: the
glory of Jesus Christ and of His Father, in the unity of
their Spirit.
oa oD chose us in Christ ” before the foundation of the

world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His
_ sight in charity. Who hath predestinated us unto
the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself,
according to the purpose of His Will : unto the praise of the
glory of His grace, in which He hath graced us in His
beloved Son?”.
These are the terms in which the Divine plan is set forth
by the Apostle St. Paul, who had been caught up to the
_ third heaven, and was chosen by God to bring to light,
as he himself says, the economy of the mystery which hath
been hidden from all eternity in God. We see the great
Apostle labouring unceasingly to make known this eternal
plan, established by God Himself for the sanctification of
our souls. Why do all the efforts of the Apostle tend,
as he carefully points out, to bring to light this Divine
dispensation 2 ?
1. Ephes. 1, 4-6. — 2. Mihi data est gratia hec... illuminare omnes,
que sit dispensatio sacramenti absconditi a seculis in Deo. Ephes. ut. 8-9.
4 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
Because God, Who is the Author of our salvation, and the

first source of our sanctity, could alone make known to us
what He desires of us in order that we may attain to Him.
Among the souls who seek God, some hardly succeed in
reaching Him.
Some have no precise idea of what holiness is ; being
ignorant of the plan traced out by Eternal Wisdom, or setting
it aside, they make holiness consist in such or such a
conception formed by their own intelligence, they only wish
to be guided by themselves; attached to those purely human
ideas they have framed, they go astray ; if they make great
strides, it is outside the true way marked out by God; they
are the victims of those illusions against which St. Paul
warned the first Christians *.
Others have clear notions on points of detail, but lack
a view of the whole; losing themselves in these minutiae,
and not having any synthetic view, they are always going
over the same ground; their life becomes a real labour,
subject to incessant difficulties, without zest, without ex-
pansion, and often without much result, because these souls
attach too much importance to their acts, or give them less
value than they should relatively have.
It is therefore extremely important, as St. Paul says, to
run in the race, ” not as at an uncertainty ”, as one beating
the air ?, but so as to obtain the prize: Sic currite ut com-
prehendatis*; to know as perfectly as possible the Divine
idea of holiness; to examine with the greatest care, so as
to adapt ourselves to it, the plan traced out by God Himself,
whereby we may attain to Him: it is only at this price that
our salvation and sanctification can be realised.
In so grave a matter, in so vital a question, we must look
at and weigh things, as God looks at and weighs them.
God judges all things in the light, and His judgment is the
test of all truth. ” We must not judge things according
to our own liking”, says St. Francis of Sales, ” but according
to that of God; this is the great secret. If we are holy
according to our own will, we shall never be truly holy, we
must be so according to God’s Will*.” Divine Wisdom is
infinitely above human wisdom ; God’s thoughts contain
possibilities of fruitfulness such as no created thought
1. Col. m, 8. — 2. 1 Cor. 1x, 26. — 3. Ibid. 24 — 4. Letter to the
wife of President Brulart, Sept. 15th. 1606.
THE DIVINE PLAN OF OUR ADOPTION. 5
possesses. That is why God’s plan is so wise that it cannot

fail to reach its end because of any intrinsic insufficiency,
but only through our own fault. If we leave the Divine
idea full freedom to operate in us, if we adapt ourselves to
it with love and fidelity, it becomes extremely fruitful and
may lead us to the most sublime sanctity.
Let us contemplate in the light of Revelation, God’s plan
for us. This contemplation will be a source of light,
strength and joy for our souls.
I am going to give you, first of all, a general idea of the
Divine plan; we will then study it in detail, following the
words of St. Paul quoted at the beginning of this conference.
t!
It can be demonstrated by human reason that there exists

a Supreme Being, the First Cause of every creature, the
Providence of the world, the Sovereign Rewarder and the
Last End of all things. From this rational knowledge and
from the relations it manifests between creatures and God,
proceed for us certain duties towards God and towards our
neighbour, duties which form what is called the natural
law,and the observance of which constitutes natural religion.
But our reason, powerful though it is, has been unable
to discover anything, with certainty, of the intimate life of
the Supreme Being: the Divine life appears to natural reason
to be infinitely distant, far off in solitude : Lucem inhabitat
maccessibilem 1.
Revelation has come to us, bringing its light.
It teaches us that there is an ineffable paternity in God.
God is a Father: that is the fundamental dogma which all
the others suppose, a magnificent dogma which leaves the
reason confounded, but ravishes faith with delight and
transports holy souls.
God is a Father. Eternally, long before the created light
rose upon the world, God begets a Son to Whom He com-
municates His Nature, His perfections, His beatitude, His
life, for to beget is to communicate? being and life: Filius
meus es tu, ego hodie genui te® ; ex utero ante luciferum
genui te*. In God then, is life, life communicated by the
1. I Tim. v1, 16. — 2. By the gift of a similar nature. — 3. Ps. 1, 7.
= Hebr, 1, 53 v; &.— 4. Ibid. crx, Bi
Father, and received by the Son. This Son, like in all

things to the Father, is the only Son of God: Unigenitus
Dei Filius’. He is so because He has”, with the Father,
one same and indivisible Divine Nature, and both, although
distinct from one another, (on account of their personal
properties “of being Father” and ” of being Son”) are
united in a powerful, substantial embrace of love, whence
proceeds that Third Person, Whom Revelation calls by a
mysterious name: the Holy Ghost.
Such is, as far as faith can know it, the secret of the
inmost life of God; the fulness and the fruitfulness of this
life are the source of the incommensurable bliss that the
ineffable society of the three Divine Persons possesses.
And now God — not in order to add to His plenitude, but
by it to enrich other beings — extends, as it were, His
Paternity. God decrees to call creatures to share this Divine
life, so transcendent that God alone has the right to live it,
this eternal life communicated by the Father to the Only
Son, and by them to the Holy Spirit. Ina transport of love
which has its source in the fulness of Being and Good that
God is, this life overflows from the bosom of Divinity to
reach and beatify beings drawn out of nothingness, by
lifting them above their nature. To these mere creatures
-God will give the condition and sweet name of children.
By nature God has only one Son ; by love, He wills to have
an innumerable multitude: that is the grace of supernatural
adoption.
Realised in Adam from the dawn of creation, then crossed
by the sin of the first of human kind, who drew after him
into disgrace all his race, this decree of love is to be restored
by a marvellous invention of justice and mercy, of wisdom
and goodness. The Son of God, Who dwells eternally in the
Bosom of the Father, unites Himself in time, to a human
nature, but in so close a manner that this nature, while being
perfect in itself, belongs entirely to the Divine Person to
Whom it is united. The Divine life, communicated in its
fulness to this humanity makes it the very humanity of the
Son of God: that is the wonderful work of the Incarnation.
1. Unigenitus Dei Filius qui est in sinu Patris. — 2. Strictly speaking,
we should say that He is with the Father and the Holy Gost one same
Divine nature. Creatures can _ only lisp when they speak of such
mysteries.
It is true to say of this Man Who is called Jesus, the Christ,

that He is God’s own Son.
But this Son, Who by nature is the only Son of the Eternal
Father, Unigenitus Dei Filius, appears here below only to
become the Firstborn of all who shall receive Him, after
having been redeemed by Him: Primogenitus in multis fra-
tribus*. Alone born of the Father in eternal splendour,
alone Son by right, He is constituted the head of a multitude
of brethren, on whom, by His redeeming work, He will
bestow the grace of Divine life.
So that the same Divine life which proceeds from the
Father into the Son and from the Son into the humanity of
Jesus, will circulate, through Christ in all who will accept
it; it will draw them even into the Bosom of the Father,
where Christ has gone before us’, after having paid, with
His Blood, the price of this divine gift.
Hence all holiness is to consist in this: to receive the

Divine life from Christ and by Christ, Who possesses its
fulness and Who has been constituted the One Mediator;
to keep this Divine life and increase it unceasingly by an ever
more perfect adhesion, an ever closer union with Him Who
is its source.
Holiness then, is a mystery of Divine life communicated
and received: communicated in God, from the Father to
the Son by an ineffable generation * ; communicated by the
Son to humanity, which He personally unites to Himself
in the Incarnation; then restored to souls by this humanity,
and received by each of them in the measure of their special
predestination: secundum mensuram donationis Christi *, so
that Christ is truly the life of the soul because He is the
source and giver of life.
Communication of this life will be made to men within
the Church until the day fixed by the eternal decrees for the
achievement of the Divine work upon earth. On that day,
the number of the children of God, of the brethren of Jesus,
will have reached its perfection. Presented by Christ to
His Father °, the innumerable multitude of these predestined
1. Rom. vi, 29. — 2. Ascendo ad Patrem meum et Patrem vestrum...
In domo Patris mei mansiones multe sunt... Vado parare vobis locum.
Joan. xIv, 2; xx, 17. — 3. Isa. Lint, 8. — 4. Ephes. 1v, 7. — 5. I Cor.
XV, 24-28.
souls will surround the throne of God, to draw an endless

beatitude from the fountains of life, and to exalt the splen-
dours of the Divine goodness and glory. Union with God
will be eternally consummated, and ” God will be all in all”.
Such is the Divine Plan in its general outline.
When, in prayer, we consider this liberality and these

advances towards us on the part of God, we feel the need
of prostrating ourselves in adoration, and of singing a song
of thanksgiving to the praise of the Infinite Being Who
stoops towards us to give us the name of children. ”O
Lord, how great are Thy works; Thy thoughts are exceeding
deep!” Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae.
”" Thou hast multiplied Thy wonderful works, O Lord, my
God ; in Thy thoughts there is no one like to Thee*.”
"Tn the works of Thy hands I shall rejoice?.” ”I will
sing to the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my
God while I have my being*. Let my mouth be filled with
praise that I may sing Thy glory!” Repleatur os meum
laude ut cantem tibi gloriam tuam *.
TI.
‘Letus now resume our exposition in detail, being guided

by the text of the Apostle. This exposition will inevitably
lead to some repetition, but I have confidence that your
charity will bear with it on account of the importance of
such vital questions.
We cannot sufficiently appreciate the greatness of these
dogmas and their profit to our souls unless we contemplate
them at some length.
In every science, there are, as you know, first principles,
fundamental points which must first be grasped, because on
them all the ulterior developments and final conclusions
depend.
These first elements have to be gone into so much the
more deeply and require so much the more attention in as
far as their consequences are the more important and
extended. Our minds, it is true, are so made, that they
1. Ps. xxxix, 6. — 2. Ibid. xcr, 5. — 3. Ibid. cm, 32. — 4. Ibid.
Lxx, 8.
are easily wearied in the analysis or meditation of funda-

mental notions. All initiation in a science, such as mathe-
matics, in an art, such as music, in a doctrine, such as that
of the inner life, requires an attention from which the mind
is prone to wander. In its impatience, it wishes to hasten
to the development to admire its sequence, and to the
applications in order to gather and taste the fruits. But it
is greatly to be feared that if the mind does not carefully
fathom the principles, it will lack solidity in the conclusions
that it will afterwards draw from them, however brilliant
these may appear to be.
God wills us to be saints : that is His eternal Will 3 its

for that He has chosen us: Elegit nos... Ut essemus
sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus*. "For this is the
will of God, your sanctification.” St. Paul says again:
Haec est voluntas Dei sanctificatio vestra?.
God desires, with an infinite will, that we should be holy ;
He wills it because He is Himself holy* ; because it is in
this holiness that He has placed the glory He expects from
us *, and the joy with which He desires to satisfy us ®.
But what is ” being holy” ? We are creatures, our holi-
ness only consists in a participation in God’s holiness ; to
understand what it is, we must then consider what sanctity
is in God. He alone is holy by essence, or rather, He is
holiness itself.
Holiness is the Divine perfection which is the object of
the eternal contemplation of the Angels. Open the Scrip-
tures. You will see that twice only, the gates of Heaven
were partly opened, in the sight of two great prophets, the
one of the Ancient alliance, the other of the New, Isaias and
St. John. What did they see? What did they hear?
Both saw God in His glory, both saw the angelic choir
_ surrounding His throne, both heard them ceaselessly prais-
ing, not the beauty of God, nor His mercy, nor His justice,
nor His greatness, but His holiness : Sanctus, Sanctus,
Sanctus, Dominus Deus exercituum; plena est omnis terra
gloria ejus °.
Now in what does holiness in God consist ?
1. Ephes. 1, 4. — 2. I Thess. rv, 3- — 3. Levit. x1, 44; I Petr. 1, 16.
— 4. Joan. xv, 8. — 5. Ibid. xvi, 22. — 6. Isa. v1, 3; Apoc. Iv, 8.
Io CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
In God, all is simple ; His perfections are, in Him, really

identical with Himself ; besides, the notion of sanctity can
only be applied to Him in an absolutely transcendent manner;
we have no term which can adequately render the reality of
this Divine perfection. However, it is permitted us to
employ a human language. What then, is holiness in God ?
According to our manner of speaking, it seems to us that
it is composed of a double element : first, infinite distance
from all that is imperfection, from all that is created, from
all that is not God Himself.
This is only a “negative” aspect. There is another
element which consists in this : that God adheres, by an
immutable and always present act of His will, to the Infinite
Good which is Himself, in order to conform Himself entirely
to all that this Infinite Good is. God knows Himself perfectly.
His All-Wisdom shows Him His own essence as the supreme
norm of all activity. God cannot will, do, or approve any-
thing which is not ruled by His supreme wisdom, accor-
ding to this ultimate norm of all good, which is the Divine
essence.
This immutable adhesion, this supreme conformity of the
Divine Will to the infinite Essence considered as the ultimate
norm of activity could not be more perfect, because in God
the will is really identical with the essence.
Divine holiness is, therefore, the most perfect love and the
supremely unchanging fidelity with which God loves Him-
self infinitely’. And as His supreme Wisdom shows God
that He is the All-Perfect, the only necessary Being, it causes
Him to refer all to Himself and His own glory. That is why
Sacred Scripture grants us to hear the angels’ song: ” Holy,
holy, holy... Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory”. It
is as 1f the Angels said: ” Thou art the All-Holy, O God,
Thou art Very Holiness, because with Sovereign Wisdom,
Thou dost glorify Thyself worthily and perfectly. ”.
Hence the Divine holiness serves as the first foundation,
the universal exemplar and the one source of all created
holiness. You understand that, necessarily loving Himself
with infinite perfection, God also necessarily wills that every
creature should exist for the manifestation of His glory 2,
1. Cf. D. L. Janssens. Praelectiones de Deo Uno, t. Il, p. 238, and
366. sq. — 2. See p. 23, 6. n.
THE DIVINE PLAN OF OUR ADOPTION. It
and that, remaining in the rank of creature, it should only

act conformably to the relations of dependence and of end
that the Eternal Wisdom finds in the Divine Essence.
Our holiness will be the higher according as there will be
in us more loving dependence on God and conformity of
our freewill to our ultimate end (which is the manifestation
of the Divine Glory). The more we adhere to God by
detaching ourselves from all that is not God, the more this
dependence, conformity, adhesion, and detachment are firm
and stable 1.
III.
Human reason can arrive at establishing the existence of
this holiness in the Supreme Being, holiness which is an
attribute, a perfection of the Divine nature considered in
itself.
But Revelation brings us a new light.
Here we must reverently raise the eyes of our soul even
to the sanctuary of the Adorable Trinity, we must hear what
Jesus Christ, both to nourish our piety and to exercise our
faith, has Himself willed to reveal to us, or to teach us
through His Church, about the intimate life of God.
There are, as you know, Three Divine Persons in God, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three distinct Persons,
but all three having one and the same Nature or Divine
Essence. Being infinite Intelligence, the Father perfectly
knows His perfections, He expresses this knowledge in One
Word, the living, substantial Word, the adequate expression
of what the Father is. In uttering this Word, the Father
begets the Son, to Whom He communicates all His Essence,
His Nature, His Perfections, His Life: Sicut Pater habet
vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio habere vitam in se-
metipso?. The Son also belongs entirely to His Father, is
entirely given up to Him by a total donation which pertains
to His nature as Son. And from this mutual donation of
one and the same love, proceeds, as from one principle, the
1. S. Thomas (II-II, q. Lxxxi, a. 5, c.) states as the elements of
holiness in us, purity (avoidance of all sin and all imperfection, detachment
from all created things) and stability in adhering to God; to these two
elements correspond, in God, the All-Perfection of His Infinitely trans-
cendent Being, and the immutability of His Will in adhering to Himself.
— 2. Joan. v, 26.
Holy Spirit Who seals the union of the Father and the Son
by being Their substantial and living Love.
This mutual communication of the three Persons, this
infinite loving union between themselves assuredly constitutes
a new revelation of holiness in God: it is the ineffable union
of God with Himself in the unity of His Nature and the
Trinity of Persons ?.
God finds all His essential beatitude in this inexpressibly
unique and fruitful life. To exist, God only has need of
Himself and all His infinite perfections ; finding all felicity
in the perfections of His nature, and in the ineffable society
of His Persons, He has no need of any creature ; He refers
to Himself, in Himself, in His Trinity, the glory which
springs from His infinite perfections.
God has decreed, as you know, to make us enter into
participation of this intimate life proper to Himself alone ;
He wills to communicate to us this infinite, endless beatitude,
which has its source in the fulness of the Infinite Being.
Therefore — and this is the first point of St. Paul’s ex-
position of the Divine Plan — our holiness is to consist in
adhering to God, known and loved, not only simply as Author
of creation, but as He knows and loves Himself in the bliss
of His Trinity ; this is to be united to God to the point of
sharing His intimate life. We shall soon see in what a
marvellous manner God realises His design. Let us for a
1. Let us here state, for the sake of those more initiated in theol-
ogical questions that each Person of the Trinity is identical with the
Divine Essence, and consequently is holy, with a substantial holiness,
because each only acts conformably to this Essence considered as the
supreme norm of life and activity. It may be added that the Persons
are holy because each of Them gives Himself to and belongs to the Other
in an act of infinite adhesion. Lastly, the Third Person is especially
called holy, because He proceeds from the Two Others through love; love
is the principal act by which the will tends towards its end and is
united to it; it designates the most eminent act of adhesion to the norm
of all goodness, that is to say, of holiness, and therefore the Spirit,
Who, in God, proceeds through love, bears pre-eminently the name of holy.
This is the text of St-Thomas who exposes this beautiful and profound
doctrine to us. Cum bonum amatum habeat rationem finis, ex fine autem
motus voluntarius bonus vel malus redditur, necesse est quod amor quo
ipsum bonum amatur, quod Deus est, eminentem quamdam obtineat boni-
tatem, QUAE NOMINE SANCTITATIS EXPRIMITUR... Igitur Spiritus quo nobis
insinuatur amor quo Deus se amat, Spiritus Sanctus nominatur. Opus-
cula selecta, t. III, c. xtvu. It is to be seen from all this that we gain
a more profound conception of Divine sanctity by considering the Trinity
of Persons.
moment consider the greatness of the gift He makes us.

We shall get some idea of it if we look at what takes place
in the natural order.
Look at minerals; they do not live; there is no interior
principle in them as source of activity, they possess a parti-
cipation in being, with certain properties, but their mode of
being is very inferior. Then there is the vegetable kingdom;
plants grow and live in accordance with fixed laws, and
progress towards the perfection of their being, but this life
is at the bottom of the scale, for the plant is destitute of
knowledge. Although superior to that of plants, the life
of animals is yet limited to sensibility and the necessities of
the instinct. With man we rise to a higher sphere : reason
and free-will characterise the life proper to a human being ;
but man is also matter. Above him, is the angel, a pure
spirit, whose life reaches the highest degree in the scale of
creation. Infinitely surpassing all these created lives receiv-
ed in participation, is the Divine life, life uncreated, fully
autonomous and independent, above the strength of any
creature, a necessary life, subsistent in itself. God being
unlimited intelligence, apprehends by an eternal act both the
infinite and every being of which the prototype is found in
Him. Being the Sovereign Will, He attaches Himself in
the fulness of His strength to the Supreme Good which is
none other than Himself. In this Divine life in which is all
plenitude, is found the source of all perfection and the prin-
ciple of all bliss.
It is this life which God wills to communicate to us ; it is

a share in this life which forms our holiness. And as, for
us, there are degrees in this participation, the more this
participation is extended,’ the higher will be our holiness.
And let us never forget that it is only out of love that God
has resolved, proposmit sibi Deus, to give Himself thus.
‘The ineffable communications of the Divine Persons with
each other are all that is necessary in God?. These mutual
relations belong to the very Essence of God ; it is the life
of God. All other communications that God makes of Him-
self are the outcome of a love supremely free. But as this
1. Necessary in this sense that it is impossible for them not to be.
fo. 84 hom- l,4g. XLT, a. +2,7ad)-9.
love is divine, the gift of it makes us so likewise. God loves

divinely ; He gives Himself. We are called to receive this
Divine communication in an ineffable measure. God intends
to give Himself to us, not only as supreme beauty, to be
the object of our contemplation, but to unite Himself to us
so as to make Himself, as far as possible, one with us. Holy
Father, said Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, let My disciples
be one in Us, as Thou and I are one, so that they may
find in this union the endless joy of Our own beatitude.
Ut habeant gaudium meum impletum in semetipsis *.
IV.
How does God fulfil this magnificent design by which

He wills us to have a part in this life which exceeds the
capacities of our nature and surpasses its rights and proper
energies, which none of its exigences require, but which,
without destroying this nature, fill it with bliss unim-
agined by the human heart ? How will God cause us to
enter into the ineffable ” fellowship” ? of His Divine life so
that we may partake of eternal beatitude ? By adopting us
as His children.
With a Will infinitely free, but full of love : Secundum
propositum voluntatis suae*, God has predestined us to be
not only creatures, but His children : Praedestinavit nos in
adoptionem filtorum*, thus to share in His Divine Nature :
Divinae consortes naturae®. God adopts us as His children.
What does St. Paul mean by this ?
What is human adoption ?
It is the admission of a stranger into a family. By
adoption the stranger becomes a member of the family, he
takes the name and receives the titles of this family, he has
the right to inherit its possessions. It is necessary for the
one who is adopted to be of the same race as the one who
adopts. To be adopted by man, it is necessary to be a
member of the human race. Now we, who are not of the
race of God, who are poor creatures, by nature further from
Him than the animal is from man, we who are infinitely
distant from God, hospites et advenae*®, how can we be
adopted by Him ?
1. Joan. Xvu, 11, 13 ; ef. xv, 11, — 2. I Joan. 1, 3. — 3. Ephes. 1, 5.
— 4. Ibid. 1, 5. — 5. II Petr. 1, 4. — 6. Ephes. uy, 19.
THE DIVINE PLAN OF OUR ADOPTION. I5
Here is a marvel of the Divine Wisdom, power, and

goodness. God gives us a mysterious share in His Nature
which we call ’ grace”: Efficiamini divinae consortes na-
turae *.
Grace is an interior quality, produced in us by God,
inherent to the soul, adorning it and making it pleasing to
God, just as in the natural domain, beauty and strength are
qualities of the body, genius and science are qualities of the
mind, loyalty and courage are qualities of the heart.
According to St. Thomas, this grace is a ” participated
similitude” of the Divine nature. Participata similitudo
divinae naiurae*. Grace makes us sharers in the nature of
God in a way we cannot fathom. We are raised above our
nature by grace ; we become in some manner, gods. We
do not become equal, but like to God ; that is why Our Lord
said to the Jews: "Is it not written in your law: I said:
you are gods?” Nonne scriptum est in lege vestra: quia
ego dixi: Dii estis? ?
For us, participation in this Divine life is brought about
by grace, in virtue of which our soul becomes capable of
knowing God as God knows Himself, of loving God as God
loves Himself, of enjoying God as He is filled with His own
beatitude, and thus living the life of God Himself.
Such is the ineffable mystery of our Divine adoption.
But there is a profound difference between Divine and
human adoption. The latter is only exterior, fictitious.
Certainly, it is established by a legal document, but it does
not penetrate the nature of the one who is adopted. On
the contary, in adopting us, in giving us grace, God pene-
trates to the depths of our nature ; without changing what
is essential to the order of this nature, He raises it by this
grace to the point of making us truly children of God. This
act of adoption has so much efficacy that we really become,
through grace, partakers of the Divine nature. And as
participation in the Divine life constitutes our holiness, this
grace is called sanctifying.
1. II Petr. 1, 4. — St. Peter does not say that we become participants
of the Divine Essence, but of the Divine nature, that is to say, of that
activity which constitutes the life of God, and consists in the knowledge
and the fruitful, beatifying love of the Divine Persons. — 2. S. Thom.
Ill, q. xm, a. 1. This is why it is said in theology that grace is deiform,
in order to denote the Divine resemblance it produces in us. — 3. Joan.
xX, 34.
The consequence of this Divine decree of our adoption, of

this loving predestination by which God wills to make us
His children, is to give a special character to our holiness.
This character is that our holiness is supernatural.
The life to which God raises us is supernatural, that is to
say, exceeding the capacities, the strength and the exigences
of our nature. Hence, it is no more as simple human crea-
tures that we must be holy, but as children of God, by acts
animated and inspired by grace.
Grace becomes the principle of the Divine life in us.
What is it to live ? For us, to live is to move in virtue of
an interior principle, the source of actions which tend to
the perfection of our being. Another life is engrafted, so
to speak, upon our natural life, a life of which grace is the
principle ; grace becomes in us the source of actions and
operations which are supernatural, and tend towards a
Divine end, namely, one day to possess God, to rejoice in
Him, as He knows Himself and rejoices in His perfections.
This point is of capital importance. God might have been
content to accept from us the homage of a natural religion ;
it would have been the source of a human, natural morality,
of a union with God conformable to our nature as reasonable
beings, founded upon our relations as creatures with our
Creator, and our relations with our kind.
But God did not wish to limit Himself to this natural re-
ligior. We have all met with men who were not baptised,
but who were however, straightforward, loyal, upright, equit-
able, just and compassionate, but that can only be a natural
goodness '. Without rejecting this, (on the contrary), God
is not content with it. Because He has decided to make us
share in His infinite life, in His own beatitude — which is
for us a supernatural end — because He has given us His
grace, God demands that our union with Him should be a
supernatural union, a holiness which has His grace for
principle.
Apart from this plan, there is, for us, only eternal loss.
God is Master of His gifts, and He has decreed from all
eternity that we shall only be holy in His sight, by lhving
through grace as children of God.
1.. It is however necessary to add, that on account of the evil tendencies
resulting from original sin, this purely natural goodness is rarely perfect.
O Heavenly Father, grant that I may preserve within my

soul the grace that makes me Thy child ! Keep me from
all evil that might separate me from Thee |...
We
As you know, it is from the time of the creation of the
first man that God has realised His design. Adam received
for himself and for his race, the grace that made of him a
child of God ; but by his sin, he lost this Divine gift for
himself as well as for his race. Since his revolt, we are
all born sinners, deprived of the grace which would have
made us children of God; we are, on the contrary, Filii irae,
enemies of God, and children of wrath+. Sin crossed God’s
plan.
But, as the Church says, God has shown Himself even
more wonderful in the restoration of His designs than He
had been in the creation: Deus qui humanae substantiae
digmtatem mirabiliter condidisti et MIRABILIUS reformasti ?.
How is this done ? —What is this Divine marvel ?
This mystery is the /ncarnation.
It is through the Incarnate Word that God will restore all
things. Such is the ” mystery which hath been hidden from
eternity ”*, in the thoughts of God, and which St. Paul
reveals to us. Christ, the Man-God will be our Mediator ;
He it is Who will reconcile us with God and restore grace
to us. And as the great design has been foreseen from all
eternity, it is with good reason that St. Paul speaks of it
as an ever-present mystery. It is the last great feature of
the Divine Plan made known to us by the great Apostle.
Let us listen to him with faith, for here we touch the very
heart of the Divine work.
The Divine design is to constitute Christ the Head of all
the redeemed, of all that is named in this world and in that
which is to come : Quod nominatur non solum in hoc sae-
culo sed in futuro *, in order that by Him, with Him, and in
Him, we may all arrive at union with God, and realise the
supernatural holiness which God requires of us.
There is no thought more clearly expressed in the Epistles
of St. Paul, none of which he is more convinced, or that he
1. Ephes. u, 3. — 2. Offertory of the Mass. — 3. Ephes. 1, 9. —
me ibid. 1, 24.
Christ, the life of the soul. 2
places in higher relief. Read all his Epistles and you will see
that he continually returns to this, to the extent of making it
- almost all the substance of his doctrine. In this passage of
the Epistle to the Ephesians that I quoted at the beginning,
what does he tell us ? It is in Christ that God has chosen
us, that we should be holy; He has predestinated us to be
His adopted children, through Jesus Christ... “He hath
graced us in His beloved Son”. It is in His Son, Jesus, that
God has resolved ” to re-establish all things” Instaurare
omnia in Christo, or rather, according to the Greek text, ” to
gather together all things under Christ, as under one only
Head1”. Christ is always foremost in the Divine idea.
How is this realised ?

The Word Whose eternal generation we adore in the
Bosom of the Father, in sinu Patris, is made flesh: Et Ver-
bum caro factum est?. The most Holy Trinity has created
a humanity like to ours, and from the first instant of His
creation, has united it in an ineffable and indissoluble manner
to the Person of the Word, of the Son, of the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity. This God-Man is Jesus Christ. This
union is so close that there is only one single Person, that
of the Word. Perfect God, Perfecius Deus, by His Divine
nature, the Word becomes, by His Incarnation, perfect
Man: Perfectus homo. In making Himself man, He re-
mains God: Quod fuit permansit, quod non erat assump-
sit® : the fact of having taken a human nature in order to
unite it to Himself, has not lessened the Divinity.
In Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, the two natures are
united without admixture or confusion, they remain distinct
while being united in the unity of the Person. On account
of the personal character of this union, Christ is the very
Son of God, He possesses the life of God: Stcut Pater habet
vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio habere vitam in se-
metipso *. The same Divine life subsists in God and fills
the Sacred Humanity of Jesus. The Father communicates
His life to the Word, to His Son, and the Word communi-
cates it to the Humanity which He has personally united to
Himself. That is why, in looking upon Our Lord, the
Eternal Father recognises Him as His own Son : Filius meus
1. Ephes. 1, 10. — 2. Joan. 1, 14. — 3. Antiphon of the Office of the
Circumcision. — 4. Joan. v, 26. ‘
THE DIVINE PLAN OF OUR ADOPTION. I9
es tu, ego hodie genwi te?. And because He is His Son,

because this Humanity is the humanity of His Son, it
possesses a full and entire communication of all the Divine
perfections. The soul of Christ is filled with all the trea-
sures of God’s knowledge and wisdom: In quo sunt om-
NES THESAURI sapientiae et scientiae?. In Christ, says
St. Paul, ” dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead cor-
porally”. In ipso inhabitat OMNIS PLENITUDO divinitatis
corporaliter* ; the holy Humanity is filled with grace and
truth +.
The Word made flesh is, therefore, adorable in His Hu-
manity as in His Divinity, because beneath this humanity is
veiled the Divine life. O Jesus Christ, Incarnate Word, I
prostrate myself before Thee, because Thou art the Son of
God, equal to the Father. Thou art indeed the Son of God,
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero.
Thou art the beloved Son of the Father, in Whom He is well
pleased. I love and adore Thee! Venite adoremus !
But, this Divine life which is in Jesus Christ is to overflow

from Him upon us, upon the whole human race. °This is
a wonderful revelation which fills us with joy.
The Divine Sonship which is in Christ by nature, and
makes Him God’s own and only Son, Unigenitus qui est
im sinu Patris, is to be extended to us by grace, so that in
the thought of God, Christ is the first-born of many brethren,
who are by grace what He is by nature, sons of God: Prae-
destinavit nos conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui ut sit ipse
primogenitus in multis fratribus®.
We are here at the central point of the Divine Plan : it
is from Jesus Christ, it is through Jesus Christ that we
receive the Divine adoption. "God sent His Son”, says
St. Paul, “that we might receive the adoption of sons” ;
Deus misit Filium suum factum ex muliere, ut... adoptionem
fihorum reciperemus*. The grace of Christ the Son of God
is communicated to us so as to become in us the principle of
adoption ; it is at this fulness of Divine life and grace of
Jesus Christ that we must all draw. After having said that
the fulness of the Divinity dwells corporally in Christ,
St. Paul adds immediately by way of conclusion: Et estis in
1. Ps. 1, 7; Hebr. v, 5. — 2. Col. 11, 3. — 3. Ibid. 1, 9. — 4. Joan.
I, 14. — 5. Rom. vi, 29. — 6. Gal. iv, 5.
illo repleti, qui est caput omnis principatus et potestatts *.

Behoid in Him you have all, because He is your Head. And
St. John says likewise, after having shown us the Word,
full of grace and truth: ” And of His fulness we have all
received.” Et de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepymus ’.
Thus, not only has the Father chosen us from all eternity
in His Christ : Elegit nos in ipso — note the expression In
ipso: all that is apart from Christ docs not exist, so to
speak, in the Divine thought — but it is also by Jesus Christ
that we receive grace, the means of the adoption He destines
for us : Qui praedestinavit nos in adoptionem fiiorum PER
Jesum Curistum*®. We are sons, like Jesus, we by grace,
He by nature; He, God’s own Son, we His adopted
sons: Et ipse filius et nos fil; ille proprius, nos adoptivi,
sed ille salvat et nos salvamur*. It is by Christ that we
enter into God’s family, it is from Him and by Him that
grace and consequently Divine life come to us: Ego sum
vita... ego veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant °.
Such is the very source of our holiness. As everything
in Jesus Christ can be summed up in His Divine Sonship,
thus everything in the Christian can be summed up in his
participation of this sonship, by Jesus Christ, and in Jesus
Christ. Our holiness is nothing else but this: the more we
participate in the Divine life through the communication
Jesus Christ makes to us of the grace of which He ever
possesses the fulness, the higher is the degree of our holiness.
Christ is not only holy in Himself, He is our holiness. All
the holiness God has destined for our souls, has been placed
in the Humanity of Christ, and it is from this source that we
must draw.
"© Jesus Christ”, we sing with the Church in the Gloria
of the Mass, ” Thou only art holy”: Tu solus sanctus,
Jesu Christe. Only holy, because Thou dost possess the
fulness of the Divine life; only holy, because it is from Thee
alone that we look for our holiness: Thou hast become, as
the great Apostle says, our justice, owr wisdom, our re-
demption, our holiness: Estis in Christo Jesu qui factus est
Nogis sapientia a Deo et justitia et sanctificatio et redemp-
tio®, In Thee we find all; in receiving Thee, we receive
all; for in giving Thee to us, Thy Father, Who is our Father,
1. Col. n, 10. Qui est caput Christus, Ephes. 1v, 15. — 2. Joan. 1, 16.
— 3. Ephes. 1, 5. — 4. Migne, P. L. txvi, 7or. — 5. Joan. x, 10. —
6.01 Const; Bo;
as Thou hast Thyself said +, has given us all: Quomodo non

etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? ? All the graces of
salvation and forgiveness, all riches, all the supernatural
fruitfulness with which the world of souls abounds, come
from Thee alone: Jn Christo habemus redemptionem... se-
cundum divitias gratiae ejus quae superabundavit in nobis 3.
Let all praise be given to Thee, O Christ; and by Thee may
all praise ascend to Thy Father for the unspeakable gift He
has made us of Thee !
VI.
We must all be partakers of the holiness of Jesus. Christ
excludes no one from the life He has brought, and, by it, He
renders us children of God: Pro ommibus mortuus est
Christus * ; Christ has re-opened the gates of eternal life to
all humanity. As St. Paul says: He is the first-born, but of
a multitude of brethren: Jn multis fratribus®. The Eternal
Father wishes to constitute Christ His Son, Head of a King-
dom, the Kingdom of His children. The Divine Plan would
not be complete if Christ was isolated. It is His glory, as
it is the glory of the Father, Jn laudem gloriae gratiae suae ®,
to be at the head of an innumerable company, which is His
complement, zAyjowux, and without which, so to say, He
would not be complete.
St. Paul distinctly says this in his Epistle to the Ephe-
sians, where he traces out the Divine Plan: God has made
Christ to sit “on His right hand in the heavenly places,
above all principality and power and virtue and dominion,
and every name that is named not only in this world, but
also in that which is to come: And He hath subjected all
things under His feet, and hath made Him head over all
the Church which is His body7”. It is this company, this
Church that Christ has acquired, according to the words of
the same Apostle, that it may be at the last day, without
” spot or wrinkle, but holy and without blemish”: Ut
exhiberet ipse sibi gloriosam Ecclesiam, non habentem ma-
culam, aut rugam, aut aliquid hujusmodi, sed ut sit sancta
et wmmaculata®. This Church, this Kingdom is being
formed even here below. It is only entered by Baptism.
On earth we live in it by grace, in faith, hope, and charity,
1, Joan. xx, 17. — 2. Rom. vill, 32. — 3. Ephes, 1, 8. — 4. II Cor.
Vv, 15- — 5. Rom. vi, 29. — 6. Ephes. 1, 6. — 7. Ibid. 3, 20-23. —
8. Ibid. v, 27.
but the day will come when we shall contemplate its per-
fection in heaven ; that will be the kingdom of glory in the
light of vision, the rejoicing in unending possession and
union. That is why St. Paul said that ” the grace of God
is life everlasting, in Christ Jesus, our Lord’ ”.
This is the great mystery of God’s design. $1 scires donum

Dei! If you but knew the gift of God! Gift ineffable in
itself, ineffable above all in its source, which is love.
Tt is because He loves us that God wills to make us share,
as His children, His own beatitude: Videte qualem carita-
tem dedit nobis Pater ut filii Dei nominemur et simus*. The
love which makes us such a gift is infinite, for, says St. Leo:
“the gift surpassing all gifts is that God calls man His
child, and that man calls God his Father*”. Each of us
can say in all truth: It is by a special act of love and
kindness that God has created and called me by Baptism
to Divine adoption, for in His plenitude and infinite riches,
God has no need of any creature: Genuit nos VOLUN-
TARIE verbo veritatis suae*. By a special act of love and
complacency God has chosen me, Elegit nos, to be raised
infinitely above my natural condition, to enjoy eternally His
own beatitude, to be the realisation of one of His Divine
thoughts, to be a voice in the concert of the elect, to be one
of those brethren who are like to Jesus, and share for ever
His heavenly inheritance.
This love is manifested with special splendour in the way
the Divine plan is fulfilled “in Jesus Christ”, ix Christo
Jesu.
” By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us,
because God hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world,
that we may live by Him®". Yes, God loves us so much,
that to show us this love He has given us His only-begotten
Son : Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut Filium suum Unigenitum
daret®; He has given us His Son, so that His Son may
become our Brother, and that we may one day be His
coheirs, and share in the riches of His grace and glory: Ut
ostenderet... ABUNDANTES DIVITIAS gratiae suae IN BONI-
TATE SUPER NOS in Christo Jesu’.
1. Rom. vi, 23. — 2. I Joan. m, 1. — 3. Omnia dona excedit hoc
donum ut Deus hominem vocet filium et homo Deum nominet Patrem.
Serm. VI. de Nativ. — 4. Jac. 1, 18. — 5. I Joan. 1v, 9. — 6. Joan. m,
16. — 7. Ephes. Ul, 7.
Such is then in its majestic range and merciful simplicity,

God’s plan for us. God wills our holiness, He wills it
because He loves us infinitely, and we ought to will it with
Him. He wills to make us saints in making us participate
im His very life, and for that end, He adopts us as His
children, and the heirs of His infinite glory and eternal
beatitude. Grace is the principle of this holiness, superna-
tural in its source, in its acts, and in its fruits. But God
only gives us this adoption through His Son, Jesus Christ.
It is in Him, and by Him, that God wills to unite Himself
to us, and that we should be united to Him: NEMO venit
ad Patrem msi per Me. Christ is the Way, the only way,
to lead us to God, ant without Him we can do nothing :
Sine Me niuit potestis facere?. Our holiness has no
other foundation than that same one which God has estab-
lished, that is to say, union with Jesus Christ. Fundamen-
tum aliud nemo potest ponere, praeter id quod positum est,
quod est Christus Jesus *.
Thus, God communicates the fulness of His Divine life
to the Humanity of Christ, and through it, to all souls in the
measure of their predestination in Jesus Christ: Secundum
mensuram donationis Chrisit *.
We must understand that we can only be saints according
to the measure in which the life of Jesus Christ is in us :
that is the only holiness God asks of us ; there is no other.
We can only be holy in Jesus Christ, otherwise, we cannot
be so at ali. There is not an atom of this holiness in
creation; it proceeds from God by a supremely free act of
His Almighty Will, and that is why it is supernatural.
St. Paul returns more than once to the gratuitousness of
the Divine gift of adoption, and also to the eternity of the
ineffable love which determined Him to make us partakers
of it, and to the wonderful means of realising it through the
grace of Jesus Christ. He bids his disciple, Timothy, re-
member that God has ” called us by His holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
times of the world®”. By grace you are saved through
faith, he wrote to the faithful of Ephesus, ” and not through
your own works, that no man may glory ®”.
1. Joan. xiv, 6. — 2. Joan. xv, 5. — 3. I Cor. 11, 11. — 4. Ephes.
Iv, 7. — 5. If Tim. 1, 9. — 6. Ephes. 1, 8-9. Gratia enim estis salvatt
VIL
It is to God that all glory must be referred. This glory
is the end of the Divine work*. St. Paul shows us this
when he concludes his exposition of the Divine Plan in these
words: In laudem gloriae gratiae suae.
If God adopts us as His children; if He realises this
adoption through the grace of which the plenitude is in His
Son Jesus; if He wills to make us partakers in Christ’s
eternal inheritance, it is for the exaltation of His glory.
Remark how insistently St. Paul dwells upon this point in
exposing the Divine Plan to us in the words I quoted at the
beginning: God ” has predestinated us... unto the praise of
the glory of His grace”: In laudem gloriae gratiae suae *.
He twice returns to this point further on: ” In Whom we
who are called... being predestinated unto the praise of His
glory”: Ut simus in laudem gloriae ejus ®.
The first expression of the Apostle is particularly re-
markable. He does not say unto the glory of His grace, but
” unto the praise of the glory of His grace”; which means
that this grace will be surrounded with the splendour attach-
ed to a triumph. Why does St. Paul speak thus ? It is
because in order to restore to us the Divine adoption, Christ
has had to triumph over the obstacles created by sin. But
per fidem et hoc non ex vobis, Dei enim donum est, non ex operibus, ut
ne quis gloriectur.
1. The Vatican Council has defined that, ” it is not to increase His
beatitude, nor to put the seal to His perfection, but to manifest this per-
fection by the help of the benefits God heaps upon His creatures, that He
has freely drawn the creature from nothing by an act at once of His
goodness and Almighty power. " (Dogmatic Constitution De fide Catho-
lica.). In the 4th. canon, the Council pronounces an anathema against
" whoever shall deny that the world was created for God’s glory. " —
From these texts it follows that God created the world for His glory,
that this glory consists in the manifestation of His perfections by the
gifts He bestows upon His creatures, that the motive freely determining
Him thus to glorify Himself is His goodness (or, formaliter, the love of
His goodness). God therefore unites the happiness of the creature to His
glory ; to glorify God becomes our beatitude. "The gifts of God,” says
D. L. Janssens, " have no other source and no other end than the supreme
goodness of which His glory is the most synthetic expression.” Now the
gift by excellence, whence all the others flow for us, is that of the
hypostatic union in Christ: Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut Filium suum
Unigenitum DaRET... Quomodo CUM ILLO non OMNIA nobis PONAVIT. -—
2. Ephes. 1, 6. Note the use in the Greek text of the preposition et¢ which
denotes the end towards which one tends in an active manner. — 3. Ibid.
12 and 14; cf. Philip. 1, 10-11. " That you may be sincere and without
offence unto the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of justice through
Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” In gloriam et laudem
Dei.
these obstacles have only served to make the Divine marvels

in the work of our supernatural restoration shine out the
more in the sight of the whole world : Mirabiliter condidisti
et mirabilius reformasti. Each of the elect is the fruit of
the Blood of Jesus, and of the wonderful operations of His
grace; all the elect are so many trophies won by this Divine
Blood, and that is why they are all like a glorious praise
to Christ and to His Father: Ut simus in laudem gloriae
ejus.
I said at the beginning that the Divine perfection of which
the Angels especially sing the praise, is holiness: Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus. But what is the outburst of praise which
rises from the choir of the elect in heaven ? What is the
uninterrupted canticle of that immense multitude that con-
stitutes the kingdom of which Christ is the Head? ”O
Lamb that wast slain, Thou hast redeemed us, Thou hast
made us to our God a kingdom: to Thee and to Him that
sitteth on the Throne, praise and honour and glory and
power for ever and ever’.” That is the song of praise
with which heaven resounds to exalt the triumph of the
grace of Jesus: Ju laudem GLORIAE gratiae suae.
We enter, then, into the eternal designs, if, even here
below, we join in this canticle. When St. Paul writes this
wonderful Epistle to the Ephesians, he is a prisoner; but
at this moment when he is preparing to reveal to them the
mystery hidden from the beginning, he is so transported
with the greatness of the mystery of the Divine adoption in
Jesus Christ, he is so dazzled with the ” unfathomable
riches” brought by Christ, that he cannot prevent himself
in spite of his privations, from exclaiming at the very
beginning of his letter, in an outburst of praise and thanks-
giving: ’ Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus
Christ Who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in
Christ?”. Yes, blessed be the Eternal Father Who has
called us to Himself from all eternity to make us His
children, and partakers of His own life and His own beati-
tude; Who, in order to fulfil His designs, has given us in
Jesus Christ, all good, all riches, all treasures, so that in
Him nothing is wanting to us: Ita ut nihil vobis desit in ulla
gratia® !
This is the Divine Plan.
r. Apoc. v, 9 and 14. — 2. Ephes. 1, 3. — 3. Cor. 1, 7.
All our holiness consists in entering more and more deeply,

by the light of faith, into this Sacramentum absconditum, in
entering into the design of God and realising the eternal
economy in ourselves.
He Whose Will it is to save us and to make us holy has
traced out the plan with a wisdom only equalled by His
goodness. Let us adapt ourselves to this Divine design by
which God wills that we should find our holiness in our
conformity to Christ Jesus. Once again, there is no other
way; we shall only be pleasing to the Eternal Father, — and
is not that all the substance of sanctity: to be pleasing to
God ? — if He recognises in us the features of His Son.
We must, by grace and by our virtues, be so identified with
Christ that the Father, in looking down upon our souls, will
recognise us as His true children and be well-pleased with
us as He was when contemplating Jesus Christ during His
earthly life. Christ is His Beloved Son, and it is in Him
that we shall be filled with all blessings which will lead us
to the fulness of our adoption in the beatitude of heaven.
How good it is to repeat now, in the light of these truths,

the prayer that Jesus Himself, the Beloved Son of The
Father, has placed on our lips, which, coming from Him, is
pre-eminently the prayer of the child of God: O Holy
Father, Who dwellest in Heaven, we are Thy children, since
Thou dost will to be called Our Father! May Thy Name
be hallowed, honoured, glorified ! May Thy perfections be
praised and exalted more and more upon the earth! May
. We manifest in ourselves, by our works, the splendour of
Thy grace! Extend then Thy reign; may Thy Kingdom
ever increase, this Kingdom which is also that of Thy Son,
since Thou hast made Him the head of it. May Thy Son be
truly the King of our souls, and may we testify to His king-
ship over us by the perfect accomplishment of Thy Will !.
May we, like Him, ever seek to adhere to Thee by fulfilling
Thy good pleasure*, Thy eternal designs for us, so as to be
like to Jesus in all things, and through Him, worthy children
of Thy love !
1. Quae placita sunt ei facio semper. Joan. vill, 29.
II. CHRIST
THE ONLY MODEL OF ALL PERFECTION.
CAUSA EXEMPLARIS
Summary. — Fruitiulness and different aspects of the mystery of

Christ. — I. Necessity of knowing God in order to be united
to Him; God reveals Himself to us in His Son Jesus:
“who sees Him sees His Father ”. — I]. Christ our Model ©
in His Person: perfect God; perfect man; grace, the
iundamental sign of similitude with Jesus, considered in His
state of Son of God. — [. Christ our Model in His works . .
and virtues. — 1V. Our imitation of Christ is realised by
grace; and secondly by the essential disposition of referring
everything to the glory of His Father. Christianus alter
Christus.
WA) we read the Epistles of St. Paul to the Chris-

tians of his time, it is striking te see with what in-
sistency he speaks of the mystery of Our Lord
Jesus Christ. He constantly returns to this subject which
has taken such possession of him that Christ is his very life:
Mihi vivere Christus est*. He spends himself, without
counting the cost, for Christ and His members: Ego autem
hbentissime impendam, et superimpendar ipse pro animabus
vestris *.
Chosen and instructed by Jesus Himself to be the herald
of His mystery throughout the world*, he has penetrated
so deeply into its depths and glories, that his one desire is to
unveil it and make the adorable Person of Christ known and
loved. He writes to the Colossians that he is filled with joy
in the midst of his tribulations in the thought that it has been
given to him to announce ” the mystery which hath been
hidden from ages and generations but now is manifested to
His saints, to whom God would make known the riches of
the glory of this mystery... which is Christ *”.
1. Philip. 1, 21. — 2. I] Cor. xu, 15. — 3. Ephes. ml, 5-9. — 4. Col.
I, 26-27.
See how when he is in prison he is told that others besides

himself are preaching Christ ; some are doing this out of
a spirit of contention in opposition to him; others with good
intentions. Does he feel trouble or jealousy ? Quite the
contrary. Provided Christ is preached, what does it matter
to him? ”So that by all means, whether by occasion, or
by truth, Christ be preached, in this also I rejoice, yea and
will rejoice”: Et in hoc gaudeo, sed et gaudebo’. Thus he
refers all his knowledge, all his preaching, all his love, all
his life to Jesus Christ : Non enim judicavi me scire aliquid
inter vos msi Jesum Christum?. In the labours and
struggles of his apostolate, one of his joys is to think that he
is ” in labour ” — it is his own expression — to form Christ
in souls *.
The Christians of the first ages understood the doctrine
the great apostle set forth to them. They understood that
God has given His only Son Christ Jesus that He may be for
us ” our wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption *” ;
they understood the divine plan: namely, that God has
given to Christ the fulness of grace that we may find all in
Him. They lived by this doctrine, Christus... vestra vita ®,
and that is why their spiritual life was at once so simple and
bore so much fruit.
Now let us remind ourselves that, in these our days, the
Heart of God is not less loving nor His arm less powerful.
God is ready to shed His graces upon us, I do not say as
extraordinary in their character, but as abundant and as
useful as those He shed upon the first Christians. He does
not love us less than He loved them. All the means of
sanctification that they had we too possess; we have besides
_ to encourage us the example of the saints who have followed
Christ. But we are too often like Naaman the leper who
came to consult the prophet and beg his cure; he was on
the point of not obtaining it because he found the remedy
too simple °.
t. Phil..1, 15; — 2. I Cor. 11, 2. — 3. Gal. rv, 19. — 4. I Cor. 7, 30.
— 5. Col. m1, 4. — 6. IV Reg: v, 1 sq. Our Lord Himself makes
allusion to this fact. (Cf. Luc. 1v, 27.) Naaman, the general of the Syrian
army, was stricken with leprosy. Having heard of the wonders the pro-
phet Eliseuus had worked in Samaria, he went to implore his cure. ” Go,
and wash seven times in the Jordan,” was the message Eliseus sent to him,
"and thou shalt be clean." This reply angered Naaman. ” I thought
CHRIST, THE ONLY MODEL OF ALL PERFECTION. 29
That is the case with some of those who undertake the

spiritual life; people are to be met with who are so attached
to their own way of seeing things that they are scandalized
at the simplicity of the divine plan. And this scandal is not
without harm. These souls that have not understood the
mystery of Christ lose themselves in a multiplicity of details
and often weary themselves in a joyless labour. Why is
that ? Because all that our human ingenuity is able to
create for our inner life serves for nothing if we do not base
our edifice upon Christ : Fundamentum aliud NEMO potest
ponere praeter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus 1,
This explains the change that sometimes takes place in
certain souls. During years, their lives have been as it were
cramped,they have been often depressed,hardly ever content-
ed, for ever finding new difficulties in the spiritual life.
Then one day God gives them the grace of understanding
that Christ is our All, that He is the Alpha and Omega?,
that out of Him we have nothing, that in Him we have
everything, for everything is summed up in Him. From
that moment all is, as it were, changed for these souls; their
difficulties vanish like the shades of night before the rising
sun. As soon as Our Lord, the true Sun of our lives, Sol
justitiae *, fully illumines these souls, they unfold, mount
upwards and bear much fruit of holiness.
Doubtless, trials are not absent from the lives of such

souls; they are often the very condition of inward progress ;
collaboration with Divine grace will also remain attentive
and generous, but all that narrows the soul and leads to
discouragement disappears. Such souls live in the light;
they dilate in it. Viam mandatorum tuorum cucurri cum
he would have come out to me, ” he said to his servants, " and standing
would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with
his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abana,
and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel that I may wash in them and be made clean?” And full of
disappointment and indignation he was about to return to his own coun-
try. But his servants came to him and said: " Father, if the prophet had
bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it; how
much rather what he now hath said to thee?” Naaman admits this
sensible suggestion, goes and plunges himself seven times in Jordan and,
according to the word of the man of God, he is cured of his leprosy.
1. I Cor. mt, 11. — 2. Apoc, Xx, 13. — 3- Malach. Iv, 2.
dilatasti cor meum*; their life becomes simplified. They

understand the poverty of the means they had themselves
created and so often renewed, hoping by them to prop up
their own spiritual edifice. They grasp the truth of these
words: Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum labo-
raverunt qui aedificant eam”. Unless Thou, O Lord, dost
build Thyself a dwelling in us, we shall never be able to
form a habitation worthy of Thee! It is in Christ, and no
longer in self, that these souls seek the source of their holi-
ness. They know this holiness is supernatural in its principle,
its nature and its end; and that the treasures of sancti-
fication are only to be found gathered up in Jesus, so that
we may share in them: they understand that they are only
rich with the riches of Christ.
These riches, according to the word of St. Paul, are
unsearchable: Investigabiles divitiae*. We can never ex-
haust them and all we can say of them will always remain
far below the praises of which they are worthy.
There are however three aspects of the mystery of Christ,

which we must contemplate when we speak of Our Lord as
the source of our sanctification. We borrow the idea from
the doctrine of St. Thomas, the prince of theologians, in
what he has written of the sanctifying causality of Christ ¢.
Christ is at once the exemplary cause, the meritorious
cause and the efficient cause of all our sanctification. Christ
is the sole Model of our perfection — the Author of our
redemption and the infinite Treasury of grace — and the
efficient cause of our sanctification.
These three points sum up perfectly what we have to say
of Christ Himself as the life of our souls. Grace is the
principle of that supernatural life of children of God that
forms the foundation and substance of all holiness. Now
this grace is found in its fulness in Christ, and all the works
we accomplish through grace have their model in Jesus ;
— next, Christ has merited this grace for us by the satis-
factions of His life, passion and death; — lastly, Christ »
Himself produces this grace in us by the contact we have
with Him through faith.
1. Ps. CXVIII, 32. — 2. Ps. cxxvi, 1. — 3. Ephes. m, 7. — 4. III,
Qi XXIV) A: 13 a 4g wOnexLVIN, a. 6's, g. La. Of ud Lyles ad aeala
But these truths contain so much that we must con-

template each one separately. In this conference, we will
consider Our Lord as our Divine Model in all things, as the
exemplar towards which we must tend. The first thing to
be considered is the end we must attain. Once this end is
clearly understood, the application of the means proper to
its realisation will follow quite naturally.
We have seen that holiness for us is only a participation

in the Divine holiness. We are holy if we are children of
God and if we live as true children of the Heavenly Father,
worthy of our supernatural adoption. St. Paul says: ” Be
ye therefore followers of God as most dear children:”
Estote imitatores Dei sicut filti carissimi. Jesus Himself
tells us: Estote perfecti, "Be you therefore perfect”,
— and it is to all His disciples He speaks, — not with any
kind of perfection, but sicut Pater vester coelestis perfectus
est *, ” as also your heavenly Father is perfect”. And whv?
Because ” noblesse oblige”. God has adopted us as His
children, and children ought to resemble their father in their
lives.
But in order to imitate God, we must know Him. And
how are we to know God? He “inhabiteth light in-
accessible”, says St. Paul. Lucem inhabitat inaccessibilem *.
”No man”, says St. John, ” hath seen God at any time”,
Deum nemo vidit unquam*. How then can we reproduce
and imitate the perfections of One Whom we do not see ?
St. Paul gives us the answer to this question. J]luxit
nobis in facie Christi Jesu®. God has revealed Himself to
us by His Son and in His Son Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus
is ” the brightness of His glory®”, ” the image of the in-
visible God’?”, perfectly like to His Father, capable of
revealing Him to men, for He knows Him as He is known :
” No one knoweth the Father”, Jesus says, ” but the Son,
and he to whom it shall please the Father to reveal Him ®. ”
Christ Jesus Who is always Jn sinu Patris, tells us: ” I know
1. Ephes. v, 1. — 2. Matth. v, 48. — 3. I Tim. vi, 16. — 4. I Joan.
Iv, 12. — 5. Ii Cor. 1v, 6. — 6. Hebr. 1,3. — 7. Col. 1, 15.— 8. Matth.
Pt, 27.
My Father”, Ego agnosco Patrem*; and He knows Him in

order to reveal Him to us. Jpse enarravit®. Christ is the
revelation of the Father.
And how does the Son reveal the Father ? By becoming
incarnate. The Word, the Son, is incarnate, is made man,
and in Him, by Him, we know God. Christ is God brought
within our reach under a human expression. It is the
Divine perfection revealed to us under earthly forms; it
is holiness itself appearing sensibly before our eyes during
thirty-three years so as to be rendered tangible and imitable *.
We can never think too much about this : Christ is God
made man, living among men so as to teach them by His
words and above all by His life how men ought to live in
order to imitate God and please Him. We have then first.
of all, if we wish to live as children of God, only to open
our eyes with faith and love and contemplate God in Jesus.
There is in the Gospel a very simple and yet magnificent
episode. You know it, but here is the place to recall it.
It was the eve of the passion of Jesus. Our Lord had been
speaking, as He alone could speak, of His Father to His
disciples, and these, carried out of themselves, desired to see
and know the Father. The apostle Philip exclaims : O
Master, show us the Father and we ask for nothing more.
Ostende nobis Patrem et sufficit nobis*. And Christ Jesus
answers : ” Have I been so long a time with you, and have
you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me, seeth the
Father also”. Qui videt me, videt et Patrem. Yes, Christ
is the revelation of God, His Father. As God, He makes
only one with Him, and he who contemplates Him, sees the
revelation of God.
When you contemplate Christ abasing Himself in the
poverty of the crib, recall this word : Qui videt me, videt et
Patrem. When you see the Youth of Nazareth, full of
obedience, toiling in the humble workshop until the age of
thirty, say to yourself ” He that seeth Him, seeth His
Father ”, to contemplate Him is to contemplate God. When
you see Christ passing through the villages of Galilee, every-
where doing good, healing the sick, announcing the good
tidings; when you see the Crucified, dying for love of men,
the object of the derision of His executors, it is He Who
1. Joan. x, 15. — 2. Ibid. 31, 18. — 3. To be a model and to be
imitable are the two characters which must be found in the exemplary
cause. — 4. Joan. XIV, 5.
says to you: Qui videt me, videt et Patrem. ” He that

seeth Me, seeth the Father also. ”
These are so many manifestations of God, so many
manifestations of the Divine perfections. The perfections
of God are in themselves as incomprehensible as the Divine
nature. Which of us for example could comprehend what
Divine love is’ It is an abyss surpassing all we could
imagine. But when we see Christ, Who, as God, is ” one”
with His Father: Ego et Pater unum sumus*, Who has in
Him the same Divine life as the Father ?, instruct men, die
upon a cross, give His life for love of us ; when we see
Him institute the Eucharist, we then understand the great-
ness of God’s love.
So is it with each of God’s attributes, with each of His
perfections; Christ reveals them to us; and according to the
measure we advance in His love, He makes us enter more
deeply into His mystery : Qui autem diligit me, diligetur a
Paire... ego diligam eum et manifestabo ei meipsum®.
Which comes to saying : — If anyone loves Me, receives
Me in My humanity, he shall be loved of My Father, and I
also will love him and will manifest Myself to him in My
divinity. I will disclose its secrets to him.
” The Life was manifested”, writes St. John*, “and we
have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the
life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared
to us”, in Christ Jesus. So that to know and imitate God,
- we have only to know and imitate His Son Jesus, Who is
the expression at once human and divine of the infinite
perfections of His Father : Qui videt me, videt et Patrem.
II.
But how and in what is Christ, the Incarnate Word, our

Model, our exemplar ?
Christ.is doubly our Model: in His Person and in His
works; in His siate of Son of God, and in His human
activity, for He is at the same time Son of God and Son of
man, perfect God and perfect man.
Christ is God, perfect God, Perfectus Deus.

1. Joan. x, 30. — 2. Sicut Pater habet vitam in semetipso manentem,
sic et dedit Filio habere vitam in semetipso. Joan. v, 26. — 3. Joan. xiv,
Bis -— 25 (Gant, 2.
Christ, the iife of the soul.
3
Let us go in spirit to Judea, at the time of Christ. He has

already fulfilled one part of His mission, journeying through
Palestine, teaching and accomplishing the ” works of God’?”.
Behold Him after a day of apostolic labour, gone apart from
the multitude, surrounded only by His disciples. He asks
them : ” Who do men say that the Son of man is??”
The disciples echo all that is noised abroad concerning Him.
’ Some John the Baptist, and others Elias, and others
Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” ” But whom do you say
that Iam?” Jesus asks. Then Peter answering says to
Him: ” Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” And
Our Lord, confirming the testimony of His apostle, responds :
” Blessed art thou... because flesh and blood (natural in-
tuition) hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is
in heaven *”.
Christ is then the Son of God, God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God, as the Credo expresses it. Christ,
says St. Paul, ’ thought it not robbery” to call Himself
equal with the Father: Non rapinam arbitratus est esse
se aequalem Deo*.
Thrice, moreover, the voice of the Eternal Father made
itself heard to the world, and each time it was to glorify
Christ by proclaiming Him to be His Son, the Son in Whom
He is well pleased : Hic est Filius meus dilectus in quo
mihi bene complacui, ipsum audite®. Let us prostrate our-
selves like the disciples who heard this voice of the Father on
Thabor, and with Peter, inspired from on high, let us say to
Jesus: Yes, Thou art the Christ, the Incarnate Word, true
God, equal to Thy Father, perfect God, possessing all the
Divine attributes ; Thou art, O Jesus, with Thy Father and
the Holy Ghost, the Almighty; Thou art the Eternal. Thou
art infinite Love. I believe in Thee, and I adore Thee ” my
Lord and my God” !
Son of God, Christ is also Son of man, perfect Man:

Perfectus homo.
The Son of God is made flesh; He remains what He is —
perfect God. But He unites Himself to a human nature,
complete like ours, integral in its essence, with all its native
properties. Like all of us Christ is ” made of a woman *®”.
1. Joan. 1x, 4. — 2. Matth. xvi, 13-16. — 3. Ibid. 16. — 4. Philip. u, 6.
5. — Matth. xvi, 5; cf. 11, 47; Joan. xm, 28. — 6. Gal. rv, 4.
CHRIST, THE ONLY MODEL OF ALL PERFECTION, 35
He belongs authentically to our race. Often in the Gospel,

He calls Himself “the Son of man” ; eyes of flesh have
seen Him, human hands have touched Him. Even on
the morrow of His glorious resurrection, He makes the
incredulous Apostles verify the reality of His human nature:
Palpate et videte quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet sicut
me videtis habere ?.
Like each of us, He has a soul, created directly by God;
a body formed of the substance of a woman, an intelligence
to know, a will to love and choose; all the faculties that we
have, memory and imagination. He has passions in the
philosophical, elevated, and noble sense of the word, in the
sense excluding all disorder and all weakness; for in Him
these passions are perfectly subject to reason and only
moved by an act of His will*. His human nature is then
similar in everything to that of His brethren: Debuit per
omnia fratribus similari, says St. Paul‘, excepting sin:
Absque peccato®. Jesus has not known sin, nor that which
is the source and consequence of sin — ignorance, error,
sickness, all things unworthy of His wisdom, His dignity
and His divinity.
But our Divine Saviour willed, during His mortal life,
to bear our infirmities, all those infirmities compatible with
His sanctity. The Gospel clearly shows us this. There is
nothing in the nature of man that Jesus has not sanctified ;
our labours, our sufferings, our tears. He has made all
these His own. See Him at Nazareth: during thirty years
He spent His life in the obscure toil of an artizan, inasmuch
that when ‘He began to preach, His compatriots were as-
tonished, for up to this time they had only known Him as
the son of the carpenter: Unde huic omnia ista ? Nonne
hic est fabri filius® ?
Like us our Lord has felt hunger ; after having fasted in
the desert ” He was hungry”: Postea esuriit’. He has
suffered thirst: did He not ask the Samaritan woman to give
Him to drink, Da mihi bibere® ? and upon the cross did He
not cry: ”I thirst”. Sitio ? Like us He has felt fatigue;
He was often fatigued by His long journeyings throughout
1. I Joan. 1, 1. — 2. Luc. xxiv, 39. — 3. Theology names these
propassions, in order to denote by this special term their character of
transcendance and purity. — 4. Hebr. ur, 17. — 5. Hebr. tv, 15. —
6. Matth. xi, 55-56. — 7. Matth. Iv, 2. — 8. Joan. Iv, 7.
Palestine. When at Jacob’s well, He asked for water to

quench His thirst. St. John tells us that He was wearied;
it was the hour of noon, and after having walked far and
being wearied, He sat down on the side of the well : Fati-
gatus ex itinere, sedebat sic supra fontem. Hora erat quast
sexta?. Thus then, in the words of St. Augustine in the
wonderful commentary he has given us on this beautiful
evangelical scene, ” He Who is the very Strength of God
is overwhelmed with lassitude”: Fatigatur Virtus Det?. —
Slumber has closed His eyelids; He slept in the boat when
the tempest arose: [pse vero dormiebat*. He really slept,
so the apostles fearing to be engulfed by the angry waves,
had to awaken Him. He wept over Jerusalem, His own
city which He loved despite its ingratitude; the thought of
the disasters that after His death, were to fall upon it drew
tears from His eyes: ”If thou hadst also known... the
things that are to thy peace”! Flevit super illam*. He
wept at the death of Lazarus, as we weep over those we
cherish, so that the Jews who witnessed this sight, said to
one another :” Behold how He loved Him®!” Christ shed
tears because His Heart was touched; He wept for him
who was His friend; the tears sprang from the depth of
His Heart. Several times too it is said of Him in the
Gospel that His Heart was touched with compassion ®.
Still more than this, He has felt sadness, heaviness and
fear: Coepit pavere et taedere, et maestus esse’; in His
agony in the Garden of Olives, His soul is overwhelmed
with sorrow: Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem &;
anguish penetrated His soul to the point of wringing from
it “a strong cry and tears®’”. All the mockeries, all the
outrages with which He was saturated in His Passion, the
being buffeted and spit upon, all these insults, far from
leaving Him insensible, caused Him intense suffering. His
nature being more perfect, His sensibility was the greater
and more delicate. He was plunged in an abyss of suffer-
ing. Lastly, after having shown Himself to be truly man,
1. Joan, 1v,6. — 2. Tract, in Joan. xv. —3. Matth. vin, 24. — 4. Luc.
XIX, 41. — 5. Joan. x1, 36. — 6. Misericordia motus, Luc. vil, 13;
Misereor super turbam, Marc. vu, 2; cf. Matth. xv, 32. — 7. Marc. xiv,
supplicationesque ad eum gui posset illum saluum facere a morte cum
33; Matth. xxvi, 37. — 8. Ibid. 38. — 9. In diebus carnis suae, preces
clamore valido et lacrymis offerens. Hebr. v, 7.
like to us in all things, He willed to endure death like all

the sons of Adam: Et inclinato capite tradidit Sspiritum 3.
It is then both as Son of God and Son of man, that Our
Lord is our Model, — but He is so first of all as Son of
God. This state of Son of God is properly speaking what
is essential and fundamental in Christ, and it is in this we
must first of all resemble Him.
And how can we do so ?”

The Divine Sonship of Christ is the type of our super-
natural sonship; His condition, His ” being” the Son of
God is the exemplar of the state in which we must be
established by sanctifying grace. Christ is the Son of God
by nature and by right, in virtue of the union of the Eternal
Word with human nature”; we are so by adoption and
grace, but we are so really and truly. Christ has, moreover,
sanctifying grace ; He possesses the fulness of it ; from this
fulness it flows into us more or less abundantly, but, in its
substance, it is the same grace that both fills the created soul
of Jesus and deifies us. St. Thomas says that our divine
filiation is a resemblance of the eternal filiation: Quaedam
similitudo filtationis aeternae >.
Such is the primordial and supereminent manner in which
Christ is first of all our example : in the Incarnation He is
constituted, by right, the Son of God ; we should become so
by being partakers of the grace derived from Him which,
deifying the substance of our souls, constitutes us in the
state of children of God. That is the first and essential
characteristic of the likeness we must have to Christ Jesus;
it is the condition of all our supernatural activity. If first
and above all we do not possess in us this sanctifying grace
which is the fundamental sign of similitude with Jesus, the
Eternal Father will not recognize us for His own; and all
we do in our lives without this grace is of no merit to make
us partakers of the everlasting inheritance: we shall only
be co-heirs with Christ if we are His brethren by grace 4.
1. Joan. x1x, 30. — 2. This is called in theology the ” grace of union, “
in virtue of which a human nature was chosen to be united in an inef-
fable manner to the Divine Person, the Word, and thus to be the
humanity of a God. This grace is unique and only to be found in Jesus
Christ. — 3. I, q. xx, a. 3. — 4. O si cognovisses Dei gratiam per
_ Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum ipsamque ejus Incarnationem, qua
hominis animam corpusque suscepit, summum esse exemplum gratiae
videre potuisses! St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Xi 293
III.
Christ is also our Model in His works.

We have seen how truly He was man, we must now see
how truly He acted as man.
In this again, Our Lord is for us a perfect, and yet an
accessible model of all holiness. In an incomparable degree,
He practised all the virtues that can adorn human nature,
all those at least that were compatible with His Divine
nature.
You know that with sanctifying grace, there was given to
the Soul of Christ the magnificent array of virtues and gifts
of the Holy Spirit. These virtues fowed from grace as
from a fountain-head, they were expressed in all their
perfection in the course of the life of Jesus.
Evidently He had not faith. This theological virtue only
exists in a soul not yet enjoying the vision of God. The
Soul of Christ contemplated God face to face; It could not
exercise faith in regard to this God Whom it saw; but it
had that submission of the will necessary to the perfection
of faith, that reverence, that adoration of God, the first and
infallible Truth. This disposition was in the highest degree
in the Soul of Christ.
Neither had Jesus, properly speaking, the virtue of hope:
it is no longer possible to hope for what is already possessed.
The theological virtue of hope makes us desire the possession
of God, whilst giving us the confidence of receiving the
graces necessary to arrive at this possession. Through its
union with the Word, the Soul of Christ was filled with the
Divinity ; It could not then have hope; this virtue only
existed in Christ in the sense that He could desire, and
indeed did desire, the glorification of His holy Humanity,
the accidental glory that was to come to Him after His
Resurrection : Clarifica me, Pater*. He possessed in Him-
self, from the moment of His Incarnation, the source and
root of this glory; He allowed it to appear for an instant
at His Transfiguration on Thabor, but His mission on earth
among men obliged Him to veil its splendour until His
death. There were also certain graces Christ asked from
His Father ; for example, at the resurrection of Lazarus
we hear Him addressing these words to His Father with
1. Joan. Xvu, 5.
the most absolute confidence : Pater ego sciebam quia sem-

per me anudis .
As to charity, He practised it to a supreme degree. The
Heart of Christ is an immense furnace of love. The great
love of Christ is that which He bears towards His Father.
All His life can be summed op in these words: ” I do always
the things that please My Father”.
Let us meditate these words in our prayer ; only thus
shall we be able to penetrate a little into their secret. This
unspeakable love, this tending of the Soul of Christ towards
His Father is the necessary consequence of His hypostatic
union. The Son is altogether Ad Patrem, as the theologians
say: this is, if I may thus express it, His essence: the
holy Humanity is carried along by this divine current ;
having become, by the Incarnation, the Humanity of the Son
of God, it therefore belongs entirely to the Father. The
fundamental disposition, the primary and habitual senti-
ment of the Soul of Christ is necessarily this: I live for My
Father, ” I love My Father?”. It is because He loves His
Father that Jesus gives Himself up to all He wills; His first
act on coming into the world is an act of love towards Him:
“Behold I come to do Thy will ?”. It may be said that all His
existence here below was only to be the continued expres-
sion of this initial act....During His life, He loves to repeat
that His meat is to do the will of His Father‘; therefore
He always did the things that pleased Him: Quae placita
sunt et facio semper®. All that His Father had decreed for
Him, He fulfilled to the least detail*®. Lastly, it was out
of love for, His Father that He was made obedient to the
death of the cross: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem,
sic facio*. Never let us forget this: — if Christ was able
to say ” Greater love than this no man hath than to lay
down his life for his friends*”, if it is of faith that He
died for us and for our salvation, Propter nos et propter
nostram salutem, it remains true that it was before all, out
of love for His Father, that Our Lord laid down His life.
In loving us, it is His Father He loves; He sees us, He
finds us in His Father: Ego pro eis rogo... quia tui sunt®.
These are His own words: “I pray for them... because
1. Joan. x1, 42. — 2. Ibid. xiv, 31. — 3. Hebr. x, 7. — 4. Joan. 1v,
34. — 5. Ibid. vi, 29. — 6. Matth. v, 18. — 7. Joan. xiv, 31. —
8. Ibid. xv, 13. — 9. Ibid. xvu, 9.
they are Thine”. Yes, Christ loves us, because we are the
children of His Father, because we belong to His Father.
He loves us with an ineffable love, surpassing all we can
imagine, to such a point that each of us can say with
St. Paul: Dilexit me et tradidit semetipsum pro me’,
“ Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.”
Our Lord possessed too all the other virtues. Meekness
and humility: — ” Learn of Me because I] am meek and
humble of Heart?”; He, the Saviour, before Whom every
knee bows in heaven and on earth, kneels before His disciples
to wash their feet. Obedience: — He is subject to His
Mother and St. Joseph; one word of the Gospel sums up
His hidden life at Nazareth: Et erat subditus ilis*. He
obeys the Mosaic law; He goes assiduously to the assemblies ~
in the Temple; He submits Himself to the powers lawfully
established, declaring it necessary to “render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s *”; He Himself pays the tribute
money... Patience : — how many testimonies has He not
given of this especially during His bitter Passion! His
infinite mercy towards sinners: — with what kindness He
welcomes the Samaritan woman and Mary Magdalen! As
the Good Shepherd, He hastens to seek the straying sheep
and bring it back to the fold. He is full of ardent zeal for
the glory and interests of His Father; it is because of this
zeal He drives out the sellers in the Temple and flings
anathemas at the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. His prayer
is continual: Erai pernoctans in oratione Dei®. What shall
we say of those sublime communications between the In-
carnate Word and His Father, of the spirit of religion and
adoration with which Our Lord was animated’
In Him then every virtue blossomed in its season for
the Glory of God and for our salvation.
You know that the ancient patriarchs, before leaving this

world, used to give to their eldest son a solemn blessing that
was like the pledge of heavenly prosperity for his descend-
ants. Now we read in the book of Genesis, that the
patriarch Isaac, before giving this solemn biessing to his son
Jacob, kissed him, and smelling the perfume of his garments
cried out in joy: ” Behold the smell of my son is as the
1. Gal. 11, 20. —2. Matth. x1, 29. —3. Luc. 11, 51. — 4. Matth. xx1i, 21.
— 5.Luc. vi, 12.
smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed”,

Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Do-
minus. And immediately, carried out of himself, he called
down on his son’s head the richest blessings from on high:
” God give thee the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the
earth, abundance of corn and wine. And let peoples serve
thee, and tribes worship thee; be thou lord of thy brethren...
Cursed be he that curseth thee; and let him that blesseth
thee be filled with blessings? !”
This scene is an image of the delight the Father has in
contemplating the humanity of His Son Jesus, and of the
spiritual blessings He sheds on those united to Him. Like
a field enamelled with flowers, the soul of Christ is decked
with every virtue that can embellish human nature. God
is infinite. As such, His exigencies are infinite; and yet
the least action of Jesus was the object of His Father’s
complacency. When Christ Jesus worked in the humble
workshop at Nazareth, when He conversed with men or sat
at meat with His disciples, — things apparently so simple
— His Father looked upon Him and said: ” This is My
beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased:” Hic est Filius
meus dilectus in quo mihi complacui®. And He adds:
” Hear ye Him”, /psum audite, that is to say, contemplate
Him in order to imitate Him : He is your Model, follow
Him: He is the Way and no one cometh to Me but by Him,
no one has a share in My blessings but in Him 3, for I have
given Him the fulness of them, as I have given Him the
nations of the earth for His inheritance*. Why does the
heavenly Father take this infinite delight in Jesus ? Because
Christ accomplished everything perfectly, and His actions
were the expression of the most sublime virtues; but es-
pecially because all the actions of Christ, whilst being in
themselves human actions, were divine in their principle.
O Christ Jesus, full of grace and Model of every virtue,
beloved Son in Whom the Father is well pleased, be the one
object of my contemplation and love. May I regard all
passing things ” as dung*®” so as to place my joy in Thee
alone; may I seek to imitate Thee so as to be, by Thee and
with Thee, pleasing to Thy Father in all things !
1. Gen. xxvii, 27. — 2. Matth. m1, 17. — 3. Pater Domini nostri Jesu
Christi benedixit nos in omni benedictione spirituali... in Christo. Ephes
t, 3. — 4. Psi nm, $8. — §: Philip. mr, 8:
IV.
When we read the Gospel of St. John, we notice the
insistency with which Jesus repeats: ” My doctrine is not
Mine?”; ” The Son cannot do anything of Himself?” ;
” T cannot of Myself do anything?” ; ”I do nothing of
Myself *’””.
Is this to say that Christ had neither human intelligence,
nor will nor activity ? In no wise; it would be heresy to
think so ; but the humanity of Jesus, being hypostatically
united > to the Word, there was not in Christ a human
Person to which His faculties could be attached, there was
in Him only one Person, that of the Word doing all in
union with the Father; all was in the most absolute depen-
dance on the Divinity, all His activity emanated from the one
Person that was in Him, that of the Word. This activity
although immediately exercised by the human nature, was
divine in its root, in its principle; and therefore the Father
received from it infinite glory and found in it utmost delight.
Can we imitate this? Yes, since by sanctifying grace, we
share in the divine filiation of Jesus ; by this, our activity is
enhanced and as it were made divine in its principle. It
goes without saying that in the order of being, we always
keep our own personality; we always remain, by nature
purely human creatures; our union with God by grace,
however close and intimate it may be, remains an accidental
not a substantial union. But it is so much the greater in
as far as the autonomy of our personality, in the order of
activity, is effaced before the Divinity.
If we wish nothing to interpose between us and God,
nothing to hinder our union with Him, if we wish Divine
blessings to flow in upon our souls, we must not only
renounce sin and imperfection, but moreover despoil our-
selves of our personality in so far as it constitutes an obstacle
to perfect union with God. It constitutes an obstacle to
perfect union when our judgment, our self-will, our self-
love, our susceptibilities, make us think and act otherwise
than according to the desires of our Heavenly Father. Be-
lieve me, our faults of frailty, our miseries, our human
limitations, hinder our union with Ged infinitely less than
1. Joan. vii, 16. — 2. Joan. v, 19. — 3. Ibid. v, 30. — 4. Ibid. vin,
28. — 5. " Hypostatically " from a Greek word meaning: " by a per-
sonal union, ”
that habitual attitude of the soul which, so to speak, wills

to keep in everything the proprietorship of its activity
. We
must therefore not annihilate our personality — which
is
neither possible nor yet willed by God — but bring it to an
entire capitulation before God. We must lay it down at
God’s feet and ask Him to be by His Spirit — as He is for
the humanity of Christ — the supreme mover of all our
thoughts, of all our feelings, of all our words, of all our
actions, of all our life.
When a soul arrives at the state of having stripped itself
of all sin, and all attachment to self and the creature; of
having destroyed in itself, as far as possible, all purely
natural and human springs of action in order to surrender
itself completely to the Divine action; of living in absolute
dependance on God, on His will, His commandments, on the
spirit of the Gospel; of referring everything to the Heavenly
Father, then it can truly say : Dominus regit me? ; "The
Lord ruleth me ; everything in me comes from Him, I am
in His hands”. This soul has attained to the perfect
imitation of Christ to the point that its life is the very
reproduction of that of Christ : Vivo ego, Jam NON EGO,
vivit vero in me Christus*. God directs it; it is in every-
thing, moved under divine impulsion: that is sanctity, the
most perfect imitation of Christ in His being, in His state
of Son of God, as in His primordial disposition of belonging
altogether to His Father, in His person and in His activity.
Do not think it is presumption on our part to wish to
attain so sublime an ideal: no, it is God’s own desire; it is
His eternal design for us: Praedestinavit nos conformes
frert imaginis Filii sui*. The more we are conformed to His
Son, the more the Father loves us because we are more
closely united to Him®. When He sees a soul fully trans-
formed in His Son, He surrounds it with His special pro-
tection, the most tender cares of His providence; He
showers His blessings upon it, He places no limit to the
communication of His graces: that is the secret of God’s
extraordinary gifts.
1. Omnis cogitatio nostra et intellectus et omnis sermo et omnis actus
nostrum quidem denegationem spirat, Christi autem testimonium atque
confessionem. Origen. Homil. 2 in 16 Matth. — 2. Ps. xxu, 1. =) 3. PS.
i, 20. — 4. Rom. vin, 29. — 5. Si imitatorem te praebeas Christi, ap-
propinquasti Christo, et per Christum Deo. S,. Ambros. In psalm, 118,
seym. 22.
Let us thank our Father in Heaven for having given us

His Son, Christ Jesus, as our Model, so that we have only
to look at Him to know what we have to do : [psum audite.
Christ has told us: “I have given you an example, that as
I have done to you, so you do also.” Exemptum dedi
vobis ut quemadmodum ego feci vobis faciatis*. He has
left us His example that we may walk in His footstep:
Vobis relinquens exemplum, ut sequamim vestigia ejus®.
He is the only way we must follow: Ego sum via*; he who
follows Him does not walk in the darkness, but comes to the
light of life. That is the Model faith reveals to us, a
transcendant and yet an accessible Model : Inuspice et fac
secundum exemplar *.
The soul of Our Lord contemplated at every moment the
divine essence. With one and the same glance, His Soul
saw the ideal conceived by God for humanity, and each of
His actions was the expression of this ideal. Let us then
lift up our eyes, let us love to know Christ Jesus more and
more, to study His life in the Gospel, to follow His mysteries
in the wonderful order established by the Church herself in
her liturgical cycle from Advent to Pentecost; let us open
the eyes of our faith and live in such a way as to reproduce
in ourselves the features of this Exemplar, to conform our
lives in accordance with His words and acts. This model
is divine and visible and shows us God acting in the midst of
us and sanctifying in His humanity all our actions, even the
most ordinary; all our sentiments, even the most intimate;
all our sufferings, even the deepest.
Let us contemplate this Model with faith. We are at
times tempted to envy the contemporaries of Jesus, who
were able to see Him, to follow Him and listen to Him. But
faith renders Him also present to our souls with a presence
not less efficacious for us. Christ has said Himself: Bratt
qui non viderunt et crediderunt: ” Blessed are they that
have not seen and have believed®”. This was to make us
understand that it is not less advantageous for us to live in
contact with Jesus by faith than to have seen Him in the
flesh. He, Whom we see living and acting when we read
the Gospel or when we celebrate His mysteries, is the very
Son of God. We have said everything when we have said
1. Joan. x1, 15. — 2. I Petr. , 21. — 3. Joan. xiv, 6. — 4. Exod.
XXV, 40. — 5. Joan. xXx, 29.
of Christ: ” Thou art the Son of the Living God”, and that
is the fundamental aspect of the Divine Model of our souls.
Let us contemplate Him, not with an abstract contemplation,
exterior, theoretic and cold, but with a contemplation full of
love, attentive to grasp, in order to reproduce them in our
lives, every feature of this Model and above all that
fundamental and primordial disposition of Christ, of living
for His Father. All His life was resumed in this dis-
position; all the virtues of Christ are the effect of this
orientation of His Soul towards the Father, and this orien-
tation is itself only the fruit of that ineffable union by
which, in Jesus, entire humanity is drawn into that Divine
impulse which draws the Son towards His Father.
It is this which properly constitutes the Christian: — first

of all to share by sanctifying grace, in the Divine filiation of
Christ : that is the imitation of Jesus in His state of Son
of God; and next to reproduce by our virtues the char-
acteristics of this unique archetype of perfection : that is
the imitation of Jesus in His works. St. Paul points out
this when he tells us we must form Christ in us’, put on
Christ 2, and bear in us the image of Christ *.
Christianus, alter Christus: The Christian is another
Christ”. That is the true definition of a Christian given by
tradition, if not in the same words, at least equivalently.
” Another Christ”, because the Christian is first of all, by
grace, a child of the heavenly Father and brother of Christ
here below in order to be His co-heir above ; ” another
Christ”, because all his activity, — thoughts, desires,
actions — plunges its root in this grace, to be exercised
according to the thoughts, desires, sentiments of Jesus, and
in conformity with the actions of Jesus: Hoc enim sentite
in vobis quod et in Christo Jesu *.
t Gal. 1v, 19. — 2. Rom. xin, 14. —-3. I Cor. xv, 49. — 4. Philip.n, 5.
PES PCHRIS'Y,
THE AUTHOR OF OUR REDEMPTION
AND INFINITE TREASURY OF GRACE.
CAUSA SATISFACTORIA ET MERITORIA
Summary. — Christ by His satisfactions, merits for us the grace

of Divine sonship. — J. Impossibility for the human race,
,issued from Adam, to regain the eternal inheritance lost by
his sin; only a God made Man can make fully adequate
satisfaction. — HW. Jesus, Saviour; the infinite value of
every act of the Incarnate Word. However the Redemption
was, in fact, only effected by the sacrifice of the Cross. —
Ii. Christ merits not only for Himself but for us. This
merit is founded upon the grace of Christ constituted the
Head of the human race; and upon the supreme liberty and
ineffable love with which He undergoes His Passion for all
mankind. — IV, Infinite efficacy of Christ’s satisfactions and
merits, the boundless confidence to which they ought to give
birth. — V. Christ now unceasingly pleads with His Father
for us. Our weakness entitles us to heavenly mercy ; how
we glorify God by placing our reliance on the satisfactions
of His Son.
HE imitation of Christ Jesus in His Being of grace

and in His virtues is the substance of holiness for us.
That is what I have tried to point out in the preceding
conference. In order 10 help you to know better the One
we have to imitate, I have sought to place before the eyes
of your souls our Divine Model: Christ Jesus, true God
and true Man. Doubtless, the contemplation of Our Lord,
so adorable in His Person, so admirable in His life, and
actions, makes your hearts glow with ardent desire to be
able to resemble Him and unite yourselve to Him.
But can we, being but creatures, hope to reproduce within
us the features of the Incarnate Word, and to share His
life ? Can we find strength to follow this one and only way
that leads to the Father ? Yes. Revelation tells us we
can find this strength in the grace that the satisfactions of
Christ have merited for us.
CHRIST, THE AUTHOR OF OUR REDEMPTION. 47
Our God does all things with wisdom. F urthermore, He

is Infinite Wisdom. His eternal and ineffable designs being
to make us conformable to the image of His Son, we may be
sure that to this end He has subordinated means of infallible
power. Not only can we expect the realisation of the Divine
ideal in us, but God Himself invites us to do so. Praedesti-
navit nos conformes fiert imaginis Filii sui. He wills that
we should reproduce in our souls, although we can only do
this in a limited measure, the features of His beloved Son.
To desire to reproduce this ideal is neither pride nor pre-
sumption, but a response to God’s own desire: Ipsum audite.
All we have to do is to use the means He has Himself fixed.
Christ is not only the one and universal Model of all
perfection, He is also, as I have said, the satisfactory, me-
ritorious, and efficient cause of our sanctification. Christ is,
for us, the source of grace, because having paid all our debt
to divine justice by His life, passion and death, He has
merited to distribute all grace to us: Causa satisfactoria et
meritoria,
Let us examine this consoling truth. We shall see in the
next conference how Christ Jesus is the efficient cause of
our sanctity.
ie
What are we to understand when we say Christ is the satis-

factory and meritorious cause of our salvation and sancti-
fication ?
As you know, God in creating the first man established
him in justice and grace and made him His child and heir:
But the divine plan was crossed by sin; Adam, the head
of his race, prevaricated. In one moment, he lost for him-
self and his descendants, all right to the divine life and
inheritance. All the children of Adam, having become
slaves of the devil’, share in his disgrace. That is why
St. Paul says they are born ” enemies of God ?”, “objects of
wrath*?”, and for this reason excluded from eternal bea-
titude *.
Ts no one to be found, among the sons of Adam, to redeem
his brethren, and take away the curse that weighs upon them
r. Acts. xxvi, 18; Joan. x1t,-31 ; Col. 1, 14. — 2. Rom. v, 10; x1, 28.
— 3. I Thess. 1, 10; Rom. u, 5, 8; Ephes. m, 3. —4. Rom. ui, 2; v, 15-18.
all ? No — for all have sinned in Adam; none, either for

himself or others, can make adequate satisfaction.
Sin is an injury done to God, an injury that must be
expiated; man, being a mere creature, is incapable, of him-
self, of worthily paying the debt that has been contracted
towards the divine Majesty by a sin of which the malice is
infinite. Satisfaction, in order to be adequate, must be made
by one equal in dignity to him against whom the offence was
committed. The gravity of an injury is measured according
to the dignity of the offended person. An injury done to
a prince assumes greater gravity on account of his rank,
than the same injury done to a peasant 7+. As regards satisfac-
tion, the principle must be reversed. The greatness of the
reparation is measured not according to the dignity of the
one who receives it, but of the one who makes it. The same
king receives the homage of a peasant and a prince; ‘it is
evident that the prince’s homage outweighs that of the
peasant.
Now between us and God lies infinity. Must humanity
then despair ? Is the outrage done to God never to be
repaired ? Is man never to regain possession of the eternal
inheritance? God alone can answer us, God alone can give
a solution to this agonising problem.
You know what God’s respense was, and the solution, full
at once of mercy and justice, that He supplied. In His
unfathomable designs, He decreed that the redemption of
humanity should only be effected by a satisfaction equal to
the rights of His infinite justice, and that this satisfaction
should be made by the bloody sacrifice of a victim, voluntar-
ily substituted for sinful humanity. Who will this victim
be? Who this Saviour ? Tu es qui venturus est?? God
promised Him immediately after Adam’s fall, but thousands
of years pass before He comes; thousands of years during
which humanity lifts supplicating hands from the depths of
a nameless abyss whence it is powerless to raise itself;
thousands of years during which it adds sacrifice upon
sacrifice, holocaust upon holocaust, to free itself from ser-
vitude.
1, Peccatum contra Deum commissum infinitatem habet ex infinitate
divinae majestatis ; tanto enim offensa est major quanto major est ille in
quem delinquitur. S, Thom. Ill, q. 1, a. 2, ad 2; cf. I-11, q. LXXXVII,
a. 4. — 2, Matth. x1, 3.
But ” when the fulness of time” comes, God

sends the
promised Saviour, the Saviour Who is to redeem
creation,
destroy sin, and reconcile man to God. Who is He?
He
is the Son of God made Man. .
Being man, issued from Adam’s race, He is able
to
substitute Himself voluntarily for all His brethren, and
make
Himself the surety for their sin; freely accepting to suffer
and expiate in His flesh, He Will be capable of meriti
ng;
being God, His merit will have infinite value, the satisfaction
will be adequate, the reparation complete. St. Thomas says
there is no full satisfaction if it is not infinite in value,
that
is to say, if it is not one that God only can accomp
lish’.
In the same way that the order of justice requires
the
punishment to correspond to the fault, it seems to require
also, says St. Thomas, that he who has committed the fault
should satisfy for it, and that is why it was necessary to take
from that nature, which had been corrupted by sin, what
was to be offered in satisfaction for this nature 2.
Such is the solution God Himself gives; He could have
given others, but it is this one which it has pleased His
Wisdom, Power and Goodness to give us; it is this one that
we must hence contemplate and adore. For it is a wonder-
ful solution. ” The humanity of Christ”, says St. Gregory,
” permitted Him to die and make satisfaction for men Se Edis
Divinity gave Him power to restore to us the grace that
sanctifies*”. Death had come forth from human nature
stained by sin; it was from a human nature united to a God
that the source of grace and life was to spring forth. Ut
unde mors oriebatur inde vita resurgeret *.
(3 ee
“When”, says St. Paul, ” the fulness of time was come,
God sent His Son made of a woman that He might redeem
them who were under the law; that we might receive the
adoption of sons”: At ubi venit plenitudo temporis misit
Deus Filium suum ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret, ut
adoptionem filiorum reciperemus®. To redeem humanity
from sin and restore to it the grace of Divine adoption, such
is in fact the fundamental mission of the Incarnate Word,
the work which Christ comes to accomplish here below.
1. S. Thom. III, q.1, a. 2, ad2. —2. Ibid. q. 1v, a.6. — 3. Moralia,
XVII, C. 30, n. 46. — 4. “Preface” of Passiontide. — 5. Gal. Iv, 4-5.
4
His Name, the Name of Jesus, given by God Himself, is

not without signification: Jesus nomen vanum aut inane non
portat*. This Name signifies His special mission of sal-
vation and denotes His special work: the Redemption of
the world. ” Thou shalt call His Name Jesus”, says the
angel sent to St. Joseph, ” for He shall save His people from
their sins 2.”
Let us contemplate Him at this solemn moment, unique in
the history of humanity. What does He say ? What is it
that He does? Jngrediens mundum dicit: Hostiam et
oblationem nolusti, corpus autem aptasti mihi; holocauto-
mata pro peccato non tibt placuerunt ; tunc dixi: ecce ve-
nio...* ' When He cometh into the world He saith : (to
His Father) Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not; but
a body Thou hast fitted to Me. Holocausts for sin did not
please Thee. Then said I: Behold I come.” These words
taken from St. Paul, reveal to us the very first movement of
the Heart of Christ at the moment of His Incarnation. And
having made this initial act of total oblation, Christ ” hath
rejoiced as a giant to run His course” : Exsultavit ut gigas
ad currendam viam *.
As a giant, for He is a Man-God ; and all His actions, all
His works, are those of a God, and, in consequence, worthy
of God to Whom He offers them in homage.
According to the language of philosophy, ” the acts belong
to the person”: Actiones sunt suppositorum. The different
actions we perform have their source in human nature and
in the faculties derived from this nature; but in the last
analysis, we attribute them to the person who possesses this
nature and employs his faculties. Thus, it is with the in-
telligence I think; with the eye, I see; with the ear, I hear;
to see, hear, and understand are the actions of human
nature; but we refer them finally to the person: it is J, the
same I, who sees, hears, and thinks; although each of these
actions has its immediate source in a different faculty, they
are due to one and the same person who possesses the nature
endowed with these faculties.
Now in Jesus Christ, human nature, perfect and integral
in itself, is united to the Person of the Son of God. Many
1. S. Bernard, Serm. I. de Circumcis. — 2. Matth. 1, 21. — 3. Hebr.
X, 5-7; cf. Ps. xxXxiv, 7-8. — 4. Ps. xvi, 6.
of Christ’s actions could only be wrought in His human

nature: if He works, walks, sleeps, eats, if He teache
s,
suffers and dies, it is in His humanity, through His human
nature; but all His actions belong to the Divine Person
to
Whom this humanity is united. It is a Divine Person Who
acts and operates by human nature.
It results from this that all the actions accom
plished by
the humanity of Christ, however small, ordina
ry, simple or
limited they may be in their physical reality and earthl
y
duration, are attributed to the Divine Person to
Whom this
humanity is joined; they are the actions of a Cod1.
On
this head, they possess trancendent beauty and splendour;
they acquire, from a moral point of view, an inestimable
price, infinite value and inexhaustible efficacy. The moral
value of Christ’s human actions is measured by the infinit
e
dignity of the Divine Person in Whom the human nature
subsists and acts.
lf this is true of the least:action of Christ, how much truer
yet is it of those that constitute, properly speaking, His
mission here below, or are connected with it: namely, the
voluntary substitution of Himself for us, as a stainless
Victim to pay our debt and, by His expiation and the satis-
faction He made, restore Divine Life to us.
For such is the mission He is to fulfil, the course He is to
run. God has laid on Him”, a man like us, of Adam’s race,
yet just, innocent and stainless, ” the iniquity of us all”.
Posuit m eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum?. Because He
has become, as it were, partaker of our nature, and has
taken upon Himself our sin, Christ has merited to make us
partakers of His justice and holiness. ” God”, according
to the energetic expression of St. Paul, ” sending His own
Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemn-
ed sin in the flesh.” Deus Filium suum mittens in similitu-
dinem carnis peccatt, et de peccato damnavit peccatum in
carne*; and with yet more astounding energy: ” Him,
that knew no sin, for us He hath made sin”. Eum qui non
noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit*. What energy
there is in this expression: peccatum fecit ! The Apostle
does not say: peccator, ” sinner” but even, peccatum, ” sin”.
1. Theology calls them theandric, from two Greek words, meaning God
and man. — 2. Isa. Li, 6. — 3. Rom. vim, 3. — 4. II Cor. v, 21.
Christ, on His side, accepted to take upon Himself all our

sins, to the point of becoming in some manner, upon the
Cross, universal sin, living sin; He has voluntarily put Him-
self in our place, and therefore death will strike Him. He
has purchased us ” with His own Blood*”. Humanity is to
be redeemed, ” not with corruptible things as gold or silver...
but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted
and undefiled, foreknown indeed before the foundation of
the world ?”.
Let us not forget that we have been ” bought with a great
price*’”. Jesus Christ shed the last drop of His Blood for
us. It is true to say that a single drop of this Divine Blood
would have sufficed to redeem us; the least suffering, the
slightest humiliation of Christ, even a single desire of His
Heart would have been enough to expiate every sin, all the
crimes that could be committed; for each of Christ’s actions,
being the action of a Divine Person constitutes a satisfaction
of infinite price. But God willed to make the immense love
His Son bears towards Him shine forth the more in the eyes
of the world: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem ‘.
He willed to show the ineffable charity of this same Son
towards us: Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet*; to
bring home to us more vividly how infinite is the Divine
holiness, and how profound the malice of sin. For these
and other reasons not revealed to us ®, the Eternal Father
has required all the sufferings and the Passion and Death
of His Divine Son in expiation of the crimes of humanity.
Indeed, the satisfaction was only complete, when, from the
height of the Cross, Jesus, with His dying voice, pronounced
the Consummatum est. " Ali is consummated”. Then
only, the personal mission of the Redeemer here below was
fulfilled, and His work of salvation accomplished.
IIT.
By these satisfactions, as, moreover, by all the acts of His
Life, Jesus Christ merited for us every grace of pardon, of
salvation and sanctification.
1, Act. XxX, 25. — 2.I Petr. 1, 18-20. — 3. I. Cor. vi, 20. — 4. Joan.
XIV, 31, — 5. Ibid. xv, 13. — 6, The Redemption is a mystery of faith:
we can understand in some measure its admirable appropriateness after
it has been revealed to us, but in its essence it remains hidden for us.
This is what St. Paul calls the Sacramentum absconditum. Ephes. 1 9;
1, 33 Col. 1, 26. bia
What, exactly, is merit ? It is a right to a recompense ?.

When we say that the works of Christ are meritorious for
us, we mean that by them, Christ has won the right that
eternal life and all the graces leading to it or attached to it
should be given to us. It is indeed what St. Paul tells us:
We are ” justified freely by His grace, through the Redemp-
tion that is in Christ Jesus ?”. Justified, that is to say, render-
ed just in the eyes of God, not by our own works, but by a
gratuitous gift of God, namely grace, which comes to us
through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The
Apostle makes us understand, then, that the Passion of Jesus
which achieves and crowns all the works of His earthly life,
is the source from whence eternal life flows for us. Christ
is the meritorious cause of our sanctification.
And what is the profound reason of this merit since all
merit is personal ? When we are in a state of grace we can
merit for ourselves an increase of this grace, but we cannot
merit grace for others. The most we can do is to implore
it from God. How, then, could Jesus Christ merit for us?
What is the fundamental reason why Jesus Christ can merit
not only for Himself, for example, the glorification of His
Humanity, but also eternal life for others, for us, for the
whole human race ?
Merit, the fruit and property of grace, has, if we may thus
speak, the same extent as the grace upon which it is founded.
Jesus Christ is filled with sanctifying grace, in virtue of
which he can personally merit for Himself. But this grace
in Jesus does not stop at Himself; it possesses not only a
personal character, it enjoys the privilege of universality.
Christ was predestined to become our Head, our Chief, our
Representative. The Eternal Father wills to make of Him
the Primogenitus omnis creaturae, the first-born of every
creature. In consequence of this eternal predestination, the
grace.of Christ, Who is of our race through the Incarnation,
bears a character of eminence and universality, the end of
which is no longer to sanctify the human soul of Jesus, but
to make of Him, in the domain of eternal life, the Head of
humanity *. Hence, a social character is attached to all the
1. We are speaking of merit in the sense of a strict and rigorous
right, which is called in theology : ineritum de condigno. — 2. Rom. 11,
24. — 3. This is what is called in theology Gratia capitis.Cf. Thom. III,
Oe DANII Be
acts of Jesus, when they are considered in relation to the

human race; all that Christ does, He does not only for us, but
in our nature. That is why St. Paul tells us that if ” by the
disobedience of one man (Adam) many were made sinners;
so also, by the obedience of one, many shall be made just ?”.
Jesus Christ then, in His quality of Head, has merited for us
all, in the same way as in substituting Himself for us, He has
satisfied for us. And as He Who has merited for us is
God, His merits have infinite value and an inexhaustible
efficacy ”.
That which completes the work of giving all beauty and
fulness to the satisfactions and merits of Christ, is that He
accepted His sufferings voluntarily and from love. Liberty
is an essential element of merit, for the act is only worthy
of praise if the one who accomplishes it is responsible: Ubi
non est lbertas, nec meritum, says St. Bernard *.
This liberty covers the whole redeeming mission of Jesus.
As Man-God, Christ accepted absolutely, to suffer in His
passible Body. When on His entrance into this world He
said to His Father: ” Behold I come”, Ecce venio, ut
faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam, He foresaw all the hu-
miliations, all the sufferings of His Passion and Death, and
freely, from the depth of His Heart, out of love for His
Father and for us, He accepted all : Volui, ” I have willed ”.
Et legem iuam in medio cordis met‘.
Christ keeps intact this willingness to suffer, throughout
His whole life. The hour of His sacrifice is always present
to Him ; He awaits it with impatience: He calls it ” His
hour °” as if it were the only one that counted for Him in
His earthly existence. He announces His Death to His
disciples, He traces out its details to them in advance, in
such clear terms that they cannot be deceived. When
St. Peter, deeply moved at the thought of seeing His Master
die, wishes to set himself in opposition to the realisation of
these sufferings, Jesus rebukes him: ” Thou savourest not
1. Rom. v, 19. — 2. It goes without saying that Christ’s merits must
be applied to us in order that we should experience their efficacy. Baptism
inaugurates this efficacy; by Baptism we are incorporated with Christ,
we become living members of His mystical body : the bond is established
between the Head and the members; once justified by Baptism, we, in
our turn, can merit. — 3. Serm. I, in Cant. — 4. Ps. xxxrx, 8-9, and
Hebr. x, 9. — 5. Joan. xi, 1.
the things that are of God!”. But for Himself ” He knows

His Father”, and through love for Him and charity for us,
He goes to meet His Passion with all the ardour of His holy
soul, but likewise with a sovereign liberty. His will is
aglow with love, so that it burns in Him like a furnace:
” I am come to cast fire upon the earth and what will I but
that it be kindled ? I have a baptism wherewith I am to
be baptised”, a baptism of blood 2, and yet no man has the
power to take away His life; He lays it down of Himself °.
See how He manifests the truth of these words. One day,
the inhabitants of Nazareth want to cast Him down headlong
from the brow of the hill: Jesus passes through the midst of
them with wonderful calmness*. Another time, at Jerusa-
lem, the Jews attempt to stone Him, because He affirms
His Divinity ; He hides Himself and goes out of the temple °:
His hour is not yet come.
But when it does come, He yields Himself to them. See
Him in the Garden of Olives on the eve of His death; the
armed troops advance to take Him and lead Him to be
condemned. ” Whom seek ye?” Heasks them. At their
reply: ” Jesus of Nazareth”, He says to them simply: "I
am He”. This one word uttered by Him is enough to
overthrow His enemies and make them fall to the ground.
He could have kept them there; He could, as He said
Himself, ask His Father, and He would send legions of
angels to deliver Him®. It is at this moment that He
reminds these men that every day He sat with them in the
temple and they did not lay hands on Him; the hour was not
come, that is why He did not give them licence to seize
Him. , Now the hour has struck when, for the salvation of
the world, He is about to deliver Himself up to His execu-
tioners, who only act as the instruments of the powers of
hell: Haec est hora vestra et potestas tenebrarum’. The
soldiery lead Him from tribunal to tribunal, He does not
resist. However, before the Sanhedrin, the supreme tri-
bunal of the Jews, He proclaims His rights as Son of God,
then He abandons Himself to the fury of His enemies, unti!
the moment when He consummates His sacrifice upon the
Cross.
It is truly because He has willed it, that He is delivered
1. Marc. vim, 31-33. — 2. Luc. xu, 50. — 3. Joan. x, 18. — 4. Luc.
IV, 36. — §. Joan. vu, 59. — 6. Matth. xxv, 53. — 7. Luc. xxn, 53.
to death : Oblatus est QuIA 1psEvoluit*. In this voluntary

surrender of His entire self upon the Cross; by this death
of the Man-God; by this immolation of a stainless victim,
offering Himself through love and with absolute liberty —
infinite satisfaction is paid to Divine Justice for us”, in-
exhaustible merit is gained for us by Christ, while eternal
life is restored to humanity. Et consummatus, factus est
omnibus obtemperantibus sibi causa salutis aeternae*. “And -
being consummated, He became to all that obey Him the
(meritorious) cause of eternal salvation”. Thus St. Paul
could also say that in virtue of this will, we are sanctified
by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once offered. In
qua voluntate sanctificati sumus per oblationem corporis Jesu
Christi semel *.
It is for us all, for each one of us, that Our Lord died:
Pro omnibus mortuus est Christus ®. Christ has become the
propitiation not only for our sins, but for the sins of the
whole world: Jpse est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris; non
pro nostris autem tantum, sed etiam pro totius mundi ®, so
that He is the one Mediator between men and God: Unus
mediator Dei et hominum, homo-Christus Jesus 7.
When we study the Divine plan, above all when we do so

in the light of the Epistles of St. Paul, we see that God wills
that we should seek our salvation and our sanctification only
in the Blood of His Son; there is no other Redeemer.
” There is no other name under heaven given to men whereby
we must be saved *””, for His death is supremely efficacious:
Una oblatione CONSUMMAVIT IN SEMPITERNUM sanctifica-
tos®. The Will of the Father is that His Son Jesus, after
having substituted Himself for all humanity in His bitter
Passion, should be established Head of all the elect whom
He has saved by His sacrifice and death.
This is why the song that redeemed humanity will sing in
heaven is one of praise and thanksgiving to Christ: Re-
demisti nos in sanguine tuo ex omni tribu, et lingua et populo
et natione »°.
When we shall have entered into a blessed eternity, and
1. Isa. Lit, 7. — 2. In morte Christi facta est consummatio eorum quae
exigebantur ad satisfactionem. S. Thom. 3. Sent. dist. xxt, q. 2, a. I,
ad 3 and 4. — 3. Hebr. v, 9. — 4. Hebr. x, 10. — 5. II Cor. v, 15. —
6. I Joan. 1, 2. — 7. I Tim. m, 5. — 8. Act. 1v, 12. — 9. Hebr. x, 14.
—= 10, Apoc. V,: 9.
are united to the choir of the saints, we shall contemplate

Our Lord and shall say to Him: Thou hast redeemed us by
Thy precious Blood; by the grace of Thy Passion, Thy
sacrifice upon the Cross, Thy satisfaction and merits, we are
saved from eternal damnation; O Christ Jesus, the Lamb
that was slain, to Thee be ” benediction and honour and glory
and power, for ever and ever?”.
IV.
It is above all in their fruits that the Passion and Death
of Our Divine Saviour are efficacious.
St. Paul does not weary of enumerating the benefits we
gain from the infinite merits acquired by the Man-God im
His Life and sufferings. When he speaks of them, the
great Apostle exults; he can find no other terms to express
his thought than those of abundance, of superabundance of
riches that he declares unfathomable”. The death of Christ
redeems us, gives us access to the Father, and reconciles us
with Him, justifies us and bestows holiness and the new life
of Christ upon us. To sum up, the Apostle compares
Christ to Adam whose work He has come to repair; Adam
brought us sin, condemnation and death; Christ, the second
Adam, restores to us justice, grace and life®. Translai
de morte ad vitam‘*; the redemption was abundant: Copiosa
apud eum redemptio®. ” But not as the offence, so also
the gift (the gratuitous gift of grace)... For if by one
man’s offence death reigned through one; much more they
who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of
justice, shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ... And
where sin abounded, grace did more abound °”,
That is why ” There is now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus’”.
Our Lord, in offering to His Father in our name, a satis-
faction of infinite value, destroyed the obstacle that existed
between man and God: the Eternal Father now regards
with love the human race redeemed by the Blood of His Son;
for His Son’s sake He has poured upon it all the grace it
needs to unite itself to Him, to live for God, and of the very
life of God. Ad serviendum Deo vivENTI®.
. Apoc. v, 11-12. — 2. Rom. v, 17,sq. ; I Cor. 1, 6-7 ; Ephes. 1, 7-8,
18, TOSH IE Ty “xSe" Col. 1275-313 of Philip. IV, 193 1 Tim. 1, 14;
Tit. 1, 6. — 3. I Cor. XV, 22. — 4. I Joan. any 14. — §. Ps. CXXIX,
7 — Pe Rom. v, 15-20. — 7. Rom. vin, 1. — 8. Hebr. 1x, 14.
Thus, every supernatural good given to us, all the lights

God lavishes on us, all the helps with which He surrounds
our spiritual life, are bestowed on us in virtue of the life,
passion, and death of Christ; all the graces of pardon,
justification, perseverance God gives and ever will give to
souls in all ages have their one source in the Cross.
Truly, if ’” God so loved the world as to give His only-
begotten Son’”; if He ” hath delivered us from the powers
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the
Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption through
His Blood, the remission of sin?” ; if, as St. Paul again says:
Christ ” hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us ?”,
for each one of us, to testify the love He bears to His
brethren; if He has given Himself to redeem us from all
iniquity and ” cleanse to Himself a people acceptable+”,
why do we still hesitate in our faith and confidence in Jesus
Christ ? He has expiated all, paid all, merited all, and His
merits are ours: we have been ” made rich in Him”, so that
if we will it, ” nothing is wanting to us in any grace of
holiness”. Divites facti estis in illo, ita ut niaIL vobis
desit in ULLA gratia ®.
Why then, is it that pusillanimous souls are to be found
who say that holiness is not for them, that perfection is
something beyond their power, who say, when one speaks to
them of perfection: ” It is not for me; I could never arrive
at sanctity”. Do you know what makes them speak thus ?
It is their lack of faith in the efficacy of Christ’s merits.
For it is the will of God that all should be holy : Haec est
voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra®. It is the Lord’s precept:
” Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is
perfect’”. But we too often forget the Divine Plan; we
forget that holiness for us is a supernatural holiness, of
which the source is only in Jesus Christ, our Chief and our
Head; we do a wrong to the infinite merits and inexhaustible
satisfactions of Christ. Doubtless, by ourselves, we can do
nothing in the way of grace or perfection; Our Lord
expressly tells us so. Sime Me nin potestis facere*, and
St. Augustine, commenting on this text, adds: Sive parum,
sive multum, sine illo fieri non potest sine quo nihil fieri
1. Joan. m1, 16. — 2. Col, 1, 13-14. — 3. Ephes. v, 2. — 4. Tit. 0, 14.
— 5. I Cor. 1, 5-7. — 6. I Thess. tv, 3. — 7. Matth. v, 48. — 8. Joan.
XV Ss
potest*. Thatissotrue! Whether it concerns great things

or small, we can do nothing without Christ. But by dying
for us, Christ has given us free and confident access to the
Father *, and through Him there is no grace, for which we
cannot hope. ,
oes of little faith ! Why do we doubt of God, of our
d?
V.
it is true that now Christ merits no longer (merit being
only possible up to the instant of death), but His acquired
merits and satisfaction remain to us. For this High Priest,
because He is eternal, possesses an everlasting priesthood
” whereby He is able also to save for ever them that come
to God by Him?”.
St. Paul particularly insists on showing that Christ, in
Heaven, now intercedes for us, in His quality of supreme
high priest. Jesus has ascended to Heaven as our fore-
runner. Praecursor PRO NoBIs introivit Jesus*. If He is
seated at the right hand of His Father it is that He may
henceforth plead for us. Ut appareat NuNC vuliui Det PRO
NOBIS ® ;” always living to make intercession for us”. SEM-
PER VIVENS ad interpellandum PRO NOBIS ®.
Because He is our Head, Christ shows without ceasing
the marks of His Wounds to His Father for us; He causes
all His merits to be of avail for us: and because He is
always worthy of being heard by His Father, His prayer
is always granted: Pater, sciebam quia semper me audis’.
What unlimited confidence ought we not to have in such a
High Priest, Who is the Beloved Son of His Father, and is
constituted by Him our Chief and Head, Who gives us a
share in all His merits, in all His satisfactions * !
It sometimes happens, when we groan beneath the weight
of our miseries and sins, that we say with the Apostle:
” Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
t. Tract. in Joan. LXxx1, 3. — 2. Ephes. u, 18; m1, 12. — 3. Hebr.
Vl, 24-25. — 4. Hebr. vi, 20. — 5. Ibid. 1x, 24. — 6. Hebr. vu, 25.
St. Paul uses the same expression in his Epistle to the Romans (vim, 32)
whence we should understand that our confidence must be unlimited :
" Hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?" — 7. Joan. x1, 42.
— 8. Caput et membra sunt quasi una persona mystica et ideo satisfactio,
Christi ad omnes fideles pertinet sicut ad sua membra. S. Thom. III,
q. XUVIM, a. 2; ad! 5.
body of this death ?” Hear the reply of St. Paul: Gratia

Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum*. "” The grace
of God, by Jesus Christ Our Lord.” We find in Jesus
Christ all that is needful to be victorious here below, while
awaiting the final triumph in glory.
If we could only have a deep conviction that we are
powerless without Christ, and that we have all in Him!
Quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nos donavit? ? Of our-
selves we are weak, very weak; in the world of souls there
are weaknesses of all kinds, but that is not a reason for
being discouraged; these miseries, when they are not wilful,
rather entitle us to Christ’s mercy. See the unfortunate
who wish to excite the pity of those from whom they ask
alms; far from hiding their poverty, they make a display
of their rags, they show their sores; that is what entitles
them to the charity and compassion of the passers-by. For
us also, as for the sick who were brought to Christ when He
lived in Judea, it is our misery confessed and displayed in
His sight that draws down His mercy. St. Paul tells us
that Christ willed to experience our infirmities — excepting
sin — that He might have compassion on us; and in fact,
we read several times in the Gospel that Jesus was moved
with compassion at the sight of the sufferings He witnessed:
Misericordia motus*. St. Paul expressly adds that Jesus
keeps this sentiment of compassion in glory, and he imme-
diately concludes: ” Let us go therefore with confidence cum
fiducia, to the throne” of Him Who is the source ” of
grace”; for if we do so in these dispositions, we shall
” obtain mercy *”.
Besides, to act thus is to glorify God, it is to render Him
very acceptable homage. Why so? Because the Divine
ideal is that we should find all in Christ, and when we
humbly acknowledge our weakness and lean on His strength,
the Father regards us with benevolence, and with joy,
because by this we proclaim that His Son Jesus is the one
Mediator Whom He has willed to give to the world.
See how convinced the great Apostle was of his truth.
In one of his Epistles, after having published his misery,
and what struggles he has to sustain in his soul, he cries out:
1. Rom. vu, 25. — 2. Ibid. vim, 32. — 3. Luc. vil, 13; Marc. vin, 2 ;
ef. Matth. xv, 32. — 4. Hebr. rv, 14-16.
Libenter gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis1. Instead of com-

plaining because of his infirmities, his weaknesses and
struggles, he ” glories” in them. This seems strange, does
it not? But he gives a profound reason for it. And what
is this reason? Ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi?. So
that it may not be my strength, but the strength of Christ,
the grace of Christ that dwells in me and causes me to
triumph, and that all glory may be rendered to Him alone.
And see again how far St. Paul goes when he speaks of
our weakness: Non quod suficientes simus cogitare aliquid
a nobis quasi ex nobis*; he goes so far as to say that we
cannot even have a good thought, a thought worth anything
for heaven, of ourselves: Quasi ex nobis; and he was
inspired by God when he wrote these words. All that is
good in us, all that is meritorious for eternal life comes
from God through Christ: Sufficientia nostra ex Deo est *.
It is God Who enables us to act, and not only to act but even
to will, in a supernatural manner : Deus est enim qui opera-
tur in nobis et velle et perficere, pro bona voluntate ®, ac-
cording to His good will, for such is His good pleasure.
So we see that of ourselves we can neither will, nor act,
nor pray supernaturally: Sine me NIHIL potestis facere.
Are we to be pitied for this? In no wise. St. Paul,
after having detailed our weakness, adds: Omnia possum
im co qui me confortat®. ”I can do all things.” Omnia,
not of myself, but ”in Him Who strengtheneth me”, so
that all glory may be given to Christ, Who has merited all,
and in Whom we have all things. There is no obstacle that
I cannot surmount, no difficulty I cannot support, no
temptation I cannot resist, through the grace Jesus Christ
has merited for me. In Him, through Him, I can do all
things, because His triumph is to render strong what is
weak: Sufficit tibt gratia mea, nam virtus in infirmitate
perficitur’. By this, God wills that all glory should ascend
to Him by Christ, Whose grace triumphs in our weakness:
In laudem GLORIAE gratiae suae ®.
At the last day, when we shall appear before God, we
shall not be able to say to Him: ” My God, I have had to
surmount too great difficulties; to triumph over them was
impossible; my many sins have discouraged me”. For
1. II Cor. xu, 9. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Ibid. m1, 5. — 4. If Cor. m, 5. —
5. Philip. 1, 13. — 6. Ibid. 1v, 13. — 7. II Cor. xu, 9. — 8. Ephes. 1, 6.
God would reply: ” That would have been true if you had
been alone ; but I gave you My Son, Jesus ; He has ex-
piated and paid for all; in His sacrifice there are all the
satisfactions which it was My right to demand for all the
sins of the world; He merited everything for you by His
Death; He has been your redemption and He has merited
to be your justification, your wisdom, your sanctity. In My
Divine designs, He is not only your salvation, but the source
of your strength: for all His satisfactions, all His merits,
all His riches ——- and they are infinite — were yours from
Baptism, and since He is seated at My right hand, He has
offered for you unceasingly all the fruits of His sacrifice;
you should have leaned on Him, for, in Him, I would have
given you a superabundance of strength to overcome all
evil, as He Himself prayed: Rogo ut serves eos a malo’;
and I would have filled you with every good, for it is for
you, not for Himself, that He ever makes intercession * ”.
Oh! if we knew the infinite value of the gift of God!
Si scires donum Dei! Tf, above all, we had faith in the
immense merits of Jesus, a lively, practical faith, which
would fill us with an invincible confidence in prayer, with
abandonment in the needs of our soul! With the Church
who, in her liturgy, repeats this formula each time she
addresses a prayer to God, we should ask nothing except in
His Name, for this Mediator, always living, reigns, God,
with the Father, and the Holy Spirit: Per Dominum Nos-
trum Jesum Christum... qui tecum vivit et regnat. For
through Him, we are sure of obtaining all graces. When
St. Paul exposes the Divine Plan, he says it is in Christ that
"we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of
sins, according to the riches of His grace, which hath super-
abounded in us*”. We have at our disposal all the riches
acquired by Jesus; through Baptism they have become ours.
We have only to have recourse to Him to be like the
spouse ” that cometh up from the desert” of her poverty,
but ” flowing with delights” because she is ” leaning upon
her beloved”: Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto
deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum * ?
If only we lived by these truths ! Our life would then
be a continual hymn of praise, of thanksgiving to God for
1. Joan. xvi, 15. — 2. Hebr. vu, 25. — 3. Ephes. 1, 7. — 4. Cant.
Vill, .5.
the inestimable gift He has made us of His

Son, Jesus
Christ: Gratias Deo super menarrabili dono ejus*.
We
should thus enter fully, for the greatest good and
most
ardent joy of our souls, into the designs of God, Whose
Will
it is that we should find all in Jesus, and that receiv
ing all
from Him, we should render to Him and to His
Father, in
the unity of their Holy Spirit, all benediction, all honour
, and
all glory: Sedenti in throno et Agno, benedictio, et
honor,
et gloria, et potestas, in saecula saeculorum 2.
1. II Cor. rx, 15. ~ 2. Apoc. v, Be
IV. — CHRIST
THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF ALL GRACE.
CAUSA EFFICIENS
Summary. — I. How during Christ’s earthly existence, His

humanity as the instrument of the Word, was the source of
grace and life. — IJ. How, since His Ascension, Christ
exercises this efficiency. The offical means: the sacra-
ments; they produce grace of themselves, but in virtue of
Christ’s merits. — III. Universality of the sacraments : they
extend to all our supernatural life; the boundless confidence
we ought to have in these authentic sources. — IV. The
power of sanctification that the humanity of Jesus has
outside the sacraments, through the spiritual contact of
faith. Capital importance of this truth.
I vy is still of the adorable Person of Our Lord we are

going to speak. Never tire of hearing Him spoken of,
never weary of it. No subject ought to be dearer to
us and none can be more useful: we have everything in
Christ, and without Him neither salvation nor sanctification
is possible. The more we study the Divine plan according
to the Holy Scriptures, the more we see one great design
stand out and dominate all things: This is that Christ Jesus,
true God and true Man, is the centre of creation and
redemption, that everything relates to Him, that through Him
every grace is given to us and all glory rendered to His
Father.
The contemplation of Our Lord is not only holy but it
makes us holy: even only to think of Him, to look at Him
with faith and love, sanctifies us. For certain souls, the life
of Christ Jesus is one subject of meditation among many
others; this is not enough. Christ is not one of the means
of spiritual life ; He is all our spiritual life. The Father
sees all in His Word, in His Christ ; He finds all in Him.
Although infinite glory and praise are due to Him, He finds
them in His Son, in the least actions of His Son. Why
CHRIST, THE CAUSE OF ALL GRACE. 65
should not Christ be equally our All, our Model, our Satis-
faction, our Hope, our Substitute, our Light, our Strength,
our Joy? This truth is so important that I want to insist
upon it.
Spiritual life consists above all in contemplating Christ,
so that we may reproduce in ourselves His state of Son of
God and His virtues. Those souls that constantly keep
their eyes fixed on Christ see, in His light, all that in them is
opposed to the expansion of the divine life; they then seek
in Jesus the strength to put away these obstacles so as to
please Him; they ask Him to be the support of their
weakness, to give, and ever to increase in them, that fun-
damental disposition — in which lies all holiness — of
always seeking to do that which is pleasing to His Father.
These souls enter fully into the Divine plan. They
advance rapidly and surely along the way of perfection and
holiness. They have neither the temptation to be discouraged
when they fall through frailty — they know too well that of
themselves they can do nothing: Sine me nihil potestis
facere *, — nor the temptation to take the least pride on their
progress, because they are convinced that if their personal
efforts are necessary so as to correspond to grace, it is,
however, to Christ Who dwells, lives and acts in them, that
they owe their perfection. If they bear much fruit, it is
not only because they abide in Christ by grace and the
fidelity of their love, but likewise because Christ abides in
them : Qui manet in Me et ego in eo, hic fert fructum
multum *.
Christ indeed is not only a Model such as the artist
contemplates when he paints a portrait; neither can we
compare the imitation of Jesus Christ to that superficial
imitation attained by some when they copy the actions and
gestures of a great man they admire; — an imitation that
does not reach the soul. Christ is more than a Model, more
than a High Priest Who has obtained for us the grace to
imitate Him ; He Himself, by His Spirit, acts in the
sanctuary of the soul to help us to imitate Him. Why is
this ? Because, as I said in speaking of the Divine plan, our
holiness is of an essentially supernatural order ; God is not
content and never will be content, since He has resolved on
making us His children, with a natural morality or religion;
1. Joan. xv, 5. — 2. Joan. xv, 5.
He wills us to act as children of a divine race. But it is

through His Son, it is in His Son and by the grace His Son,
Christ Jesus, has merited for us, that He gives us power to
attain this holiness. All the holiness He has destined for
each soul, God has placed in Christ, and it is of His fulness
that we all must receive the graces which will make us
holy. Christus factus est nobis sapientia a Deo, et justitia,
et sanctificatio et redemptio*. If Christ possesses all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge? and holiness, it is that
we may share in them. He came that we might have divine
life in us and might have it in abundance : Vemi ut vitam
habeant et abundantius habeant*. By His passion and
death, He re-opened the source of divine life to all, but
never forget that this source is in Him and not outside Him
and that it is from Him it flows into us: grace, the principle
of supernatural life, only comes through Him. That is why
St. John writes: ” He that hath the Son, hath life. He that
hath not the Son, hath not life.” Qui habet Filium habet
vitam, qui non habet Filium vitam non habet +.
Let us contemplate Jesus during His earthly existence;

we shall see how He is the efficient cause of all grace and
the fountain of life. This contemplation is full of con-
solation, for it shows us how we may expect everything
from Our Lord.
We see His holy humanity become the instrument which
the divinity makes use of to shed around Him all grace and
life.
Bodily life and health in the first place.
A leper comes to Jesus, asking to be cleansed; Christ puts
forth His hand, touches him and says: ”I will: be thou
made clean”, and immediately the leprosy departs®. Two
blind men are brought to Him: Jesus touches their eyes,
saying : ” According to your faith, be it done unto you”,
and their eyes are opened to the light ®. Another day, they
bring to Him one deaf and dumb, beseeching Christ to lay
His hand upon him ; then Jesus, drawing him apart from
the multitude, puts His finger into the man’s ears, touches
1. I Cor. 1, 30. — 2. Col. 11, 3. — 3. Joan. x, ro. — 4. I Joan. v, 12.
— $s. Matth. vi, 2-3. — 6. Ibid. 1x, 27-29.
his tongue with saliva, and looking up to heaven, sighs and

says : ” Be thou opened”. Immediately this man hears, his
tongue is loosed and be begins to speak distinctly *. Again
see Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus: it is by His word that
Christ calls back the dead to life.
In all these scenes we see the holy Humanity serve as an
instrument for the Divinity. It is the Divine Person of the
Word Who heals and raises from the dead, but to work
these marvels the Word uses the human nature that is united
to Him. Through His human nature, Christ speaks the
words, and with His hands, touches the sick; life therefore
proceeded from the Divinity and through the humanity,
reached the bodies and souls of men?. We understand the
words of the Gospel, telling us that ” the multitude sought
to touch Him, for virtue went out from Him, and healed
all”: Virtus de illo exibat *.
Christ acts in a similar manner in the supernatural domain

of grace; it is by an action, a word or gesture of the human
nature united to Him, that the Word forgives sins and
justifies the sinner.
See Mary Magdalen coming in the midst of a feast to
wash the feet of Jesus with her tears. Jesus says to her:
” Thy sins are forgiven thee : thy faith hath made thee safe,
go in peace*”. It is His divinity that forgives sins, it alone
can do so, but it is by a word that Jesus pronounces this for-
giveness, His humanity becoming the instrument of grace.
Another scene in the Gospel is yet more explicit. One
day a paralytic man lying upon a bed is brought to Jesus.
” Thy sins are forgiven thee”, says Jesus. But the Phari-
sees who hear these words and do not believe in Christ’s
divinity, murmur :” Who is this who speaketh blasphemies ?”
” Who can forgive sins but God alone ?” And Our Lord
wishing to show them that He is God, answers : ” Which
is easier to say: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say:
Arise and walk ? But that you may know that the Son of
man (note the expression: Son of man; Our Lord uses it
designedly, instead of : Son of God) hath power on earth
to forgive sins, He saith to the sick of the palsy : Arise,
1. Marc. vul, 32, 35- — 2. To employ the theological term, the human-
ity served as the source of life in being the instrument united to the
Word: ut instrumentum conjunctum, — 3. Luc. vi, 19. — 4. Ibid. vu,
48-50.
take up thy bed, and go into thy house”. And immediately

this man, rising up before the multitude, takes up the bed on
which he had been carried, and returns to his own house
glorifying God’.
Thus Christ works miracles, forgives sins and distributes
grace with sovereign liberty and power, because, being God,
He is the fountain of all grace and all life, but He does this
through His humanity; the humanity of Christ is ” vi-
vifying ” on account of its union with the Divine Word ?.
This likewise is what takes place in the passion and death

of Jesus. It is in His human nature that Jesus suffers,
expiates and merits : His humanity becomes the instrument
of the Word, and these sufferings of the holy humanity work
out our salvation, are the cause of our redemption and
restore life to us®. We were dead in sin, but God has given
us life together with Christ, and for Christ’s sake, in for-
giving our sins*. St. Thomas clearly tells us this ®. At
that moment when, for love of His Father and for love of
us, Christ delivers Himself up that He may give Divine life
to all mankind, He asks His Father: ” Father, glorify Thy
Son... as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh”, and
He adds : ” that He may give eternal life to all whom Thou
hast given Him *”. Jesus asks His Father to fulfil eyen now
in principle His divine plan, The Father has established
Christ as the head of humanity; He wills that in Christ
alone all humanity should find salvation, and Our Lord asks
that it may be thus, since by His passion and death He is
about, in substituting Himself for us, to expiate the crimes of
all humanity and merit for this humanity every grace of
salvation and life.
Our Lord’s prayer has been heard. Because, by His
sufferings and merits, He wrought the salvation of the human
race, Christ is established the universal dispenser of all
1. Luc. Vv, 18-25. — 2. Carnem Domini vivificatricem esse dicimus quia
facta est propria Verbi cuncta vivificare praevalentis. Concil. Ephes. can.11.
— 3. Actiones humanitatis ex virtute divinitatis fuerunt nobis salutiferae,
utpote gratiam in nobis CAUSANTES et per meritum_et PER EFFICIENTIAM
guanpam. S. Thom. III, q. vui, a. 1 ad 1. — 4. Col. 1, 13. — 5. Let
-us quote this beautiful proposition of the angelic doctor. Verbum prout
in principio erat apud Deum vivificat animas sicut agens principale, caro
tamen ejus et mysteria in ea patrata operantur instrumentaliter ad animae
vitam. III, qg. xu, a. 5, ad 1; cf. III, q. XLVI, a. 6, q. XLIX, a. I,
q. xxvil, de Veritate, 1, 4. — 6. Joan. Xvil, 1-2.
grace. He humbled Himself, and therefore on the day of

His ascension, His Father exalted Him, ” and hath given
Him aname which is above all names”: Exinanivit se-
metipsum: propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum et do-
navit ill nomen quod est super omne nomen*. He has
established Him “heir of all things”: Quem constitwit
haeredem universorum?; and because Christ has won them
by His blood, His Father has given Him the nations as an
inheritance: Postula a me et dabo tibi gentes haereditatem
tuam*. For them, all power of grace and life has been given
to Christ, in heaven and upon earth: Data est mihi omnis
potestas in coelo et in terra*; because ” the Father loveth
the Son... He hath given all things into His hand”. Pater
diligit Filium et OMNIA dedit in manu ejus ®.
Thus as the one Model and supreme High Priest, the

Redeemer of the world and universal Mediator, Christ is,
moreover, established the dispenser of all grace. ” The
effusion of grace in us”, says St. Thomas, ” belongs only
to Christ, and this sanctifying causality results from the
intimate union existing in Christ between the divinity and
humanity*”. ” The soul of Christ”, he says again, ” has
received grace in supremest plenitude; in consequence of
this plenitude that He has received, it is befitting that Christ
should make souls partakers of it; and thus He fulfils His
office of head and chief of the Church. Therefore the
grace that adorns the soul of Christ is, in its essence, the
same as that which purifies us?”.
HE
But you may ask, now that Christ has ascended into
Heaven, and men no longer see, nor hear, nor touch Him,
how is this power of grace and life produced in us ? How
is the action of Our Lord exercised over us and in us?
How is He now the efficient cause of our holiness, and how
does He produce in us that grace which is the source of life?
1, Philipp. 1, 7, 9. — 2. Hebr. 1, 2. — 3. Ps. 1, 8. — 4.. Matth.
XXVI, 18. — 5. Joan. Il, 35. — 6. Interior autem influxus gratiae
non est ab aliquo nisi a solo Christo, cujus humanitas ex hoc quod est
divinitati conjuncta habet virtutem justificandi. S. Thom. III, q. vim, a.
6. — 7. Ill, q: vii, a. 5.
7O CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
Christ, being God, is absolute master of His gifts and of

the manner in which He distributes them; we are no more
able to limit His power than we are to determine all His
modes of action. Christ Jesus can, when it seems good to
Him, cause grace to flow directly into the soul without
intermediary. The lives of the saints are full of these
examples of divine liberty and liberality.
However in the present economy, the normal and official
manner in which Christ’s grace comes to us is through the
sacraments He has instituted. He could sanctify us other-
wise than He does; but from the moment that, being God,
He Himself establised these means of salvation — which
He alone had the right to determine, since He is the Author
of the supernatural order — it is to these authentic means
that recourse must first be had. All the practices of asceti-
cism we can invent to maintain and increase the divine life
within us, are only of value in so far as they help us to profit
more abundantly by these sources of life. They are, indeed,
true and pure sources as well as inexhaustible ones where
we shall infallibly find the divine life with which Christ
Jesus is filled and of which He wills to make us partakers.
Veni ut vitam habeant.
Let us then see what these means are.

I will not give you here all the theology of the sacraments,
but I hope to say enough to show you how the goodness and
wisdom of our Divine Saviour shines forth in these in-
ventions.
What then is a sacrament? The Holy Council of Trent
(to which we must always have recourse in this matter,
because it has fixed the doctrine with wonderful precision)
tells us that a sacrament is an outward sign which signifies
and produces invisible grace; it is a symbol which contains
and confers Divine grace. It is a sensible, outward, tangible
sign; we are at once matter and spirit, and Christ has willed
to use matter — water, oil, wheat, wine, word, imposition
of hands — to denote the grace He wills to produce in our
souls. Being Eternal Wisdom, Christ has adapted to our
nature, both material and spiritual, the sensible means of
communicating His grace’.
1. Si incorporeus esses, nuda et incorporea tibi dedisset ipse dona, sed
quia anima corpori conjuncta est, sensibilibus intelligibilia tibi praestat.
S. Joan Chrysost. Hom. 82 in Matth., et Hom. 60 ad popul. Antioch.
I say ” communicate”, for these signs do not only signify

and symbolise grace. They contain and confer it: by the
will and institution of Christ Jesus, to Whom the Father has
given all power, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost
is God, these signs and rites are efficacious, and really
produce grace in our inmost soul.
Let us listen to our Divine Saviour. He teaches us that
the water of baptism cleanses us from our sins, that by it
we are born to the life of grace, made children of God and
heirs of His kingdom: Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et
Spiritu Sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei1; He
teaches us again that the word of His minister who absolves
us, takes away our sins: ” Whose sins you shall forgive,
they are forgiven them”; He teaches us that under the ap-
pearances of bread and wine are really contained His body
and blood which we must eat and drink in order to have
life; He declares concerning marriage that man cannot put
asunder those whom God has joined together; tradition, the
echo of the teaching of Jesus, repeats that the imposition
of hands confers on those who receive it, the Holy Spirit
and His gifts ”.
One of the characters which shows the condescension of
our Divine Saviour in the institution of the Sacraments, is
that these signs produce of themselves the grace they contain:
Ex opere operato. This grace is given by the sacramental
act itself, the proper application alone of the symbols and
rites to the soul, and that independently, not of the intention
but of the personal worth of the one who administers it.
The unworthiness of a heretical or sacrilegious minister
cannot, prevent the effect of the sacrament, so long as this
minister conforms to the intention of the Church and intends
to do what the Church does in a like case; baptism given by
an heretical minister is valid. Why is this? Because
Christ, the Man-God, has willed to place the communication
of His graces above all consideration of the merit or virtue
of those who serve Him as instruments. The value of the
1. Joan. 11, 5. — 2. As to the question of knowing whether all the
sacraments were instituted directly, in all their details, by Christ Himself,
it matters little ; several of the sacraments offer this character ; we do not
read in the Gospel that it was so for all. But if Christ left His apostles
to determine certain details, even important ones, it is not less true that
it is He Who has attached to all these symbols the grace of which He
alone is the author and unique source.
sacrament does not depend on human dignity nor holiness,

it proceeds from the fact of having been instituted by Christ,
and that gives the faithful soul infinite assurance in this
divine help *.
Is that so say we ought to use these means without it
being necessary to make the least preparation ? Quite the
contrary. What then is required ?
First, that general disposition concerning the production
of grace itself ; namely that the one who receives the sac-
raments does not place any obstacle to their action, to their
operation, to their energy: non ponentibus obicem. Oppose
a barrage to the waters of a torrent, the waters are stopped;
destroy the barrage, remove the obstacle: immediately the
waters, now being free, rush forward and invade the plain.
So it is with the grace of the sacraments; there is in them
all that is necessary for their action; yet it is necessary that
grace should not meet with any obstacle in us. What kind
of obstacle? That varies in its nature according to the
character of the signs and the grace the sacraments confer.
Thus we can only receive the grace of a sacrament if we
consent to it ; the adult on whom Baptism is conferred can-
not receive the grace if his will is opposed to the reception
of the sacrament; on the same way, lack of contrition is an
obstacle to the reception of the grace of the sacrament of
Penance; again, mortal sin forms an obstacle which prevents
us from receiving the grace of the Eucharist. Remove the
obstacle, and grace descends on you, as soon as the sacra-
ment is conferred.
But, I will add, enlarge, by faith, confidence and love, the
capacity of your souls and grace will abound in you. For
if the grace of the sacraments is substantially the same for
all, it varies in degree, in intensity, according to the dispo-
sitions of those who receive it after having removed the
obstacles; it is measured, certainly not in its entity but in
its fruitfulness and extent of action, according to the
dispositions of the soul. Let us then open wide the avenues
ef our souls to Divine grace; let us bring for our part all
possible charity and purity that so Christ may make His
Divine life superabound in us.
1. Secura Ecclesia spem non posuit in homine.,. sed spem suam posuit
in Christo, qui sic accepit formam servi ut non amitteret formam Det.
St. Augustine. Epistola, Lxxxix, 5.
For it is He, Christ, the Incarnate Word, Who, inasmuch

as He is God, is the efficient, primary and principal cause of
the grace produced by the sacraments. Why is this ? Be-
cause He alone can produce grace Who is the source and
author of it. The sacraments, signs charged to transmit
this grace to the soul, only act in the capacity of instruments ;
they are a cause of grace, a real and efficient cause, but only
instrumental.
Look at an artist in his studio : with his chisel he hews
and sculptures the marble in order to realise the ideal that
haunts his genius. When the master-piece in finished, it
is exact to say that the artist created it but the chisel was the
instrument that transmitted the artist’s idea. The work is
due to the chisel, but it was guided by the master’s hand,
itself directed by the genius which conceived the work.
So it is with the sacraments: they are the signs that
produce grace, not as the principal cause — it is from Christ
alone that sanctifying grace flows as from its one source —
but as instruments, in virtue of the power they receive from
the humanity of Christ united to the Word and filled with
Divine life*. In the person of the priest, it is Christ Himself
Who baptises, Who absolves. ” Peter baptises ” says
St. Augustine, ” it is Christ Who baptises; Judas baptises
it is Christ Who does so”. Petrus baptizet, Christus bapti-
zat; Judas baptizet, Christus baptizat?. Whoever is the
minister, he here acts only in virtue of Christ*; they are
Christ’s merits which are applied; they are His satisfactions
of which we are made partakers; it is the life of Christ
which, by these channels, flows into our souls.
All the efficacy which the sacraments have to commu-
nicate to us the Divine life, comes therefore from Christ,
1. Sacramenta corporalia per propriam operationem quam exercent circa
corpus quod tangunt, effictunt operationem instrumentalem ex virtute di-
vina circa animam ; sicut aqua baptismi abluendo corpus secundum pro-
priam virtutem, abluit animam in quantum est instrumentum virtutis
divinae ; nam ex anima et corpore unum fit. Et hoc est quod Augustinus
dicit quod corpus tangit et cor abluit. S.Thom. III, q. txm,a. 1, ad 2,
Vis spiritualis est in sacramentis in quantum ordinantur a Deo ad effec-
tum spiritualem. III, q. Lxvu, a. 4, ad 1; cf. q. LXIV, a. 4. — 2. Tract.
in Joan. v1. — 3. Commenting on these words : Dominus baptizabat plu-
ves quam Joannes, quamvis ipse non baptizaret sed discipuli ejus. St. Au-
gustine writes: Ipse et non ipse ; ipse potestate, illi ministerio ; servitutem
ad baptizandum illi admovebant, potestas baptizandi in Christo permane-
bat. — Tract. in Joan. Vv, 1.
Who, by His life and sacrifice on the Cross, has merited

every grace for us, and has ordained these signs whereby
this grace may reach us. If we had faith, if we understood
that these are Divine means, divine both in their primary
and primordial source and in the ultimate end to which they
tend, with what fervour and frequency we should use these
means multiplied along our life’s path by Our Saviour’s
goodness !
HE
That which causes the admirable wisdom of the Incarnate

‘Word to shine forth in this domain, is that the sacraments
envelop our whole life with sanctifying influences.
There is, says St. Thomas, an analogy between the natural
and the supernatural life?. We are born to the super-
natural life by Baptism; this life has to be strengthened :
that 1s the work of Confirmation; one is born and comes to
maturity only once: that is why these two sacraments are
not to be repeated. Like the body, the soul has to be
nourished: the food of the soul is the Eucharist, which may
be our daily food; when we fall into sin, the sacrament of
penance restores grace to us, as many times as is necessary,
by purifying us from our faults. If mortal sickness over-
takes us, Extreme Unction prepares us for the passage into
eternity, and sometimes even gives back the health to the
body, if such be the design of God. All these various sac-
raments create, nourish strengthen, assure, repair, and
make the Divine life grow and increase in the soul of each
one of us.
And as man is not an isolated individual, but also a
member of a society, the sacrament of Matrimony sanctifies
the family, and blesses the propagation of the human race,
while the sacrament of Holy Order perpetuates the spiritual
paternity by means of the priesthood.
All the sacraments, without exception, confer grace, that
is to say, they increase in the soul the life of Christ.
Sanctifying grace, infused virtues, gifts of the Holy Spirit,
this wonderful ensemble under the name of the state of
grace, adorns the substance of our soul and causes its
faculties to bear supernatural fruit, so as to make it one
1205.) hom. LLL ngs cxXVvaearn i
with Christ Jesus, and worthy in the sight of the Eternal

Father.
In each sacrament, we receive sanctifying grace or an
increase of this grace; but this same grace bears, in the
different sacraments, a special character, it contains special
energies and produces particular and determined effects,
conformed to the end for which the sacrament was instituted,
and that we have just indicated; and, as you also know,
Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Order imprint on the soul
as with a seal, an ineffaceable character: the character of
the Christian, of the soldier of Christ, of the priest of the
Most High.
What must chiefly be remembered in this analogy (which
we must not push to the extreme limit) *, is that the life of
the Christian is sanctified at its principal stages, and that
Christ has provided for all our supernatural needs. What-
ever be the circumstance of any importance in our existence,
grace is there, under a special, opportune and helpful form ;
Jesus Christ accompanies us during our whole existence
here below; He is with us all the time.
Let us then have faith, a lively, practical faith in these
means of sanctification; Christ has willed and merited that
their efficacy should be supreme, their excellence transcen-
dent, their fruitfulness inexhaustible: they are signs charged
with Divine life. Christ has willed to lay up in them all
His merits and satisfactions in order to communicate them
to us: nothing can or ought to take their place. They are,
in the present economy of the Redemption, necessary for sal-
vation ?.
It must be repeated, because experience shows how in
the long run, even with souls who seek God, the practical
estimation of these means of salvation sometimes leaves
much to be desired. The sacraments are, with the doctrine
given by the Church, the official channels authentically
created by Christ to make us attain to His Father. It is to
wrong Him not to appreciate their value, their riches, their
1. Notably for the Sacrament of Penance when it restores the soul to
Divine life: in the natural life one only dies once. — 2. Although it
must be added that this necessity is not the same for all the sacraments ;
for example, Baptism is absolutely necessary for all; it is not the same,
in what concerns men taken individually, for Holy Orders and Matrimony.
fruitfulness, while He is glorified when we draw from

these treasures acquired by His merits: we thus recognise
that we hold all from Him, and that renders Him very
pleasing homage.
There are souls who have only a mediocre faith in these
sacred signs and who, practically, use them only par-
simoniously; as they attach only small attention to the grace
produced in them by the sacraments, they only prepare them-
selves half-heartedly or give their preferences to extraor-
dinary means. Certainly, as I have said, Jesus Christ always
remains absolute Master of His gifts, He distributes them
when it seems good to Him and to whom He pleases. We
see in the Saints marvels of Divine generosity, from the
charisma which illustrate the times of the early Christians
to the wonderful favours which, even in our days, abound
in so many souls: Mirabilis Deus in sanctis sms. But in
this matter, Christ has made no promise to anyone; He has
not indicated these means as the regular way, either of
salvation, or even of holiness: while He has instituted the
sacraments, with their particular energies and efficacious
virtues; they hence constitute, in their harmonious variety,
the whole means of sure salvation. Here there is no illusion
possible, and we know how dangerous are illusions created
by the devil in matters of piety and sanctity !
God wills our sanctification: Haec est voluntas Dei,
sanctificatio vestra’. Christ repeats: ” Be you therefore
perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect ?”; in these
words then, it is not simply a question of salvation, but of
perfection, of holiness. Now it is not in extraordinary
means, in raptures, and ecstasies, that Our Lord has normally
placed the life He wills to communicate to us in order to
render us perfect, to make us saints, pleasing to His Father:
it is first of all in the sacraments. That He should have
willed this is sufficient to make our souls, eager for holiness,
abandon themselves to this will in all faith, in all confidence.
These are the true sources of life and sanctification, all suf-
ficing and abundant sources; in vain shall we go to draw else-
where; we should forsake, according to the energetic words
of Scripture, ” the fountain of living water”, to dig to our-
1. I Thess. 1v, 3. — 2. Matth. v, 48.
CHRIST, THE CAUSE OF ALL GRACE. Te
selves ” broken cisterns that can hold no water?”. All our

spiritual activity ought to have no other reason, no other
aim, than to make us able to draw always more abundantly,
more largely, with more faith and purity, from these Divine
fountains and to make the grace proper to each sacrament
grow in us with more ease and liberty, more vigour and
power.
Oh! let us come with joy to draw at these fountains of

salvation: Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris ?.
Draw from these salutary waters; enlarge the capacity of
your souls by repentance, humility, confidence, and above
all, by love, so that the action of the sacrament becomes
deeper, vaster, and more lasting. Each time we approach
the Sacraments, let us renew our faith in the riches of
Christ; this faith prevents routine from finding its way into
the soul that frequents these sources; let us draw from them
frequently, above all from the Eucharist, pre-eminently the
sacrament of life; these are the fountains which Our
Saviour, by His infinite merits, caused to spring up at the
foot of His Cross, or rather, from the depths of His Sacred
Heart.
St. Augustine, commenting on the text of the Gospel on
the death of Christ: Unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit,
” one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side”, writes
these remarkable words?: ” The Evangelist makes use of
an expression chosen purposely; he does not say: (in
speaking of the thrust of the lance given by the soldier to
Jesus on the Cross) he struck or he wounded His side, of
any similar word, but he opened His side, to teach us that
he thus opened for us the gate of life from whence issue
forth the sacraments, without which, access cannot be had
to the true life”. All these sources spring from the Cross,
from the love of Christ; all apply to us the fruits of the
death of the Saviour, by the virtue of His Blood.
If then, we wish to live as Christians, if we seek perfec-
tion, if we tend towards holiness, let us draw from these
1. Me dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae, et foderunt sibi cisternas, cis-
ternas dissipatas, quae continere non valent aquas. Jerem. WU, 13. —
2. Isa. xu, 3. — 3. Vigilanti verbo Evangelista usus est ut non diceret:
latus ejus percussit aut vulneravit, aut quid aliud, sed aperutt, ut illic
quodammodo vitae ostium panderetur, unde sacramenta manaverunt sine
quibus, ad vitam quae vita vera est, non intratur. — Tract. in Joan. cxx.
waters with joy: In gaudio; for these are the sources of

life here below, and of glory above. ” If any man thirst,
let him come to Me and drink...* For he that shall drink
of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever, but
the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain
of water, springing up into life everlasting? ”.
” Come, my dearly beloved”, Our Saviour seems to say
to us, ” come and drink and be inebriated”. IJnebriamini,
carissimi*; come and drink from these fountains, by which,
under the veil of faith, I communicate My own life to you
here below, until the day on which, all symbols having
disappeared, I will Myself make thee drink of the torrent of
My beatitude in the eternal brightness of My light: E#
torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos *.
IV.
The riches of the grace Christ communicates to us are

so great — St. Paul declares them unfathomable, /nvestiga-
biles divitiae Christi, — that the sacraments are never ex-
hausted. Outside the sacraments Christ still acts and
operates in us. How is this? By the contact we have with
Him in faith.
In order to understand this, let us read again an episode
related by St. Luke. In one of His apostolic journeys, Our
Divine Saviour is surrounded and pressed by the multitude.
A sick woman, desiring to be healed, approaches Him, and,
full of confidence, touches the hem of His garment. Im-
mediately, Our Lord asks those who surround Him: ” Who
is it that touched Me ?” And Peter answers: ” Master, the
multitude throng and press Thee, and dost Thou say, Who
touched Me?” But Jesus insists : ” Somebody hath touch-
ed Me; for I know that virtue is gone out from Me.” And
at that very instant the woman was healed: and this, on
account of her faith: Fides tua te salvam fecit °.
Something analogous takes place for us also. Each time
that, even outside the sacraments, we approach Christ, a
strength, a Divine virtue goes out from Him and penetrates
our souls to enlighten and help them.
You know the means of approaching Him is faith. By
1. Joan. vil, 37. — 2. Ibid. Iv, 13. — 3. Cant. v, 1. — 4. Ps. xxxv,
9g. — 5. Luc. vin, 43-48
faith, we touch Christ, and at this Divine contact, little by

little, our soul is transformed.
As I have said, Christ has come amongst us to give us a
share in all His riches, in all the perfection of His virtues,
for all He has belongs to us; all is for us. Each of Our
Lord’s actions is not only a model for us, but a source of
grace. In practising all the virtues, He has merited for us
the grace to be able to practise these same virtues which we
contemplate in Him, and each of His mysteries contains a
special grace in which He wills to give us a real participation.
It is certain that those who lived in Judea with Christ and
had faith in Him, received an abundant share in those graces
which He merited for all men; the Gospel assures us of
this. Christ had not only, as I have shown you, power to
cure corporal infirmities, but also the power to sanctify souls.
See for example how He sanctified the woman of Samaria
who, after having spoken with Him, believed Him to be the
Messias; how He purified Magdalen who, considering Him
to be a prophet, one sent by God, came to pour her perfumes
over His sacred feet. The contact of the Son of God
becomes, for the souls who have faith in Him, the source of
life: Fides tua te salvam fecit. Consider how, during His
Passion, by one look of His, He gives to Peter, who has
thrice denied Him, the grace of repentance; consider at His
death, the good thief ; he recognises Jesus as the Son of God,
since he asks Him for a place in His kingdom; and im-
mediately the Saviour, on the point of expiring, grants him
the remission of his crimes: ” To-day thou shalt be with Me
in Paradise”.
We know this, we are so convinced of it that sometimes
we say: Oh, if it had been given to me to live with Our
Lord in Judea, to have followed Him like the Apostles, to
have approached Him during His life, and to have been
present at His death, I should have been so surely sanctified!
And yet, however, hear what Jesus says: ” Blessed are they
that have not seen, and have believed”. Brat qui non
viderunt et crediderunt.
Does not this make us understand that contact with Him
by faith alone is still more efficacious, and more advan-
tageous to us? Let us then believe in these words of Our
Divine Master: His words are” spirit and life?”: let us be
1. Joan, xx, 29. — 2. Ibid. vi, 64.
persuaded that the power and virtue of His holy humanity

are the same for us as for His contemporaries; for Christ
lives always: Christus heri, et HODIE, tpse et in saecula?.
I can never repeat often enough how eminently useful it

is for our souls to remain united to Our Lord by the contact
of faith. You know that from the beginning of their jour-
neying in the desert, the Israelites murmured against Moses.
To punish them, God sent serpents whose bite caused them
great suffering. Then, touched by their repentance, God
commanded Moses to lift up a brazen serpent of which the
sight alone sufficed to heal the wounds of the children of
Israel?. Now, according to Our Lord’s own words, this
brazen serpent was the figure of Christ lifted up on the
Cross. And Our Lord said: ” And I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, will draw all things to Myself*. Because
He has merited all grace for us by the sacrifice of the Cross,
Jesus Christ has become for us the source of all light and
strength. And that is why the humble and loving glance of
the soul upon the holy humanity of Jesus is so fruitful and
so efficacious.
We do not think enough of the power of sanctification that
Christ’s humanity possesses, even outside of the sacraments °.
The means of placing ourselves in contact with Christ is
faith in His Divinity, in His Almighty power, in the infinite
value of His satisfactions,in the inexhaustible efficacy of His
merits. In one of his sermons to the people of Hippo, St.
Augustine asks how we can ” touch Christ”, now that He
has ascended into Heaven ? In caelo sedentem quis morta-
lium potest tangere ? He answers: By faith; he touches
Christ who believes in Him. Sed ille tactus fidem significat;
tangit Christum qui credit in Christum. And the holy
Doctor recalls the faith of that woman who touched Jesus to
obtain her cure: Fide tetigit et sanitas subsecuta est. There
are, he says, many carnal men who have only seen Jesus
Christ as man, and have not understood the Divinity which
was veiled by His humanity. They did not know how to
1. Hebr. xm, 8. — 2. Num. xxi, 9. — 3. Joan. mi, 14. — 4. Ibid. xu,
32. — 5. Read on this subject the Retreat by the late Mgr. Hedley,
Bishop of Newport. In Chap. xm, Looking upon Jesus, we see exposed
by one of the best English ascetical authors this "most powerful, and
almost miraculous, efficacy of transformation” that the Sacred Humanity
has upon souls that contemplate it in faith.
’. CHRIST, THE CAUSE OF ALL GRACE. 81
touch Him because their faith was not what it ought to have
been. Would you touch Jesus Christ with profit? Believe
in the Divinity which, as the Word, He shares from all
eternity with the Father. Vis bene tangere ? Intellige
Christum ubi est Patri coaeternus, — et tetigisti 1,
To believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ is, then, the
means which places us in contact with Christ, the source of
all grace and all life. When, then, in reading the Gospel,
we ponder in our minds the words and actions of Our Lord;
when, in prayer, or in meditation, we contemplate His
virtues ; above all, when we associate with the Church in
the celebration of His mysteries (as I shall show later) ;
when we unite ourselves to Him in each of our actions,
whether we eat or work, or do any action indifferent in itself
in union with the like actions that He Himself accomplished
when He lived here below, when we do this with faith and
love, with humility and confidence, there is then a strength,
a power, a Divine virtue, which goes out from Christ to
enlighten us, to help us to remove the obstacles to His
Divine operations in us, so as to produce grace in our souls.
You will perhaps say : But I do not feel this. It is not
necessary to feel it. Our Lord said Himself that His king-
dom ” cometh not with observation?”, that it is beyond the
experience of the senses: the supernatural life is not based
on sentimentality. If God makes us feel the sweetness of
His service, even in the sensible faculties, we ought to thank
Him for it, and use this inferior gift as a ladder by which
to rise higher, as a means to increase our fidelity, but not to
be attached to it, and above all, not to found our interior life
upon this sensible devotion ; it is much too unstable a basis.
We might be as much in error in believing we are advanced
in the way of perfection because our sensible devotion is
very intense, as in imagining we are making no progress
because our soul is in spiritual dryness. What, then, is the
true basis of our supernatural life? It is faith, and faith is
a virtue exercised by our superior faculties: intelligence and
will. Now what does faith tell us? That Jesus is God as well
as man, that His humanity is the humanity of a God, the
humanity of the Being Who is Infinite Wisdom, Love itself,
1. Sermo. ccxLil, c. 2; cf. Sermones. LXUl, 3 } CCXLIV, 3 and CCXLV, 3 ;
In Joan. xxvi, 3. — 2.Luc. xvul, 20 sq.
Christ the life of the soul. 6
and Omnipotence. How, then, can we doubt that when we

approach Him, even outside the sacraments, with humility
and confidence, Divine power comes forth from Him to en-
lighten, strengthen and help us? No one has ever ap-
proached Jesus Christ with faith without being touched by
the beneficent rays that ever escape from this furnace of light
and heat: Virtus de illo exibat.
Jesus Christ, Who is always living, semper vivens, and
Whose Humanity remains indissolubly united to the Divine
Word, thus becomes for us — and that in the measure of our
faith, and the ardour of our desire to imitate Him — a light
and a source of life; and little by little, if we are faithful in
contemplating Him in this manner, He will imprint His
likeness in us, by revealing Himself more intimately to us, by
making us share the sentiments * of His Divine Heart and by
giving us the strength to live according to these sentiments
"Tt is evident to me”, said St. Teresa, ” that in order to
please God, to receive great graces from Him, it is necessary
and such is His Will, that they should pass through the
hands of this Sacred Humanity (of Christ) with which He
has Himself declared He is well pleased. I have made the
experience of this a great number of times, and Our Lord
Himself has told me so. J have recognised manifestly that
this is the door by which we must enter if we wish the
Supreme Majesty to discover His high secrets to us... One
travels in assurance along this way ?.” We understand then,
the truth of this word of Jesus: Ego sum vitis, vos palmites;
qui manet in me et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum *.
” My Father is the husbandman; I am the vine: you are
the branches; he that abideth in Me and J in him, the same
beareth much fruit.” According to the beautiful remark
of St. Augustine, it is as man that Christ is the Vine; as God,
one with His Father, He is the Vine-dresser Who works,
not like de vine-dressers of here below, outside, but He
works interiorly, in order to give increase of grace and life;
for, adds the great Doctor, quoting St. Paul, he who plants
is nothing, neither is he who waters, but God Who gives the
increase: Nec talis quales sunt qui extrinsecus operando
1. The word sentiment is here taken in the spiritual acceptation of the
word, as the affection of the will. — 2. Life by Herself. — 3. Joan.
IVs 3
exhibent ministerium, sed talis ut det etiam intrinsecus in-

crementum *.
From the vine, which is Jesus, the sap of grace rises into
the branches which are our souls, if, however, we remain
united to the vine. How is this to be done ?
By the sacraments, above all by that of the Eucharist, the
very Sacrament of union: Qui manducat meam carnem et
bibit meum sanguinem in me MANET et ego millo?. “He
that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me
and linhim.” Next by faith; St. Paul tells us: Christus
HABITARE PER FIDEM in cordibus vestris*; by faith vivified
by love, that is to say, the perfect faith that accompanies the
state of grace, Christ dwells in us; and each time that we
place ourselves in contact with Jesus by this faith, Christ
exercises His sanctifying power over us‘.
But for this, it is needful that we should put away all
obstacles to this action — sin, deliberate imperfections,
attachment to creatures, and to ourselves: it is necessary too,
that we should have an ardent desire to resemble Him; that
our faith should be living and practical: a living faith, that
is to say, an unshaken faith in the infinite treasures of
holiness contained in Christ Who is All for us ; a practical,
watchful faith which throws us at the feet cf Jesus in order
to do all that He asks of us for the glory of His Father.
It is then, as the Council of Trent says, that Christ ” un-
ceasingly pours His sanctifying virtue into us, as the head
does to the members, as the vine does into the branches; for
this salutary virtue does not cease to precede, to accompany
and follow our good actions: Jile ipse Christus tamquam
caput in membra, et tanquam vitis in palmites, in ipsos
justificatos JUGITER virtutem INFLUIT: quae virtus bona
corum opera semper antecedit et comitatur et subsequitur °.
It is by the grace of Christ that we become holy, pleasing
to God, His Father, so that through Him also, all glory is
referred to the Father; because He loves His Son, the
Father has constituted Him head of the kingdom of the
elect, and has given all into His hands: Pater amat Filium et
OMNIA dedit in manu ejus ®.
1. Tract in Joan. Lxxx. — 2. Joan. vi, 57. — 3. Ephes. 11, 7
4. Christus per fidem habitat in nobis, ut dicitur Ephes. 1, et ideo virtus
Christi copulatur nobis per fidem. S. Thom. III, q. tx, a. 5, ad 2. —
5. Concil. Trid, sess. v1, c. 16. — 6. Joan. Im, 35.
NOTE.
There is a page of St. Thomas (Q. De Veritate, a. 4.) which resumes
very well the doctrine exposed in this conference. The human nature of
Our Lord, writes St. Thomas, is the organ of the Divinity, and that is
why it communicated to the operations of the Divine virtue: thus, when
Christ healed the leper by touching him, this contact instrumentally caused
health. Now this instrumental efficacy which it had for corporal effects,
the holy Humanity exercises also in the spiritual order ;His Blood shed
for us has a sanctifying virtue to wash away our sins. The Humanity
of Jesus is then the instrumental cause of justification, and this is applied
to us spiritually by faith, corporally by the Sacraments, because Christ’s
Humanity is spirit and body. It is in this way we must receive within
us the effect of the sanctification which is in Christ. Also, the most
perfect of the Sacraments is that which really contains the Body of Our
Lord, that is to say, the Eucharist, the end and consummation of all the
others. As to the other Sacraments, they receive something of that virtue
by which the Humanity of Christ is the instrument of justification ; so
that, according to the language of the Apostle (Hebr. x, ), the Christian
sanctified by Baptism is also sanctified by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
The Passion of the Saviour operates therefore in the Sacraments of the
New Law; and these concur as instruments for the producing of grace.
V. — THE CHURCH,
THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST.
Summary. — The mystery of the Church inseparable from the

Mystery of Christ: they form only one mystery. — I, The
Church, the society founded on the Apostles; the doctrine
and authority of Jesus are deposited with the Church; she
dispenses His Sacraments and continues His work of reli-
gion. We only come to Christ through the Church. —
II. The truth which places the special character of the
Church’s visibility in relief: God wills to guide us through
the ministry of men: importance of this supernatural
economy resulting from the Incarnation; it glorifies Jesus
and exercises our faith. Our duties towards the Church.
Il. The Church, Christ’s mystical body of which He is the
Head because He has all primacy. Far-reaching conse-
quences of this union: ” We are Christ”, all are ” one in
Christ”. To remain united to one another and to Jesus
by charity.
N the preceding conferences I have tried to show how

Our Lord is our All. He has been chosen by His
Father to be the one Model of all holiness, in His state
of Son of God, and in His virtues. He has merited, by His
Life, Passion, and Death, to be for ever the universal dis-
penser of all grace. It is from Him that all grace proceeds,
and all Divine life flows into our souls. St. Paul tells-us
that God “hath subjected all things under His feet, and
hath made Him head over all the Church, which is His body
and the fulness of Him Who is filled all in all”: Omnia
subjecit sub pedibus ejus (Christi), et ipsum dedit caput
supra omnem Ecclesiam, quae est corpus ipsius et plenitudo
ejus +.
By these words, in which he speaks of the Church, the
Apostle completes the description of the economy of the
mystery of Christ; we shall well understand this mystery
only if we follow St. Paul in his exposition.
1. Ephes. 1, 22-23.
According to the beautiful words of St. Augustine, we

cannot have a full conception of Christ considered apart
from the Church: Totus Christus caput et corpus est:
caput Unigenitus Dei Filius, et corpus ejus Ecclesia’. Jesus
has the glory of His Father in view, as the foundation of all
His life, of all His acts, but the masterpiece by which He is
to procure this glory is the Church. Christ comes on earth
to-create and constitute the Church ; it is the work to which
all His existence converges, and He confirms it by His
Passion and Death. His love for His Father led Jesus
Christ to the mountain of Calvary, but it was there to form
the Church, and make of her, by purifying her in His Divine
Blood, a spotless and immaculate Bride: Dilexit Ecclesiam
et seipsum tradidit pro ea ut illam sanctificaret *.
This is what St. Paul tells us. Let us then see what this
Church is, of which the name occurs so often under the
great Apostle’s pen as to be inseparable from that of Christ.
We may consider the Church in two ways: first as a visible,

hierarchical society, founded by Christ to continue His
sanctifying mission here below; she appears thus, as a living
organism. But this point of view is not the only one ; to
have a complete idea of the Church, we must regard her as
the holy and invisible society of the souls that share by grace
in Christ’s Divine Sonship, and form the Kingdom He won
by His Blood. That is what St. Paul calls the body of
Christ, not of course, His physical Body, but His mystical
body. It is on this second point of view we shall principally
dwell: we must not, however, pass over the first in silence.
It is true thet the invisible Church, or the soul of the
Church, is more important than the visible Church, but, in
the normal economy of Christianity, it is only by union with
the visible society that souls have participation in the
possessions and privileges of the invisible kingdom of Christ.
Tt
I have referred above to the testimony Peter gave, in the

name of the other disciples, to the Divinity of Jesus: ” Thou
1. De Unitate Eccles. 4. No one has exposed this doctrine better than
St. Augustine ; the holy Doctor has developed it especially in the Enar. in
Psalm. — 2. Ephes. v, 25-26.
THE CHURCH, THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST. 87
art Christ, the Son of the living God”. ” Blessed art thou ”,
says Jesus to him, ” because flesh and blood hath not reveal-
ed it to thee, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I say
to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven? ”.
You will notice that it is as yet only a promise which
rewards the apostle for the homage rendered to the Divinity
of his Master. After the Resurrection ?, Jesus, being again
in the midst of His disciples, says to Peter: ” Lovest thou
Me?” ”Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” And
Our Lord says to him: ” Feed My lambs”. Then He
repeats the question three times, and at each of Peter’s
protestations, Our Lord invests him as the visible Head of
all His flock, both sheep and lambs. This investiture only
took place after Peter had effaced his triple denial by a
triple act of love. Thus Christ claimed a testimony of His
Divinity from His Apostle before fulfilling the promise He
had made of founding His Church upon him.
It is not necessary for me to explain how this society,
established by Christ on Peter and the Apostles, so as to
maintain the supernatural life in souls, has been organised
and developed and spread throughout the world.
What we have to remember is, that here on earth, she
continues the mission of Jesus by her doctrine and jurisdic-
tion, by her Sacraments and worship.
By her doctrine, which she guards intact and integral in a
living and uninterrupted tradition; by her jurisdiction, in
vittue of which she has authority to direct us in the name
of Christ; by the Sacraments whereby she enables ts to
draw from the sources of grace which her Divine Founder
has created; by the worship which she herself organises
so as to render all glory and honour to Jesus Christ, and to
His Father.
How does the Church continue Christ by her doctrine and

jurisdiction ?
When Christ came into this world, the only means of going
to the Father was to submit oneself entireiy to His Son,
1. Matth. xvi, 16-19. — 2. Joan. XxI, 15-17.
Jesus : Hic est Filius meus dilectus, ipsum audite. In the

beginning of the public life of the Saviour, the Eternal
Father showed His Son to the Jews, and said to them: Hear
Him because He is My Only Son ; I send Him to reveal to
you the secrets of My Divine life and My will, Jpse
enarravit... ipsum audite.
But since His Ascension Christ has left His Church on
earth, and this Church is like the extension of the Incarna-
tion amongst us. The Church — that is to say, the Sover-
eign Pontiff, and the Bishops, with the pastors who are
subject to them — speaks to us with all the infallible
authority of Jesus Christ Himself.
While He was upon earth, Christ contained infallibility in
Himself: Ego sum veritas. "I am the truth; I am the
life; he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but
shall have the light of life1.” Before leaving us, He confided
these powers to His Church: Sicut misit Me Pater, et ego
mitto vos. " As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you 2;
he that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you,
despiseth Him that sent Me.” Qui vos audit, Me audit: et
qui vos spermt, Me spermt. Qui autem Me spernit, spernit
eum qui msit Me*. "In the same way that I hold My
doctrine from My Father, so the doctrine that you teach, you
hold from Me ; whosoever receives this doctrine, receives
My doctrine, which is that of My Father; whosoever
despises it, in whatever degree or measure it may be, despises
My doctrine, despises Me, and despises My Father”.
See then this Church, possessing all the power, all the in-
fallible authority of Christ, and understand that the absolute
submission to the Church of all your being, intelligence, will,
and energies is the only means of going to the Father.
Christianity in its true expression, only exists by means of
this absolute submission to the doctrine and laws of the
Church.
Properly speaking, this submission to the Church distin-
guishes the Catholic from the Protestant. For example, the
latter may believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist, but if he believes in it, it is because he has found
this doctrine in the scriptures and tradition, by his own
efforts and personal lights; the Catholic believes it because
the Church, which holds the place of Christ, teaches him this
1. Joan. xIv, 6; vill, 12. — 2. Ibid. xx, 21. — 3. Luc. x, 16.
doctrine. Both hold the same truth, but the manner of

holding it is different. The Protestant does not submit to
any authority; he depends only on himself; the Catholic
receives Christ with all that He has taught and founded.
Christianity is, in practice, submission to Christ in the person
of the Sovereign Pontiff and the pastors united to him:
submission of the intelligence to their teaching, submission
of the will to their commandments. This way is safe, for
Our Lord is with His Apostles until the consummation of
the world, and He has prayed for Peter and his successors
that their faith should not fail 1.
The Church is also the living continuation of Christ’s me-

diation. It is true, as I have said, that Christ, after His
death, can no longer merit”. But He is always living to
make intercession for us with His Father. I have said, too,
that it was above all in instituting the Sacraments that
Christ willed to establish the means by which, after His
Ascension, His merits would be applied to us, and His grace
given to us. But where are these Sacraments to be found ?
Tn the Church to which Our Lord committed them. ” Go”,
He said to His Apostles (and their successors), when He
was about to ascend into heaven, ” Teach ye all nations,
baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son
and of The Holy Ghost ?.” He communicated to them the
power of forgiving or retaining sins. ” Whose sins you
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you
shall retain, they are retained*+.” He gave them the mission
of renewing in His Name and in commemoration of Him,
the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood.
Do you wish to enter into the family of God, to be ad-
mitted among His children, to be incorporated with Christ ?
Go to the Church; her Baptism is the door through which
you must pass. In the same way, to obtain the pardon of
your sins, it is the Church to whom you must have re-
course *. If we wish to receive the food of our souls, we
must look for it from the priests, who, by the Sacrament of
1. Luc. xxm, 32. — 2. P. 59 sq. — 3. Matth. xxvii, 19. — 4. Joan.
xx, 23; Luc. xn, 19. — 5. Saving, of course, the case of material impos-
sibility, when perfect contrition suffices. We are speaking of the rule,
and not of exceptions, however numerous they might be. Moreover,
perfect contrition includes, at least implicitly, the resolution and desire
to have recourse to the Church.
go CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
Holy Order, have received the sacred power of dispensing

the Bread of Life; and among those who are baptised the
union between man and woman is culpable if the Church has
not consecrated it by her blessing. So, then, the official
means established by Jesus, those fountains of grace which
He has caused to spring up for us, are in the keeping of the
Church.
Lastly, Our Lord has confided to His Church, the mission

of continuing here below His work of religion.
Jesus Christ, when upon earth, offered a perfect canticle
of praise to His Father; His soul unceasingly contemplated
the Divine perfections, and from this contemplation came
forth His continual praise and adoration to the glory of His
Father. By His Incarnation, Christ associated entire hu-
manity, in principle, with this work of praise. When He left
us, He gave to His Church the charge of perpetuating, in His
Name, this praise due to His Father. Around the Mass,
the centre of all our religion, the Church organises the wor-
ship she alone has the right to offer in the name of Christ
her Spouse. She weaves a garland of prayers, formulas,
and canticles which surround the Divine Sacrifice. Through-
out the year she distributes the celebration of the mysteries
of her Spouse so that each year her children may live these
mysteries over again, render thanks for them to Jesus Christ
and His Father, and draw from them the Divine life that
these mysteries, first lived by Jesus, have merited for us. All
her worship relates to Christ. It is in leaning upon the
infinite merits of Jesus, upon His quality of universal and
ever-living Mediator, that the Church ends all her suppli-
cations: Per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum qui tecum
vivit et regnat; and in the same way, it is in passing through
Christ that all the praise and adoration of the Church ascends
to the Eternal Father and is accepted in the sanctuary of the
Trinity: Per ipsum et cum ipso et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri
omnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti omnis honor et gloria’.
Such then is the manner in which the Church, founded by

Jesus, continues His Divine work here below. The Church
is the authentic depositary of the doctrine and law of Christ,
and the distributor of His graces among men. Lastly, she
1. Ordinary of the Mass.
THE CHURCH, THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST. gI
is the Bride who, in Christ’s name, offers perfect praise to

God for ail her children.
And the Church is thus so much united to Christ, she
possesses such an abundance of His riches, that it may be
said that she is Christ living throughout the centuries.
Christ came upon earth, not only for those who lived at that
time in Palestine, but for men of all times. When He
deprived men of His sensible presence, He gave them the
Church with her doctrine, jurisdiction, Sacraments, and
worship, to be as another Christ; it is in the Church that we
can find Him. No one goes to the Father — and to go to the
Father is all salvation and all sanctity — except through
Christ: Nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per me*. But remember
well this no less important truth : no one goes to Christ
except through the Church ; we only belong to Christ if we
belong in fact or in desire to the Church. It is only in the
unity of the Church that we can live the life of Christ.
by
As you know, the Church is visible.

Her hierarchy is composed of the Sovereign Pontiff the
successor of St. Peter, the Bishops, and the pastors, who,
united to the Vicar of Christ and the Bishops, exercise their
jurisdiction over us in the name of Christ. For it is by the
intermediary of man that Christ guides and sanctifies us.
There is a profound truth here, upon which we must
dwell.
Since the Incarnation, God, in His relations with us, acts
through men; I speak of the normal, regular economy, not of
the exceptions by which God safeguards His supreme
dominion here, as in all else. For example, God could
reveal to us directly what we have to do to come to Him,
but that is not His way; He sends us to a man, certainly
infallible in the matter of faith, but still, a man like our-
selves, from whom we must hold all doctrine. In the same
way, if someone falls into sin, he may humble himself before
God in bitter grief, and perform all sorts of penances. But
without confession to a priest appointed by God as His
minister, there is no forgiveness. The most ardent and
deep contrition, the most terrible penances, do not suffice to
1. Joan. xiv, 6.
blot out a single mortal sin, if one has not the intention of
submitting to the humiliation of making known one’s sin
to this man, who. fills the place of Christ.
You see now in what the supernatural economy consists,
namely, that from all eternity God beheld the Incarnation,
and, since His Son united Himself to humanity and saved the
world by becoming Incarnate, Ged wills that it should be
through the intermediary of men similar to ourselves, weak,
as we are, that grace should be poured out upon the world.
This is a prolongation, an extension of the Incarnation. God
has drawn near to us in the Person of His Son made man,
and, since then, it is through the members of His Son that
He continues to enter into communication with our souls.
God wills by this, as it were, to exalt His Son by referring
all to His Incarnation, in thus attaching to it in such a visible
manner, and this till the end of time, the whole economy of
our salvation and sanctification.
But He has likewise established this economy so as to
make us live by faith. For there is a double element in the
Church — a human and a Divine element.
The human element is the frailty of the men who hold the
power of Christ in order to direct us. Consider how weak
St. Peter was! At the words of a servant-maid, he denies
his Master, on the very day of his priestly ordination. And
yet Christ, well knowing this frailty, founds His Church
upon him. Peter’s successors are frail: the infallibility
which they possess in the matter of faith does not give them
the privilege of not sinning. Could not Our Lord have
conferred impeccability upon them ? Certainly He could:
but He has not so willed; He has willed that our faith
should be exercised. Why is this?
Through the human element, the faithful soul discerns the
Divine element: the indefectibility of doctrine safeguarded
during all the centuries and despite all the assaults of heresies
and schisms; the unity of this same doctrine preserved by
infallible teaching ; heroic and uninterrupted holiness
manifested in so many ways; the continuous succession by
which, link by link, the Church of our days can be traced
back to the foundation established by the Apostles; the
force of universal development which characterises her ’;
these are so many certain signs by which we recognise that
THE CHURCH, THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST, 93
Our Lord is with His Church ” even to the consummation of

the world! ”.
Let us then have great confidence in this Church which
Jesus has left to us. We have the happiness of belonging
to Christ, in belonging to this society which is one, Catholic,
Apostolic and Roman. We ought to rejoice greatly, and
ever thank God for having ” translated us into the Kingdom
of the Son of His love?”. Is it not an immense assurance
to be able to draw grace and life at their authentic and
official sources, through our incorporation with the Church?
Moreover, let us give to those who have jurisdiction over
us, the obedience which Christ demands of us. This sub-
mission of our intelligence and wili must be given to God in
the person of a man, otherwise God does not accept it. Let
us give to those who govern us, above all to the Sovereign
Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, to the Bishops who are in union
with him, and who possess the lights of the Holy Spirit 3 to
guide us, that inward submission, that filial reverence, that
practical obedience which make of us true children of the
Church.
The Church is the Bride of Christ, she is our Mother; we
ought to love her because she brings us to Jesus and unites
us to Him. We ought to love and revere her doctrine,
because it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ; to love her prayer
and associate ourselves with it because it is the prayer of
the Bride of Christ, and there is none safer for us, none more
pleasing to Our Lord. In a word, we ought to attach our-
selves to the Church, to all that comes from her as we
should have been attached to the very Person of Jesus and
to all that came to us from Him, if it had been given us
to follow Him during His earthly life.
Such is the Church as a visible society. St. Paul com-
pares her to an edifice ” built upon the foundation of the
Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-
stone”. Jpso summo angulari lapide Christo Jesu*. We
live in this house of God, ” no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow-citizens with the Saints ”.
1, Matth. xxvii, 20. — 2. Col. 1, 13. — 3. Spiritus Sanctus posuit
episcopos regere Ecclesiam Det. Act. xx, 28. — 4. Ephes. 0, 19-22.
it,
Another image occurs still more frequently under the pen
of St. Paul, a more expressive image, for it is borrowed
from life itself, above all because it gives us a more profound
conception of the Church in showing the intimate relations
existing between her and Christ. These relations are
summed up in this phrase of the Apostle: the Church is a
body, of which Christ is the Head *.
Why is Christ the Head, the Chief of the Church?
Because He has the primacy. First of all, a primacy of
honour: Deus exaliavit illum et donavit illi nomen quod
est super omne nomen, ” God... hath given Him a Name
which is above all names: that in the Name of Jesus every
knee should bow?”. A primacy of authority: Data est
mihi omnis potestas. ' All power is given to Me in heaven
and in earth®””, But above all, a primacy of life, of interior
influence: Deus omnia subjecit sub pedibus ejus et ipsum
dedit caput supra omnem Ecclesiam. " He hath subjected
all things under His feet, and hath made Him head over
all the Church +”.
We are all called to live the life of Christ, but it is from
Him that we must all receive it. Christ, as I have said >,
won this primacy, this supreme power of giving grace to
” every man that cometh into this world”, by His death.
He exercises a primacy of Divine influence by being, for
every soul in a different degree, the one source of the grace
by which they live®. ” Christ”, says St. Thomas, ” has
received the fulness of grace, not only for Himself, but in
His capacity as Head of the Church’?”.
Doubtless, Christ distributes the treasures of His grace
to souls unequally; but, adds St. Thomas, it is in order that
1. Cor. xl, 12 sq. The Apostle also employs other expressions. He
says we are joined to Christ as the branches to the trunk (Rom. v1, 5.)
as the materials that make up an edifice (Ephes. m, 21-22.) but he lays
most stress on the idea of a body united to the head. — 2. Philip. 11, 9.
— 3. Matth. xxvm, 18. — 4. Ephes. 1, 22. — 5. pp. 51-52. — 6. This
divine and interior influence of Christ in the souls that form His mystical
body distinguishes this union from the purely moral union existing
between the supreme authority of a human society and the members of
this society. In the latter case the influence of the authority is exterior,
and only goes to coordinate and maintain the diverse energies of the
members towards a common end; the action of Christ in the Church
is more intimate, more penetrating, it touches the very life of souls, and
this is one of the reasons why the mystical body is not a fiction of our
reason, but a most profound reality. — 7. III, q. xLvmt, a. 1.
from this same gradation, the beauty and perfection of the

Church, His mystical body, may result!. That is the idea
of St. Paul. After having said that grace has been granted to
each ” according to the measure of the giving of Christ”:
Secundum mensuram donationis Christi ?, the Apostle enu-
merates the different graces that adorn souls, and he con-
cludes by saying that they are given” for the edifying of
the body of Christ”. There is diversity among the
members, but this very variety conduces to the harmony of
unity.
The union between Christ and His members is such that it

makes us only one with Him. To touch the Church, to touch
those who by Baptism, and their life of grace are members
of the Church, is to touch Christ Himself.
How well St. Paul understood this doctrine! With what
force he has exposed it, and how expressive are his words!
” No man”, he says, ” ever hated his own flesh; but nourish-
eth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church, because
we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones*”. And it is because we are united so closely to
Christ, forming with Him a single body, that Christ has
willed that all His work should be ours.
This is a profound truth that we ought often to have
before our eyes. Through Jesus, the Incarnate Word, all
humanity regained the friendship of God. St. Thomas
writes that in consequence of the identification established
by Christ between Him and us from the moment of the
Incarnation, the fact that Christ has suffered voluntarily
in our place and in our name, constitutes so great a good
that, for having found this good in human nature, God,
being appeased, forgets all offences in those who unite
themselves to Christ*. The satisfactions and merits of
Christ have become ours °.
Since this moment we are indissolubly associated with
Jesus Christ. In the thought of the Heavenly Father we
are one with Him. ” God”, says St. Paul, ” is rich in mercy
for... when we were dead in sins, (He) hath quickened us
together in Christ... and hath raised us up together, and hath
1. I-II, q. cxtt, a. a. — 2. Ephes. tv, 7. —3. Ibid. v, 29-30. — 4. Ill,
q. XLIX, a. 4. — 5. Caput et membra sunt quasi una persona mystica
et ideo satisfactio Christi ad omnes fideles pertinet sicut ad sua membra.
S. Thom. III, g. xiv, a. 2 ad 1.
made us sit together in the heavenly places... that He might

show in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace...
in Christ Jesus?”. In a word, He makes us live with
Christ, in Christ: CONVIVIFICAVIT nos in Christo, in order
to make us His joint-heirs. St. Thomas says that ” it is
by one same eternal act of Divine Wisdom that Christ and
ourselves have been predestinated ?”.
Oh ! if we had faith in these truths ! If we understood
what it is for us to have entered, by Baptism, into the
Church, to be, by grace, members of Christ’s mystical body!
”TLet us congratulate ourselves, let us break forth into
thanksgiving”, exclaims St. Augustine*, ” we are become
not only Christians, but Christ.” Do we understand, my
brethren, the outpouring of God’s grace upon us? Let us
wonder and thrill with gladness; we are become Christ; He
the Head, we the members; the total man, He and our-
selves. CHRISTUS facti SUMUS; si enim caput ille, nos mem-
bra; totus homo, ille et nos... Who is the Head, and who
are the members? Christ andthe Church. The great doctor
continues: ’” This would be a pretention of foolish pride,
if Christ Himself had not deigned to promise us this glory
when, by the mouth of His Apostle Paul, He said: You
are the body of Christ and His members. ”
Yes, let us thank Jesus Christ for associating us so
intimately with His life; all is common to us in Him: merits,
interests, all the riches of grace, beatitude, glory. Let us
henceforward be members who do not condemn ourselves,
by sin, to become dead members. But rather, by the grace
which comes from Him, by our virtues modelled upon His,
by our holiness which is only a participation in His, let us
be members full of supernatural life and beauty, members
in whom Christ may be glorified.
And since ” we are all one in Christ”, since, under the
same Head, we all live the same life of grace under the
action of the same Spirit, although each member has a
different function, let us remain united among ourselves,
united also with those holy souls who, in Heaven as glorious
Tt. Mphes: Il, 4-75 cl. Rom: Vi, 4.5 Col, iiea2-135)— 12.) cee v Cum uno
et eodem actu Deus praedestinaverit ipsum et nos. III, q. XXIV, a. 4. —
3. Tract. in Joan, xxi, 8-9. And in another place: Secum nos faciens
unum hominem caput et corpus. — Enarrat. in Ps. LXxxv, c. 1. And
again: Unus homo caput et corpus, unus homo Christus et Ecclesia, vir
perfectus. — Enarrat. in Ps. xvi, c. 10.
members and in Purgatory as suffering members, form with

us but one body: Ut unum sint. This is the consoling
dogma of the Communion of Saints.
With St. Paul, the ” Saints” are those who belong to
Christ, whether having received the crown, they already have
their place in the eternal Kingdom, or whether they are still
fighting here below. But all these members belong to a
single body, for the Church is one. They have solidarity
with one another, all is common among them. ”If one
member suffer anything, all the members suffer with it; or
if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it?”.
The good of one member profits the entire body, and the
glory of the body reflects on each of its members”. What
a perspective this thought opens out upon our responsibili-
ties!... What an ardent source of apostolate! Therefore
St. Paul exhorts each of us to labour until we attain to the
perfection of the mystical body: Donec occurramus omnes
in virum perfectum, im mensuram aetatis plenitudinis
Christi *.
For this it is necessary that we not only remain united
to Christ Who is the Head, but also that we should be most
careful ” to keep the unity of the Spirit (the Spirit of love)
in the bond of peace.” Solliciti servare unitatem Spiritus
in vinculo pacts *.
This was the supreme wish of Christ at the moment of
achieving His mission here below: ” That they all may be
one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee... that they may
be made perfect inone’”. ” For”, says St. Paul, ” you are
all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus... there is
neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free*”.
We are all one in Christ. Unity in God, in Christ, and
through Christ, that is the ultimate term: ” that God may
Dealt anal 77"
St. Paul, who puts the union of Christ and His Church in
such strong relief, could not fail to tell us something of the
final glory of the mystical body of Jesus. He tells us &,
that on the day fixed by the Divine decrees, when the
1. I Cor. xu, 26. — 2. Sicut in corpore naturali operatio unius membri
cedit in bonum totius corporis, ita et in corpore spirituali sctlicet Eccle-
sia, quia omnes fideles sunt unum corpus, bonum unius altert communica-
tur. S. Thom. Opusc. vu. Expositio Symboli. c. xu; cf. I-II, q. xx1,
a. 3. — 3. Ephes. 1v, 13. — 4. Ephes. Iv, 3. — 5. Joan. xvi, 21-23. —
6. Gal. m1, 26. — 7. I Cor. xv, 28. — 8. Ibid. 24-28.
mystical body will have arrived ” unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ”, then will
dawn the triumph which is to consecrate for ever the union
of the Church and of its Head. Associated until then so
intimately with the life of Jesus, the Church now completed
will be glorified with Him*. The Resurrection triumphs
over death, the last enemy to be overcome; then the elect,
being all at last united under their Divine Head, Christ, He
will present to His Father this society, no longer imperfect,
nor militant in the midst of miseries, temptations and
struggles;no longer suffering the fire of expiation, but
henceforth transfigured and glorious in ail its members.
What a grand sight it will be to see Jesus Christ offer
to the Eternal Fathel these glorious and innumerable tro-
phies, proclaiming the power of His grace, the kingdom won
by His Blood shining with purest splendour, fruit of the
Divine life which flows full and inebriating in each of the
Saints!
We can well understand how, in the Apocalypse, St. John,
having foreseen some of these marvels and these joys, com-
pares them, after the example of Jesus Himself, to a
marriage feast, ’ the marriage of the Lamb?”. We can
well understand too, how, in order to bring to a fitting close
this mysterious description of the heavenly Jerusalem, the
same Apostle repeats the ardent aspiration that Christ and
the Church, the Bridegroom and the Bride, ceaselessly repeat
to each other while avaiting the hour of final consummation
and perfect union: ” Come!” *
1.1] Tim. m, 12; Rom. vu, 17. — 2. Matth. xx, 2; Apoc. xIxX, 9.
— 3. Apoc. XXII, 16-17.
VI. — THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF
JESUS.
Summary. — The doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit completes

the exposition of the Divine Plan: capital importance of
this subject. — I. The Holy Spirit in the Trinity : He
proceeds from the Father and the Son through love ; the
work of sanctification is appropriated to Him because it is
a work of love, of achievement and union. — JI. Operations
of the Holy Spirit in Christ: Jesus is conceived by the Holy
Spirit ; sanctifying grace, virtues and gifts bestowed upon
the Soul of Christ; The human activity of Christ directed
by the Holy Spirit. — I. Operations of the Holy Spirit in
the Church ; the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church. —
IV. The action of the Holy Spirit in the souls He dwells
in. — V. In particular, the doctrine of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. — V1. Our devotion to the Holy Spirit: to invoke
Him and be faithful to His inspirations.
Among the books of the Sacred Scriptures, we have

under the title of the Acts of the Apostles the history of the
first days of the Church. This account, due to the pen of
St. Luke, who witnessed many of the facts he relates, is full
of charm and life. We see in it how the Church, founded
by Jesus upon the Apostles, developed in Jerusalem, and
then extended gradually beyond Judea, chiefly owing to the
preaching of St. Paul. The greater part of this book records
the missions, labours and struggles of the great Apostle.
Weare able to follow him in nearly every stage of his evan-
gelical career. These pages taken from life reveal to us
what incessant tribulations St. Paul endured, what number-
less difficulties he encountered, the adventures that befell
him, the sufferings he bore during the many journeys he
undertook for the spreading abroad of the name and glory
of Jesus.
It is recounted in these Acts that when, in the course of

his missions, St. Paul came to Ephesus, he met there with
some disciples and asked them: ” Have you received the
Holy Ghost since ye believed?” The disciples replied:
We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy

Ghost 7”.
We are certainly not ignorant of the existence of the
Holy Ghost. Yet how many Christians there are nowadays
who only know His name and hardly anything of His work
in souls!’ However the Divine economy cannot be perfectly
conceived unless we have as clear an idea as possible of what
the Holy Ghost is for us.
In almost every text where St. Paul exposes the eternal
designs concerning our supernatural adoption, and whenever
he speaks of grace or of the Church, he speaks at the same
time of ” the Spirit of God”, ” the Spirit of Christ ” or ” the
Spirit of Jesus”. ” We have received the Spirit of the
adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba (Father)?! ” God
hath sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts” so that we
may call God our Father*. ’Know you not”, he says else-
where, ” that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you+” ? And again : ” Know you not
that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost who is
in you”: An nescitis quoniam membra vestra templum sunt
Spiritus Sancti, qui in vobis est®. It is in Christ that all
the well ordered edifice is raised to form a holy temple in
the Lord; it is in Him that we are to be made, through the
Holy Spirit, a temple which God inhabits ®. So that as we
form but one body in Christ, so we are all animated by one
Spirit: Unum corpus et unus Spiritus’. The presence of
this Spirit in our souls is so necessary that St. Paul says :
’”Tf any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His”, Si quis Spiritum Christi non habet, hic non est ejus *.
You now understand why the Apostle, who longed for
nothing so much as to see Christ live in the souls of his
disciples, asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost.
It was because they only are God’s children, in Jesus Christ,
who are led by the Spirit of God: Quicumque enim Spiritu
Dei aguntur, hi sunt filu Det.
We shall only perfectly grasp the mystery of Christ and

the economy of our sanctification, if we fix our attention
upon this Divine Spirit and His action within us. We have
1. Act. xix, 2, — 2. Rom. vm, 15. — 3. Gal. 1v, 6. — 4. I Cor. m,
16. — 5. Ibid. v1, 19. — 6. Ephes. 11, 21-22. —7. Ibid. 1v, 4. — 8. Rom.
Vill, 9.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. IOI
seen that the aim of all our life is to enter with great humility
into God’s thoughts and to adapt ourselves to them as
perfectly as possible with childlike simplicity. These
thoughts being divine, their efficacy is intrinsically absolute.
They infallibly produce fruits of sanctification, if we accept
them with faith and love. Now, to enter into the Divine
Plan, we must not only receive Christ+, but, as St. Paul
points out, we must also ” receive the Holy Spirit” and be
submissive to His action so as to be ” one with Christ ”.
Consider Our Lord Himself. In that wonderful discourse
after the Last Supper, when He reveals to those He
calls His ” friends” the secrets of the Eternal life He brings
them, He speaks of the Holy Spirit almost as often as He
does of His Father. He tells them that this Spirit will take
His place amongst them when He shall have ascended into
Heaven; that this Spirit will be for them the Master of
their inner life, a Master so necessary that Jesus Himself
prays to His Father that this Spirit may be given to them
and may abide in them.
And why should our Divine Saviour have been so intent
on speaking of the Holy Spirit at this solemn hour and have
done so in such pressing words, if what He tells us was to
remain for us as a dead letter ? Would it not be to do Him
a wrong and at great detriment to ourselves, if we were to
pass over in silence a mystery so vital for us? ?
I will therefore try to show you, as clearly as I can, what
the Holy Spirit is in Himself in the Adorable Trinity; —
His action over the sacred Humanity of Christ; — and the
ceaseless benefits He brings to the Church and to souls.
We shall thus complete the exposition of the Divine
economy considered in itself.
1.Joan. 1, 12, — 2. In his Encyclical upon the Holy Spirit (Divinum
illud munus, May gth 1897), Leo XIII, of glorious memory, bitterly
deplores that “Christians have only a very poor knowledge of the Holy
Ghost. They often use His name in their spiritual exercises, but their
faith is encompassed with great darkness.” The great Pontiff likewise
energetically insists that " all preachers and those who have charge of
souls, should consider it as a duty to teach the people carefully and at
length, diligentius atque uberius, concerning the Holy Ghost.” Doubtless
he wishes "all subtle controversy to be avoided as well as all rash
attempt to pry into the deep nature of the mystery,” but it is also his
wish ” that the many and great benefits the Divine Giver has brought
and ever brings to our souls should be recalled and clearly shown forth;
for error or ignorance concerning these great and fruitful mysteries
(error and ignorance unworthy of children of light), ought totally to
disappear :" prorsus depellatur.
Without doubt, this subject is a very deep one, and we

ought only to treat of it with profound reverence ; but since
Our Lord has revealed it to us, our faith ought also to con-
sider it with love and confidence. Let us humbly ask the
Holy Spirit Himself to enlighten our souls with a ray of
His divine light. He will assuredly hear our prayer.
I.
All we know about the Holy Ghost is what has been
taught us by Revelation. And what has it taught us?
It belongs to the Infinite Essence to be one God in Three
Persons: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. That is the
mystery of the Holy Trinity?. Faith confesses in God both
unity of nature and distinction of Persons.
The Father, in knowing Himself, declares and expresses
this knowledge in the Infinite Word; this act is simple and
eternal; and the Son, begotten of the Father, is like and
equal to Him, because the Father communicates to the Son
His nature, life and perfections.
The Father and Son are drawn to one another by a
common and mutual love: the Father is of such absolute per-
fection and beauty, the Son is so perfect an image of His
Father ! Thus each gives Himself to the other, and this
mutual love which springs from the Father and the Son as
from one source is, in God, a subsisting love, a Person
distinct from the other two Persons, named the Holy Ghost.
This name is mysterious, but Revelation gives us no other.
The Holy Ghost is the ultimate term in the interior opera-
tions of the Divine life: He achieves, if we may thus lisp in
speaking of such mysteries, the cycle of intimate activity in
the Holy Trinity. But like the Father and the Son, He is
God; He possesses, like Them and with Them, one and the
same Divine nature, equal knowledge, equal power, equal
majesty, equal goodness.
This Divine Spirit is named Holy1, He is the Spirit of

Holiness; holy in Himself, He makes holy. In announcing
x. Fides autem catholica haec est: ut unum Deum in Trinitate et
Trinitatem in unitate veneremur... neque confundentes personas, neque
substantiam separantes. Creed attributed to St. Athanasius. — 2. See
above p. 10, note 1, what we have said of sanctity in the Holy Trinity
a8 the reason for which, according to St. Thomas, the Spirit is named
holy.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. 103
the mystery of the Incarnation, the Angel said to the Virgin:

” The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,... and therefore
also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God”, Ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, voca-
bitur Filius Dei*. Works of sanctification are especially
attributed to the Holy Spirit. To understand this and all
that will be said of the Holy Spirit, I must explain briefly
what is called in theology appropriation.
As you know, there is in God, only one intelligence, only
one will, only one power, because there is only one Divine
nature; but also there is distinction of persons. This dis-
tinction results from the mysterious operations that are
accomplished in the intimate life of God and from the
mutual relations derived from these operations. The Father
begets the Son, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father
and the Son. ” To beget, to be a Father”, is the exclusive
property of the First Person; ” to be Son” is the personal
property of the Son, as ” to proceed from the Father and the
Son by way of love”, is the personal property of the Holy
Ghost. These personal properties establish the mutual rela-
tions between the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, from
whence the distinction arises. But setting apart these pro-
perties and these relations, all is common to the Three
Persons and indivisible among them: the same intelligence,
the same will, the same power, the same majesty, because
the same indivisible Divine nature is common to the Three
Persons. That is what we may know of the intimate
operations in God.
As to what concerns the ” exterior” works, the actions
accomplished outside God, whether in the material world, as
the action of directing every creature towards its end, or in
the world of souls, such as the action of producing grace,
these are common to the three Divine Persons. Why so ?
Because the source of these operations, works and actions is
the Divine nature and this Divine nature is, for the Three
Persons, one and indivisible; the Holy Trinity acts in the
world as one and the same Cause. But it is God’s will that
men should confess and honour not only the Divine Unity
but also the Trinity of Persons. That is why the Church,
for example in her liturgy, attributes to one or other of the
ABU es 10 ey
. 104 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
Divine Persons certain actions which are produced in the

world and, although common to the Three Persons, have a
special relation or an intimate affinity with the place, if I
may so speak, which this Person occupies in the Holy Trinity
and with the attributes which are particularly and exclusively
His own.
Thus, the Father being the source, origin and principle of
the two other Persons — without this implying either hierar-
chical superiority or priority of time — the works produced
in the world that especially manifest power or the character
of origin are attributed to the Father. For example, the
creation by which God drew the universe out of nothing.
We sing in the Credo: "TI believe in God the Father Al-
mighty, Creator of Heaven and earth”. Had therefore the
Father a greater part, did He manifest more power in this
work than the Son and Holy Ghost ? No, it would be an
error to suppose so; the Son and the Holy Ghost acted in
this as much as the Father, for God works eternally by His
almighty power, and almighty power is common to the Three
Persons. Why then does Holy Church speak after this
manner ? Because in the Holy Trinity, the Father is the
first Person, the Principle without principle, whence proceeds
the two other Persons. This is His exclusive personal prop-
erty distinguishing Him from the Son and Holy Ghost, and
it is in order that we may not forget this property that the
” exterior” actions which, by affinity of nature, place it in
relief, are attributed to the Father.
It is the same for the Person of the Son. He is, in the Holy
Trinity, the Word proceeding from the Father by way of
intelligence; He is the Infinite expression of the Divine
Thought; He is above all considered as Eternal Wisdom.
That is why those works in which wisdom especially shines
forth are attributed to Him.
It is again the same for the Holy Ghost. What is He in
the Holy Trinity? He is the ultimate term of the Divine
operations, of the life of God in Himself; He closes, so to
speak, the cycle of the intimate Divine life: it is His personal
property to proceed from both the Father and the Son by
way of love. This is why, ali that is a work of achievement,
of perfection, all that is a work of love, of union and conse-
quently of holiness — for our holiness is measured by our
degree of union with God — is attributed to the Holy Ghost.
Is it because He sanctifies more than the Father and the

Son? No, the work of our sanctification is common to the
Three Divine Persons; but, once again, as the work of
sanctification in the soul is a work of perfecting, of achieve-
ment and union, it is attributed to the Holy Ghost because in
this way we more easily remember what are His personal
properties so as to honour and adore Him in that which
distinguishes Him from the Father and the Son.
God wills that we should have it as much at heart to honour
His Trinity of Persons as to adore His unity of Nature, and
therefore He wills that the Church even in her language,
should recall to the minds of her children not only that there
is but one God but also that He is in Three Persons.
This is what is called appropriation. It is founded on
Revelation; it is employed by the Church’; it has for its
aim to place in relief the attributes proper to each Divine
Person. In doing this, it makes these properties known to
us and makes us love them more. St. Thomas says it is to
help our faith that the Church, following Revelationin this,
observes the law of appropriation: Ad manifestationem
fidei. During all eternity, our life, our beatitude will be
to contemplate God, to love and enjoy Him, as He truly is,
that is to say in the Unity of His nature and the Trinity of
His Persons. What is there astonishing in the fact that God,
Who predestines us to this life and prepares this beatitude
for us, should will that, even here below, we should remember
His Divine perfections as much those of His nature as the
properties that distinguish the Persons. God is infinite and
worthy of praise in His Unity, He is equally so in His
Trinity; and the Divine Persons are as admirable in the unity
of nature which they possess in an indivisible manner, as in
the relations they have with each other and on which their
distinction is founded.
” Almighty God, Eternal God, Blessed God, I rejoice in
Thy Almighty Power, Thy Eternity and Thy Blessedness.
When shall I behold Thee, O Principle without principle!
When shall I behold Thy Son, equal to Thyself, coming
forth from Thy bosom! When shall I behold Thy Holy
Spirit proceeding from this union, being the term of Thy
fruitfulness and consummating Thy Eternal action®” !
1. In his Encyclical letter of May 9th 1897, Leo XIII says how aptly
this is done by the Church, aptissime. — 2 I, q. XXXIX, a. 7. — 3. Bos-
suet, Preparation for Death, 4th prayer.
II.
You will now have no difficulty in understanding the
language of the Scriptures and of the Church when they
speak of the operations of the Holy Ghost.
Let us first consider these operations in Our Lord. Let
us reverently approach the Divine Person of Jesus Christ
that we may contemplate something of the marvels realised
in Him, in the Incarnation and since the Incarnation.
As I have said to you when explaining this mystery, the
Holy Trinity created a soul. which it united to a human body
so as to form one human nature, and united this human
nature to the Divine Person of the Word. The Three Divine
Persons concurred together in this ineffable work, although
it is necessary to add immediately that it had for its final
term, the Word alone; only the Word, the Son, became
Incarnate*. This work is then due to the entire Trinity, but
it is especially attributed to the Holy Ghost; and this is
what we say in the Creed: ” I believe... in Jesus Christ our
Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost...” The Credo
only repeats the words of the Angel to the Virgin: ” The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee... and therefore also the
Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God”.
You will perhaps ask why this special attribution to the
Holy Spirit ? Because, among other reasons given by
St. Thomas ?, the Holy Spirit is substantial love, the love
of the Father and the Son; now if the Redemption through
the Incarnation is a work of which the fulfilment demanded
infinite wisdom, it has however its first cause in God’s love
for us. “God so loved the world”, Jesus Himself told us,
“as to give His only begotten Son”: Sic Deus dilexit mun-
dum ut Filium suum Unigenitum daret ®.
And think how fruitful and wonderful the virtue of the
Holy Spirit is in Christ! Not only does He unite the human
nature to the Word but to Him is attributed the effusion of
sanctifying grace in the soul of Jesus.
In Jesus Christ there‘are two distinct natures, both perfect,
but united in the Person who embraces them, i. e. the Word.
_ 1. To employ an image given by certain Fathers of the Church, a person
in putting on his vestments is helped in this action by two other persons;
all three concur in the accomplishment of this action, but only one is
adorned in these vestments. This image is necessarily only an imperfect
comparison. — 2. III, q. xxx, a. 1. — 3. Joan. m, 16.
It is the ” grace of union” that causes human nature to

subsist in the Divine Person of the Word; this grace is of
an altogether unique, transcendent and incommunicable
order; through it, the humanity of Christ belongs to the
Word; it has become the humanity of the true Son of God
and the object of the Eternal Father’s infinite delight. But
the human nature, while being thus united to the Word, is
not annihilated and does not remain in immobility: it retains
its essence, its integrity, as likewise its energies and ca-
pacities; it is capable of action; now, it is ” sanctifying
grace” that raises this human nature so that it can act
supernaturally.
To state the same idea in other terms, the grace of hypos-
tatic union unites the human nature to the Person of. the
Word and thus renders everything divine in Christ; Christ és
by this grace a divine ” subject”; this is the work of the
grace of union of which the character is unique. But it is
befitting that this human nature should also be adorned
with ” sanctifying grace” in order to operate divinely in each
of its faculties. This sanctifying grace which is connatural
to the ” grace of union”, (that is to say which is derived
from the grace of union in a manner as it were natural)
places the soul of Christ in the state befitting its union with
the Word ?; this is done in such a way that the human nature
— which subsists in the Word by virtue of the ” grace of
union ” — can act as befits a soul raised to so eminent a
dignity, and can produce Divine fruit.
And that is why this sanctifying grace has not been given
to the soul of Christ in a limited measure as it is with the
elect, but carried to its highest degree: Et vidimus eum PLE-
NUM GRATIAE. Now the pouring forth of this sanctifying
grace in the soul of Christ is attributed to the Holy Spirit *.
1. Gratia habitualis Christi tntelligitur ut consequens unionem hypos-
taticam, sicut splendor solem. S. Thom. III, q. vu, a. 13. — 2. There-
fore, in Christ, the effect of the ” grace of union” of which the object is
the union of the human nature with the Person of the Word, is different
from the effect of ”sanctifying grace”; the latter gives the capacity of
acting supernaturally to this human nature, which remains (even after the
union with the Word is accomplished) integral in its essence and faculties.
Therefore this sanctifying grace, being distinct from the grace of union,
is not superfluous, as might appear at first sight. (S. Thom. II, q. vu,
a. 1 a 13.) Cf. Schwalm, Le Christ d’aprés S. Thomas d’Aquin.
It is also to be observed that the " grace of union” is only to be found
in Christ, whilst sanctifying grace is likewise in the souls of the just.
In Christ sanctifving grace is in all its fulness and it is of this fulness
that all receive it in a more or less extensive measure. But it is above
At the same time, the Holy Spirit has poured forth on the
soul of Jesus the fulness of the virtues? and the fulness of
His gifts: Et requiescet super eum Spiritus Domim*. Hear
what Isaias sang of the Virgin and of the Christ Who was
to be born of her: ” There shall come forth a rod out of
the root of Jesse (that is the Virgin) and a flower shall rise
up out of his root (Christ). And the Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and of under-
standing, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit
of knowledge and of godliness. And He shall be filled with
the spirit of the fear of the Lord.”
In a remarkable circumstance related by St. Luke, Our
Lord applied to Himself this text of the prophet. You
know that at the time of Christ, the Jews assembled in the
synagogue on the Sabbath day; a doctor of the law chosen
from among those present, took the scroll of the Scriptures
to read the part of the sacred text appointed for that day.
St. Luke relates how, one Sabbath day, Our Divine Lord,
then at the beginning of His public life, entered the syn-
agogue of Nazareth. The book of the Prophet Isaias was
given into His hands and, having unfolded it, He found the
place where it was written: ” The Spirit of the Lord is upon
Me, wherefore He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the contrite of heart, to
preach deliverance to the captives... to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord.” Having folded the book, He restored it
and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were
fixed upon Him. Then He said to them: ” This day is
fulfilled this scripture in your ears *”. Our Lord made His
own the words of Isaias which compared the action of the
Holy Spirit to an unction*. The grace of the Holy Spirit is
poured forth upon Jesus, like an oil of gladness which first
anointed Him Son of God and the Messias, and then filled
Him with the plenitude of His gifts and the abundance of
divine treasures: Unzxit ie Deus oleo laetitiae prae consor-
all necessary to observe that Christ is not the adoptive Son of God such
as we become by sanctifying grace. He is the Son of God by nature.
In us, sanctifying grace establishes divine adoption; in Christ, the
function of sanctifying grace is to act in such a way that the human
nature of Christ — once united to the Person of the Word by the grace of
union and become, by this same grace, the Humanity of the very Son
of God — is able to work in a supernatural manner.
1. See above p. 36. — 2. Isa. x1, 2. —3. Luc. tv, 16 a sq. — 4. In the
Liturgy (Hymn Veni Creator Spiritus) the Holy Spirit is called Spi-
ritalis unctio,
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. 10g
tibus tuts*. It was at the very moment of the Incarnation

that this blessed unction was conferred: and it was to signify
this, to manifest it to the Jews, to proclaim that He is the
Messias, the Christ, that is to say the Lord’s Anointed, that
the Holy Spirit visibly descended upon Jesus under the form
of a dove on the day of His baptism when the Incarnate
Word was about to begin His public life. It was indeed by
this sign that Christ was to be recognised as was declared by
His Precursor, St. John the Baptist: ’” He upon Whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending... He it is that baptizeth with
the Holy Ghost ?”.
From this moment, the Evangelists show us that in all
things the Soul of Christ is directed by the Holy Spirit and
His activity inspired by Him. It is the Holy Spirit Who
leads Him into the desert to be tempted : Ductus est in
desertum a Spiritu ut tentaretur a diabolo*. After His
sojourn in the desert it is ” in the power of the Spirit *” that
He returns into Galilee; by the action of this same Spirit,
He casts out devils from the bodies of those possessed *; it
is under the action of the Holy Spirit that He rejoices when
He thanks His Father for revealing His Divine secrets to
little ones: In ipsa hora exsultavit Spiritu Sancto*®. Finally,
St. Paul tells us that in the chief work of Christ, the one
in which His love for His Father and for us shines out —
namely His bloody sacrifice upon the cross for the salvation
of the world — it was by the Holy Ghost Christ offered
Himself: Quit per Spiritum Sanctum semetipsum obtulit
immaculatum Deo.
What do all these revelations show? That in Christ, the
human activity was directed by the Spirit of love. The One
Who acts is Christ, the Incarnate Word. All His actions
are the actions of the one Person of the Word in Whom the
human nature subsists; but it is under the inspiration, by the
promptings. of the Holy Spirit, that Christ acted. The
human soul of Jesus had, through the grace of the hypostatic
union, become the soul of the Word; it was filled like to
none other with sanctifying grace, and lastly, it acted under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
And this is why all the actions of Christ Jesus were holy.
1. Ps. xtiv, 5. Cf. Act. x, 38: Jesum a Nazareth, quomodo unxit eum
Deus Spivitu Sancto. See also Matth. xu, 18. — 2. Joan. 1, 33. —
3. Matth. rv, 1. — 4. Luc. tv, 14. — 5. Matth. xu, 28. — 6. Luc, x,21.
— 7. Hebr. 1x, 14.
IIo CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
Certainly His soul is created, like every soul; but it is

all-holy, first because it is united to the Word; it is thus
constituted, from the first moment of the Incarnation, in a
state of union with a Divine Person which makes it not
merely the soul of a saint, but of the Saint of saints, the
very Son of God: Quod nascetur ex te sanctum vocabitur
Filius Dei. It is holy too, because it is adorned with
sanctifying grace which makes it capable of acting super-
naturally, and in a manner worthy of the supreme union
which constitutes its inalienable privilege. In fine, it is holy
because all its actions, all its operations, although being and
remaining the actions of the one Incarnate Word, are
wrought through the movement, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Holiness.
Let us adore these marvels produced in Christ: the Holy
Spirit renders holy the being and activity of Christ; and
because, in Christ, this holiness attains the supreme degree,
because all human holiness is to be modelled upon it and
must be subject to it, the Church sings daily: Tu solus
sanctus, Jesu Christe, ” Thou only art holy”, O Christ Jesus.
Only Thou art holy because only Thou art by Thy Incarna-
tion the true Son of God; only holy, because Thou possessest
sanctifying grace in its fulness that so Thou mayest distribute
it to us; only holy because Thy soul was infinitely docile to -
the promptings of the Spirit of Love Who inspired and ruled
all Thy movements, all Thy acts and made them pleasing to
Thy Father: Et requiescet super eum Spiritus Domini.
Il.
These marvels which were operated in Christ under the
inspiration of the Spirit, are reproduced in us, at least in
part, when we allow ourselves to be guided by this Divine
Spirit. But do we possess this Spirit ? Yes, without any
doubt.
Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus promised His dis-
ciples that He would ask the Father to give them the Holy
Spirit. He made the gift of this Spirit to our souls the
object of a special prayer: Rogabo Patrem, et alium Pa-
rachitum dabit vobis, Spiritum veritatist. And you know
how the prayer of Jesus was granted and how abundantly
1. Joan. xiv, 16, 17.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. Tit
the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles on the day of

Pentecost. This marvel marked, as it were, the taking
possession of the Church, Christ’s mystical body, by the
Divine Spirit. We may say that if Christ is the Chief, the
Head of the Church, the Holy Spirit is the soul of it. It is
the Holy Spirit Who guides and inspires the Church, keeping
her, as Jesus said, in the truth of Christ and in the light He
has brought to us: Docebit vos omnem veritatem et suggeret
vobis omnia quaecumque dixero vobis }.
This action of the Holy Spirit in the Church is varied
and manifold. I have said above that Christ was anointed
the Messias and High Priest by an ineffable unction of the
Holy Spirit; all those whom Christ wills to make par-
ticipants of His priestly power that so they may continue
here below His sanctifying mission, are made partakers of it
by the unction of the Holy Spirit: Accipite Spiritum Sanc-
tum... Spiritus Sanctus posuit episcopos regere Ecclesiam
Dei?. It is the Holy Spirit who speaks by their mouth and
gives value to their testimony *. In the same way, the au-
thentic means that Christ has given to His ministers, whereby
they may transmit life to souls, namely the Sacraments, are
never conferred without the Holy Spirit being invoked. It
is He Who fructifies the waters of baptism ‘ ; it is necessary
to ” be born again of water and the Holy Ghost to enter into
the Kingdom of God*”; St. Paul says that God saves us
” by the laver of regeneration” in renewing us by the Holy
Ghost *. In Confirmation, the Holy Ghost is ” given” to be
the unction which is to make the Christian a valiant soldier
of Jesus Christ; it is the Holy Ghost Who, in this sacra-
ment, gives us the fulness of the state of Christian and
clothes us in Christ’s own strength. It is to the Holy Ghost,
as is especially shown in the Eastern liturgy, that the change
is attributed whereby the bread and wine become the Body
and Blood of Christ. Sins are forgiven, in the Sacrament
of penance, by the Holy Ghost’. In Extreme Unction, He
is besought that His grace may cure the sick of their languors
1. Joan. xiv, 26. — 2. Ibid. xx, 22; Act. xx, 28. — 3. Joan. XV, 26;
Act. Xv, 28; xx, 22-28. — 4. See further on, the conference on Baptism.
— 5. Joan. m, 5. — 6. Tit. m1, 5. — 7. Joan. xx, 22-23. Spiritus Sancti
proprium est quod sit donum Patris et Filii ;remissio autem peccatorum
fit per Spiritum Sanctum tamquam per donum Dei. S. Thom. III, q. Il
a. 8, ad 3. The missal likewise says: Ipse Spiritus Sanctus est remis-
sto omnium peccatorum. Feria III after Pentecost. See also the post-
communion of the prayer pro petitione lacrymarum. (Orationes diversae.)
II2 - CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
and sins. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the Holy Ghost

is invoked in order that the Christian bridegroom and bride
may, by their lives, imitate the union that exists between
Christ-and the Church.
Do you not see how full of life, how penetrating and con-
stant, is the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church? Yes, He
is indeed, as St. Paul says, ” the Spirit of Life*”’, a truth the
Church repeats in her Credo when she chants her faith in
’the Holy Ghost... the life-giver”: Credo... in Spiritum
Sanctum... VIVIFICANTEM; He is truly the soul of the
Church, He is the vital principle animating and governing
her, uniting all her members one with another and giving
them spiritual strength and beauty *.
In the first days of the Church’s existence, this action was
much more visible than in our own days; it entered into
the designs of Providence, for it was necessary that the
Church should be firmly established by manifesting, in the
sight of the pagan world, striking signs of the Divinity of
her Founder, of her origin and mission. These signs, the
fruits of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, were wonderful.
We marvel when we read the account of the beginnings of
the Church. The Holy Spirit descended upon those who
through baptism were made Christ’s disciples. He filled
them with miraculous gifts as numerous as they were as-
tonishing: graces of miracles, gifts of prophecy, gifts of
tongues and many other extraordinary favours granted to
the first Christians in order that the Church, adorned with
such an abundance of eminent gifts, might be recognised as
the true Church of Jesus. Read in St. Paul’s first letter to
the Corinthians how the great Apostle rejoices in enumera-
ting these marvels of which he was himself a witness; and at
almost each enumeration of these various gifts, he adds: but
it is “the same Spirit ” Who is the source of them, because
He is Love and love is the principle of all these gifts. In
eodem Spiritu®. He it is Who makes fruitful this Church
which Jesus has redeemed by His blood that it might ” be
holy and without blemish *”.
1. Rom. vil, 2. — 2. See the note at the end of this conference. —
SpeCOr, (At, 1G, — 4. Ephes. v, 27.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS, II3
IV.
If the visible and extraordinary character of the effects
of the workings of the Holy Spirit have in great part dis-
appeared, the action of this Divine Spirit ever continues in
souls and is not the less wonderful for now being chiefly
interior.
I have told you that holiness for us is nothing else than
the complete unfolding, the full development of that first
grace of our divine adoption, that grace given at baptism
by which we become children of God and brethren of Christ
Jesus. The substance of all holiness is to draw from this
initial grace of adoption all the treasures and graces which
it contains and that God causes to flow from it. Christ is the
Model of our divine filiation. He has moreover merited that
it should be given to us, and He Himself has established the
means whereby it should come to us.
But the fruition within us of this grace, rendered possible
by Jesus, is the work of the Holy Trinity ; it is however,
and not without motive, especially attributed to the Holy
Spirit. Why is this ? Always for the same reason. This
grace of adoption is purely gratuitous and has its source in
love: Videte qualem caritatem dedit nobis Pater ut Filii
Dei nominemur et simus1. Now, in the adorable Trinity,
the Holy Spirit is substantial love. St. Paul tells us that
” the charity of God” (that is to say the grace that makes us
children of God) ” is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost”: Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per
Spiritum Sanctum, qui datus est nobis ?.
And' from the moment of the infusion of grace in us by
baptism, the Holy Ghost abides in us with the Father and
the Son. ” If anyone love Me, he will keep My Word, and
My Father will love him, and We will come to him and will
make our abode with him”, Ad eum veniemus et MANSIO-
NEM apud eum faciemus*. Grace makes our soul the temple
of the Holy Trinity. Our soul adorned with grace is truly
the abode of God ; He dwells within us, not merely as He
does in all things, by His essence and His power, by which
He sustains and preserves every creature in existence, but
in an altogether special and intimate manner as being the
1. I Joan, m1, 1. — 2. Rom. v, 5. — 3. Joan. xiv, 23.
object of supernatural knowledge and love. And because

grace thus unites us to God, because it is the principle and
measure of our charity, it is especially the Holy Spirit who
is said ” to dwell within us”, not in a manner that is per-
sonal to Him to the exclusion of the Father and the Son, but
because He proceeds through love and it is He who unites
the Father and the Son: Apud vos manebit et in vobis
erit, said Our Lord}. Every man, even a sinner, still
possesses in himself the vestiges of divine power and wis-
dom ; the just alone, those who are in a state af grace, are
partakers of the supernatural charity which is like the
exclusive sign of the Holy Spirit. This is why St. Paul,
speaking to the faithful, says to them: ” Know you not
that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who
is in you, Whom you have from God” ? An nescttis quo-
niam membra vestra templum sunt Spiritus Sancti qui in
vobis est, quem habetis a Deo? ?
And what is it this Divine Spirit does in our souls ? For

being God, being Love, He does not remain inactive. First
of all, He gives testimony that we are the children of God :
Ipse Spiritus testimonium reddit spiriiui nostro, quod sumus
fil Dei*® ; He is the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Holiness,
Whose will it is, because He loves us, to give us a share in
His holiness that we may be true and worthy children of
God.
With sanctifying grace which, so to speak, deifies our
nature and renders it capable of acting supernaturally, the
Holy Spirit places within us forces, ” habits’, which raise
the faculties of the soul to a divine level. These are the
supernatural virtues, above all the theological virtues of
faith, hope and charity, which are, properly speaking, the
virtues characteristic of our state as children of God ; next
there are the infused moral virtues which help us in the
combat against the obstacles that are opposed to the develop-
ment of the divine life within us.
Lastly there are the gifts : Dona Spiritus Sancti. Let us
stay a few moments to consider them. Our Divine Saviour,
Who is our Model, received them, as we have seen, but in a
transcendent and eminent manner. The measure of the gifts
in us is limited ; however this measure still remains so
1. Joan. xiv, 17. — 2. I Cor. vi; 19. — 3. Rom. vu, 16.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. T15
fruitful that it produces marvels of holiness in souls where

these gifts abound. Why is this? Because it is chiefly by
them that our state of adoption is especially brought to per-
fection as we are about to see.
What then are the gifts of the Holy Spirit ? They are
benefits, as the name indicates, that the Spirit gratuitously
distributes to us with sanctifying grace and the infused
virtues. In her liturgy, the Church tells us that the Holy
Spirit is Himself the highest Gift: Donum Dei altissimi} is
for He descends into us even from the moment of baptism
to give Himself as the object of love. But this Gift is divine
and living. He is a Guest Who, full of liberality, wishes to
enrich the soul that receives Him. Being Himself the
uncreated Gift, He is the source of the created gifts which,
with sanctifying grace and the infused virtues, fully enable
the soul to live supernaturally in a perfect manner.
Indeed even supplied with grace and the infused virtues,
our soul is not re-established in that original integrity in
which Adam was before the Fall. Reason, itself subject to
error, sees its power of sovereignty disputed by the inferior
appetites and the senses; the will is prone to weakness.
What follows from this state? It follows that in the principal
work of our sanctification, we are under the necessity of
being constantly and directly aided by the Holy Spirit. He
provides for this by His inspirations which all go to perfect,
to achieve our sanctity. And in order that these inspirations
may be well received, He Himself places, in our souls, the
dispositions that render us docile and pliable ; these are the
gifts of the Holy Ghost ?.
The gifts therefore are not of themselves inspirations of
the Holy Ghost, but dispositions which cause us to obey
these inspirations promptly and easily.
By these gifts, the soul is made capable of being moved
and directed in the path of supernatural perfection and of
divine filiation; it possesses, as it were, a supernatural tact,
a divine instinct of spiritual things. The soul that, in virtue
1. Hymn Veni Creator. — 2. In Christ Jesus, the presence of the gifts
of the Holy Ghost does not proceed from the necessity of aiding the
weakness of the reason and will, Christ not being subject to any error or
any weakness. These gifts were bestowed upon the soul of Jesus because
they constitute a perfection, and it is befitting that every perfection
should be in Christ. We have seen above the influence that the Holy
Ghost exercises by His gifts in the soul of Jesus.
of these dispositions, lets itself be guided by the Spirit,

acts in all security as becomes a child of God. In all its
spiritual life, it thinks and acts ”supernaturally to the
point ” if I may thus express myself*. You will at once
see that the gifts place and dispose the soul to move in an
atmosphere where all is supernatural, where nothing natural,
so to speak, is mingled. By His gifts, the Holy Spirit
holds and reserves to Himself the supreme direction of all
our supernatural conduct.
And this is a most important point for us, our holiness
being of an essentially supernatural order. By the virtues,
the soul in a state of grace acts supernaturally, it is true ;
but it acts in a manner conformable to its rational and
human condition as likewise by its own movement and
initiative. By the gifts it is disposed to act directly and
solely under the divine impulsion (whilst keeping, of course,
its liberty which is manifested by acquiescence to the in-
spiration from on high), and this in a manner which does not
always fit in with its rational, natural way of seeing and
considering things. The influence of the gifts is then, in a
very real sense, superior to that of the virtues?; it is true
the gifts do not supply the place of the virtues but they mar-
vellously complete their operations. For example, the gifts
of understanding and knowledge perfect the exercise of the
virtue of faith; this explains why souls, simple and uncultur-
ed, but upright and docile to the inspirations of the Holy
Spirit, have a certitude, a comprehension of supernatural
things and a penetration into them that is sometimes aston-
ishing; they have a spiritual instinct which warns them of
error and makes them hold to the revealed truth with a
singular assurance protecting them from all doubts. Whence
does this arrive? From study? From deep examination
into the truths of their faith? No, from the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of truth who by the gift of understanding or of
knowledge perfects their virtue of faith.
As you see, the gifts constitute for the soul a perfection of
great value on account of their exclusively supernatural
character. They achieve the bringing to perfection of that
1. Dona sunt quaedam perfectiones hominis quibus homo disponitur
ad hoc quod bene sequatur instinctum Spiritus Sancti. S. Thom. I-II, q.
LXVUI, a.3. — 2. Dona a virtutibus distinguuntur in hoc quod virtutes
perficiunt ad actus humano modo, sed dona ultra humanum modum. S
Thom. Sent. III, dist.xxxtv, q. 1. a. 1. — Donorum ratio propria est ut
per ea quis super humanum modum operetur, Sent. III,dist.xxxv,q.2, a.3.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. I17
wonderful supernatural organism by which God calls our

souls to live by the Divine life. Granted to every soul ina
state of grace, in a greater or lesser measure, the gifts
remain in a permanent state as long as we do not drive out,
by mortal sin, the Divine Guest Who is their source. As
it is always possible for them to increase, they moreover
extend to all our supernatural life which they make
extremely fruitful because by them our souls are placed
under the direct action or immediate influence of the Holy
Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit is God with the Father and
the Son ; He loves us with unspeakable love ; He wills our
sanctification ; His inspirations, all proceeding from His
goodness and love, have no other end than to mould us to a
greater resemblance to Jesus. And this is why, although it
is not their proper and exclusive function, the gifts even
dispose us to those heroic acts by which holiness is power-
fully manifested.
What ineffable goodness is that of our God Who supplies
us so carefully and richly with all that is necessary for us
in order to attain to Him! And would it not be doing a
wrong to the Divine Guest of our souls if we were to doubt
His goodness and love, to fail in confidence in His bounty
and liberality or show ourselves heedless about profiting by
them ?...
V.
Let us now say a word on each of the seven gifts. This

number does not constitute a limit, for the action of God is
infinite, but rather, like many other biblical numbers, it
denotes plenitude. We will simply follow the order in-
dicated by Isaias in his messianic prophecy without seeking
to establish a gradation or any carefully marked characteris-
tics in the relations between the gifts ; we will try to say, as
far as we can, what belongs to each of them.
The first mentioned is that of wisdom. What does wis-
dom here signify ? It is a sapida cognitio rerum spiritua-
lium, a supernatural gift in order to know or esteem Divine
things by the spiritual taste with which the Holy Spirit
inspires us. It is an intimate, a deep knowledge that relishes
the things of God. We ask for it in the collect for the feast
of Pentecost inself : Da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sa-
pere. Sapere is to have not only the knowledge, but the
relish for celestial and supernatural things ; it is not — far

from it — what is called sensible devotion, but a spiritual
experience of what is Divine, that the Holy Spirit wills to
produce within us. It is the response to the Gustate et videte
quoniam suavis est Dominus: ” O taste and see that the
Lord is sweet?”. This gift makes us prefer, without any
hesitation, the blessedness of God’s service to all earthly
joys ; it is this gift which causes the soul to say: ” How
lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord !... better is one day
in Thy courts above thousands ?” of years away from Thee!
But to experience this, we must carefully put away all that
draws us towards the unlawful pleasures of the senses.
The gift of understanding makes us search deeply into
the truths of faith. St. Paul tells us that ” God hath
revealed them by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God*”. Not that this gift
diminishes the incomprehensibility of the mysteries or does
away with faith; but it goes further into the mystery than the
simple asquiescence of faith; it bears upon the appropriate-
ness or the greatness of the mysteries, upon their relations
with each other or with our supernatural life. It has also
for its object, the truths contained in the Sacred Books, and
it is this gift which seems to have been granted in a special
measure to those in the Church who have shone by the
depth of their doctrine, those whom we call ” Doctors of
the Church”; but every baptised soul possesses within itself
this precious gift. You read a text of Holy Scripture ; you
have read and reread it many times without having been
struck by it; but, one day, a sudden light flashes, illuminat-
ing to its depths, so to speak, the truth set forth in this text;
this truth then becomes altogether clear to you and often a
principle of supernatural life and action. Is it by your
reflexions that you have arrived at this result? No, it is an
illumination, and intuition of the Holy Spirit Who, by the
gift of understanding, makes you penetrate further into the
inmost and deep meaning of the revealed truths so that you
may hold them the more firmly.
By the gift of counsel, the Holy Spirit responds to this
prayer of the soul: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do *” !
He keeps us from all precipitation, from all levity, but, above
1. Ps. Xxx, 9. — 2. Ps, Lxxxmm, 2-11. — 3. I Cor. u, 10. — 4. Act.
1x00
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. TIg
all, from all presumption, so dangerous in spiritual ways.

A soul that only wishes to be guided by herself, who
worships her own personality, acts without consulting God
in prayer. She practically acts as if God was not for her
the heavenly Father from Whom every light comes: OMNE
donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre lumi-
num*. Consider our Divine Saviour. He says, the Son,
that is to say Himself, does nothing ” but what He seeth the
Father doing” : Non potest Filius a se facere quidquam
nisi quod viderit Patrem facientem?. The soul of Jesus
contemplated the Father to behold in Him the model of His
works ; it was the Spirit of Counsel that showed Him the
desires of the Father ; that is why all that our Lord did was
pleasing to His Father : Quae placita sunt ei facio semper *.
It is a disposition whereby the child of God is enabled to
judge of things according to principles above those of human
wisdom. Sometimes, natural prudence, always limited,
points out how to act in such or such a way ; then, by the
gift of counsel, the Holy Spirit shows higher principles of
conduct which ought to direct the actions of the child of God.
It is not always enough for us to know God’s good
pleasure. Owing to our fallen nature, we often need strength
to carry into effect what God requires of us ; it is the Holy
Spirit Who, by the gift of fortitude, sustains us in particu-
larly difficult moments. There are pusillanimous souls that
fear the trials of the inner life. It is impossible that these
trials should be wanting ; they are even so much the deeper
in proportion as God calls us higher. But let us fear
nothing : the Spirit of Fortitude is with us: Apud vos
manebit et in vobis erit*. Like the Apostles on the Day of
Pentecost, we shall be, by the Holy Spirit, endowed with
power from on high : Virtute ex alto ®, so as to accomplish
the Divine will generously, to obey, like the disciples, God
rather than men, if the choice must be made °; to support va-
liantly the adversities we meet with as we come nearer to God.
That is why St. Paul prayed so earnestly for the faithful of
Ephesus that God would grant them ” to be strengthened by
His Spirit with might unto the inward man™”. The Holy
Spirit says to such as He fills with fortitude, what God said
to Moses when he shrank from the mission given to him
1. Jac. 1, 17. — 2. Joan. v, 19. — 3. Ibid. vin, 29. — 4. Ibid. xvi,
17. — §. XXIV, 49. — 6. Act. IV, 19. — 7. Ephes. m1, 16.
I20 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
of delivering the Hebrew people from the yoke of the

Pharaohs : Ego ero tecum: Fear nothing, ” I will be with
thee:”. Such a one is strong with the very strength of
God. It is this strength that makes the martyrs and sustains
the virgins. The world wonders to see them so courageous,
because it imagines they find their strength in themselves,
while in reality they draw it from God alone.
The gift of knowledge makes us see created things in a
supernatural way as only a child of God can see them.
There are many ways of considering what lies within us
and around us. It is in a different manner that an unbeliever
and one who believes in God contemplate creation. The un-
believer has only a purely natural knowledge, however wide
and profound it may be; the child of God sees creation in the
light of the Holy Spirit, as the work of God wherein His
eternal Perfections are reflected. This gift makes us know
created things, including ourselves, from God’s point of view;
it makes us know our supernatural end and the means of
arriving at it, but with intuitions which preserve us from
the false maxims of the world and the suggestions of the
spirit of darkness.
The gifts of piety and of fear are the complement the one
of the other. The gift of Piety is one of the most precious
because it concurs directly in regulating the attitude we ought
to keep, in our relations with God: the blending of adoration,
respect and profound reverence towards the Divine Majesty;
of love, confidence, tenderness, perfect abandonment and
holy liberty in presence of Him who is our Heaven-
ly Father. Far from excluding each other, these dispositions
can be perfectly allied ; but it is the Holy Spirit Who will
teach us in what measure they are to be harmonised. In
the same way, love and justice do not exclude one another
in God. The gift of piety bears another fruit : it re-assures
timid souls (there are such) who in dealing with God are
afraid of not employing the right formulae in their prayers.
This scruple is dispelled by the Holy Spirit when one
listens to His inspirations. He is ”the Spirit of Truth”.
If, says St. Paul, ” we know not what we should pray for
as we ought ?”, the Spirit is within us to help us; He prays
in an ineffable manner which makes us cry towards God and
be heard by Him.
1. Exod. 1, 12. — 2. Rom. vm 26.
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. I2I
Lastly there is the gift of fear. It seems strange, does

it not ? to find, in the Prophecy of Isaias, this expression :
Et replebit eum Spiritus timoris Domini, ” He shall be filled
with the Spirit of fear”. How can this be ? How can
Christ, the Son of God, be filled with the fear of God? It
is because there are two kinds of fear of God : first there
is the fear which only thinks of the chastisement due to sin;
that is servile fear, wanting in nobility but not always without
use. Then there’ is the fear which makes us avoid sin
because it offends God ; that is filial fear but it remains
imperfect as long as the fear of punishment is mingled with
it. It goes without saying that neither this imperfect fear
nor servile fear had any place in Christ’s all-holy soul ;
there was only perfect, reverential fear, the fear that the
angelic powers have before the infinite perfection of God ;
Tremunt potestates* ; the fear that evinces itself by ado-
ration and is altogether holy : Timor Domini sanctus per-
manens in saeculum saeculi?. Jf we could contemplate the
Humanity of Jesus, we should see it prostrate in reverence
before the Word to Whom His Humanity is united. This
is the reverence that the Spirit places within our souls ; He
keeps it there but in mingling it, by the gift of piety, with
that love and filial tenderness which results from our Divine
adoption and makes us cry out to God: ” Father”! This
gift of piety implants in us, as in Jesus, the tendency to refer
everything to our Father.
Such are the gifts of the Divine Spirit. They perfect the
virtues by disposing us to act with a supernatural assurance
which constitutes in us, as I have said, what is like a Divine
instinctof heavenly things ; by these gifts which the Holy
Spirit Himself places within us to render us docile to His
action, He achieves the work of making us more and more
the children of God : Quicumque enim Spiritu Det aguntur,
ui sunt filii Der*.
When therefore we let ourselves be guided by the prompt-
ings of this Spirit of love ; when we are, in the measure of
our weakness, constantly faithful to His holy inspirations
— those inspirations that lead us towards God and what is
pleasing to Him — the result is that we act in the full meaning
of our Divine adoption ; then our souls produce those fruits
which are at once the term of the Holy Spirit’s action in us
1. Preface of the Mass. — 2. Ps. xv, 10. — 3. Rom. vil, 14.
and, by their sweetness, are like the anticipated reward of

our fidelity to this action. These fruits, as enumerated by
St. Paul, are charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, good-
ness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence and
chastity. These fruits, all worthy of the Spirit of Love
and Holiness, are also worthy of our Heavenly Father Who
finds His glory in them : In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus
ut fructum plurimum afferatis? ; finally they are worthy
of Christ Jesus Who merited them for us and to Whom the
Holy Spirit unites us: Qui manet in me et ego in eo hic fert
fructum multum *.
The Holy Spirit Whom Christ, as the Word, sends us, is
within us the principle, the source of those rivers of living
water, of the grace which springs up within us into life
everlasting *, that is to say that makes us bear fruits of
everlasting life... Whilst awaiting the supreme beatitude,
these waters ” make joyful the city” of souls : Fluminis
impetus laetificat civitatem Dei®. St. Paul says too that
all faithful souls, those who believe in Christ have ” in one
Spirit... all been made to drink ®°”. That is why the liturgy,
the echo of the teaching of Jesus and of the Apostles, causes
us to invoke the Holy Spirit Who is also the Spirit of Jesus
as the ” Living Spring”, Fons vivus’.
ME
Such then is the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church
and in our souls. Like the Divine principle whence it
emanates, this action is holy and tends to make us holy.
What now shall be our devotion towards this Spirit Who
dwells in us from our baptism and Whose virtue within us
is, of its nature, so deep and efficacious ?
First of all we must often invoke Him. Like the Father
and the Son, the Holy Spirit is God ; He too desires our
holiness. Moreover, it enters into the Divine plan that we
should pray to the Holy Spirit as we pray to the Father and
the Son to Whom He is equal in power and goodness. The
Church is our guide in this. She closes the cycle of sol-
emnities celebrating Christ’s mysteries with Pentecost, the
Feast of the mission of the Holy Spirit ; during this time
1. Gal. v, 22-23. — 2. Joan. xv, 8. — 3. Ibid. 5. — 4. Hujusmodi
autem flumina sunt aquae vivae quia sunt continuatae suo principio,
scilicet Spiritui Sancto inhabitanti. S. Thom. In Joan. vu, lect. 5. —
5. Ps. xiv, 5. — 6, I Cor. xu, 13. — 7. Hymn Veni Creator.
THE HOLY ‘SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF JESUS. 123
she has wonderful prayers, wherewith to ask grace from the

Divine Spirit, aspirations full of love, such as the Veni
Sancte Spiritus. O Infinite Love, proceeding from the
Father and the Son, give me the spirit of adoption ; teach
me to act always as a true child of God. Abide in me, grant
that I may abide in Thee so that I may love as Thou lovest.
I am nothing without Thee: Sine tuo numine nihil est in
homine... 1 am good for nothing, but keep me united to
Thee, fill me with Thy love that so I may remain united
through Thee to the Father and the Son! Let us often ask
for a greater share in the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the Sacrum sep-
tenarium. We ought to thank Him too and return humble
thanks. If Christ Jesus has merited all for us, it is by
His Spirit? that He guides and directs us; it is through the
magnificent liberality of His Spirit that we hold those abun-
dant graces which make us, little by little, like to Jesus.
How can we fail to testify often our gratitude to this Guest
Whose loving and efficacious presence fills us with such
precious benefits? The first homage we must offer to this
Spirit, Who with the Father.and the Son is God, is to believe
with a practical faith in His Divinity, His power and His
goodness.
Next, let us be watchful not to oppose His action within
us. Spiritum nolite extinguere, says St. Paul?, ” Extin-
guish not the Spirit” ; and again: Nolite contristare Spi-
ritum, ” Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God*”. As I have
said, the action of the Spirit in the soul is delicate because
it is an action of completeness, of perfection ; His touches
are of infinite delicacy. We must watch in order not to
oppose the action of this Divine Spirit by our levity,
our voluntary dissipation, our carelessness, or wilful delib-
erate resistances, by an ill-regulated attachment to our own
judgment : Nolite esse prudentes apud vosmetipsos*. In
the things of God, do not trust to human wisdom, for then
the Holy Spirit will relinquish you to this natural prudence
which, as you know, St. Paul says is ” foolishness ” in God’s
sight, Stultitia apud Deum®. This action of the Holy Spirit
1. When we say Christ guides us by His Spirit, we do not say the
Holy Spirit is an instrument; He is God, the cause of grace; but we
mean by this that the Holy Spirit is the principle (for us) of grace,
Himself proceeding from a principle, from the Father and the Son;
Jesus Christ, as Word, sends us the Holy Spirit. S. Thom. I, q. xtv,
a. 6, ad. 2. — 2. Thessal. v, 19. — 3. Ephes. 1v, 30. — 4. Rom. xu,
16. — 5. I Cor. m, 19.
a:
is quite compatible with those imperfections which so often

overtake us by surprise and which we regret, compatible too
with our infirmities, human limitations, and temptations ;
our native poverty does not repel the Holy Spirit : He is
the Pater pauperum, the ” Father of the Poor”, as the
Church calls Him ?.
That which is incompatible with His action is calculated
resistance to His inspirations. Why is this ? First because
the Spirit proceeds from love, He is Love Itself ; and yet
although His love for us is incommensurable, and His
action infinitely powerful, the Holy Spirit absolutely respects
our liberty and does not compel our will. We have the sad
privilege of being able to resist Him ; but nothing thwarts
love like obstinate resistance to its advances. Then, it is
above all by His gifts that the Holy Spirit guides us in the
path of holiness and makes us live as children of God ;
now, in His gifts, it is the Holy Spirit Who urges and
determines the soul to act: In donis Spiritus Sancti mens
humana non se habet ut movens, sed magis ut mota? ; the
soul’s part is certainly not to remain entirely passive, but to
be ready to receive Divine inspiration, to listen to it, and
be promptly faithful to it. Nothing blunts the action of the
Holy Spirit in us like a rigid unbending attitude in regard
to those inward movements which bear us Godwards, and
urge us to the observance of His commandments, to the
accomplishment of His good pleasure, to charity, humility
and confidence. To reply “no” voluntarily, deliberately,
even in little things, impedes the Holy Spirit’s action within
us ; it becomes less strong and more rare, and the soul
remains at an ordinary degree, a mediocre level of holiness ;
its supernatural life lacks intensity : Spiritum nolite con-
tristare.
And if these infidelities are multiplied, and become fre-
quent and habitual, the Holy Spirit is silent; the soul thus
given over to itself, without guide and inward support in
the path of salvation and perfection, is very near to becom-
ing the prey of the prince of darkness; it is the death of
charity : Spiritum nolite extinguere. Extinguish not the
Holy Spirit, for He is like a fire of love burning within
our souls *,
1, Sequence Veni Sancte Spiritui. — 2. S. Thom. II-II, q. tu, a. 2
ad 1, — 3. Ignis, Hymn Veni Creator, Et tui amoris ignem accende.
Mass for Whit-Sunday.
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Rather let us remain, in the measure of our weakness, but

with generosity, faithful to the ” Spirit of Truth” Who is
also the Spirit of holiness ; let us be souls promptly docile
to the touches of this Spirit. What deep joy and what
inward liberty a soul tastes that thus gives itself up to the
action of the Holy Spirit ? This Divine Spirit will cause
us to bear fruits of holiness, pleasing to God. As the Divine
Artist — Digitus paternae dexterae — He will, with in-
finitely delicate touches, complete in us the work of Jesus,
or rather, He will form Jesus within us, as He formed the
Holy Humanity of Jesus, so that by His workings, we may
teproduce in ourselves, to the glory of the Father, the traits
of that Divine sonship that we have in Christ Jesus : Chris-
tus per Spiritum Sanctum est in sanctitate conceptus, ut esset
Filius Dei naturalis ; alu per Spiritum Sanctum sanctifi-
cantur, ut sint Filii Dei adoptivi?.
Ewe liom. LL, Gg. XXXIt,) aut
NOTE.
The Holy Spirit is truly the soul of the Church... p. 110. When
we say that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, we evidently do
not intend to say that He is the form of the Church, as the soul is, in
us, the form of the body. Taking things from this point of view, it
would be more theologically correct to say that the soul of the Church
is sanctifying grace(with the infused virtues that are necessarily attendant
upon it); grace is, in fact, the principle of supernatural life, which makes
the members belonging to the body of the Church live with Divine life.
However, even then, the analogy between grace and the soul is only
imperfect; but this is not the moment to dwell on these distinctions.
When we say that the Holy Spirit, and not grace, is the soul of the
Church, we indicate the cause instead of the effect for it is the Holy Spirit
Who produces sanctifying grace. We wish then by this expression (Holy
Spirit=soul of the Church), to mark the inward influence, vivifying and
* unifying”, if one may thus express it, that the Holy Spirit exercises in
the Church. This manner of speaking is perfectly legitimate; it is
employed by several of the Fathers of the Church, for example, St. Au-
gustine: Quod est in corpore nostro anima, id est Spiritus Sanctus in
corpore. Christi quod est Ecclesia (Sermo CLXXXVII de tempore).
Many modern theologians speak after the same manner, and Leo XIII has
consecrated this expression in his Encyclical upon the Holy Ghost. It is
interesting to remark that St Thomas, in order to denote the internal
influence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, compares it to that which the
heart exercises in the human organism.
II
FOUNDATION
AND
DOUBLE ASPECT
OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
I. — FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST,
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Summary. — Faith, the first attitude of the soul and the foundation
of the supernatural life. — I, Christ requires faith as the
preliminary condition of union with Him. — II. Nature of
faith: Assent to the testimony of God proclaiming that
Jesus is His Son. — If. Faith in the Divinity of Christ is
the foundation of our inner life; Christianity is the ac-
ceptation of the Divinity of Christ in the Incarnation. — IV.
Exercise of the virtue of faith; fruitfulness of the inner life
based upon faith. — V. Why we must have an intense faith
in the infinite value of Christ’s merits. How faith is the
source of joy.
n the preceding conferences which constitute a general

exposition, I have tried to show you the economy of the
divine designs considered in itself.
We have seen the eternal plan of our adoptive predestina-
tion in Jesus Christ ; — the realisation of this plan by the
Incarnation, Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father, being
at once our Model, our Satisfaction, our Life ; — lastly the
mission of the Church continuing here below, under the
action of the Holy Ghost, the sanctifying work of the Sa-
viour.
The Divine figure of Christ dominates all this plan : the
Eternal thoughts are centred on Him : He is the Alpha, He
is the Omega. In the days before His coming, figures, rites
and prophecies converge towards Him ; after His coming,
all is linked with Him. He is truly the centre of the Divine
plan.
4 He is also, as we have seen, the centre of the supernatural
life. The supernatural is to be found first of all in Him :
— the Man-God, perfect humanity indissolubly united to a
Divine Person, possessing fulness of grace and heavenly
treasures, and meriting by His passion and death, to be the
universal distributor of them.
He is the Way, the only one by which to come to the
Eternal Father :Nemo venit ad Patrem Nisit per me* ;

except this foundation preestablished by God, nothing is
stable: Fundamentum enim aliud NEMO potest ponere, prae-
ter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus*. Without
this Redeemer and without faith in His merits, there is no
salvation, still less holiness: NON est IN ALIO aliquo salus.
Nec enim aliud nomen est sub caelo datum hominibus, in quo
oporteat nos salvos fieri®. Christ Jesus is the only Way, the
only Truth, the only Life. Who follows not this way goes
astray from truth and seeks in vain for life. Qu habet
Filium, habet vitam ; qui non habet Filium, vitam non
habet *.
To live supernaturally is, for us all, to share in the plen-
itude of Divine life that is in Jesus Christ: Ego vem ut
vitam habeant... Et de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus.
We receive our state of adoption from Him. We are only
children of God in the measure we are conformed to Him
Who, alone, is by right the only true Son of the Father, but
Who wills to have with Himself a multitude of brethren
through sanctifying grace. All the supernatural work con-
sidered from God’s point of view is summed up in this.
It was in order we might receive this grace of adoption
that Christ came and gave Himself to us : Ut adoptionem
filiorum reciperemus® ; and that He has confided all His
treasures and all powers to the Church. He sends and
continues to send ”the Spirit of Truth”, the sanctifying
Spirit, to direct her and perfect, by His action in souls,
the work of sanctification, until this mystical body comes, at
the end of time, to its last perfection. Beatitude itself, the
crowning of our supernatural adoption, is nothing less than
the inheritance Christ shares with us: Heredes Dei, co-
heredes Christi ®.
So Christ is and remains the one object of divine com-
placency. It is only in Him and for His sake that the elect,
who form His kingdom, are enveloped in the same eternal
look of love : Christus heri et hodie, ipse et in saecula’.
That is what we have seen so far. But it will serve for
little if it is only in an abstract and theoretical manner we
contemplate this Divine plan, whence shines forth the wis-
dom and goodness of our God. We must adapt ourselves
1. Joan. xiv, 15. — 2. I Cor. m1, 11. — 3. Act. Iv, 12. — 4. I Joan.
v, 12. — 5. Gal. Iv, 5. — 6. Rom. vu, 17. — 7. Hebr. xm, 8.
FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 131
practically to this plan, under penalty of not belonging to

Christ’s kingdom. This is what we shall see in the follow-
ing conferences. I will try to show you how grace takes
possession of our souls in baptism ; how the work of Cod is
elaborated in us; and the conditions of our personal action
as free creatures so that we may be enabled to participate.
in the divine life in the largest manner possible.
We shall see that the foundation of all this spiritual
edifice is faith in the Divinity of Our Lord, and that baptism,
the first of all the sacraments, marks our whole existence
with a double character of ” death to sin”, and of ” life
for God”.
In the wonderful discourse Our Lord pronounced at the
Last supper, on the eve of His death, when He raised as
it were a corner of the veil which hides from us the secrets
of the divine life, He said it is to the glory of the Father
that we bear much fruit : In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus,
ut fructum plurimum afferatis*. It is therefore to enter
into the eternal designs if we seek to develop in us, in the
highest degree, our condition of children of God.
Let us ask Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of the
Father and our Model, to teach us practically not only how
He abides in us, but also how we ought to abide in Him,
for that is the one means for us of bearing much fruit by
which the Father will recognise us as His beloved children :
Qui manet in Me, et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum ?.
All holiness, as I have said — and my greatest desire is

that this truth should be engraved in the depths of your souls
— all holiness for us consists of participating in the holiness
of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. .
But how are we to participate in it ? — By receiving
Jesus Christ Who is the one source of holiness. When
speaking of the Incarnation, St. John tells us that all those
who receive Christ are ” made the sons of God”: Quotquot
autem receperunt eum dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri.
And how do we receive Christ, the Incarnate Word? First
and before all, by faith : His qui credunt in nomine ejus *.
St. John then says that it is faith in Jesus Christ that
makes us children of God. That is likewise the thought of
St. Paul: ” For you are all the children of God by faith
1. Joan. xv, 8. — 2. Ibid. 5. — 3. Ibid. 1, 12.
in Christ Jesus”: Ommnes filti Dei estis per fidem, quae est
in Christo Jesu. Because by faith in the divinity of Jesus
Christ, we identify ourselves with Him ; we accept Him as
the Son of God and the Incarnate Word. Faith yields us
to Christ ; and Christ, introducing us into the supernatural
domain, yields us to His Father. And the more perfect,
profound, ardent and constant our faith is in Christ’s di-
vinity, the more right we have, as children of God, to the
communication of Divine life. In receiving Christ by faith,
we become by grace what He is by nature — children of
God ; and then our state calls forth an influx of divine life
from the Heavenly Father. Our state of ” children of
God” is like a continual prayer : O Holy Father, give us
this day our daily bread, that is to say, the divine life of
which Thy Son has the plenitude !
I wish to speak to you of this faith. Faith is the very
first attitude we ought to have in our relations with God :
Prima conjunctio ad Deum est per fidem?. St. Augustine
says the same: "It is primarily faith that subjects the
soul to God”: Fides est prima quae subjungat animam
Deo. St. Paul says: ” Without faith it is impossible to
please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe” :
Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo*. With still greater
reason, it is impossible without faith to attain to His friend-
ship and remain His child : impossibile est ad filiorum ejus
consortium pervenire *.
You see at once that this subject is not only important,
‘but vital. We shall understand nothing of the supernatural
life, of the divine life in our souls, if we do not grasp that
it is altogether founded upon this faith, Jx fide FUNDATI®,
upon this intimate and profound conviction of the divinity
of Jesus Christ. For as the Holy Council of Trent says :
” Faith is the root and foundation of all justification” and
in consequence, of all holiness : Fides est humanae salutis
initium, fundamentum et radix omnis justificationis *.
We will now see what this faith is, what its object is, and
how it is manifested.
Gal. 11, 26; cf. Rom. m1, 22-26. — 2. S, Thom. IV Sent. dist. 39,
a. ia ad 2. Est aliquid primum in virtutibus directe per quod scilicet jam
ad Deum acceditur. Primus autem accessus ad Deum est per fidem. II-
II, q. crxt, a. 5, ad 2. Cf. II-Il, q. 1v, a. 7 et q. xx, a. 8. — 3. De
agone Christiano, 14. — 4. Hebr. x1, 6. — 5. Concil. Trid. Sess. VI,
cap. 8. — 6, Col. 1, 23. — 7. Sess. VI, cap. 8.
lie
Let us consider what happened when Our Lord lived in
Judea. When we read the account of His life in the
Gospels, we see it is first of all faith that He requires from
those who come to Him.
We read that one day two blind men were following Him,
crying out : _” Have mercy on us, O Son of David”. Jesus
lets them approach Him, and says to them: ”Do you
believe that I can do this unto you” ? And they reply :
“Yea, Lord”. Then He touches their eyes and gives them
back their sight, saying : ” According to your faith, be it
done unto yout”. Again, after the Transfiguration, He
finds at the foot of Mount Thabor, a father who asks the
cure of his son possessed by a devil. And what does Jesus
say to him? ” If thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth”. Immediately the father of the
boy cries out: ”I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief”.
And Jesus delivers the child?. When the chief of the syn-
agogue asks Him to save his daughter, Our Lord still
gives the same reply: ” Believe only, and she shall be
Ss Cot
These words often fall from His lips. Very often too we
hear Him say : ” Go, thy faith hath saved thee : thy faith
hath made thee whole”. He says it to the paralytic man.
He says it to the woman who had suffered from an infirmity
that had lasted twelve years and was cured by touching the
hem of His garment with faith *.
He makes faith in Him the indispensable condition of His
miracles. He requires this faith even from those He loves
the most. When Martha, the sister of His friend Lazarus,
whom He comes to raise from the dead, says to Him that
if He had been there her brother would not have died, Our
Lord tells her that Lazarus shall rise again. But He wills
before working this miracle that Martha should make an
act of faith in His Person : ” I am the Resurrection and the
Life : believest thou this’” ?
Where He does not meet with faith, He deliberately limits
the effects of His power. The Gospel expressly says that at
Nazareth ” He wrought not many miracles, because of their
1. Matth. 1x, 27-30. — 2. Ibid. xvu, 14-19 ; Marc. 1x, 16-26; Luc. Ix,
38-43. — 3. Luc. vi, so. — 4. Marc. v, 25-34. — 5. Joan. x1, 27; cf.
X, 40 a 42.
unbelief”: Ei non fecit ibi virtutes multas propter imcredu-

litatem eorum?. If I may so express it, Christ’s action
appears to be paralysed by lack of faith.
But wherever He finds it, He can refuse it nothing. He
takes pleasure in praising it openly. One day when Jesus
was at Capharnaum, a pagan officer who commanded a
company of a hundred men, came up to Him and asked the
cure of one of his servants who was sick. Jesus says to him:
’"T will come and heal him”. But the centurion at once
replies : ” Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter
under my roof : but only say the word and my servant shall
be healed. For I also am a man... having under me soldiers
and I say to this one, Go and he goeth, and to another, Come,
and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
it ; in the same way, it is sufficient for Thee to speak
one word, to command the sickness, and it will depart ”.
What faith in this pagan ! Christ Jesus, even before pro-
nouncing the liberating word, manifests the joy this faith
causes Him :' ” Amen, I say to you, I have not found so
great faith in Israél. And I say to you that many Gentiles
shall come and shall sit down at the feast of eternal life in
the kingdom of heaven, while the children of Israel, who
were the first to be called to this banquet, shall be cast out
on account of their unbelief”. And turning to the centurion,
He says to him : ” Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it
done to thee ?”.
Faith is so pleasing to Jesus that it even obtains from
Him what appeared not to be His first intention to grant. We
have a striking example of this in the cure besought by the
woman of Canaan. Our Lord had reached the coasts of
Tyre and Sidon, a pagan region. A woman of these parts,
being come where He was, cries in a loud voice: ” Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David : my daughter
is grievously troubled with a devil”. But Jesus answers
her not a word. Then His disciples come and say to Him :
* Send her away, for she crieth after us”. And Christ
answers that His mission is only to preach to the Jews. He
had reserved: to His disciples the work of evangelizing the
pagans. But the woman, prostrating herself before him,
says: "Lord, help me”, and Jesus answers her as He had
answered the apostles, but in employing a proverbial saying,
1. Matth. xm, 58.— 2. Ibid. vim, 1-13; Luc. vit, 1-10.
then in use for distinguishing the Jews from the pagans :

“ It is not good to take the bread of the children and to cast
it to the dogs”. And the woman, animated by her faith,
exclaims: ” Yea Lord: for the whelps also eat of the
crumbs that fall from the table of their masters”. Jesus
is so touched by this faith that He cannot refrain from
extolling it, and immediately granting her what she asks :
”O woman, great is thy faith : be it done to thee as thou
wilt”. And from that same hour, her daughter was
cured 7.
Doubtless, nearly all these examples have to do with
bodily cures; but it is also on account of faith that Our
Lord forgives sins and grants eternal life. What does He
say to Magdalen, when she comes and throws herself at His
feet and washes them with her tears? ” Thy sins are
forgiven thee”. The remission of sins is assuredly a grace
of a purely spiritual order. And for what reason does
Christ restore the life of grace to Magdalen ? On account
of her faith. Christ Jesus says exactly the same words to
her as to those He cured of their bodily ills: ” Thy faith
hath made thee safe: goin peace?”. See again at Calvary.
What a magnificent recompense He gives to the good thief
on account of his faith ! This man was probably a brigand;
but upon the cross when all the enemies of Jesus hurled
sarcasms and mockeries at Him, saying: “If He be the
Son of God, as He says, let Him now come down from the
cross and we will believe Him”, — this thief confesses the
divinity of the Christ abandoned by His disciples and dying
on a gibbet. He speaks to Jesus of ” His Kingdom” at the
moment when Jesus is about to die: he asks for a place in
this Kingdom. What faith in the power of the dying
Christ! And how moved Jesus is by this faith ! ’” Amen,
I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”.
He forgives him all his sins because of this faith, and assures
to him a place in the eternal Kingdom.
So then faith is the first virtue our Lord claims from thage
who approach Him and it remains the same for us all.
When, before ascending into Heaven, He sends His
apostles to continue His mission throughout the world, it is
faith He requires; and in this faith He sums up, as it were,
all the Christian life: Go, teach all nations... he that
1. Matth, xv, 22-28. — 2. Luc. vi, 50.
believeth and is baptised, shall be saved: but he that be-

lieveth not shall be condemned ”.
Is faith alone then sufficient ? No, the sacraments and
the observance of the commandments are necessary too, but
a man who does not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ
is a stranger to His commandments and sacraments. Be-
sides, it is because we believe in the divinity of Jesus that
we observe His precepts and approach the sacraments.
Faith then is the basis of all our supernatural life.
God wills that during the stage of our mortal life we
should serve Him by faith. His glory requires it to be so.
It is the homage He expects from us and the probation we
have to pass through before arriving at the eternal goal.
One day we shall see God unveiled; His glory will then
consist in communicating Himself fully in all the splendour
and brightness of His eternal beatitude. But as long as we
are upon earth, it enters into the economy of the divine plan
that God should be for us a hidden God. Here below, God
wills to be known, adored and served by faith; — and the
greater, the more ardent and practical this faith is, the more
we are pleasing to God.
It:
»But you may say,what is this faith? Speaking in a general

way, faith is the adhesion of our intelligence to the word of
another. When an upright, loyal man tells us something,
we admit it, we have faith in his word; to give one’s word
is to give one’s self.
Supernatural faith is the adhesion of our intelligence, not
to the word of a man, but to the word of God. God can
neither deceive nor be deceived. Faith is the homage
rendered to God as the supreme truth and authority. In
order that this homage may be worthy of God, we must
submit ourselves to the authority of His word, whatever be
the difficulties our mind encounters. This Divine word
affirms the existence of mysteries beyond our reason; faith
can be required from us in things where our senses, our
experience seem to tell us the very contrary of what God
tells us; but God requires our conviction in the authority of
His revelation to be so absolute that if all creation affirmed
FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIEBE. , 137
the contrary we should say to God in spite of everything:

” My God, I believe because Thou sayest it +”,
To believe, says St. Thomas, is to give, under the empire
of the will, moved by grace, the assent and adhesion of our
intelligence to the Divine truth: J psum autem credere est
actus intellectus assentientis veritati divinae ex imperio vo-
luntatis sub motu gratiae?. It is the mind that believes,
but the heart is not absent from believing; and so that we
may make this act of faith, God places in us at baptism, a
power, a force, a ” habitude”: namely the virtue of faith,
whereby our intelligence is inclined to admit the testimony
of God out of love for His truth. That is the very essence
of faith, but this adhesion and this love naturally include
an infinite number of degrees. When the love that leads us
to believe yields us up entirely to the full acceptation, in
both our mind and conduct, of the testimony of God, then
our faith is perfect: it operates and manifests itself by
charity °.
Now what is the testimony of God that we have to accept
by faith ? It is summed up in this: That Christ Jesus is
God’s own Son, sent for our salvation and given for our
sanctification.
You know that the voice of the Father has only been
heard three times by the world‘, and each time it was to
tell us that Christ is His Son, worthy of all love and all
glory: Hic est filius meus dilectus... ipsum audite: " Hear
ye Him”. That was, according to our Lord’s own words,
the testimony of God to the world when He gave it His Son:
Qui misit me Pater, ipse testimonum perhibuit de me ®.
And to, confirm this testimony, God gave His Son the power
of working miracles; He raised Him from the dead. Our
Lord Himself tells us that life everlasting depends for us
upon the full acceptation of this testimony: Haec est autem
voluntas Patris mei qui misit me, ut omnis qui videt Filium
1. This is not the place to examine the psychological and theological
question relative to the nature of the act of faith: the character of our
conferences does not lend itself to this. We refer the reader desirous of
going deeply into these questions to the lucid explanation of Rev. Fr.
Bainvel, S. J. in his work La foi et l’acte de foi. His exposition of the
teaching of Cardinal Billot on the faith of authority is particularly strik-
ing. See also the remarkable study of R.P.Gardeil O.P. upon La Crédibi-
lité. —- 2. S. Thom. II-II, q. 1, a.9. —3. Fides nisi ad eam spes accedat
et caritas neque unit perfecte cum Christo, neque corporis ejus vivum
membrum efficit. Concil. Trid. Sess. VI, cap. 7. — 4. Matth, m1, 17 ; xvu,
5; Joan. xi, 25. —5. Ibid. v, 37. See all the passage from v, 31.
138 by CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
et credit in eum, habeat vitam aeternam*. Christ Jesus

often lays stress on this point: ” Amen, I say unto you:
He that believeth Him that sent Me, hath life everlasting...
(he) is passed from death to life?”.
We cannot too often meditate on these words of St. John:
” God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son”.
And why did He give Him? ” That whosoever”, he says,
” believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life ever-
lasting”. And he adds in explanation: ” For God sent not
His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the
world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him is
not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged:
because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten
Son of God?”. “To judge” here means to condemn.
Now St. John says that he that doth not believe in Christ
is already condemned. Note this term: "is already con-
demned”. What does it mean? That it is vain for one
who has not faith in Jesus Christ to try to save himself :
his cause is even now judged. The Eternal Father makes
faith in His Son, Whom He has sent, the first necessary
attitude of our soul and the source of our salvation. Oui
credit in Filium habet vitam aeternam: qui autem incredulus
est Filio, non videbit vitam, sed ira Det manet super eum *.
God attaches so much value to our belief in His Son that
His wrath abides — again remark the present tense: it
” abideth ”. now — on him who does not believe in his Son.
What does all this signify ? That faith in the divinity of
Jesus is, according to the designs of the Father, the first
thing needful in order to share in the divine life; faith in
the divinity of Jesus Christ bears with it all other revealed
truths.
All revelation, it may be said, is contained in this supreme
testimony God gives us that Jesus Christ is His Son, and all
faith is likewise contained in the acceptation of this testi-
mony. If we believe in Christ’s divinity, we believe at the
same time in the whole revelation of the Old Testament
which has its fulfilment in Christ; we believe the whole
revelation of the New Testament, for all that the apostles
and the Church teach us is only the development of the
revelation of Christ.
1. Joan. vi, 40; cf. Xvm, 21. — 2. Ibid. v, 24. — 3. Ibid. im, 16-18.
— 4., Ibid. 111, 36,
Whoever then accepts the divinity of Christ embraces the

whole of revelation. Jesus is the Incarnate Word; the
Word says all that God is, all that He knows; this Word
is incarnate and reveals God to men: Unigenitus qui est
im sinu Patris ipse enarravit*, And when by faith we
receive Christ, we receive all revelation. ;
Therefore, the intimate conviction that Our Lord is truly
God constitutes the first foundation of our supernatural
life. If we understand this truth and put it into practice,
our inner life will be full of light and fruitfulness.
TU.
This truth is so important that I want to dwell on it some

moments.
During the mortal life of Jesus, His divinity was hidden
under the veil of His humanity; even for those who lived
with Him, His divinity was an object of faith.
Doubtless, the Jews were aware of the sublimity of His
doctrine. ” Never did man speak like this man?” they
repeated. They were the witnesses of works which, as they
acknowledged, God alone could do*. But they saw too that’
Christ was man; it is said that even His near acquaintances
who had only known Him in the workshop of Nazareth did
not believe in Him in spite of His miracles *.
His apostles, although they were His familiar hearers, did
not see His divinity. In the episode which I have already
related, when Our Lord asks His disciples who He is,
St. Peter says to Him: ’”’Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God”. And our Lord at once replies it is not because
St. Peter had any natural evidence that he thus spoke but
only because the eternal Father had given him this revelation.
And on account of this revelation, He proclaims His apostle
blessed : Beatus es, Simon Bar Jona, quia caro et sanguis
non revelavit tibi, sed Pater meus qui in caelts est.
More than once we read in the Gospel that the Jews
disputed amongst themselves concerning Christ. Thus after
Christ had explained the parable of the Good Shepherd Who
freely gives His life for His sheep, there arose a discussion
among those who heard Him. Some said: ” He hath a
devil and is mad, why hear you Him ?” But others replied:
1. Joan. 1, 18. — 2. Ibid. vu, 46. — 3. Ibid. 1, 2. — 4. Ibid. vu, 5.
” These are not the words of one that hath a devil”. And
alluding to the miracle of the man born blind whom Jesus
had cured a few days previously, these added: ” Can a
devil open the eyes of the blind” ? Then wishing to as-
certain the truth, the Jews surround Jesus, and say to Him :
” How long dost Thou hold our souls in suspense ? If Thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly”. And what does our Lord
teply ? ”I speak to you, and you believe not ; the works
that I do in the name of My Father, they give testimony of
Me”; and He adds: ” But you do not believe, because you
are not of My sheep : My sheep hear my voice ; and I know
them and they follow me; and I give them life everlasting;
and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck
them out of My hand. That which My Father hath given
Me is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of
the hand of My Father. I and the Father are one”. Then
the Jews taking Him for a blasphemer, because He called
Himself the equal of God, take up stones to stone Him, and
on Jesus asking them why they do so, they reply”: We
stone Thee for Thy blasphemy; because that Thou being
aman, makest Thyself God”. And what does Jesus answer?
Does He deny what they reproach Him with ? No, on the
contrary; He rather confirms it ; He is truly what they say
— the equal of God. They have understood Him aright,
but He affirms His words anew: He is the Son of God since,
He says, He does the works of His Father Who sent Him
and because by the Divine nature, ’the Father is in Me,
and I in the Father?”.
Therefore, you see, faith in the divinity of Christ Jesus

constitutes the first step towards the divine life for us as
well as for the Jews of His time. To believe that Jesus is
the Son of God, God Himself, is the first condition that is
necessary in order to be numbered among His sheep and be
pleasing to His Father. For that is indeed what the Father
requires of us: Hoc est opus Dei ut credatis in eum quem
misit dle, Christianity is nothing else than the acceptation
in all its far-reaching, doctrinal and practical consequences
of the divinity of Christ in the Incarnation. The reign of
Christ — holiness, through Him — is established in us in
the measure of the purity, intensity and fulness of our faith
1. Joan. x, 37-38. — 2. Ibid. vi, 29.
FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. I41
in Jesus Christ. Holiness for us is the full development of

our condition of children of God. Now it is by faith that we
are first of all born to that life of grace that makes us
children of God: Omnis qui credit quoniam Jesus est
Christus EX DEO NATUS EST?. We are not truly God’s
children unless our life is based on this faith. The Father
gives us His Son to be everything for us — our Model, our
Satisfaction, our Life. He says to us: Receive My Son, for
in Him you have all things : Quomodo non etiam cum illo
omnia nobis donavit? ? And in receiving Him, you receive
Me, you become, through Him, in Him, My beloved sons.
That is what our Lord said Himself : ” He that believeth
in Me, doth not believe in Me, but in Him that sent Me?”.
St. John says: ’ If we receive the testimony of men”, (if
we believe reasonably what men affirm to us) ” the testimony
of God is greater than any human testimony. And once
again, what is this testimony of God? It is the testimony
God has given that Christ is His Son. ” He that believeth
in the Son of God, hath the testimony of God in himself.
He that believeth not the Son, maketh Him a liar: because he
believeth not in the testimony which God hath testified of
His Son+”, Qui credit in Filium Dei habet testimonium Dei
m se. These words contain a very profound truth. For in
what does this testimony consist ? ” That God hath given
to us eternal life” says St. John. ” And this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son, hath life. He that hath not
the Son, hath not life>”. What do these words signify ?
To understand them we must, in the light of Revelation,
mount to the very source of life in God. All the life of the
Father in the Holy Trinity is to ” utter ” His Son, His Word,
to beget, by one simple, eternal act, a Son like to Himself, to
Whom He communicates the fulness of His being and of
His perfections. In this one and eternal Word, infinite like
Himself, the Father unceasingly recognises His Son, His
own image, ”the splendour of His glory”. And every
word, every outward testimony that God gives us of Christ’s
divinity, such as that given at the baptism of Jesus: —
” This is My beloved Son”, is only the echo, in the world
of the senses, of this testimony the Father renders to Himself
in the sanctuary of the Divinity, and that He expresses by
1. I Joan. v, 1. — 2 .Rom. vim, 32. — 3. Joan. xu, 44. — 4. I Joan.
V, q. 10 — 5. Ibid. v, 11-12.
a Word in which He places all Himself and which is His

intimate life: Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te.
When therefore we accept this testimony of the Eternal
Father, when we say to God: ” This little Child lying in the
crib is Thy Son, I adore and give myself to Him ; this Youth
toiling in the workshop of Nazareth, is Thy Son, I adore
Him; this Man crucified on Calvary, is Thy Son, I adore
Him; these fragments of bread are the appearances under
which Thy Son is hidden, I there adore Him”; when we
say to Jesus Himself: ” Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
Living God”, and prostrate ourselves before Him, yielding
to Him all our energies to serve Him, when ail our actions
are in accordance with this faith and spring from the charity
‘that makes faith perfect, — then our whole life becomes the
echo of the life of the Father Who eternally expresses His
Son in one infinite word ; and this divine action, never
ceasing, embracing all time; being an eternal “now”, we
shall thus associate ourselves in the very life of God. That
is what St. John says: ” He that believeth that Jesus is
the Son of God, hath the testimony of God in himself”, that
testimony by which the Father ” utters” His Son.
IV.
We cannot repeat these acts of faith in Christ’s divinity

too often. We received this faith in baptism, but we must
not leave it buried or sleeping in the depth of our heart; we
must ask God to increase it in us: Domine, adauge nobis
fidem ; we must exercise it by the repetition of our acts.
And the purer and more intense it becomes, the more it
will envelop our existence and the more solid, true, luminous,
sure and fruitful our spiritual life will be. For the profound
conviction that Christ is God and that He has been given to
us, contains all spiritual life: holiness flows for us from this
intimate conviction as from its source. This intense faith
penetrates through the veil of the humanity that hides the
divinity of Christ from our sight. Whether He be shown
to us in a crib, under the form of a little Child, or in a work-
shop; as a prophet ever the object of contradiction for His
enemies; under the species of bread and wine, — faith tells
us, with ever the same certainty, that it is always the same
Christ, true God as well as true Man, equal to His Father
and the Holy Ghost in majesty, in power, in wisdom and in

love. And when this conviction is deep it throws us into an
act of intense adoration and abandonment to the will of Him
Who while being man, remains what He is — the Almighty
and infinite perfection.
Let us place ourselves at the feet of Christ and say to
Him: Lord Jesus, Incarnate Word, I believe that Thou art
God; true God begotten of true God: Deum verum de Deo
vero; I do not see Thy divinity but because Thy Father tells
me: ” This is My beloved Son”, I believe it; and because
I believe it, I submit myself to Thee entirely, body, soul,
judgment, will, heart, sensibility, imagination, all my ener-
gies; I wish that the words of the psalmist may be fulfilled
in me, namely that all things may be subjected under Thy
feet in homage, Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejust. 1 wish
to follow Thee as my Chief and that Thy Gospel may be my
light and Thy Will my guide; I wish neither to think other-
wise than as Thou thinkest because Thou art the infallible
Truth, nor to act without Thee, because Thou art the only
Way to go to the Father, nor to seek my joy outside Thy
Will, because Thou art the very fountain of life. Possess
me wholly, through Thy Spirit, for the glory of the Father !
By this act of faith, we lay the very foundation of our
spiritual life: Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere, prae-
ter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus 2.
And if this act is frequently renewed, then Christ, as
St. Paul says, ” dwells in our hearts”: Christum habitare
per jidem in cordibus nostris*, that is to say He reigns in
our souls in a constant manner as Master and King, and
becomes in us, through His Spirit, the principle of divine
life. j
Let us then often renew this act of faith in the divinity of
Jesus, because each time we do so, we assure and consolidate
the foundation of our spiritual life, rendering it ever less
liable to be shaken. When you enter a church and see
the little lamp burning before the tabernacle announcing the
presence of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, do not let your
genuflection be a mere ceremony performed out of routine,
but a homage of intimate faith and profound adoration be-
_1. Ps. vim. 8, See in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 0, 8, the application
of these words to Christ. — 2. I Cor. m1, 11 ; cf. Col. 1, 6. — 3. Ephes.
546 to
fore our Lord as if you saw Him in all the splendour of His
eternal glory ; when you sing or recite in the Gloria of the
Mass all the praises and supplications it contains to Jesus
Christ: “Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father...
Thou Who sittest at the right hand of the Father... Thou
only art holy, Thou only art the Lord, Thou only, O Jesus
Christ with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of
God the Father ”, let all these praises come from your heart
more than from your lips; when you read the Gospel, do so
with this conviction that it is the Word of God, the infallible
Light and Truth speaking to you and revealing to you the
secrets of the divinity; when you sing in the Credo the
eternal generation of the World, come to be united to all
humanity : Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de
Deo vero, do not only be concerned with the meaning of the
words or the beauty of the chant, but consider them as an
echo of the voice of the Father contemplating His Son and
declaring that He is equal to Himself: Filius meus es tu,
ego hodie genui te; when you sing: Et incarnatus est, “Who
was incarnate”, let all your being inwardly bow down in an
act of self-abasement before the God-made-Man, in Whom
the Father is well pleeased; when you receive Jesus in the
Eucharist, receive Him with deep reverence as if you saw
Him face to face.
Such acts are extremely pleasing to the Eternal Father,
because all His exigencies — and they are infinite — are
summed up in willing the glory of His Son.
And the more this Son veils His divinity, the more He
abases Himself out of love for us, the more profoundly too
we ought to adore Him as Son of God, the more we ought
to exalt Him and render Him our homage. God’s supreme
desire is to see His Son glorified: Clarificavi et adhuc clari-
ficabo*; that is one of the three words of the Father the
world has heard. He wills to glorify Christ Jesus, because
Christ, His Son, is equal to Himself; but He wills it also,
says St. Paul, because His Son humbled Himself: Semetip-
sum exinanivit... propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum ?,
because He humbled Himself, the Father ” hath exalted
Him and hath given Him a name which is above all names:
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow... and that
every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is
1. Joan. x11, 28. — 2. Philipp. u, 79.
in the glory of God the Father”. That is why the more

Christ humbles Himself in becoming a little Child, in choo-
sing the hidden life of Nazareth, in bearing such of our
infirmities as are compatible with His dignity, in submitting
Himself to the death of the gibbet like a criminal, Cum
sceleratis*, in veiling Himself in the Eucharist; the more
His divinity is attacked and denied by unbelievers, — the
more too ought we to place Him high in the glory of the
Father, and in our hearts to yield ourselves to Him in a
spirit of intense reverence and entire submission to His
Person, and to labour for the extension of His reign in souls.
Such is true faith, the faith that being made perfect in

love, surrenders all our being, and practically enveloping all
the acts, all the works of our spiritual life, constitutes the
very basis of our supernatural edifice and of all sanctity.
In order to be truly a foundation, it is needful that faith
should sustain the works we accomplish and become the
principle of all our progress in the spiritual life?. “Asa
wise architect”, says St. Paul, ” I have laid the foundation
(in making known to you the Gospel of Christ which you
have received by faith). But let every man take heed how
he buildeth thereupon *”.
This spiritual edifice is built of our works. St. Paul
says again that the ” just man lives by faith”: Justus ex
fide*. The ” just man” is he who, by the justification
received at baptism, is created in justice and possesses in
himself the grace of Christ and with it, the infused virtues
of faith, hope and charity. The just man lives by faith.
To live, is to have in oneself an inward principle that is the
source of movement and operation. It remains true that
the inward principle that must animate our acts in order for
them to be acts of supernatural life, proportionate to final
beatitude, is sanctifying grace; but it is faith that introduces
our souls into the region of the supernatural. We only
have a share in the divine adoption if we receive Christ, and
we only receive Christ by faith: Quotquot autem receperunt
eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, his qui credunt in
1. Isa. tim, 12. — 2. Justificati... in ipsa justitia per Christi gratiam
accepta, cooperante fide bonis operibus crescunt ac magis sanctificantur.
Concil. Trid. Sess. VI, c. 10. — 3. I Cor. m, 10. — 4. Rom. 1, 17. It
is remarkable that St. Paul gives expression to this truth three times in
his Epistle. Cf. Gal. m1, 11 and Hebr. x, 38.
nomine ejus. Faith in Jesus Christ leads to life, and to

justification by grace; that is why St. Paul says that the just
live by faith.
In the supernatural life, faith in Jesus is a power so much
the more active as it is the more deeply anchored in the
soul. It first embraces with fervour all the fulness of its
object ; and as faith refers all to Christ, it regards all things
in the divine light of Christ. Faith receives not only
the Person of Christ, but embraces all He has said, all He
has done and all He has instituted: that is to say, the
Church, the sacraments and all that constitutes the super-
natural organism established by Christ in order that our souls
may live by His divine life. Moreover, the intimate and
profound conviction we have of the divinity of Jesus is the
spring of all our activity so that we may generously fulfil all
His commands and be rendered unshaken in temptation, —
fortes in fide, — and that our hope and love may be
sustained in every trial.
What an intensity of supernatural life there is in a soul
intimately convinced that Jesus is God !_ What an abundant
source of inner life and of indefatigable apostolate there is
in this certainty, becoming stronger every day, that Christ is
all Holiness, all Wisdom, all Power and all Goodness !...
I believe, Lord Jesus, that Thou art the Son of the Living
God : I believe it, but increase my faith !
V.
There is one point I want to dwell on, which, above all,
must be the explicit object of our faith if we wish to live the
divine life fully: — that is, faith in the infinite value of
Christ’s merits.
I have already touched on this truth when explaining how
Our Lord is the infinite price of our sanctification. But it
is important to return to it here when speaking of faith, for
it is faith that enables us to draw abundantly from those
unfathomable riches which God gives us in His Christ : Jn-
vestigabiles divitiae Christi.
God has made us an immense gift in the Person of His
Son Jesus. Christ is a tabernacle wherein are ” hidden all
the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge” that He has
Twbetr.. V0.0.
there stored up for us. Christ Himself, by His passion and

death, merited to communicate them to us, and He is always
living, interceding with His Father for us. But we must
know the value of this gift and how to use it: Si scires
donum Dei! Christ with the plenitude of His sanctity and
the infinite value of His merits and credit is this Gift; but
this gift is only useful to us according to the measure of our
faith. If our faith is great, intense, profound, and reaching
to the height of this gift as far as is possible for a creature,
there will be no limit to the divine communications made to
our souls by the holy Humanity of Jesus. If we have not a
boundless esteem for Christ’s infinite merits, it is because
our faith in the Divinity of Jesus is not intense enough; and
those who doubt this divine efficacy do not know what is the
humanity of a God.
We ought often to exercise our faith in the satisfactions
and merits acquired by Jesus for our sanctification.
When we pray, let us come before the Eternal Father with
an unshaken confidence in the merits of His Son. Our
Lord has paid all our debt; He has gained all for us, and He
unceasingly intercedes with His Father for us: Semper
vivens ad interpellandum PRO NoBis?. Let us then say to
God: I know, O my God, that I am altogether wretched;
that I only add to my faults every day; I know that before
Thy infinite holiness I am, of myself, like mud before the
sun ; but I prostrate myself before Thee; through grace,
I am a member of Thy Son’s mystical body; Thy Son has
given me this grace, after having redeemed me by His
Blood; now that I belong to Him, do not reject me from
before, Thy divine face !
No, God cannot reject us when we thus rely on the credit
of His Son; for the Son treats with Him as equal with
equal. When we thus acknowledge that of ourselves we
are weak and miserable, that we can do nothing, Sine me
nihil potestis facere, but that we hope for everything from
Christ, all that we need in order to live by the divine life,
Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat, we acknowledge that
this Son is everything for us, that He has been established
as our Chief and High Priest. That is, says St. John,
to render very acceptable homage to the Father ” Who
loves the Son”, Who wills that everything should come to us
1. Hebr. vi, 25.
148 CURIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
through the Son because He has given Him all power of life
for souls. The soul that has not this absolute confidence
in Jesus does not fully acknowledge Him for what He is:
— the beloved Son of the Father, and hence does not render
to the Father that honour which He absolutely requires:
Pater enim diligit Filium, ut omnes honorificent Filium sicut
honorificant Patrem. Qui non honorificat Filium, non ho-
norificat Patrem qui misit illum *.
In the same way, when we approach the sacrament of
penance, let us have great faith in the divine efficacy of the
Blood of Jesus. It is this Blood which in this sacrament
cleanses our souls from their sins, purifies them, renews
their strength, and restores their beauty. The very Blood of
Christ is applied to us with His merits at the moment of
absolution, that Blood which our Saviour shed for us with
incomparable love, those merits which are infinite, but were
acquired at the price of measureless sufferings and igno-
miny. If you knew the gift of God !
Again, when you assist at Holy Mass you are present
at the sacrifice which is the same as that on the cross; the
Man-God offers Himself upon the altar for us as He did
on Calvary, although the manner of offering Himself is
different; but it is the same Christ, true God as well as
true Man, Who immolates Himself upon the altar in order
to make us partakers of His inexhaustible merits. If only
our faith were ardent and deep! With what reverence we
should assist at this sacrifice, with what unshaken confidence
we should receive Jesus in Holy Communion, when He gives
Himself with His humanity and His divinity, His treasures
and His merits, He, the Ransom of the World, and the Son
in Whom the Father is well pleased ! Si scires donum Dei !
When we often make such acts of faith in the power of
Christ, in the value of His merits, our life becomes by the
very fact, like a perpetual song of praise to the glory of this
supreme High Priest, this universal Mediator, Who gives
us every grace; and this is to enter deeply into the eternal
ideal, the divine plan; it is to adapt our souls to the sancti-
fying designs of God at the same time as we associate our-
selves with His will by glorifying His beloved Son: Clarifi-
cavi et adhuc clarificabo.
Let us then go to Our Lord — He alone has the words of
1. Joan. v, 20-24.
FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. I49
eternal life. Let us first of all receive Him with a lively

faith wherever He is present: — in the sacraments, in the
Church, in His mystical body, in our neighbour, in the
providence that directs or permits every event, even suffer-
ing; let us receive Him, whatsoever be the form He takes
and the moment He comes, with an entire adhesion to His
divine word and complete abandonment to His service...In
this is holiness.
We have all read in the Gospel that episode of the cure of

the man born blind related by St. John with so many touching
details*+. After having been cured by Jesus on the sabbath
day, the man that was blind is questioned, over and over
again, by the Pharisees, the enemies of the Saviour. They
want to make the man confess that Christ is not a prophet
because He does not keep the repose of the sabbath day
prescribed by the Law of Moses. But the poor man does
not know much. He invariably replies that one called Jesus
cured him by sending him to wash at a pool : that is all
he knows and all that, at first, he replies. The Pharisees
can find nothing against Christ in what he says, and finally
they cast the man out of the synagogue because he persists
in saying that it has never been heard of before that any
man had opened the eyes of one born blind: Jesus must
therefore be a prophet sent by God. Our Lord hearing he
had been cast out, and having found him, says to him:
” Dost thou believe in the Son of God?” The one born
blind answers: ” Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in
him” ? What promptitude of soul! Jesus says to him :
“Tt is He that talketh with thee”. And immediately this
poor man adheres to the word of Christ. ’I believe, Lord”,
and in the intensity of his faith, he falls down at the feet of
Jesus and adores Him: Credo, Domine, et procidens, ado-
yavit eum; he embraces the feet of Christ and, in Christ,
all the work of Christ.
The man born blind is the image of the soul, healed by
Jesus, delivered from eternal darkness and given light
through the grace of the Incarnate Word’. Whenever
Jesus presents Himself to us, we ought to say: Outs est,
Domine, ut credam in eum. And immediately we should
yield ourselves entirely to Christ, to His service, to the
1. Joan. mx, 11, 38. — 2. Cf. S. Augustin, In Joan, XLIV, 1.
interests of His glory which is likewise the glory of His

Father. In acting always thus, we live by faith. Christ
dwells and reigns in us, His divinity being in us, by this
faith, the principle of all our life.
This faith which is crowned and manifested by love, is

lastly a source of joy for us. Our Lord said: Beatt qui ©
non viderunt et crediderunt: " Blessed are they that have
not seen, and have believed?”. He said this, not for His
disciples, but for us. And why then does Our Lord declare
"blessed ”” those who believe in Him? Faith is a source
of joy because it makes us share in the knowledge of Christ.
He is the Eternal Word and has taught us the Divine
secrets: Unigenitus Filius qui est in sinu Patris ipse enarra-
vit?. In believing what He tells us, we have the same
knowledge as He; faith is a source of joy because it is the
source of light.
It is a source of joy too because it places us in radical
possession of future bliss, it is ” the substance of things to
be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not”: Spe-
randarum substantia rerum®. Jesus says Himself: ” He
that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting”, Qui credit
in Filium Det habet vitam aeternam*. Note the present
tense: habet, “he hath”; Christ does not speak in the
future tense: ” he will have”, but He speaks of an already
assured possession®; just as we have seen that he that
believeth not is already judged. Faith is a seed, and every
seed contains in germ the future harvest. Provided that
we put away from faith all that can diminish and tarnish it;
that we develop it by prayer and practice, that we constantly
give it the occasion of manifesting itself in love, faith places
in our hands the substance of the joys to come and gives
birth to unshaken confidence: Qui credit im eum non con-
fundetur °.
Let us remain, as St. Paul says, ” grounded in the faith ”

In fide fundati?; built up in Christ and confirmed in our
faith in Him: Sicut ergo accepistis Jesum Christum Domi-
1. Joan. xx, 29. — 2. Ibid. 1, 18. — 3. Hebr. x1, 1. — 4. Joan. In,
3-6. — 5. Dicitur aliquis jam finem habere propter spem finis obtinendi
S. Thom. I-I, q. LxIx, a. 2; and the angelic doctor adds: Unde et
apostolus dicit: Spe salvi facti sumus. All this article should be read. —
6. |Rom. 1x))'33.. \->7.0 Cole: 7, 23°
FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. I5t
num, im ipso ambulate, radicati et superaedificati in ipso et

confirmati fide, sicut et didicistis+, This faith will be put
to the test in this century of unbelief, blasphemy, scepticism,
materialism and human respect which surrounds us with its
unwholesome atmosphere. If you remain confirmed in your
faith, says St. Peter, the prince of the apostles (upon whom
Jesus founded His Church when Peter proclaimed that
Christ was the Son of God), this faith will ” be found unto
glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ Whom not
having seen you love: in Whom also now, though you see
Him not, you believe: and believing shall rejoice with joy
unspeakable and glorified’. For, he adds, the end and
assured recompense of faith is the salvation and, in conse-
quence, the sanctity of your souls ”.
r. Col 1, 6, 7. — 2. 1 Petr..3, 79.
II. — BAPTISM, THE SACRAMENT
OF ADOPTION AND INITIATION:
DEATH AND LIFE.
Summary. — Baptism, the first of all the Sacraments. — I. Sac-

rament of the Divine adoption. — Il. Sacrament of Christian
initiation ; symbolism and grace of Baptism explained by
St. Paul. — III. How the life of Christ contains the double
aspect of “ death” and of “life” that Baptism reproduces
in us. — IV. All Christian life is only the practical develop-
ment of the double initial grace given at Baptism: ” death
to sin” and "life for God”. The sentiments that re-
membrance of Baptism ought to give birth to in us:
gratitude, joy and confidence.
HE first attitude of the soul towards the revelation

made to us of the Divine plan of our adoption is, as
we have seen, faith. Faith is the root of all justifi-
cation and the principle of the Christian life. It embraces,
as to its primordial object, the Divinity of Jesus sent by the
Eternal Father to work out our salvation: Haec est vita
aeterna ut cognoscant te solum Deum verum et quem mi-
sisti Jesum Christum 2.
From this principal object, faith radiates on everything
referring to Christ: — the Sacraments, the Church, souls,
the whole of revelation and, when it culminates in love and
adoration yielding all our being to the full accomplishment
of the will of Jesus and of His Father, it reaches perfection.
But faith is not enough.
When Our Lord sent forth His Apostles to continue His
sanctifying mission upon earth, He said ” he that believeth
not shall be condemned”. He adds nothing further as for
those who will not believe because, faith being the root of
all justification, everything done without faith is valueless
in God’s sight: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo*, but
for those who believe, Christ adds the reception of Baptism
1. Joan. xvu, 3. — 2. Hebr. x1, 6.
BAPTISM: DEATH AND LIFE. 153
as the condition of incorporation into His kingdom. ” He

that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved?”. St. Paul
likewise says that ’ as many of you as have been baptized...
have put on Christ?”. Baptism is the first in date of all
the Sacraments; Divine life is first infused into us at
Baptism. All divine and supernatural communications con-
verge towards this Sacrament or normally pre-suppose it :
thence its value.
Let us stay to consider this; we shall find in it the origin
of our titles to supernatural nobility, for Baptism is the
Sacrament of Divine adoption and of Christian initiation.
At the same time we shall especially find in it, as in its
germ, the double aspect of ” death to sin” and ” life for
God” which ought to characterise the whole existence of a
disciple of Christ.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit, Who with His Divine virtue
sanctified the baptismal waters in which we were regen-
erated,to make us understand the greatness of this Sacrament
and the engagements it involves. Its reception marked for
us the ever blessed moment when we became children of the
Heavenly Father, brethren of Christ Jesus, and when our
souls were consecrated as temples of this Divine Spirit.
I.
Baptism is the Sacrament of Divine adoption.

I have shown you it is by Divine adoption that we become
children of God. Baptism is like the spiritual birth by which
the life of grace is conferred upon us.
We possess in us, first of all, the natural life, the life we
receive from our parents according to the flesh; by it we
enter into the human family; this life lasts some years and
then ends in death. If we had only this natural life, we
should never behold the Face of God. It makes us children
of Adam, and, by that very fact, stained from our con-
ception, with original sin. Issued from Adam’s race, we
have received a life poisonéd at its source; we share in the
disgrace of the head of our race; we are born, says St. Paul,
Filii irae, ” children of wrath”; Quisquis nascitur, Adam
nascitur, damnatus de damnato*. This natural life which
1. Marc.xvt, 16.— 2. Gal. 11,27.— 3. St. Augustine. Enarr. in Ps.cxxxt1.
plunges its roots in sin, is of itself sterile for heaven: Caro

non prodest quidquam*.
But this natural life, Ea voluntate viri, ex voluntate carnis,
is not the only one. God, as I have said, wills to give us a
higher life which, without destroying the natural life in so
far as it is good, surpasses it, upraises and deifies it. God
wills to communicate His own life to us.
We receive this Divine life through a new birth, a spiritual
birth by which we are born of God: Ex Deo nati sunt”.
~This life is a participation in the life of God; it is, of its
nature, immortal*. If we possess it here below, we have
the pledge of eternal beatitude, heredes Dei; if we have
it not, we are forever excluded from the Divine fellow-
ship.
Now the regular means, instituted by Christ, for us to be
born to this life, is Baptism.
You know that episode related by St. John*, of the inter-
view of Nicodemus with Our Lord. This doctor of the
Jewish law and member of the great council comes to find
Jesus, doubtless so as to become His disciple, for he regards
Christ as a Prophet. Our Lord replies to his question:
” Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God”. Nicodemus, not under-
standing, asks Christ: ” How can a man be born when he is
old?” What does Our Lord reply? What He had
already said, but explaining it; ” Amen, amen, I say to
thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy
Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God *”. And Our
Lord next contrasts the two lives, the natural and the super-
natural. ” That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit, is spirit”. And He concludes
anew: ” Wonder not, that I say to thee, you must be born
again ””,
The Church, at the Council of Trent*®, determined the
interpretation of this passage, applying it to Baptism: The
1. Joan. vi, 64. — 2. Ibid. 1,13. — 3. Renati non ex semine corrupti-
bili sed incorruptibili per Verbum Dei vivi et permanentis in aeternum.
I Petr. 1, 23. — 4. Joan. m1, 1.sq. — 5. To be baptized, that is to say,
to be plunged in the water, in order to be purified, was something very
well known to the Jews ; it only remained to explain to them that there
was to be a Baptism in which the Holy Spirit, uniting Himself to the
water, would renew the spirit of man. Bossuet, Meditations upon the
Gospel. XXXVIth day. — 6. Sess. VII. De Baptismo. can. 2.
water regenerates the soul by the virtue of the Holy Spirit.

The ablution of the water, sensible element, and the effusion
of the Spirit, divine element, join to produce the supernatural
birth. This is what St. Paul has already said: ” God saved
us, not by the works of justice we have done, but according
to His mercy... by the laver of regeneration, and renovation
of the Holy Ghost, Whom He hath poured forth upon us
abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being
justified by His grace, we may be heirs, according to hope
of life everlasting? ”.
Thus, you see, Baptism constitutes the Sacrament of
adoption. Plunged in the sacred waters, we are there born
to the Divine life; that is why St. Paul calls one who is
baptised, “a new man?”. God, in making us partakers of
His nature in so liberal a manner, by a gift infinitely excee-
ding all we could hope or expect, creates us, so to speak, anew
We are — it is still the great Apostle’s expression — ” a new
creature”, Nova creatura*; and because this life is Divine, it
is the whole Trinity Who makes this gift to us.
At the beginning of time, the Trinity presided over the
creation of man; Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et simi-
litudinem nostram‘*; it is also in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that our new birth is
wrought. It is however, as the words of Jesus and of
St. Paul denote, especially attributed to the Holy Ghost,
because it is especially through love that God adopts us ;
Videte qualem caritatem... dedit nobis Pater ut filu Dei no-
minemur et simus °.
This thought is laid stress on in the prayers for Holy
Saturday when the Bishop blesses the baptismal waters to
be used in the Sacrament. Listen to some of these prayers,
they are very full of significance: ” O Almighty and Eternal
God... send forth the Spirit of adoption to regenerate the
new people whom the font of baptism bringeth forth...”
” Took down, O Lord, on Thy Church and multiply in her
Thy new generations”. Then the Bishop calls upon the
Divine Spirit to sanctify these waters: ” May the Holy
Spirit vouchsafe by a secret impression of His Divinity to
render fruitful this water for the regeneration of men: to
the end that those who are sanctified in the immaculate womb
1. Tit. III, 5-7. — 2. Ephes. 11, 15 ; 1v, 24. — 3. If Cor. v, 17; Gal. v1,
15. — 4. Gen. 1, 26. — 5. I Joan. itt, 1.
of this divine font, and born again new creatures, may come
forth a heavenly offspring”. All the mysterious rites which
the Church multiplies at this moment, all the invocations of
this magnificent benediction replete with symbolism, are full
of this thought: — that it is the Holy Ghost Who sanctifies
the waters in order that those who are plunged in them may
be born to the divine life, after having been purified from
all sin: Descendat in hanc plenitudinem fontis virtus Spi-
ritus Sancti... regenerandi faecundet effectu, ’so that all
who receive this sacrament of regeneration may be born
again, new children of perfect innocence ”.
Such is the greatness of this sacrament: it is the effica-
cious sign of our divine adoption; it is by it that we truly
become the children of God and are incorporated with Christ.
It opens the door to every heavenly gift. Remember this
truth: all God’s mercies towards us, all His condescension
proceed from our adoption. When we turn the gaze of our
soul towards Divinity, the first thing that is unveiled to us
of the eternal counsels regarding us, is the decree of our
. adoption in Jesus Christ; and all the favours God may
shower down upon our souls here below, until the day when
He communicates Himself to us for ever in the beatitude
of His Trinity, have for their first link this initial grace of
Baptism, to which they are attached. At this predestinated
moment, we entered into the family of God, we became
members of a Divine race, assured in principle, of an eternal
inheritance. At the hour of our baptism, Christ engraves
an indelible character upon our soul, we receive the pignus
Spiritus 1, the pledge of the Divine Spirit, which renders us
worthy of the complacency of the Eternal Father, and as-
sures us, if we are faithful to preserve this pledge, of all the
favours God gives to those whom He regards as His children.
That is why the Saints, who have such clear insight into
supernatural realities, have always held baptismal grace in
most high esteem. The day of baptism was for us the dawn
of Divine liberality and future glory.
II.
Baptism will appear even greater to us if we consider it

under the aspect of the Sacrament of Christian initiation.
TU Cor.. i (22g ess
BAPTISM: DEATH AND LIFE. I57
Our Divine adoption is made, as I have said, in Jesus

Christ. We only become children of God in order to be
made conformable, by grace, to the Only-Begotten Son of
the Father. Never let us forget that God has only pre-
destined us to adoption in His beloved Son: Praedestinavit
nos in adoptionem filiorum per Jesum Christum... ut esset
Ipse primogenitus in multis fratribus*. Moreover, the
satisfactions of Christ have merited this grace for us, as it
is always Christ Who remains our Model when it is our. will
to live as children of the Heavenly Father. We shall per-
fectly understand this if we recall the manner in which
neophytes were primitively initiated in the Christian mys-
teries.
In the first ages of the Church, as you know, Baptism was
ordinarily conferred only on adults after a rather long period
of preparation, during which the neophyte was instructed in
the truths he was to believe. It was on Holy Saturday, or
rather, during the very night preceding the Pascal sol-
emnities, that the sacrament was administered in the Bap-
tistery, a small building detached from the Church, as is to
be seen in Italian cathedrals. The rites of the blessing of the
baptismal font by the Bishop being ended, the catechumen,
that is to say, the aspirant to Baptism, descends into the
font: there he is as the Greek word indicates Baxz:oety,
” plunged” into the water while the Bishop pronounces the
sacramental words: “I baptize thee in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”. The
catechumen is then, as it were, buried under the waters
whence he next comes out by the steps on the opposite side:
there the god-father awaits and ministers to him. When all
the catechumens are baptised, the Bishop gives each of them
a white garment as a symbol of the purity of their hearts;
then he signs the brow of each with an unction made of
consecrated oil, saying: ” May Almighty God Who has re-
generated thee with water and the Holy Ghost, and has
forgiven all thy sins, Himself anoint thee unto eternal life ”.
When all these rites are ended, the procession returns to the
basilica; the newly-baptised walk in front, clad in white and
bearing lighted candles in their hands, the symbol of Christ,
the Light of the world. Then begins the Mass of the
Resurrection, celebrating the triumph of Christ come forth
1. Rom. vit, 29.
158 CERIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
victorious from the tomb, and animated with the new life He
communicates to all His elect. The Church is so happy in
this new increase which she has just added to Christ’s flock
that during eight days they have a place apart in the basilica,
and the liturgy will be full of the thought of them during all
the Paschal octave?. As you see, these ceremonies are, to
begin with, full of symbolism. They symbolise, according to
St. Paul, Jesus Christ’s death and burial, followed by His
Resurrection, in which the Christian shares.
But there is something more than a symbol, there is the
grace that is produced. And though the ancient rites, laying
stress on this symbolism, have been simplified since the
custom was introduced of baptising infants, the virtue of
the Sacrament remains the same. The substantial rites are
retained, bearing in them the inward grace of the sacra-
ment.
St. Paul gives us a very deep explanation of the primitive

symbolism and of baptismal grace. This summary of his
leading idea will make us better understand his words after-
wards.
The immersion in the waters of the font represents the
death and burial of Christ: we have our part in them by
burying in the sacred waters sin and all affection to sin
which we renounce. The ” old man?” stained by Adam’s
sin, disappears under the waters and is buried (only the
dead are buried) asin a tomb. The coming forth from the
baptismal font is the birth of the new man, purified from
sin, regenerated by the water made fruitful by the Holy
Ghost; the soul of the baptized is adorned with grace, the
principle of Divine life, adorned too, with the infused virtues
1. The catechumens who are hindered by absence or insufficient prep-
aration, from receiving Baptism on the night of Easter, will receive it on
the eve of Pentecost, the solemnity which. commemorates the visible
coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and at the same time closes
the Paschal season. The same solemn rites of the blessing of the font
and of the administration of the sacrament, are repeated. To the Paschal
symbolism, which remains in its entirety, is then added more explicitly
the intention of the Holy Spirit, Who, by His Divine virtue, regenerates
the soul in the baptismal waters. Like the Masses for the Easter octave,
those of the octave of Pentecost, contain more than one allusion to the
newly-baptized. — 2. The "old man” denotes with St. Paul, the natural
man such as he is born and lives from the moral point of view as the
son of Adam, before being regenerated in Baptism by the grace of Jesus
Christ.
and gifts of the Holy Ghost. It was a sinner who was

plunged into the font, he has there left all his sins, and it
is a just man who comes forth from it, imitating Christ come
forth from His tomb and living the Divine life +.
Such is the grace of Baptism, expressed by symbolism, a
symbolism especially full of significance, when Baptism was
administered on Easter night.
Let us listen to St. Paul’s own words: ” Know you not
that all we who are baptised (in order to become members
of the mystical body of Christ) are baptised in His death ” ?
That is to say, that the death of Jesus is for us the model
and meritorious cause of our death to sin in Baptism. Why.
are we to die? Because Christ our Model died: com-
planiati facti sumus similitudini mortis ejus. And what is
it that dies ? Vitiated and corrupt nature, the ” old man”.
Vetus homo noster stmut crucifixus est. And why? That
we may be free from sin: Ut destrwatur corpus peccati et
ultra non serviamus peccato. "We are”, St. Paul con-
tinues, in explaining this symbolism ” buried together with
Christ by baptism unto death, that as Christ is risen from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in
newness of life?”.
This explains the engagement by which we are bound
through the grace of Baptism to ” walk in newness of life”
that life which Christ our Model shows us in His Re-
surrection. Why is this? Because “If we have been
planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also
in the likeness of His Resurrection; knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin may be.
destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer: for
he that is dead is justified from sin*”. So then at Baptism
we have renounced sin for ever.
1. Ut unius ejusdemque elementi mysterio et finis esset vitiis et origo
virtutibus. — Solemn blessing of the baptismal font on Holy Saturday.
— 2. Rom. vi, 3-13. Sicut ille qui sepelitur sub terra, ita qui baptizatur
immergitur sub aqua. Unde et in baptismo fit trina immersio non solum
propter fidem Trinitatis sed etiam ad repraesentanduri triduum sepulturae
Christi, et inde est quod in sabbato sancto baptismus in Ecclesia cele-
bratur. S. Thom. In Epist ad Rom. c. VI, 1, 1. — 3. "Sinful man,” Says
S. Thomas, "is buried, by baptism, in the Passion and Death of Christ; it
is as if he himself suffered and died with the sufferings and death of the
Saviour. And as the Passion and death of Christ have the power of
satisfying for sin and all the debt of sin, the soul associated through
Baptism with this satisfaction is free from all debt towards the justice
of God.” ILL fq#txrTx Va. 2.
That is not enough. We have besides received the germ

of divine life, and it is this germ that we must, likewise for
ever, develop in us. This is what St. Paul adds: ” Now
if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also
together with Christ”: and that, unceasingly. ” Knowing
that Christ, (Who is not only our Model, but Who infuses
His grace in us) rising again from the dead, dieth no more;
death shall no more have dominion over Him: for in that
He died to sin, He died once; but in that He liveth, He
liveth unto God”.
St. Paul concludes his demonstration of this truth, with
this application addressed to those who, by baptism, are par-
takers of the death and life of Christ, their Model : ” So
do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto
God, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord”, with Whom you are
incorporated by the grace of Baptism: ITA ET VOS existi-
mate, vos mortuos quidem esse peccato, viventes autem Deo
in Christo Jesu?.
Such are the words of the great Apostle. According to
him, Baptism represents the death and resurrection of Christ
Jesus, and it produces what it represents: it makes us die
to sin, it makes us live in Jesus Christ.
Tir
The better to understand this profound doctrine, we must

clearly define this double aspect of the life of Christ which
is reproduced in us from our Baptism and ought to affect
our whole life.
As I have said, the Divine plan of the supernatural adop-
tion conferred on Adam was crossed by sin; the sin of the
head of humankind was transmitted to all his race and
excluded it from the eternal kingdom. In order that the
gates of heaven might be re-opened, reparation was needed
for the offence against God, an adequate and total satisfac-
tion which should efface the infinite malice of the sin. Man,
being only a creature, was incapable of making it. The
Incarnate Word, God made man, took the charge upon Him-
self; and on this account, all His life, until the moment of
the consummation of His sacrifice, was marked with a
1. Rom. VI, 3-13.
character of death. Certainly, Our Divine Saviour has

neither contracted original sin, nor committed any personal
sin, nor borne the consequences of sin incompatible with His
Divinity, such as error, ignorance, sickness. He is in all
things like to His brethren, save that He never knew sin.
He is rather the Lamb Who takes away the sins of the
world. He comes to save sinners. But God has laid upon
Him the iniquity of sinners; and Christ, from His entrance
into this world, having accepted the sacrifice His Father
required of Him, all His existence, from the Crib to Calvary,
bears the mark of the victim?.
See Him in the humiliations of Bethlehem; see Him
fleeing before the wrath of Herod; toiling in a workshop,
and, during His public life, suffering the hatred of His
enemies; see Him during His bitter Passion, from the
moment of His Agony that filled Him with weariness and
anguish, to the abandonment by His Father, on the Cross;
see Him like a lamb led to the slaughter? ; like a worm
cursed and trodden underfoot *, for He is come ” in the
likeness of sinful flesh*”; being the propitiation for the
crimes of the whole world, it is not until His death on the
gibbet that He pays off the universal debt. This death has
won for us everlasting life. Jesus Christ slays and destroys
sin at the very moment when death strikes Him. He, the
innocent One, is the victim of all the sins of men:
Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando

Dux vitae mortuus regnat vivus *.
” Together Death and Life in a strange conflict strove: the
Prince of Life Who died now lives and reigns”.
The Prophet had long before exalted this triumph of
‘Christ: ” O Death, I will be thy death; O Death, where is
thy victory” ? And St. Paul, repeating these same words,
replies: ” Death is swallowed up in victory ”, the victory of
Christ coming forth from the tomb®. Mortem nostram
moriendo destruxit et vitam resurgendo reparavit”.
1. Christ however, cannot be said to be a " penitent” in the strict sense
of the word; a ” penitent” must pay a personal debt to justice ;Christ
‘is a holy and sinless high priest; the debt He pays is the debt of the
‘human race, but He only pays it because He substitutes Himself, out
of love, for us all. — 2. Jerem. x1, 199. —3. Ps. xxi, 7. —4. Rom. viut,3.
— 5. Sequence for Easter Sunday. — 6. I Cor. xv, 54-55; cf. Osee x11, -
14. — 7. Preface for Paschal time.
Christ, the life of the soul. Ir
For, once risen, Christ has taken a new life. Christ dies.
no more, “death has no more dominion over Him”. He
has destroyed sin once for all, and His life is henceforward
a life for God, a glorious life to be crowned on the day of
His Ascension.
But, you will say; Has not Christ’s life always been a
life for God ? Certainly it has; Christ Jesus only lived for
His Father. On coming into the world, He gave Himself
up entirely to His Father’s will: Ecce venio ut faciam,
Deus, voluntatem tuam1. That is His food: Meus cibus
est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me*. He accepts
even His Passion because He loves His Father: Ut cognos-
cat mundus quia diligo Patrem*. Despite the repugnance
of His sensibility, He takes the chalice offered in His agony
and does not die till all is consummated. He can truly sum
up all His life in saying that He always did the things that
pleased His Father: Quae placita sunt ei facio semper *,
for He ever sought His Father’s glory: Non quaero gloriam
meam, sed honorifico Patrem meum °.
So then it is true that, even before His Resurrection, Our
Lord only lived for God. His life was entirely devoted to
the interests and glory of His Father; but, until then, His life
was also entirely shadowed with the character of a victim ;
— whilst, once risen from the tomb, free henceforth from
any debt towards Divine justice, Christ no longer lives except
for God. It is henceforward a perfect life, a life in all its
fulness and splendour, without any infirmity, any perspec-
tive of expiation, death, or even suffering: Mors illi ultra
non dominabitur. Allin the Risen Christ bears the character
of life — glorious life, of which the wonderful prerogatives
of liberty and incorruptibility are manifested, even here
below, to the dazzled eyes of the disciples, in His body
freed from all servitude; a life which is an uninterrupted
song of thanksgiving and praise; a life to be for ever
exalted on the day of the Ascension, when Christ was
definitely to take possession of the glory due to His Human-
ity.
This double aspect of death and of life characterising the
existence of the Incarnate Word amongst men, and realising
its maximum of intensity and splendour in His Passion and
1. Hebr. x, 9. — 2. Joan. Iv, 34. — 3. Ibid. xv, 31. — 4. Ibid. vimt,,
29, — 5. Ibid. 49-50.
Resurrection, ought to be reproduced in every Christian,

in all those who have been incorporated with Christ in
Baptism, for we became disciples of Jesus in the sacred
font, by an act symbolising His Death and Resurrection.
That is what St. Augustine so well says: ” Our way is
Christ: therefore look at Christ. He has come to suffer in
order to merit glory; to seek to be scorned in order to be
exalted. He has come to die but also to rise again?”.
This is the very echo of what St. Paul says: Ita et vos
existimate. We should regard ourselves as dead to sin ?,
as having renounced sin, so as only to live for God. When
we contemplate Christ, what do we find in Him? A
mystery of death and of life: Tvraditus est propter delicta
nostra et resurrexit propter justificationem nostram*. The
Christian continues in his life this double element that makes
him one with Christ. St. Paul is very explicit on this
point; he says: ” buried with Him in Baptism, in Whom
also you are risen again... And you, when you were dead
(to eternal life) in your sins... He hath quickened together
with Him, forgiving you all offences*”. As Christ left the
winding-sheet — the image of His state of death and life
subject to suffering — behind Him in the tomb, so have we
left all our sins in the baptismal waters; in the same way
that Christ came forth free and living from the sepulchre,
so we have come forth from the sacred font, not only
purified from all sin, but with the soul adorned, through the
operation of the Holy Ghost, with grace, the principle of
Divine life, and its train of virtues and gifts. The soul has
become a temple where the Holy Trinity abides, and the
object of Divine complacency.
PV;
There is one truth we must not lose sight of, and to which
St. Paul has already alluded. It is that this Divine, God-
given life is only in a state of germ. It must grow and
develop in the same way as our renunciation of sin, our
” death to sin” must unceasingly be renewed and sustained.
We lost everything at once by one single fault of Adam,
1. Sermo LXII, c. 2. — 2. "To live to sin”,” to die to sin f are
familiar expressions with St. Paul; they signify "to remain in sin’,
“to renounce sin”. — 3. Rom. Iv, 25. — 4. Col. 1, 12-13.
but in Baptism God does not give us back at once all the
integrity of the divine gift. In order that it may be a
source of merit because of the efforts it calls forth, He
leaves in us concupiscence, the source of sin, which tends
to diminish or destroy the divine life. Therefore our whole
existence ought to be the realisation of what Baptism in-
augurates. By Baptism, we communicate in the mystery and
divine virtue of Christ’s death and risen life. ” Death to
sin” is wrought; but on account of the concupiscence re-
maining in us, we must maintain this death by continual re-
nunciation of Satan, of his suggestions and works, and the
sollicitations of the world and the flesh. Grace is the
principle of life in us, but it is a germ we must cultivate; it
is that kingdom of God within us that Our Lord Himself
compares to a grain of mustard-seed which becomes a great
tree. So it is with the divine life in us.
Listen how St. Paul points out this truth. He tells the
Colossians that by Baptism they have stripped themselves
of the old man with his works of death (descended from
Adam): and have put on the new man created in justice
and truth (the soul regenerated in Jesus Christ by the Holy
Ghost) ” according to the image of Him that created him*”.
St. Paul likewise tells the faithful of Ephesus who have been
taught in the school of Christ, ”’to put off, according to
former conversation, the old man who is corrupted accor-
ding to the desire of error, and be renewed in the spirit of
your mind. And put on the new man, who according to God
is created in justice and holiness of truth?”. As long then,
as we are making our earthly pilgrimage here below, we must
pursue this double work of death to sin and life for God:
Ita et vos extstimate.
In God’s designs, this death to sin is definitive, and this
life is, of itself, immortal: but we can lose this life and fall
again into death by sin. Our work therefore is to guard
and develop this germ until at the last day we arrive at the
fulness of the age of Christ. All Christian asceticism
proceeds from baptismal grace. Its aim is to cultivate the
divine germ cast into the soul by the Church on the day of
her children’s initiation, so that being free from all obstacle,
it may open out and blossom. Christian life 1s nothing else
but the progressive and continuous development, the practical
1. Col, 1, 9-10. — 2. Ephes. tv, 20-24.
application, throughout our whole life, of this double super-

natural result of “death” and of "life” produced by
Baptism. There is all the program of Christianity. In the
same way too, our final beatitude is nothing else but the total
and definitive freedom from sin, death, and suffering, and
the glorious unfolding of the divine life sown in us when we
received this sacrament.
As you see, the very life and death of Christ are re-
produced in our souls from the moment of baptism: but the
death is unto life. Oh! if we understood those words of
St. Paul: Quicumque in Christo baptizati estis, Christum
induistis. " As many of you as have been baptised in Christ
have put on Christ?”. Not only have we put on Christ as
an outer garment, but we are clad inwardly with Him’.
We are ” engrafted” on Him, in Him, says St. Paul, for
Christ is the Vine, we are the branches, and it is this divine
sap that flows in us* to transform us into Him: In eamdem
imaginem transformamur*. By faith in Him, we have
received Him in Baptism: His death has become our death
to Satan, the works of Satan, and to sin; Christ’s life
becomes our life; that initial act by which we were made
children of God, made us the brothers and sisters of Christ,
incorporated us with Him, made us members of His Church,
animated us with His Spirit. Baptised in Christ, we are
born through grace, to divine life in Christ. That is why,
says St. Paul, we ought to walk in novitate vitae”. Let us
1. Gal. m1, 27. — 2. This truth is signified by the white garment that
used to be put on the neophytes coming forth from the baptismal
font. At present, at the baptism of children, the priest, after the regen-
erating ablution, places a white cloth on the head of the baptised. — 3. Si
vadix sancta et rami... Tu autem cum oleaster esses... socius radicts et
pinguedinis olivae factus es. Rom. x1, 16. sq. There is a magnificent
prayer of the Church which contains all this doctrine, namely, the one
that is said on Whitsun Eve shortly before the solemn benediction of the
baptismal font, and the administration of Baptism to the catechumens:
"© Almighty and Eternal God, Who by Thy only Son hast shown Thyself
to us as the Heavenly Husbandman ; Thou dost cultivate with love the
branches rendered fruitful through their union with this same Christ, so
that they may bring forth more abundant fruit ; let not the thorns of sin
enter the hearts of the faithful whom like a vine transplanted from
protect
Egypt, Thou hast made to pass through the baptismal byfont;
a continual
them by Thy sanctifying Spirit that they may be enriched
harvest of good works.” — Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui per unicum
pal-
Filium tuum, Ecclesiae tuae demonstrasti te esse cultorem, omnem
mitem fructum in eodem Christo tuo qui vera vitis est, afferentem, cle-
menter excolens ut fructus afferat ampliores ; fidelibus tuts quos velut
vinaeam ex Aegypto per fontem baptismi transtulisti, nullae peccatorum
fruge
spinae praevaleant, ut Spiritus tui sanctificatione munttt, perpetua
ditentur. — 4. II Cor. m, 18. — 5. Rom. VI, 4.
walk, no longer in the sin we have renounced, but in the light

of faith, under the action of the Divine Spirit Who will
grant us to bring forth by good works numerous fruits of
holiness.
Let us often renew the virtue of this sacrament of
adoption and initiation by renewing the promises made in
Baptism, so that Christ, born in our souls by faith upon that
day, may grow more and more in us ad gloriam Patris.
That is a very useful practice of piety. St. Paul, in his
letter to his disciple Timothy, admonishes him to stir up the
grace of God he received at his priestly ordination. I would
say the same thing to you of your baptismal grace: stir up
in yourselves the grace received at Baptism, by renewing the
promises then made. For example, when after Communion,
while Our Lord is really present in our hearts, we renew
with faith and love our dispositions of repentance, of re-
nunciation of Satan, sin, and the world, so as to attach our-
selves only to Christ and His Church, then the grace of Bap-
tism springs up from the depth of our souls, where the
character of Baptism remains indelibly engraved. And this
grace produces, through the virtue of Christ, Who dwells in
us with His Spirit, as it were a new death to sin, a new
inflowing of divine life, a new intensity of union with Jesus
Christ.
Thus, as St. Paul says, the outward man, the natural man,
approaches ever nearer to death; but the inward man that
has received divine life by the supernatural birth of Baptism,
and been created again in the righteousness of Christ, ” is
renewed day by day”. Ljicet is qui foris est, noster homo
corrumpatur, tamen is qui intus est, RENOVATUR DE DIE IN
DIEM *.
And this renewal, inaugurated at Baptism, continued du-
ring our whole Christian existence, remains until we arrive
at the glorious perfection of eternal immortality: Quae enim
videntur, temporalia sunt: quae autem non videntur, aeterna
sunt*. Here on earth, this divine life is hidden in the depth
of the soul. It certainly manifests itself outwardly by
actions; but its principle is hidden within us. At the last
day only, when Christ our Life shall appear, then we ” also
shall appear with Him in glory”: Mortui estis et vita vestra
abscondita est cum Christo in Deo: cum CHRISTUS ap-
1. II Cor. tv, 16. —-2. Ibid. 18.
BAPTISM : DEATH AND LIFE. 167
paruerit VITA VESTRA, tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso m

gloria’.
Whilst awaiting the coming of that blessed day when our

inward renewal will shine forth in its eternal beauty, we
ought often to thank God from the depths of our hearts for
this divine adoption given at Baptism: it is the initial grace
whence all others proceed for us. All our greatness has its
source in Baptism that gave us divine life. Without this
divine life, human life, however full and brilliant it may
outwardly appear, is worth nothing for eternity; it is
Baptism that gives true fruitfulness to our lives. This
gratitude ought to be manifested by a generous and constant
fidelity to our baptismal promises. We ought to be so
penetrated with the sentiment of our supernatural dignity
as Christians that we shall reject all that is contrary to that
name, and only seek after what is conformable thereto .
Gratitude is the first sentiment that baptismal grace should
cause to arise within us. Joy is the second. We ought
never to think of our Baptism without a deep sense of
inward gladness. On the day of our Baptism we are born,
in principle, to everlasting beatitude. We hold the very
pledge of it in this sanctifying grace then given to us; having
entered into the family of God, we have a right to share in
the heritage of the Only Son. What greater motive of joy
could there be for a soul here below than to think that, on
this day of her Baptism, the Eternal Father looked upon her
with love, and, naming her His child, called her to share in
the blessings that overflow from Christ !
Lastly and above all, our souls ought to be full of great
confidence. In our relations with our Heavenly Fatlier,
we ought to remember we are His children through being
partakers of the filiation of Christ Jesus, our Elder Brother.
To doubt of our adoption and of the rights it gives us is
to doubt Christ Himself. Let us never forget we put on
Christ on the day of our Baptism: Christwm induistis, or
rather we have been incorporated with Him. We have
therefore the right to come before the Eternal Father, and
say to Him: Ego sum primogenitus tuus: to speak in the
m1, 3-4. — 2. Deus... da cunctis qui christiana professione cet-
1. Col.
apta
sentur et illa respuere quae huic inimica sunt nomini et ea quae sunt
sectari. Collect for the 3rd Sunday after Easter.
name of His Son, to ask Him with absolute confidence for

all we need.
When we were created, the Holy Trinity said : ” Let Us
make man to Our image and likeness”; when adoption was
conferred on us at Baptism, the Holy Trinity engraved on
our souls the very features of Christ. And that is why
when the Eternal Father sees us clad in sanctifying grace,
making us like to His Divine Son, He cannot but grant
us what we ask of Him — not in our own name, but in that
of the One in Whom He is well pleased.
Such is the grace and power that Baptism bestows: it
makes us, by supernatural adoption, brothers and sisters of
Christ, capable in all truth of sharing His Divine life and
everlasting inheritance: Christum induistis.
O Christian, when wilt thou understand thy greatness and
dignity?... When wilt thou proclaim, by thy works, that.
thou art of a divine race ?... When wilt thou live as a
worthy disciple of Christ ?...
A. DEATH TO SIN
Ill. DELICTA QUIS INTELLIGIT?
Summary. — Death to sin, the first fruit of baptismal grace, first

aspect of Christian life. — I, Mortal sin, practical contempt
of the rights and perfections of God; cause of Christ's
sufferings. — I. Mortal sin destroys grace, the principle of
the supernatural life. — III. It exposes the soul to the
eternal privation of God. — IV. Danger of venial sins. —
V. To overcome temptation by watchfulness, prayer and
confidence in Jesus Christ.
APTISM, by its symbolism and the grace it produces,

as St. Paul shows us, marks all our Christian life
with the double character of ” death to sin” and of
"life for God”. Ita et vos existimate. It is true that
Christianity is, properly speaking, a life: Veni ut vitam ha-
beant, Our Saviour tells us; it is the Divine life which flows
into each of our souls from the Humanity of Christ where
it is in its fulness. But this life does not develop in us
without. effort; the condition of its development is the des-
truction of what is opposed to it, that is to say, sin. Sin
is the real obstacle that hinders the Divine life from develop-
ing and even from being maintained within us.
But perhaps you will say: Has not baptism destroyed sin
in us? Certainly it blots out original sin, and when it is
conferred on an adult, personal sins as well. It even remits
the debt of sin, it produces in us ” death to sin”. In God’s
designs, this death is definitive; we ought not again to fall
into sin: Et ultra non serviamus peccato.
However, baptism has not taken away concupiscence;
this source of sin remains within us; God has willed it to
be so. He has willed that our free choice should be exercised
in the conflict and hence reap for us, as the Council of Trent
says, ’a full harvest of merits*”. This ” death of sin”,
brought about in principle at baptism, becomes then for us
a condition of life; we must weaken the action of con-
cupiscence within us, as far as possible; it is at this price
that the Divine life will develop in our soul and this will be
in the same measure in which we renounce sin, habits of sin
and all attachment to it.
One of the means of attaining this necessary destruction
of sin is to hate it; one makes no compact with an enemy
one hates. In order to have this hatred of sin, it is necessary
to know its deep malice and infernal ugliness. But who
can know the malice of sin ? To be able to fathom it, we
should have to know God Himself Whom it offends; and
that is why the Psalmist exclaims: ” Who can understand
sins”, Delicta quis intelligit ? ?
Let us however endeavour by the light of reason and
above all of revelation, to gain some idea of what sinis. Let
us suppose a baptised soul that knowingly and voluntarily
commits a grievous sin, that deliberately violates in a grave
matter, one of the Divine commandments. What is it this
soul does ? What becomes of it ? We know it displeases
God; that it ranks itself among the enemies of Christ to
crucify Him; finally, that it destroys the Divine life within
itself. That is the work of its sin.
iE
Sin, it has been said, is the enemy of God.

Sin is God’s enemy because it is the negation by the
creature of the existence of God, of His truth, His sov-
ereignty, His holiness, His goodness. This soul, of which
I have been speaking, in voluntarily performing an action
contrary to God’s will practically denies that God is sov-
ereign wisdom and has the power to establish laws ; it
practically denies the holiness of God and refuses to give
Him the adoration due to Him; it practically denies that
God is omnipotent and has the right of claiming the obe-
dience of beings that receive their life from Him; it denies
that God is supreme goodness worthy of being preferred to
all that is not Himself; it puts God beneath the creature.
1. Catechism, ch. xvi. — 2. Ps. xvi, 13.
DELICTA QUIS INTELLIGIT ? 17/A
Non serviam: "I know Thee not, I will not serve Thee”,
says this soul, repeating the words of Satan on the day of his
revolt. Does it say them with the lips ? No, at least not
always; perhaps it would not like to do so, but it says them
in act. Sin is the practical negation of the Divine per-
fections ; it is the practical contempt of God’s rights :
practically, if such a thing were not rendered impossible by
the nature of the Divinity, this soul would work evil to the
Infinite Majesty and Goodness; it would destroy God.
And was it not this that happened ? When God took to

Himself a human form, did not sin slay Him.
I have already said that the Passion of Christ is the most
striking revelation of God’s love, Majorem hac dilectionem
nemo habet*. Neither is there a deeper revelation of the
immense malice of sin. Let us for a few moments contem-
plate the sufferings that the Incarnate Word endured
when the hour came for Him to expiate sin; we can hardly
form any conjecture into what an abyss of agony and
humiliation sin caused Him to descend.
Christ Jesus is God’s own and only Son. In Him His
Father is well pleased; all the work of the Father is to
glorify Him: Clarificavi et adhuc clarificabo”; for He is
full of grace, grace superabounds in Him; He is a high
priest holy and innocent”; though He is like unto us, He
however knows neither sin nor imperfection. ” Which of
you’, said He to the Jews, ” shall convince Me of sin®” ?
” The prince of this world (that is to say, Satan)... in Me
hath not anything+”. This is so true that it is in vain His
most bitter enemies, the Pharisees, searched into His life,
examined His doctrine, spied upon all His actions, as hatred
knows how to do, and sought to ensnare Him in His speech.
They could find no pretext to condemn Him; in order to
invent one, they had to have recourse to false witnesses.
Jesus is purity itself, the reflection of His Father’s infinite
perfections, ” the brightness of His glory’”.
And behold how the Father dealt with His Son when the
moment came for Jesus to pay in our place the debt due to
justice for our sins; behold how the ” Lamb of God” was
Stricken when He substituted Himself for sinners. The Eter-
1. Joan. xv, 13. — 2. Ibid. xu, 28.— 3. Ibid. vim, 46. — 4. Ibid. xiv,
30. — 5. Hebr. 1, 3.
CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
172
resist ” to
nal Father willed with that will which nothing can
ere eum im infirmi-
bruise Him in infirmity”: Volwit conter
wearin ess, fear and languo r enters
tate. A flood of sadness, is
holy soul of Jesus till His immac ulate body
even into the
distre ssed and over-
bathed in a sweat of blood. He is so
ion
whelmed by the torrent of our iniquities that, in the repuls
that He
felt by His sensible nature, He beseeches His Father
Pater
may not drink the bitter chalice presented to Him:
calix iste?.. On the eve
mi, si possibile est, transeat a me
of His Passion at the Last Supper He had not spoken thus:
He is
Volo Pater, ” 1 will”, He then said to His Father, for
men which He has taken
His equal; but now, the sins of
Him with shame and it is as a culpri t
upon Himself cover
He prays: Pater, si possibile est,” Father, if it is possible...”
But it is the hour of justice, the hour when the Father wills
to deliver up His own Son to the power of darkness: Haec
est hora vestra et potestas tenebrarum *. Betrayed by one
of His apostles, abandoned by the others, denied by their
chief, Christ Jesus becomes an object of mockery and
outrage in the hands of valets. Behold Him, the Almighty
God, struck with blows, His adorable Face, which is the joy
of the Saints, covered with spittle. He is scourged, a
crown of thorns is pressed upon His Head, a purple mantle
is flung in derision over His shoulders, a reed is placed in
His hand; then the soldiers bend the knee before Him in
insolent mockery. What an abyss of ignominy for one
before Whom the angels tremble ! Contemplate Him, the
Master of the Universe, treated as a malefactor, and an
impostor, placed on a level with an infamous robber whom
the rabble prefers before Him! Behold Him, outlawed,
condemned, fastened to the cross between two thieves ;
enduring the agony of the nails being dug in His hands and
feet and the torture of thirst ! He sees the people He has
laden with benefits wag their heads in scorn; He hears the
malicious sarcasms of His enemies: ” He saved others,
Himself He cannot save. Let Him come down from the
cross and then, but only then, we will believe in Him”.
Contemplate that picture of the sufferings of Christ traced
long before, by the prophet Isaias: ” There is no beauty in
Him, nor comeliness, and we have seen Him, and there
was no sightliness that we should be desirous of Him.
1. Isa. Lu, 10. — 2. Luc. XXII, 42.
DELICTA QUIS INTELLIGIT? 173
Despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and

acquainted with infirmity; and His look was as it were
hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sor-
rows; and we have thought Him as it were a leper and as
one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for
our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins... The Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all... He shall be led as a
sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before
His shearer, and He shall not open His month... He is cut
off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of My
people have I struck Him... and the Lord was pleased to
bruise Him in infirmity...7”.
Is that enough ? No, not yet. Our Divine Saviour has
not yet sounded the lowest depth of sorrow. O my soul,
behold thy God hanging on the cross; He has no longer
even the semblance of humanity, He has become ” the outcast
of the people”: Ego sum vermis et non homo, opprobrium
hominum et abjectio plebis?. His body is but a single
wound ; His soul has melted away, as it were, under suffering —
and derision. And at this moment, the Gospel tells us,
Jesus cried out: ” My God, my God, why hast Thou for-
saken me” ? Jesus is abandoned by His Father. We can
never know what an abyss of suffering was this abandonment
of Christ by His Father; it is an unfathomable mystery.
Jesus abandoned by His Father! Yet throughout His life
has not Jesus always done His Father’s will ? Has He not
fulfilled the mission received by Him of manifesting the
Father’s name to the world: Manifestavi nomen tuum ho-
minibus? ? Is it not through love, — Ut cognoscat mundus
quia diligo Patrem*— that He delivers Himself up? Most
certainly, yes. Then wherefore, O Eternal Father, dost
Thou thus strike Thy well-beloved Son? ” For the wick-
edness of My people”: Propter scelus populi mei percusst
eum®, Christ having at this moment delivered up Himself
for us, so as to give full and entire satisfaction for sin, the
Father no longer sees in His Son anything except the sin
which He has taken upon Himself to such a degree that this
sin appears to be His own: Eum qui non noverat peccatum,
pro nobis peccatum fecit®; He is” made a curse for us”:
r. Isa. Lim, 2, 59. — 2. Ps. XxI, 7. — 3. Joan. xvu, 6. — 4. Ibid.
XIV, 31. — 5. Isa. tau, 8. — 6. II Cor. v, 21. :
Factus pro nobis maledictum*; His Father abandons Him

and although, at the summit of His being, Christ retains the
ineffable joy of the beatific vision, this abandonment plunges
His soul in such profound sorrow that it wrings from Him
this cry of infinite anguish: ” My God, why hast Thou
abandoned Me” ? Divine justice giving itself free course
to punish the sin of all mankind has fallen like an impetuous
torrent on God’s own Son: Proprio Filio suo non pepercit
Deus, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit tllum ?.
If we want to know what God thinks of sin, let us look
at Jesus in His Passion. When we behold God strike His
Son, Whom He infinitely loves, with the death of the cross,
we understand a little what sin is in God’s sight.
One who deliberately commits sin brings his share to the
sorrows and outrages which fell upon Christ. He has
poured more bitterness into the chalice offered to Jesus in
His agony. He was with Judas to betray Him; with the
soldiery to spit into His divine Face, to blindfold His eyes
and strike Him; with Peter to deny Him, with Herod to
turn Him into derision, with the rabble to clamour for His
death, with Pilate cowardly to condemn Him by an ini-
quitous judgment; He was with the Pharisees to cover the
dying Christ with the venom of their implacable hatred ;
with the Jews to mock and overwhelm Him with sarcasm. It
was he who, at the supreme moment, gave Jesus gall and
vinegar to assuage His thirst... A soul who refuses to
submit to the Divine law, causes the death of the only Son of
God, Christ Jesus. If one day we have had the unhappiness
to wilfully commit a single mortal sin, we were this soul...
We can say: ” The Passion of Jesus was my work. O Jesus,
nailed to the cross, You are the holy and immaculate High-
Priest, the innocent and spotless Victim — and I am a
sinner...” !
Lk:
Secondly, sin kills the Divine life in the soul, it severs the
union that God wishes to contract with us.
I have said that God wills to communicate Himself to us
in a manner surpassing the exigencies of our nature. He
wills to give Himself to us, not only as an object of con-
1. Gal. m1, 13. — 2. Rom. vin, 32.
templation, but as an object of union; He effects this union

here below, in faith, by grace. God is love; love tends to
unite itself with the beloved object; it requires that the be-
loved object should make one with itself. That is Divine
love.
That is also the love of Christ for us. He comes to give
Himself, and to give Himself superabundantly as befits one
who is God: Veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant 1;
He tells His disciples to ” abide” in Him: Manete in me et
ego in vobis ?.
And to bring about this union, He does not count the cost;
neither the humiliations of the manger, the obscurity and
abasements of the hidden life, the fatigues of His public life,.
nor the agony of the Cross. To perfect this union, He
institutes the sacraments, He establishes the Church, He
gives us His Spirit. The soul, for its part, when it con-
templates all these Divine advances, tends to respond to
them so as to unite itself to the Sovereign Good.
Now sin of itself forms an insuperable obstacle to this
union *. Why so? According to the definition of St. Thom-
as, sin consists of turning away from God in order to turn
towards creatures: Aversio a Deo et conversio ad crea-
turam*. Itis an act committed knowingly and wilfully, by
which man turns away from God, his Creator, Redeemer,
Father, Friend and Last End on account of some creature.
In this act there is a choice made, most often implicitly, but
always essentially. The creature towards which we turn
becomes our choice for the moment as far as that depends
on us — for death may fix us in this choice for all eternity.
Such then is grievous deliberate sin : it is a choice made
with the eyes open. It is as if one said to God: ” My God,
I know Thou dost forbid this thing, that in doing it I shall
lose Thy friendship, but I shall do it just the same”. You
understand at once that mortal sin is of its nature opposed to
union with God; we cannot by the same act unite ourselves
to someone and turn away from him. ” No servant”, says
our Lord, ” can serve two masters”, Nemo servus potest
duobus dominis servire®; he will hate the one, and’ love
the other”. The soul that with its free will consents to
1. Joan. x, 10. — 2. Ibid. xv, 4. — 3. Iniquitates vestrae diviserunt
inter vos et Deum vestrum., Isa. LIx, 2. — 4. S. Thom. I-II, q. Lxxxvu,,
ae Ay 8, UC. XVI, 136
grievous sin, prefers creatures and its own satisfaction to

God, and the law of God; union with God is completely
severed and the Divine life destroyed in that soul which be-
comes the slave of sin, Omnis qui facit paccatum, servus est
peccati?, The slave of sin cannot be the servant of God.
Between Belial and Jesus, between Lucifer and Christ, there
is radical and absolute incompatibility ?.
As the source of our holiness is Christ Jesus, you will
understand too that if a soul turns away from Him by mor-
tal sin, it turns away from life: this soul that had superna-
tural life only by the grace of Christ, becomes, by sin, a dead
branch no longer receiving the Divine sap. This is why sin
that totally breaks off the union established by grace is
called mortal sin. You see what an evil it is for us, an evil
opposed to our true beatitude: ” He that loveth iniquity
hateth his own soul”, Qui diligit iniquitatem odit animam
suam®, Sin which destroys the life of grace within us
renders us powerless to merit supernaturally; such a soul
cannot merit anything de condigno, by strict and rigorous
right, like one possessing grace, not even the grace of return-
ing to God. If God grants contrition, it is through His
mercy because He vouchsafes to stoop to His fallen creature.
As you know, all the activity of a soul in a state of mortal
sin is fruitless for heaven, however brilliant this activity may
appear in the eyes of the world, in the natural domain; a
withered branch, by its own fault no longer receiving the
Divine sap of grace, the soul that remains in this state is
likened by Christ Jesus Himself to dead wood, good for
nothing but to be cast into the fire to be burnt: In ignem
mittent, et ardet*.
Il.
I have said that Christ ever intercedes with His Father

that grace may abound in His disciples: Semper vivens ad
interpellandum pro nobis®. But the soul that abides in sin
no longer belongs to Christ, but to the devil. Satan takes
the place of Christ in this soul. Placing himself in opposi-
‘tion to Christ, the devil becomes the accuser of this soul
‘before God; day and night he claims it as his own: Accu-
1. Joan. vit, 34. — 2. IL Cor. vi, 14-16. — 3. Ps. x, 6. — 4. Joan.
xv, 6. — §. Hebr. vu, 25.
sator fratrum nostrorum qui accusabat illos ante conspectum

Dei nostri die ac nocte?.
And suppose death surprises the soul in this state. Our
Lord Himself has warned us that He will come ” as a thief
and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee *”.
The state of aversion to God then becomes unchangeable;
the depraved disposition of the will, fixed in its term, is no
longer subject to change; the soul can no longer return to
the ultimate good from which it is for ever separated °.
Eternity does but ratify and confirm the state of super-
natural death freely chosen by the soul in turning away from
God. It is no longer the time of probation and mercy; it
is the hour of finality and justice: Deus ulttonum Dominus *.
And this justice is terrible, because with a mighty hand
God will then avenge His rights up to now voluntarily ignor-
ed and obstinately despised, in spite of so many Divine
advances and appeals: Quia fortis ultor Dominus °.
Christ Jesus has willed, for the good of our souls, to
reveal this truth to us: God knows all things in their depth
and essence, and hence judges them infallibly with infinite
exactitude, without an atom of exaggeration being mingled
with His judgments: Pondus et statera judicia Domint ®, for
He judges all without passion: Cum tranquillitate judicas *.
God is Eternal Wisdom, regulating all things with weight
and measure; He is supreme Goodness; He has accepted
the abundant satisfaction given by Jesus upon the cross for
the crimes of the world. And yet, when the hour of eternity
strikes, God pursues sin with His hatred* into endless
torment, into the outer darkness where, according to our
blessed’ Saviour’s own words, there is only weeping and
gnashing of teeth®; into this gehenna where the fire is not
extinguished !°; where Christ showed the wicked rich man
with the hardened heart beseeching the one who had once
been the poor Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water
and come and place it on his burning lips, for he was
IV. Sentent. L,
1. Apoc. xu, 10. — 2. Ibid. m1, 3. — 3. S. Thom.
— 6. Prov. XvI,
q. U, a. 1, q. I. — 4. Ps. XI, 1. — 5. Jerem. 11, 56. a sen-
11. — 7. Sap. xu, 18, — 8. This word " hatred " does not mean
the presence of
timent existent in God, but the moral result produced by
and of rebellion
God in the creature for ever fixed in the state of sin It is
His justice.
against the divine law ; God’s hatred is the exercise of 9.Matth.
the consequence of the eternal laws following their free course.—
XXII, 13. — 10. Marc. Ix, 43.
12
“tormented in this fame1”. Such is the greatness of the

horror with which God, Whose sanctity and sovereignty
are infinite, regards the deliberate and obstinate ’ no” res-
ponded by the creature to His commands: Jbunt in suppli-
cium aeternum 2; this soul, Jesus Himself says, will go into
everlasting punishment.
' Certainly this pain of inextinguishable fire is terrible; but
what is it compared to the pain of being for ever deprived
of God and of Christ ? What is it to feel oneself eternally
' {drawn with all the natural energy of one’s being towards the
enjoyment of God, and to see oneself eternally thrust back ?
The essence of hell is this inextinguishable thirst for God
which tortures the soul created by Him, for Him. Here
below, it is possible for the sinner to avert his thoughts from
God by occupying himself with creatures, but, once entered
into eternity, he finds himself alone with God. And it is to
lose Him for ever. Only those who know what the love of
God is can understand what it is to lose the Infinite. To
hunger and thirst for infinite beatitude, and never to possess
Gee Discedite a me, maledicti: "Depart from Me, ye
cursed ?”, says the Lord: ” I know you not”: Nescio vos *.
I called you to share My glory and beatitude; I wished to
fill you with all ” spiritual blessings *” ; therefore I gave you
My Son and filled Him with the fulness of grace that it
might overflow upon you; He was the Way destined to lead
you to Truth and Life; He accepted to die for you, He
gave you His merits and satisfactions; He gave you the
Church, He gave you His Spirit; with Him, what have I
not given you, so that you might one day take part in the
eternal banquet which I have prepared for the glory of this
well-beloved Son ? You have had years to make yourself
ready for it and you would not; you insolently despised My
merciful advances, you rejected light and life; now the time
has gone by; depart from Me, ye cursed, I know you not,
for you do not bear the likeness of My Son. There is only
place in My kingdom for His brethren who, by grace, are
like unto Him. Depart to the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels ;because you chose sin, “you are of your
father the devil®” and bear his image. Nescio vos. What
1. Luc. Xvi, 24. — 2. Matth. xxv, 46. — 3. Ibid. xxv, 41. — 4. Ibid.
12. — 5. Ephes. 1, 1-3. — 6. Joan. vu, 44, et I Joan. m, 8.
torment to ee this sentence from the lips of the Eternal

Father: Ye cursed, I know you not !
Then, says Jesus, sinners will cry out in despair. They
will say to the mountains: ” Fall upon us”, and to the
hills : “Cover us?”; but all these damned, whom sin has for
ever separated from God, are given up as a living prey to
the gnawing worm of remorse which never dies, to the fire
which is never extinguished, to the fury of demons, to the
bitterest and saddest despair. Despite themselves, they are
unwillingly bound to repeat those words of Scripture of
which, in the light of eternity, they grasp the full intent so
terrible for them: Justus es, Domine, et rectum judicium
tuum *; vera et justa judicia tua, justificata in semetipsa®.
” Thou art just, O Lord ; and Thy judgment is right; the
judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves”.
The condemnation which everlastingly weighs upon us is
our own work, the result of our will: Ergo erravimus *.
What an evil is that which, destroying Divine life in the
soul, threatens it with so great a punishment !...If even once
only,we have committed a deliberate mortal sin, we have
deserved to be fixed in our choice for all eternity, and ought
to say to God: It is Thy mercy that hast saved me, Miseri-
cordiae Domini quia non sumus consumptt®.
Sin is the enemy of God, and it is because God is holy
that He thus condemns sin for all eternity. If we truly
loved God, we should feel as God does towards sin: Qui
diligitis Dominum, odite malum®. It is written of our
Lord: ” Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity’?”. Let
us ask Him, especially when praying at the foot of the cru-
cifix, to make us share in this hatred of the one true evil of
our soul.
Far be it from me to wish to establish our spiritual life on

the fear of everlasting punishment. For, says St. Paul, we
have not received the spirit of servile fear, the spirit of the
slave who fears chastisement, but the spirit of Divine
adoption.
However, do not forget that Our Lord, Whose words, as
He Himself says, are principles of life for our souls&, tells
us to fear not chastisement but the Almighty Who has power
Luc. xxm1, 30. — 2. Ps. cxvul, 137. — 3. Ps. xviii, 10. — 4. Sap.
Vv, a. — 5. Thren. 1, 22, — 6. Ps. XCVI, 10. — 7. Ibid. chant 8. —
8. Joan. vi, 64.
to cast our body and soul for ever ” into gehenna”. And
note that when Our Lord makes this admonition of the fear
of God to His disciples, He does so because they are His
friends: Dico autem vobis AMICIS MEIS*. It is a testimony
of love He gives them in thus instilling in them this salutary
fear.
Holy Scripture proclaims that those are blessed who fear
the Lord: Beatus vir qui timet Dominum?. Many of the
sacred pages are filled with such praises. God demands of
us this homage of holy fear, filial and full of reverence.
There are impious men whose hatred of God touches on
madness. Who was that atheist who said: ” If there be a
God I will undertake to endure His hell for all eternity,
rather than to bow myself down before Him” ? Madman !
who could not put his finger in the flame of a candle without
immediately withdrawing it !
See too how St. Paul insisted that Christians should keep
themselves from all sin. He knew the incomparable riches
of God’s mercy to us in Christ Jesus, Dives in misericordia *;
none has celebrated them better than he nor with more force
and holy enthusiasm; none has known like him, how to
place in contrast with our weakness the triumph of the grace
of Jesus; again, none has known like him how to inspire
such confidence in the superabundance of Christ’s merits
and satisfactions; and yet he says ” it is a fearful thing ” for
the soul after having obstinately resisted the Divine law, ” to
fall into the hands of the living God+ ”.
O Father in Heaven, deliver us from evil !...
Tv:
But you will say, why do you speak thus ? Have we not
a horror of sin? Have we not the sweet confidence of
never having been in this state of aversion towards God ?
This is true; and, since your conscience bears you this
inward testimony, return abundant thanksgiving to the
Father ” Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His
love'”, ” Who hath made us... partakers of the lot of the
Saints in light *”. Rejoice also in that Jesus ” hath delivered
Ts LUG. Xi; 4. 2. PS) Cxi; ..-—"3h Ephess 1)94.-— 4, Hebr: x, 3T-
— 5. Col. 1, 13. — 6. Ibid. 12-15.
us from the wrath to come1”; for, says St. Paul, we are

already ” saved by hope?”; we even now hold the pledge
of eternal life ®.
However, whilst awaiting to hear the words of Jesus:
” Come, ye blessed of My Father”, resound in your ears;
— this happy sentence which will establish your dwelling in
God for ever, remember that you bear this Divine treasure
of grace in fragile vessels. Our Lord Himself tells us to
watch and pray, for ” the spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh weak*”. There are not only mortal falls; there is
also — and I touch here on a very important point — the
danger of venial sins.
It is true that venial sins, even when repeated, do not of

themselves prevent radical and essential union with God;
they, however, diminish the fervour of this union because
they are the beginnings of aversion to God proceeding from
taking pleasure in creatures, from the weakness of the will,
and from relaxing in the intensity of our love for God.
In this matter, we must make a necessary distinction.
There are certain venial faults which escape us by surprise,
which often result from our temperament, faults that we
regret and seek to avoid; these are miseries which in nowise
prevent the soul from attaining a high degree of divine union;
they are effaced by acts of charity, by a good communion °;
moreover they keep us humble.
But what must be greatly dreaded are venial faults which
have become habits or are fully deliberate: they are a real
peril for the soul; they are too often a step towards a
complete severance from God. When a soul is in the habit
of responding with a deliberate "no” to God’s will (in a
small matter since it is question of venial sins), it cannot
expect to remain long united to God. Why so? Because
these faults, committed with cool deliberation, pass to a
state of habit unstriven against, without the soul’s feeling
any remorse, and this necessarily results in diminution of
1. Exspectare Filium ejus in caelis... Jesum qui eripuit nos ab ira
ventura. !. Thess. 1, 10. — 2. Rom. vim, 24. — 3. Ibid. 1. — 4. Matth.
XXVI, 41. — 5. "It cannot be doubted that the Eucharist remits and
forgives the slight sins which are usually called venial. All that the soul
led away by the ardour of concupiscence has lost of the life of grace by
committing slight faults, the sacrament restores by effacing these little
faults... However, this only applies to the sins for which the soul has
no longer any attraction”. Catechism of the Council of Trent, c. Xx, 1.
supernatural docility, of watchfulness and strength to resist

temptation’. Experience shows that, from a succession of
wilful negligences in small things, we glide imperceptibly,
but nearly always fatally, into grave faults ?.
I will go even further. Let us suppose a soul that sin-

cerely sceks God in all things, that truly loves Him and yet
that happens, through weakness, to consent voluntarily to
grievous sin. That does occur sometimes. In the world
of souls there are abysses of frailty. For this soul such a
fall is an immense misfortune, for divine union is severed;
but this grave sin, being of a passing nature, is much less
dangerous and above all less fatal for this soul than venial
faults of habit or of full deliberation are for another. Why
is this? The first soul is humbled, rises again, and finds in the
remembrance of the sin it has committed an excellent. motive
for remaining in a state of humility, and a powerful incentive
to a more generous love and a greater faithfulness than
ever *. While, with the other, the venial faults frequently
consented to without remorse, place it in a state in which the
supernatural action of God is constantly being thwarted.
Such a soul can in no way aspire to a high degree of union
with God; on the contrary, the divine action becomes
ever weaker within it ; the Holy Spirit is silent ; and
this soul will almost infallibly fall before long into more
grievous sin. Doubtless, like the former, it will at once seek
to enter again into God’s grace; but this is not so much from
the love of God as from fear of punishment; then the re-
membrance of its sin will not be for it, as for the first, the
point of departure for newly rising again towards God; as
1. We do not say a diminution of grace itself; that would wrongly
imply that grace would come to an end by disappearing with the ever
increasing number of venial sins ; but a diminution of the fervour of our
charity. This diminution might however produce such supernatural
torpor in the soul that it would be disarmed in presence of a grave
temptation and succumb to the evil. — 2. S. Thom. I-II, q. Lxxxvm,
a. 3. Utrum peccatum veniale sit dispositio ad mortale. — 3." The Saints
of the Lord”, writes St. Ambrose, in giving the example of David, ” burn
with impatience to overcome in the spiritual combat and reach the goal
of salvation. If, led away by the weakness of their nature more than
by the wish to sin, it happens to them as it does to all men, to have
a fall, they rise up again more eager for the race, and, under the spur
of shame, undertake still greater combats. Far then from having been
an obstacle for them, their fall may be considered as an incentive to
increase their speed." De apologia David, L. 1, c. 2.
this soul has not within it any intensity of love, its superna-
tural life will continue to be mediocre, ever exposed to the
least shaft of the enemy and to fresh falls. There is no cer-
tainty of salvation, still less of perfection for such a soul that
constantly puts obstacles in the way of the Divine action and
makes no serious efforts to leave this state of tepidity 1.
It might happen, from weakness, impulse, or surprise,
that we fall into a grave sin; but, at least, never let us
deliberately say, even if only by action: ” Lord, I know that
such a thing, however slight it may be in itself, displeases
Thee; but I will to do it”. As soon as God asks anything
of us, whatever it is, even if it should be our heart’s blood,
we must say: ” Yes, Lord, here I am”. If not we shall
stand still in the way of divine union, and to stand still is
often to recede; it is nearly always to expose ourselves to
grievous falls.
V.
These habits of deliberate sin, even simply venial, are not

formed all at once, but, as you know, only little by little.
” Therefore, watch ye and pray”, as Our Lord says, ” that
ye enter not into temptation ?”.
Temptation is inevitable. We are surrounded by enemies;
the devil ” goeth about seeking whom he may devour?”,
the world envelops us with its corrupting seductions.
or
with its spirit, so much opposed to the supernatural life.
This is why it is not in our power to avoid all temptation ;
it is often even independent of our will. Certainly, it is a
trial, a very painful one sometimes, especially when ac-
companied by spiritual darkness. We are then inclined to
call happy those only who are never tempted. But God, on
the contrary, declares by the sacred scribe that those who
support temptation without exposing themselves to it are
“blessed” : Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem*. Why is
this ? Because, says Our Lord,” when he hath been proved,
he shall receive the crown of life”. Never let us be dis-
couraged then on account of the frequency or extent of
temptation; let us, of course, watch with the greatest care
1. Licet frigidus sit pejor tepido, tamen pejor est status tepidi: quia
tepidus est in majori periculo ruendi sine spe resurgendi. Cornel. a La-
pide, In Apoc. 11, 16.—2. Matth. xxvi, 41.— 3.1 Petr. v, 8.— 4. Jac.1,12.
over the treasure of grace, and avoid dangerous occasions ;

but let us always keep full of confidence. Temptation,
however violent and prolonged it may be, is not a sin; its
turbid waters may ” come in unto the soul”, /ntraveruni
aquae usque ad animam meam*; but we may be assured as
long as the fine point of the soul, which is the will, rises
above them: it is this point alone, Apex mentis, which God
regards.
Moreover, St. Paul tells us, ” God will not suffer you to
be tempted above that which you are able; but will make
also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it 7”.
The great Apostle is Himself an example of this. He tells
us that lest he should exalt himself on account of his reve-
lations, God placed what he called a thorn in his flesh, a
figure of temptation; ” there was given me... an angel of
Satan, to buffet me*”. ” Thrice”, he says, ” I besought the
Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in
infirmity ’” — that is to say in making it triumph by God’s
grace.
It is indeed Divine grace that helps us to surmount
temptation, but we have to ask for it: Et orate. In the
prayer Christ taught us, He makes us beseech our Father in
Heaven ” lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil”. Since Jesus has willed to place this prayer upon our
lips, let us often repeat it whilst relying on the merits of Our
Saviour’s Passion.
Nothing is more efficacious against temptation than the
remembrance of the Cross of Jesus. What did Christ come
to do here below if not to ” destroy the works of the devil *”.
And how has He destroyed them, how has He ” cast out °”
the devil, as He Himself says, ” if not by His death upon the
Cross ? During His mortal life, Our Lord cast out devils
from the bodies of the possessed; He cast them out also
from souls, when He forgave the sins of Magdalen, of the
paralytic man and of so many others; but it is above all,
as you know, by His blessed Passion that He overthrew
the dominion of the devil. At the precise moment when, in
bringing about the death of Jesus at the hands of the Jews,
the devil hoped to triumph for ever, he himself received the
1. Ps. “Lxvul, 2. — 2. 1 Cor. x, 3. — 3. II Cor. xu,:17. — 4.1 Joan.
mi, 8. — 5. Ibid. x11, 31.
death-blow. For Christ’s death destroyed sin, and gave as

a right to all who are baptised, the grace of dying to sin.
Let us then lean by faith upon the cross of Christ Jesus :
its virtue is not exhausted and, as children of God, our
baptism gives us the right to do so. In baptism we were
marked with the seal of the cross, we became members of
Christ, enlightened by His light, and partakers of His life
and of the salvation He brings to us. Hence, united to Him,
whom shall we fear ? Dominus illuminatio mea et salus
mea; quem timebo1? Let us say to ourselves: ” He hath
given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy
ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou
dash thy foot against a stone... A thousand shall fall at
thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand but it (the
devil) shall not come nigh thee... Because he hoped in me
(says the Lord) I will deliver him: I will protect him
because he hath known my name. He shall cry to me, and
I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver
him, and I will glorifyhim. I will fill him with length of
days, and I will show him my salvation?”.
Let us therefore beseech Christ to be our support in the

struggle against the devil, against the world, the devil’s ac-
complice, and against the concupiscence that is within us.
Like the apostles, beaten about by the tempest, let us cry
out to Him: ” Lord, save us, we perish”; and putting forth
His hand, Christ will save us*. Like Christ who willed to
be tempted so as to set us an example and merit for us the
grace to resist — although on account of His Divinity, this
temptation was purely exterior — let us force Satan to
withdraw, saying to him as soon as he presents himself:
There is only one God, Whom I adore and serve. On the
day of my baptism I chose Christ, Him alone will I hear +.
With Christ Jesus, our Head, we shall overcome the
powers of darkness. Christ is in us since our baptism; and,
1. Ps. xxvi, 1. — 2. Ibid. xc, 11-12 ; 7 3 14-16, — 3. Matth. vill, 25. —
4. St. Gregory Nazianzen willed that every baptised person should repulse
Satan in these terms full of sublime assurance: " Strong in the sign of
the cross with which thou hast been marked, say to him (the devil):
I also have been made in the image of God and I have not been like
thee cast down from heaven on account of my pride. I have put on
Christ ; by baptism, Christ has become mine own. It is for thee to
bend the knee before me.” S. Greg. Nazian. Orat. 40 in sanct. baptis-
mate, C. 10.
says St. John ” greater is He that is in you, than he that is

in the world?”, that is to say than Satan. The devil did
not overcome Christ. ” The prince of this world cometh
and in Me he hath not anything?”, says Jesus. Hence he
will not be able to vanquish us or ever make us fall into
sin, if, watchful over ourselves, we remain united to Jesus
and rely upon His words and His merits: Comnfidite, ego
vici mundum*. A soul that strives to remain united to
Christ by faith is above its passions, above the world and
the devils; all can rise up and around it; Christ will hold it,
by His Divine strength, above all assaults.
Christ is called in the Apocalypse, ” the lion of the tribe
of Juda‘*”, and again it is said of Him: ” He went forth
conquering that He might conquer®”, because, by His
victory, He has gained for His followers the power to con-
quer in their turn. That is why, after having reminded us
that death, the fruit of sin, has been destroyed by Christ
Jesus Who has brought us immortality, St. Paul exclaims :
” Thanks be to God Who has given us the victory (over the
devil, the father of sin; victory over sin, the source of death ;
victory, in fine, over death itself) through our Lord Jesus
Christ”: Stimulus mortis peccatum est... Deo autem gra-
tias qui dedit nobis victoriam — per Dominum nostrum
Jesum Christum ®.
1. I Joan. 1v, 4. — 2. Joan. xiv, 30. — 3. Ibid. xvi, 33. — 4. Apoc.
Vv, 5. — 5. Ibid. vi, 2. — 6. I Cor. xv, 56-57.
IV. THE SACRAMENT
AND THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE.
Summary. — I. How God manifests His mercy by forgiving sins.

— II. The sacrament of penance ; its elements : Contrition,
its particular efficacy in the sacrament ; the confession of
sins constitutes a homage to the humanity of Christ ;
satisfaction is only of value if it is united to the expiation
made by Jesus. — III. The virtue of penance necessary so as
to maintain within us the fruits of the sacrament ; nature
of this virtue. — IV. Its end: to restore order and make
us like to Jesus crucified. General principle and divers
applications of its exercise. — V. How in Christ we find
the value of our acts of abnegation and at the same time,
consolation. — YI. Following the example of the Church, to
unite the acts of the virtue of penance to the sacrament.
N explaining the symbolism of baptism to the first

Christians, St. Paul writes to them that they must no
longer, through sin, let the divine life received from
Christ die in them: Ultra non serviamus peccato*. The
Council of Trent says”: If our gratitude towards God, Who
has made us His children by baptism, was equal to this
ineffable gift, we should keep the grace received in this first
sacrament, intact and pure?”.
There are privileged souls, truly blessed, that never lose
the divine life. But for others, for those who succumb to
sin, is there no means of recovering grace, of rising anew
to the life brought to us by Christ ? Yes, this means exists
in the sacrament of penance, instituted by Christ Jesus, the
Man-God. It is a wonderful monument of divine wisdom
and mercy in which God has harmonised these two things :
He finds in it His glory while, at the same time, He grants
us forgiveness.
MA
You know that magnificent coliect that the Church, guided

by the Holy Ghost, places on our lips in the Mass for the
1. Rom. vi, 6. — 2. Sess. XIV, cap. 1.
tenth Sunday after Pentecost: ”O God Who dost manifest

Thy almighty power above all in showing pardon and pity;
multiply upon us Thy mercy”: Deus qui omnipotentiam
tuam parcendo maxime et miserando manifestas, multiplica
super nos misericordiam tuam.
That is a revelation God gives us by the mouth of His
Church. It is in forgiving us, parcendo, in having pity,
miserando, that God shows above all, maxime, His power.
In another collect, the Church says it is one of God’s most
exclusive properties ” always to have mercy and to spare”:
Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere °.
Pardon presupposes debts to be forgiven; pity and mercy
can only exist where there is misery. What is the meaning
of the word: musericordia? It is the taking, in some
manner, the misery of others into one’s own heart”. Now
God is goodness itself and infinite love. Deus caritas est *;
and, in presence of misery, His goodness and love become
mercy. That is why we say to God: Deus meus, miseri-
cordia mea, "O my God, Thou art my mercy *”.
In the collect I have just quoted, the Church beseeches
God to ” multiply upon us His mercy”: Multiplica super
nos misericordiam tuam. Why is that ? Because our mi-
series are immense. It is of them we can say: Abyssus
abyssum invocat, the abyss of our miseries, of our faults,
of our sins, calls upon the abyss of Divine mercy. We are
all indeed miserable, we are all sinners, some more than
others, it is only a question of degree: In multis offendimus
omnes, says the apostle St. James*; and St. John says:
"Tf we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us*”. Hegoes even further for he adds
that if we say this ”’we make God a liar”: Si dixerimus
quoniam non peccavimus, mendacem facimus eum™. Why?
Because God obliges us all to say: ” Forgive us our tres-
passes”, Dimitte nobis debita nostra. God would not oblige
us to make this demand if we had no debita. We are all
sinners; this is so true that the Council of Trent has con-
1. Collect for the Rogation days. "O God, to Whom it alone belongs
always to have mercy and to spare, favourably receive our prayer, that
we and all Thy servants, who are bound by the chain of sins, may, by the
compassion of Thy goodness, mercifully be absolved." — 2. Misericors
dicitur aliquis quasi habens miserum cor. S. Thom. ], q. XXI, a. 3. —
— 3. I Joan. 1v, 8. — 4. Ps. tv, 18. — 5. Jac. m, 2. — 6. Si dixert-
mus guoniam peccatum non habemus ipsi nos seducimus et veritas in
nobis non est. I Joan. 1, 8. — 7. Ibid. 1, 10.
THE SACRAMENT AND THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE. 189
demned those who say it is possible to avoid all sin, even

venial sin, without a special privilege from God such as was
granted to the Blessed Virgin Mary*. Therein lies our
misery.
But this misery must not discourage us. God knows it
and that is why He has compassion on us ” as a father hath
compassion on his children”: Quomodo miseretur pater
fiiorum, misertus est Dominus*. For He knows that not
only are we taken out of nothing, but formed of the dust of
the earth. Quoniam ipse cognovit figmentum nostrum ®.
He knows this mass of flesh and blood, of muscles and
nerves, of misery and weakness that constitutes the human
being and inclines us to fall so easily into sin, and taking
this into account, He has made it possible for us to return
to Him not once only, but as our Lord says *, seventy times
seven, that is to say, an indefinite number of times.
God places His glory in relieving our misery, in forgiving
our faults; He wills to be glorified in manifesting His mercy
towards us because His beloved Son has satisfied for us.
Throughout eternity, says St. John, we shall sing a canticle
to God and to the Lamb. And what will this canticle be?
Will it be the Sanctus of the angels ? God did not spare
those that rebelled; from the moment of their first revolt,
He cast them down for ever, because they had not these
weaknesses, these miseries, that are our lot. The faithful
angels sing the holiness of God, the holiness that could not
for an instant suffer the defection of the rebels. But as for
us, what will our song be ?...That of God’s mercy: Mise-
ricordias Domini in aeternum cantabo®*; this verse of the
psalmist: will be like the refrain of the canticle of love we
shall sing to God. We shall sing also to the Lamb. And
what shall we sing to Him ? Redemisti nos, Domine, in san-
guine tuo ®: ” Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord Jesus, in Thy
precious blood”; Thou hast had such pity on us that Thou
didst shed Thy blood to save us from our miseries, to free us
from our sins, as we say every day in Thy name at Mass:
” This is the chalice of My blood which was shed for the
remission of sins”, Effundetur in remissionem peccatorum.
Yes, there is great glory due to God for this mercy He
uses towards the sinners who make their claim through the
1, Sess. vi, can, 22. — 2. Ps. cn, 13. — 3. Ibid. 14. — 4. Matth.
XVII, 22. — 5. Ps. LXxxvill, 2. — 6. Apoc. v, 9.
satisfactions of His Son Jesus. Hence we can understand

that one of the greatest affronts that can be made to God
is to doubt of the mercy and pardon He gives us through
Jesus Christ.
However, after baptism, this pardon is only granted to us

if we bring forth ” fruits worthy of penance’”. In this,
says the Holy Council of Trent, there is a great difference
between baptism and the sacrament of penance. For an
adult, it is true, baptism requires the detestation of sin and
the resolution to shun it, but no special acts of satisfaction
or reparation are demanded from him. Read the rite of
baptism: you will find no mention of any work of penance
to be accomplished. It is the total and absolute remission
of sin and the penalty incurred by sin. Why is that?
Because this sacrament, the first as to date, constitutes the
first fruits of the blood of Jesus given to the soul.
But, continues the Council, if after baptism, after we have
been grafted upon Christ Jesus, after we have been ” de-
livered from the slavery of sin and of the devil and have
become temples of the Holy Ghost, we voluntary fall again
into sin, we can only recover grace and life on the condition
of doing penance; thus has it been established by Divine
justice, as is most fitting ?”.
Now, penance may be considered as a sacrament, and also
as a virtue that manifests itself by acts proper to it.
_ Let us say a few words about both.
Th.
The sacrament was instituted by Jesus Christ for the

remission of sins, to restore to us the life of grace when it
has been lost after baptism; it contains in itself unlimited
grace of forgiveness. But in order that it may act in the
soul, all obstacle opposed to this action must be removed.
And what is the obstacle ? Sin and attachment to sin.
The sinner must make the avowal of his sin — integral
avowal as to mortal sin; then he must destroy the attachment
to sin by contrition and the acceptation of the imposed
satisfaction.
As you know, contrition is the most important of all these
1. Luc. m1, 8. — 20)5e@8s; “XIV, cap. 2 "and)a:
THE SACRAMENT AND THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE. IQ}t
essential elements, as regards the penitent. Even if the

accusation of sin should be materially impossible, the ne-
cessity of contrition would remain. Why is that? Because
by sin, the soul turned away from God to take pleasure in
the creature; if we wish God to communicate Himself to
us anew and restore life to us, we must repudiate any attach-
ment to the creature in order to turn again towards God.
This act includes the detestation of sin and the firm purpose
of no more committing it; otherwise the detestation of sin
would not be sincere. Such is contrition’. As the word
indicates, it is a sentiment of sorrow that crushes the soul
enlightened as to its unhappy state and its offence against
God, and that causes it to return to Him.
Contrition is perfect when the soul is sorrowful for
having offended God Who is infinite Goodness: this perfec-
tion proceeds from the motive which is the highest possible,
namely, the Divine Majesty. But it goes without saying that
this contrition, perfect in its nature, admits of a whole series
of- degrees in its intensity. Whatever be this degree of
intensity, the act of contrition, being perfect in its motive,
effaces the mortal sin at the moment the soul makes this act.
But in the present economy, in virtue of the positive precept
ordained by Christ, the accusation of mortal sins remains
obligatory when it is possible.
Imperfect contrition, such as proceeds from the shame
felt on account of the sin, of the chastisement merited by
sin and of the loss of eternal beatitude, has not of itself this
effect of effacing mortal sin; but it suffices to do so, with
the absolution given by the priest.
These are the truths I must simply recall to you. But

there is one important point to which I want to draw your
attention.
Outside confession, contrition already places the soul in
opposition to sin; the hatred of sin to which contrition gives
rise constitutes the beginning of the destruction of sin.
This act is in itself pleasing to God.
In the sacrament of penance, contrition (as, moreover, the
other acts of the penitent: accusation of faults and satis-
faction) bears a sacramental character. What does this
1.Contritio animi dolor ac detestatio est de peccato commisso, cum
proposito non peccandi de caetero. Concil. Trid. Sess. xIv, cap. 4.
signify ? In every sacrament, the infinite merits gained for

us by Christ are applied to the soul in order to produce the
special grace contained in the sacrament. The grace of the
sacrament of penance is to destroy sin in the soul, to weaken
the remnants of sin and to restore life; or if there are only
venial faults, to remit them and increase grace. In this
sacrament, the hatred of sin felt by Christ in His agony and
upon the Cross : — Dilexisti justitiam et odisti iniquitatem *,
— passes into our soul there to produce the destruction of
sin. This destruction of sin effected by Christ’s substitution
of Himself for us in His Passion is reproduced in the
penitent. Contrition remains what it is, even outside the
sacrament: 1. e., an instrument of death to sin; but in the
sacrament Christ’s merits give to this instrument, as it were,
infinite and supreme efficacy. It is at this moment, Christ
washes our souls in His precious Blood: Christus lavit nos
a peccatis nostris 1s sanguine suo ?.
Never forget that each time we receive this sacrament
worthily and with devotion, even if there were only venial
faults to be confessed, the blood of Christ is poured abun-
dantly on our souls to revive them, to strengthen them
against temptation, to make them generous in the struggle
against attachment to sin, and to destroy in them the roots
and effects of sin. The soul finds in this sacrament special
grace to uproot its vices and purify itself more and more so
that the life of grace may be recovered or increased in it.
Before confession, let us then always arouse our faith
in the infinite value of the expiation of Jesus Christ. He
bore the weight of all our sins: Iniquitates nostras ipse
portavit *. He offered Himself for each one of us: Dilexit
me et tradidit semetipsum pro me*. His satisfactions are
superabundant; He has acquired the right of forgiving us:
there is no sin that cannot be washed away by His divine
blood. Let us stir up our faith and our confidence in His
inexhaustible merits, the fruits of His Passion. I have said
that when He journeyed through Palestine and one came to
Him to be delivered from the devil, Christ Jesus required
faith in His divinity; it was only to faith He granted the
healing of diseases or the remission of sins: ” Go, thy sins
are forgiven, thy faith hath made thee whole”. It is faith
1. Ps. xtiv. 8. — 2. Apoc. 1. 5. — 3. Isa. Lil, rr. — 4. Gal. m1, 20;
cf, Ephes. v, 2.
that must, before all, accompany us to this tribunal of mercy:

faith in the sacramental character of all our acts; faith
especially in the superabundance of the satisfaction made by
Jesus to His Father for us.
Certainly, our acts (contrition, confession, and satisfac-
tion), do not produce the grace of the sacrament ; but besides
being previously necessary in order that the grace of the
sacrament may be applied to us,-since they are ” like the
matter of the sacrament?”, the degree of this grace is
measured, in fact, by the dispositions of our soul.
That is why it is an eminently useful practice to beg from
God the grace of contrition on the morning of the day of
confession while assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Why ? Upon the altar, as you know, the immolation of
Calvary is renewed. The Holy Council of Trent declares
that ” the Lord, appeased by this oblation, grants the grace
and gift of penance, and forgives, on account of it, all
crimes and sins, however enormous they may be?”.
Does the Mass then forgive sins directly ? No, that only
belongs to perfect contrition and to the sacrament of pen-
ance. But when we assist devoutly at this sacrifice which
is the same as that of the cross, when we unite ourselves to
the Divine Victim, God gives us, if we ask with faith,
sentiments of repentance, of firm purpose, of humility and
confidence, which lead us to contrition and make us capable
of receiving with fruit the remission of our sins, acquired
for us by Jesus at the price of His Divine Blood.
To contrition must succeed confession.

The sacrament of penance was instituted under the form
1. The Holy Council of Trent says: " Like the matter." Quasi materia.
ay XIV, cap. 3). The Catechism of the Council of Trent (Ch. xx1,
§ 3.) gives the following explanation: "It must be pointed out to the
faithful that the great difference between this sacrament and the others,
is that the matter of the latter is always something natural or artificial,
whilst the acts of the penitent, contrition, confession, and satisfaction
are, as the Holy Council of Trent says, like the matter of this sacrament,
And these acts are necessary on the part of the penitent for the integrity
of the sacrament and for the entire remission of sins. This is of divine
institution. Likewise, the acts we are speaking of are considered as even
part of the sacrament. And if the Holy Council simply says that the acts
of the penitent are like the matter of the sacrament, that is not to say
they are not the true matter of it; but that they are not of the same
kind as the other sacramental matter, which are taken from without, like
the water in baptism and the chrism in confirmation. "— 2. Hujus sacri-
ficti oblatione placatus Dominus gratiam et donum poenitentiae concedens,
crimina et peccata etiam ingentia dimittit. Sess. XXII, cap. 2.
194. CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
of judgment. ” All that you bind or loose on earth shall be

bound or loosed in heaven; those sins shall be remitted that
you remit.” But it is for the culprit to accuse himselfto
his faults to the judge who is to pass sentence. And who is
this judge ? The avowal of my sins is due to God alone;
no one, neither angel, nor man, nor devil, has the right of
penetrating into the sanctuary of my conscience, into the
tabernacle of my soul. God alone merits this homage, and
He claims it in this sacrament, for the glory of His Son
Jesus.
I have said, in speaking of the Church, that since the
Incarnation, God wills, in the ordinary economy of His prov-
idence, to govern us by men who supply the place of His
Son for us. It is like an extension of the Incarnation and,
at the same time, a homage rendered to Christ’s holy hu-
manity. Why is that ?
To redeem us from sin, and restore divine life to us,
Christ, the Incarnate Word, descended into the depths of
humiliation; it was as man that He humbled Himself, that
He suffered, died and expiated. And because He thus
humbled Himself to save the world, Christ has been exalted
by His Father: Exinanivit semetipsum... usque ad moriem
crucis: PROPTER QUOD et Deus exaltavit illum+; the Father
wills to glorify His Son as man: Clarificavi et ‘adhuc clari-
ficabo?. And what is the glory He gives to Him? He
makes Him sit at His right hand in the heights of heaven;
He wills ” that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow...
and every tongue should confess” that Jesus is the only
Saviour*; for the Father has given Him all power “in
heaven and in earth*”. And among the attributes of this
power is that of judging every soul. Jesus Himself tells
us: ” The Father... hath given all judgment to the Son that
all men may honour the Son”; because His Son, in His
humanity, won the right of being the Redeemer of the
World: Neque Pater judicat quemquam, sed omne judicium
dedit Filho ut omnes honorificent Filium®... quia Filius
hominis est®. Christ has been established by His Father the
Judge of heaven and earth; here below, He is the merciful
Judge; at the last day, as Our Lord declared at the time
of His Passion, ” The Son of Man shall come in the clouds
1. Philipp. 11, 7-9. — 2. Joan. xn, 5. — 3. ees WJ, 10-11. — 4. Matth.
XxXvi, 18. — 5. Joan. v, 22. — 6. Ibid
ye great power and glory*”, to judge the living and the

ead. .
Such is the glory the Father wills to give His Son; and
it is the glory He wills we should give Him in this sacrament.
Suppose a man has committed mortal sin; he comes before
God, he deplores his sin; he afflicts his body with macerations
and promises himself he will accept every expiation. God
says to him: ” That is well, but it is My will you should
acknowledge and declare the power of My Son Jesus, by
submitting yourself to Him in the person of the one who
represents Him for you; and that one is he who, on the
day of his priestly ordination, received communication of
My Son’s judicial power”. If the sinner will not give this
homage to the holy humanity of Jesus, God refuses to hear
him; but if he submits with faith to this condition, then
there are no sins, no crimes, no iniquities that God does not
forgive and for which He does not renew the pardon as
often as the repentant and contrite sinner beseeches Him
to do so.
This confession must be made from a heart touched by
repentance. Confession is not a narration, it is an ac-
cusation; one must come to it like a criminal. before his
judge. This simple and humble confession has two enemies:
routine and scrupulosity. Routine results almost invariably
from habit; the best means of destroying it is to arouse our
faith in the greatness of the sacrament. As I have said, each
time that we go to confession, even when we have only to
accuse ourselves of venial faults, the blood of Jesus is
offered to His Father to obtain pardon for us. Scruple .
consistsof taking the accidental for the essential, of dwell-
ing, without reason, on details and circumstances that add
nothing to the substance of the sin, if even there be a sin.
In confession, we must have the intention of saying all we
have on our conscience; this becomes easy if we have the
excellent habit of examining every evening the actions of
the day. If there is a doubt, and this doubt weighs on us,
we must accept the weariness that often results from this as
part of the penance, and say what we know. God does not
will that confession should be a torture for the soul, but on
the contrary that it should bring peace ”.
1. Marc. xm, 26. — 2. Sane vero res et effectus hujus sacrament,
quantum ad ejus vim et efficaciam pertinet, reconciliatio est cum Deo,
Look at the Prodigal Son. When he returns to his father,

does he dwell on endless distinctions? We cannot imagine
him doing so. And yet his father forgives all, forgets all
and prepares a feast to celebrate his son’s return.
So it is with our heavenly Father. God finds His glory
in forgiving us, because all forgiveness is granted us in
virtue of the satisfaction made by Jesus Christ, His beloved
Son. The precious blood of Jesus was shed to the last drop
for the remission of sin and the expiation Christ offered
to the justice, holiness, and majesty of His Father is of
infinite value. Now each time God pardons us, each time
the priest gives us absolution, it is as if all the sufferings,
all the merits, all the love, all the blood of Jesus were pre-
sented to His Father and applied to our souls to restore life
to them or to increase it when it is only a case of venial sins.
Sacramentum paenitentiae (instituit) quo lapsis, post bap-
tismum, beneficitum mortis Christi applicatur?. "May Jesus
Christ absolve thee”, says the priest, “and I in virtue of
His authority, absolve thee from thy sins”. Can one forgive
the offence committed against another ? No; yet the priest
says: ” I absolve thee”. How can he say it ? Because it
is Christ Who says it by his mouth.
At each confession, we seem to hear Jesus say to His
Father: ”O My Father, I offer Thee for this soul, the
satisfactions and merits of My Passion; I offer Thee the
chalice of My Blood shed for the remission of sins”. Then,
just as Christ ratified the judgment and the pardon given by
the priest, so the Father in His turn, confirms the judgment
and pardon granted through His Son. He says. ”TI also
forgive thee”.
Those are words to establish the soul in peace. Think
what it is to receive from God the assurance of pardon. If
I have offended a loyal man and he, holding out his hand
to me, says: ”I forget all”, I do not doubt of his for-
giveness. In the sacrament of penance, it is Christ, the
Man God, Truth in person, Who says to us: ’I forgive
thee”, and can we doubt His forgiveness ? No, we cannot
doubt it; this pardon is absolute and irrevocable. God says
to us:” If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as
quam interdum in viris pits et cum devotione hoc sacramentum percipien-
tibus, conscientiae pax et serenitas, cum vehementi spiritus consolatione
consequi solet. Concil. Trid. Sess. xiv, cap. 3.
1. Concil. Trid. Sess. xiv, cap. 1.
THE SACRAMENT AND THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE. IQ7
white as snow’?”. He says again: ” I have blotted out thy

iniquities and thy sins as a mist?”. God’s forgiveness is
worthy of Himself. What a king does is royal; what a God
does is divine: let us believe in His love, in His word, in His
forgiveness.
This act of faith and confidence is extremely pleasing to
God and to Jesus, for it is homage rendered to the infinite
value of Christ’s merits; it proclaims that the fulness and
universality of the pardon God grants to men here below is
one of the triumphs of the blood of Jesus.
To the contrition of the heart and to the confession of

the lips, must be joined the humble acceptation of the sa-
tisfaction imposed.
This satisfaction is an essential element of the sacrament.
In former days, the work of satisfaction to be accomplished
was considerable. At present the satisfaction imposed by the
confessor for the penalty due to sin is reduced to a few
prayers, an almsdeed, or a practice of mortification. Cer-
tainly Our Lord satisfied for us superabundantly ; but, says
the Council of Trent *, equity and justice require that having
sinned after baptism we should bring our share of expiation
in payment of the debt contracted by our sin.
This satisfaction, being sacramental, Christ Jesus, through
the mouth of the priest who represents Him, unites it to His
own satisfactions. That is why it is of great efficacy in
producing ” death to sin” in the soul. In making this satis-
faction for our sins, says the Holy Council of Trent, we
render ourselves conformable to Jesus Christ Who offered
His Father infinite expiation for our sins. The Council
goes on to say that ” these works of satisfaction while being
accomplished by us, only however derive their value from
our union with Jesus Christ; without Him indeed we of
ourselves can do nothing; but strengthened by His grace, we
are able to suffer all things. And so all our glory is to
belong to this Christ in Whom we live and in Whom we
make satisfaction when we bring forth worthy fruits of
penance ; it is from Him that these acts of satisfaction derive
their merit, it is by Him they are offered to the Father, and
it is for His sake that the Father accepts them‘ ”.
to. Isaset, 13. — 2, Ibid. xiv, 225 — 3. Sess. XIV, cap. 8. —- 4. Let
us quote this very beautiful text: Dum satisfaciendo patimur pro peccatis.
You see what a wonderful sacrament the wisdom, power

and goodness of God has ordained for our salvation. God
finds in it His glory and that of His Son, for it is in virtue
of the infinite merits of Jesus that pardon is bestowed upon
us and divine life restored or increased. Let us join, even
while here on earth, in singing the canticle sung by the elect
to the Lamb. O Christ Jesus, immolated for us, Thou hast
redeemed us by Thy precious blood, all praise, ali power,
all glory and all honour be to Thee for ever and ever !
LE
Even when God has forgiven us, there remain in us the

remnants of sin, evil roots ever ready to spring up and bring
forth evil fruits. Neither baptism nor the sacrament of
penance take concupiscence totally away. If then we wish
divine life to develop greatly in our souls, we must labour
unceasingly to diminish these remnants of sin, to weaken
these evil roots, that disfigure our soul in God’s sight.
Besides the action of the sacrament of penance, an
efficacious means exists for removing those scars of sin that
prevent God from communicating His life to us in abun-
dance.
This means is the virtue of penance. It is a habit which,
when deeply implanted, constantly inclines us to the expiation
of sin, and the destruction of what remains of it. This
virtue must doubtless, as we are about to see, manifest itself
by acts proper to it; but it is above all an habitual attitude
of the soul — an abiding regret for having offended God and
desire to make reparation for our faults. This habitual
sentiment ought to inspire our acts of penance.
By these acts, man rises up against himself to avenge
God’s rights which he has trampled under foot. By his
sins, he rose up against God, he opposed his will to the all-
Christo Jesu qui pro peccatis nostris satisfecit, ex quo omnis sufficientia
nostra est, conformes efficimur, certissimam quoque inde arrham habentes,
quod si compatimur et conglorificabimur. NEQUE VERO ITA EST SATISFACTIO
HAEC, QUAM PRO PECCATIS NOSTRIS EXSOLVIMUS, UT NON SIT PER CHRISTUM
JesuM ; nam qui ex nobis tamquam ex nobis nihil possumus, eo coope-
vante, qui nos confortat, omnia possumus. Ita non habet homo unde glo-
rietur; sed omnis gloriatio nostra in Christo est,in quo vivimus,in quo move-
muy, IN QUO SATISFACIMUS, facientes fructus dignos poenitentiae, QUI EX
ILLO VIM HABENT, AB ILLO OFFERUNTUR PATRI, ET PER ILLUM ACCEPTANTUR
A Patre. " Concil. Trid. Sess. xtv, cap. 8.
holy will of God; by his acts of penance he unites himself to

God in His hatred of sin and to His justice that demands the
expiation of it. The soul then sees sin by faith through the
eyes of God. ” I have sinned”, it says, ” I have committed
an act of which I cannot measure all the malice, but that is
so terrible, and so much violates God’s rights, His justice,
His holiness and love, that only the death of the Man-God
could expiate it”. Then moved with sorrow, the soul says
to God: ” O my God, I detest my sin, I long to avenge Thy
tights by penance, I would rather die than offend Thee
again ”. That is the spirit of penance that urges and inclines
the soul to make acts of expiation.
You will understand that this attitude of soul is necessary
for all who have not lived in perfect innocence. When the
motive is fear of hell, it is good, says the Council of Trent 7;
God accepts it. But when the motive is love, it is excellent
and perfect; the more the love of God increases within us,
the more we feel the need of offering to God the sacrifice
of ”a contrite and humbled heart”: Cor contritum et hu-
miliatum Deus non despicies?; the more we feel the need of
often saying to Him with the publican in the Gospel: ”O
God, be merciful to me, a sinner ?”.
When this feeling of compunction is habitual, it maintains
the soul in great peace; it keeps it in humility: it becomes
too, a powerful instrument of purification. Compunction
helps us to mortify those ill-regulated instincts, those per-
verse tendencies that might lead us into fresh faults. One
who has this virtue, is careful to use all the means to be
met with so as to make reparation for sin +.
The virtue of penance is, as regards ourselves, the greatest
assurance of perseverance in the way of perfection, because
it is, as we can easily see, one of the purest forms of love.
One loves God so much, regrets so profoundly having
offended Him, that one longs to repair and expiate: this is
the source of a life of generosity and self-forgetfulness.
” Holiness”, says Father Faber,” has lost its principle of
growth if it is separated from abiding sorrow for sin. For
the principle of growth is not love only, but forgiven love *”.
1. Sess. xIv, cap. 4. — 2. Ps. L, 19. — 3. Luc. xvii, 13. — 4. In
another series of conferences, we will treat more at length of the impor-
tance of compunction in order to progress in the hidden life. — 5. Growth
in Holiness, ch. x1x.
Certain souls, even pious souls, feel sometimes a certain

sense of repulsion in hearing the word penance; it is the same
with that of mortification which expresses the same idea.
Whence does this feeling of repulsion come? It ought not
to astonish us, for it has a psychological foundation.
Our will necessarily seeks good in general, and happiness,
or that which seems to us to be such. Now mortification
which refrains certain of our sensible tendencies, certain of
our most natural desires, appears to these souls as opposed
to happiness : therefore arises this repugnance towards all
that constitutes the practice of self-renunciation.
Moreover, we too often see in mortification an end in
itself, when we only ought to see in it a means, necessary
certainly, even indispensable, but a means all the same. We
do not detract from Christianity in considering self-renun-
ciation only as a means.
Christianity is a mystery of death and of life,but the object
of this death is to safeguard the divine life in us. Non est
Deus mortuorum sed viventium’. ” (Christ), by dying
destroyed our death, and by rising again restored our life”:
Mortem nostram moriendo destruxit et vitam resurgendo re-
paravit?. The essential work of Christianity, as well as
the final end to which of its nature it tends, is a work of
life; Christianity is the reproduction of the life of Christ in
the soul.
Now, as I have said, Christ’s life on earth can be summed
up in this double aspect: ” He was delivered up for our
sins, and rose again for our justification”: Traditus est
propter delicta nostra et resurrexit propter justificationem
nostram *. The Christian dies to all that is sin, the better
to live the life of God. Penance then serves primarily as the
means of arriving at this aim.
That is what St. Paul so clearly expressed: ” Always
bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the
life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies *”.
It must be our aim — there is no other — that the life of
Christ which has its principle in grace and its perfection in
love, may shine forth in us : that is the end ; there is none
other. To attain this end, mortification is necessary.
St. Paul says: ” They that are Christ’s — and we belong to
1. Matth. xxu, 32. — 2. Preface of the Mass for Easter. — 3. Rom.
Iv, 25. — 4. II Cor. iv, 10.
Christ by our baptism — ” have crucified their flesh, with

the vices and concupiscences”, Qui sunt Christi, crucifixe-
runi carnem suam cum vitus et concupiscentiis suist. And
again he says still more explicitly: ” If you live according to
the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit, you mortify
the deeds of the flesh, you shall live?”, live the Divine
life.
IV.
Let us see more in detail why and how we must ” die” so

as ”to live”; why and how we must, as Our Lord said
Himself, ” lose” ourselves so that we may save ourselves °.
God created the first man in rectitude: Deus fecit ho-
minem rectum*. In Adam, the senses were entirely under
the dominion of the reason and the reason was perfectly
subject to God. Since Adam’s sin, this harmonious order
has disappeared, the inferior appetite has become rebellious,
and the flesh strives against the spirit. ” Unhappy man
that I am...” cries St. Paul, “the good which I will I do
not, but the evil which I will not, that I do ®”. It is con-
cupiscence, the prompting of the inferior appetite, that
inclines us to disorder and urges us to sin. Now this ” con-
cupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes,
and the pride of life°” ever tends to increase, to bear fruits
of sin and supernatural death. Hence, in order that the life
of grace may be maintained and developed in us it is needful
to mortify, that is to say, reduce so as to render powerless,
” put to death ”, not our nature itself, but that which in our
nature is the source of disorder and sin: — the ill-regulated
instincts of the senses, the wandering of the imagination,
perverse inclinations. The reason of the primary necessity
for penance is to re-establish order in us and restore to
reason, itself being subject to God, the dominion over the
inferior powers, so as to allow the will to yield entirely to
God. That is life. Never forget this: Christianity demands
mortification first of all so as to immolate in us that which is
opposed to life. The Christian labours, by self-renunciation,
to root out from the soul all element of spiritual death, so
1. Gal. v, 24. — 2. Rom. vim, 13. — 3. Joan, xi, 25. — 4. Eccl. vu,
30. — 5. Rom. vu, 19-24. — 6. I Joan. m1, 16.
that the divine life may increase in it with more liberty, ease
and fulness.
From this point of view, mortification is a rigorous con-
sequence of our baptism, of our Christian initiation.
St. Paul tells us that the neophyte on being plunged into the
sacred font, there dies to sin and begins to live for God :
this double formula as we have seen sums up all Christian
conduct. We cannot be Christians unless we first reproduce
Christ’s death in ourselves, by renouncing sin: Ita et vos
existimate, vos mortuos esse peccato.
You may perhaps ask in what does this death to sin

consist, how far does it extend, and how are we to apply this
law of renunciation in ourselves 7?
Of course the application of this law can be varied almost
indefinitely. The state of soul is not the same for everyone,
and the stages that the same soul passes through are many.
St. Gregory the Great? lays down the principle that the
more the supernatural order has been disturbed by the pre-
dominance of the inferior appetite, the longer the work of
renunciation must last. In souls where sin has taken deep
root, the sources of spiritual disorder are more active, the
life of grace more liable to be lost ; for such as these,
mortification ought to be more vigilant, more vigorous, more
continuous. In other souls, for example, those that are no
longer at the beginning of the spiritual life, the roots of sin
are lessened and weakened; grace finds a more generous
and fruitful soil; for them the necessity of penance, in so
far as it has for its end to cause death to sin, will be less
imperious, the obligation of renunciation less extensive. But
for these faithful souls in which grace abounds, there
arises another motive which we will touch on later — the
motive of more closely resembling Christ, our Chief, the
Head of the mystical body of which all the members are
bound together by the law of solidarity. And the field that
opens out before these souls is boundless.
That is a general principle, but whatever be the measure
of its application, there are obligations every Christian must
fulfil: the exact keeping of God’s commandments, of the
precepts of the Church (the observance of Lent, the Vigils
and Ember days); the daily fidelity to the duties of one’s
1. Homil. XX in Evang. c. 8. See also Reg. pastor. P. mm, c. 29.
state, to the law of labour; watchfulness to constantly shun

the many occasions of sin; all this often involves acts of
renunciation, and sacrifices costly to nature.
There is next the struggle against the special defects that
may beset and weaken the divine life. In one, it is self-
love; in another, levity of mind; in this one, jealousy or
anger; in that one, sensuality or sloth. These defects, if not
resisted, are the occasion of a thousand sins and voluntary
infidelities that hinder God’s action in us. However little
these vices may be apparent, Our Lord expects of us that we
should take the trouble to see them, and that we should
labour generously by constant watchfulness over ourselves,
by the careful examination of our daily actions, and by
corporal mortification as well as by interior self denial, to
extirpate them. He expects us to take no respite until the
roots of these vices are so weakened that they can no longer
spring up and bear fruit. For the more these roots decrease,
the more the divine life grows strong within us, because it
has great liberty to unfold.
Lastly, there are the renunciations that, under the gui-
dance of Providence,me wust expect in the course of life,and
accept as true disciples of Christ Jesus: there are sickness
and suffering; the loss of those dear to us, adversities, the
oppositions and contradictions that thwart the realisation of
our plans; the failure of our undertakings; our disillusion-
ments; moments of weariness, hours of sadness, the burden
of the day that weighed so heavenly on St. Paul? till, as he
says himself, he was weary even of life: Ut etiam taederet
vsvere *, — all those miseries that detach us from ourselves
and creatures by mortifying our nature and making it die in
us little by little: Quotidie morior 3.
Ate
“J die daily”. Those are St. Paul’s words; but if he

died daily, it was that he might the better live the life of
Christ.
And in speaking of his sufferings, he wrote those words
that appear so strange and are of such profound depth: ” I...
fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of
re Rom. 3%, 2.,— 2. Il Cor; 1) 8: =4: I Cor. xv, 31.
Christ, in my flesh, for His (mystical) body, which is the

Church”. Is there then something wanting to the suf-
ferings, to the satisfactions of Christ? Certainly not. Their
value is infinite. Christ’s sufferings are the sufferings of
the Man God Who substituted Himself for us. Nothing
is wanting to the perfection and plenitude of these suf-
ferings; they were more than sufficient to redeem us all.
IPSE est propitiatio pro peccatis TOTIUS mundi*. Then why
does St. Paul speak of ” filling up ” these sufferings ?
St. Augustine gives us the reply. The whole Christ, he
says, is formed by the Church unitedtoher Chief, and by
the members, (which we are), united to the Head, (which is
Christ). Christ, the Head of this mystical body, has suf-
fered; the great expiation was that of Jesus; the members,
if they wish to remain worthy of the Head, must in their
turn bring their share of suffering and renunciation: Jm-
pletae erant omnes passiones, sed in capite restabant adhuc
CHRISTI PASSIONES IN CORPORE; vos autem estis corpus et
memobra *.
Contemplate Christ Jesus on His way to Calvary, laden
with His cross; He falls under the weight of this burden.
If He willed, His divinity would sustain His humanity;
but He does not will it. Why? Because, in order to expiate
sin, He wills to feel in His innocent flesh the burden of sin.
But the Jews fear He will not live to reach the place of cru-
ciixion; they therefore constrain Simon the Cyrenean to
help to carry His cross, and Jesus accepts his help.
Simon, in this, represents us all; as members of Christ’s
mystical body, we must help Jesus to bear His cross. It is
a sure sign we belong to Him, if, following Him, we deny
ourselves and take up our cross: Qui vult venire post me,
abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me *.
Here is to be found the secret of the voluntary mortifica-
tions of faithful souls, privileged souls, holy souls — those
mortifications that afflict and macerate the body as well as
those that repress even the lawful desires of the mind.
Such souls have doubtless expiated their own sins, but love
constrains them to expiate for those members of Christ’s
bedy who offend their Chief so that the vigour, beauty and
splendour of this mystical body may not be diminished. If
1. Col. 1, 24, — 2. I Joan. 1, 2. — 3. Enarrat. in Ps. txxxvny, c. 5.
— 4. Lué. IX, 23.
we truly love Christ, we shall, following the counsel of a

prudent director, generously take our share of these vol-
untary mortifications which will make us less unworthy
members of a crucified Head. Was it not this that St. Paul
sought ? Did he not write that he had suffered the loss of
all things so that he might be admitted to the fellowship of
Christ’s sufferings and be made conformable to His death ?
Ad cognoscendum illum et societatem passionum ilius, con-
figuratus morti ejus?.
If our nature feels some repulsion, let us ask Our Lord to
give us the strength to imitate Him by following Him even to
Calvary. According to the beautiful thought of St. Augus-
tine, the innocent Christ, like a compassionate physician,
reserved for Himself the dregs of the chalice of suffering
and renunciation of which we have only to drink a few
drops: Sanari non potes nisi amarum calicem biberis; prior
bibit medicus sanus, ut bibere non dubitaret aegrotus?. For,
says St. Paul, Christ knows, by experience, what sacrifice is.
” We have not a high priest Who cannot have compassion
on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we
are yet without sin*”.
I have said to what an extent Our Lord has shared our
sufferings, but never let us forget that in thus sharing our
sorrows and such of our miseries as were compatible with
His divinity, Christ has sanctified our sufferings, our in-
firmities, our expiations. He has merited for us that we
may have the strength to bear them in our turn and that they
may be accepted by His Father. But for this to be effected,
we must unite ourselves to Our Lord by faith and love, and
consent to carry our cross after Him. It is from this union
that our sufferings and sacrifices derive their value; of
themselves they have no value for heaven, but, when joined to
those of Christ, they become extremely pleasing to God and
salutary for our souls *.
This union of our will with Our Lord in suffering also
becomes for us a source of solace.
When we suffer, when we are in pain, in sadness, in
weariness, in adversity or difficulties, and we come to Jesus
we are not delivered from our cross, for ” the disciple is not
t. Philipp. m1, 8, 10. — 2. De verbis Domini. Serm. xvi, c. 7 and 8.
— 3- Hebr. rv, 15. — 4. See the text of the Council of Trent given
above, pp. 197-198.
above his master!”, but we are comforted. Christ Himself

has told us that He wills us to take up our cross; it is the
indispensable condition for becoming His true disciple, —
but He promises too that He will refresh those who come
to find in Him a balm for their sufferings. And He Himself
invites us: ” Come to Me, all you that labour, and are bur-
dened, and I will refresh you?”. His words are infallible.
If you go to Him with confidence, be assured He will turn
tenderly towards you because, according to the words the
Gospel applied to Him, He will be touched with compassion:
Misericordia motus*. Was He not crushed under suffering
to the point of crying out: ” Father, let this chalice of
bitterness pass from Me”? St. Paul expressly tells us that
one of the reasons Christ wished to endure sorrow was that
He might succour those who would come to Him*. He is
the Good Samaritan Who bends over suffering humanity and
brings to it, with salvation, the consolation of the Spirit of
Love. It is from Him all true consolation is born for our
souls. St. Paul repeats to us: ” As the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so also by Christ doth our comfort abound >”.
You see how he identifies his tribulations with those of Jesus,
since he is a member of Christ’s mystical body, and how also
it is from Christ he receives consolation.
And how these words are verified in him! How great is
the part he takes in Christ’s sorrows !...See the vivid picture
the apostle draws of the many difficulties that assailed him
during his apostolic journeys when he often saw death near
to him: ” Five times did I receive forty stripes, save one;
thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I
suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of
the sea. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the
Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils from false brethren, in labour and painfulness, in
much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness, besides those things which are without,
my daily instance and solicitude for all the churches... °”.
What a picture !... How the soul of the great apostle must
have been wearied with so many miseries, ever recurring !
1. Luc. vi, 40. — 2. Matth. x1, 28. — 3. Luc. vn, 13. —4. Hebr. rv, 15
and u, 16-8; Debuit fratribus similari ut misericors fieret. — 5. II Cor.
1, Sera, “1 Aone ays:
THE SACRAMENT AND THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE, 207
And yet in all these tribulations, he ” exceedinly abounded

with joy: ” SUPERABUNDO GAUDIO in omni tribulatione nos-
tra*. What is the secret of this joy ? It is the love he
bears towards Christ delivered up for him: Caritas Christi
urget nos. It is through Christ his consolation abounds: J ta,
et per Christum, ABUNDAT consolatio nostra?. Because he
is one with Christ through love of Him, he remains unshaken
in the midst of all the miseries and hardships to which he is
subjected. ” Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness?
or danger? or persecution? or the sword? As it is written:
For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter”. But, he adds: ” in
all these things we overcome because of Him that hath loved
us 3 we
Such is the cry of one who understood the immense love

of Christ Crucified, and as a true disciple, wished to walk in
His footsteps even as far as Calvary, by taking, out of love,
his part in the Divine Mastex’s sufferings *. For as I have
said, it is from Calvary, it is from the Passion of Christ
Jesus, that our sufferings, our acts of renunciation and mor-
tification derive all their supernatural value to destroy sin
and allow the divine life to unfold within us. We must
unite them in our intention to the Sacrament of Penance,
which applies to us the merits of Christ’s sufferings that they
may make us die to sin. If we do this, the efficacy of the
Sacrament of Penance will extend, as it were, to every act
of the virtue of penance to increase its fruitfulness.
VI.
Moreover, that is indeed the intention of the Church.
After the priest, Christ’s minister, has imposed the necessary
satisfaction, and, by absolution, has washed our souls in the
Divine Blood, he repeats these words over us: ” May what-
ever of good thou dost, and evil thou bearest, be to thee for
the remission of thy sins, the increase of grace, and the
reward of everlasting life®”. This prayer is not essential
to the sacrament, but as it has been ordained by the Church,
1. If Cor. vi, 4. — 2. Ibid. v, 14. — 3. Ibid. 1, 5- —4. Rom. Witt, 35.
— §- Quidquid boni feceris et mali sustinueris sit tibi in remissionem pec-
catorum, augmentum gratiae et praemium vitae aeternae,
besides containing teaching that the Church assuredly desires

to see us put into practice, it has the value of a sacramental.
By this prayer, the priest gives to our sufferings, to our
acts of satisfaction, of expiation, of mortification, of repara-
tion and patience which he thus links and unites with the
sacrament, a special efficacy which our faith should not
neglect to consider.
” For the remission of thy sins”. — The Council of Trent
teaches on this subject a very consoling truth. It tells us
that God is so munificent in His mercy that, not only the
works of expiation that the priest imposes on us, or that we
ourselves choose, but even all the sufferings inherent to our
condition here below, all the temporal adversities which God
sends or permits and we patiently support, serve, through
Christ’s merits, as satisfaction with the Eternal Father’.
That is why — I cannot too often recommend it to you —
it is an excellent and most fruitful practice when we present
ourselves to the priest, or rather to Jesus Christ, in order to
accuse ourselves of our sins, to accept in expiation all the
pains, all the annoyances, all the contradictions which may
befall us ; and still more, to resolve at this moment on such
or such special act of mortification, however light it may be,
which we will accomplish until our next confession.
Fidelity to this practice, which enters so well into the
spirit of the Church, is very profitable. To begin with, it
removes the danger of routine. A soul that, by faith, thus
plunges itself again into the consideration of the greatness
of this sacrament in which the Blood of Jesus is applied to
us, and with an intention full of love, offers to bear pa-
tiently, in union with Christ on the Cross, all that happens
that is hard, difficult, painful or disappointing in life, such a
soul is impervious to the rust which with many persons
accompanies frequent confession. Secondly, this practice
is an act of love extremely pleasing to Our Lord because it
is a mark of our willingness to share the sufferings of His
Passion, the most holy of His myteries. Finally, being
1. Docet praeterea sancta synodus tantam esse diviiae munificentiae
largitatem wt non solum poenis sponte a nobis pro vindicando peccato sus-
ceptis, aut sacerdotis arbitrio pro mensura delicti impositis, sed etiam
(quod maximum amoris argumentum est) temporalibus flagellis a Deo
inflictis et a nobis patienter toleratis, apud Deum Patrem, per Jesum
Christum, satisfacere valeamus. Sess. XIv, cap. 9.
frequently renewed, it helps us to acquire little by little that
true spirit of penance, so necessary in order to become like
to Jesus, our Head and our Model.
After saying: ” May whatever good thou dost and evil

thou bearest be to thee for the remission of thy sins”,
the priest adds: ” and the increase of grace”, Augmentum
gratiae. J have said that death is here the prelude of life.
Our Lord Himself says that the grain of wheat must first
die in the ground before it can germinate and bring forth the
fruit of the harvest which the householder will gather into
his barns?. This life will become so much the more fruitful,
grace willso much the more abound, in proportion as abne-
gation has reduced, weakened and diminished the obstacles
opposed to its free growth. For, always remember this
important truth, holiness is for us of an essentially super-
natural order, and God is its source; the more our souls,
by means of mortification, free themselves from sin and are
detached from self and creatures, the more the Divine action
is powerful within us. Christ tells us so; He even tells us
that His Father makes use of suffering to render the life of
the soul more fruitful: ’” I am the Vine, and My Father is
the Husbandman; you are the branches. Every branch
that beareth fruit, My Father will purge that it may bring
forth more fruit. In this is My Father glorified, that you
bring forth very much fruit”. Omnem palmitem qui fert
fructum purgabit eum ut fructum plus afferat. In hoc
clarificatus est Pater meus ut fructum plurimum afferatis ?.
When the Eternal Father sees that a soul, already united to
His Son, by grace, resolutely desires to give herself fully to
Christ, He wills to make life abound in her and to increase
her capacity for receiving it. To do this, He Himself enters
into this work of renunciation and detachment, because that
is the preliminary condition of our fruitfulness. He prunes
away all that could prevent the life of Christ from pro-
ducing its full effects; all that is an obstacle to the Divine
sap. Our corrupt nature contains roots that tend to produce
evil fruits ; by the repeated and deep sufferings He permits
or sends, by humiliations and contradictions, God purifies us,
digs and ploughs up the ground of our souls, as it were,
detaches us from creatures, and empties us of self that we
1. Joan. xm, 24. — 2. Ibid. xv, 1-8.
Christ, the life of the soul,
14
may produce numerous fruits of life and holiness; Purga-

bit eum ut fructum plus afferat.
Finally, the priest says: Et praemium vitae aeternae,

” May all these things be to thee for the reward of ever-
lasting life”. After having restored order here below so
that the life of Christ may grow and increase within us,
our sufferings, our acts of expiation, our efforts to do good,
assure to our souls a share in heavenly glory. Recall to
your minds the conversation of the two disciples on the way
to Emmaus on the morrow of the Passion. Dismayed by
the death of the Divine Master, which seemingly put an end
to their hopes of the reign of the Messias, and being yet
ignorant of the resurrection of Jesus, they confide their deep
disappointment to one another. Christ comes up to them
under the guise of a stranger, and asks them the subject of
their discourse. And after having listened to the expression
of their disillusionment, Sperabamus. ” We hoped...” ”O
foolish and slow of heart to believe”! He immediately
says in reproach, ” ought not Christ to have suffered these
things and so to enter into His glory”? Nonne haec opor-
tut pati Christum, ET ITA intrare in gloriam suam+? It is
the same for us; we must share in Christ’s sufferings if we
are to share in His glory.
This glory and beatitude will be immense. ” For which
cause we faint not”, writes St. Paul; ” but though our out-
ward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day
by day, for that which is at present momentary and light of
our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly
an eternal weight of glory”. Jd enim quod in praesenti est
momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in
sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis*. He
writes again: ” And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God
and joint heirs with Christ; yet so, if we suffer with Him,
that we may be also glorified with Him”, and he adds:
” For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall
be revealed in us*”. Therefore in the same measure in
1. Luc. xxiv, 26. St. Paul echoed this saying of the Divine Master when
he wrote to the Hebrews (11, 9) : Vidermus Jesum PROPTER passionem mor-
tis gloria et honore coronatum. Cf. Philipp. u, 7-9. — 2. II Cor. tv, 17.
— 3. Rom. vin, 17-18.
which ” you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that

when His glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with
exceeding joy”. Communicantes Christi passionibus, gau-
dete, ut et in revelatione gloriae ejus gaudeatis exsultantes 2.
Courage then !_ I repeat with S. Paul. ”“Know you not”,

he says, in allusion to the public games, the races in the
arena, that took place in his time, “know you not that
everyone that striveth for the mastery, refraineth himself
from all things ” so as to bear off the prize. And what was
the prize? A crown of a day, while it is for an imperishable
crown that we deny ourselves?, and this crown is to share
for ever in the glory and beatitude of our Head.
Jesus Christ says: Here below you are in affliction; the
world that knows Me not lives in pleasure, while, by a life
of faith, you bear with Me the burden of the Cross; but I
will see you again at the last day, ’and your heart shall
rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you”. —
Plorabitis et flebitis vos, mundus autem gaudebit; vos autem
contristabiminti, sed tristitia vestra convertetur in gaudium...
Iterum widebo vos et gaudebit cor vestrum, — ET GAUDIUM
VESTRUM NEMO TOLLET A VOBIS *.
1. I Petr. 1v, 13. — 2. I Cor. 1x, 24-25. — 3. Joan. xvi, 20-22.
B. -- LIFE FOR GOD
Vv. THE TRUTH IN CHARITY.
Summary. — Christianity, the religion of life. — 1. First character

of our works: truth; works conformable to our nature as
reasonable beings ; harmony of grace and nature ; works
conformable to our individuality and our special vocation. —
Il. To accomplish our works in charity, in a state of grace ;
necessity and fruitfulness of grace for the supernatural life.
— Ill. Marvellous variety of the fruits of grace in souls ; it
has, however, only one source.
HRISTIANITY is a mystery of death and life, but it is

ce especially a mystery of life. As you know, death
was not included in the Divine plan; it was the sin
of man that brought it upon the earth; sin, which is the
negation of God, has produced the negation of life, namely,
death. If therefore, Christianity requires renunciation, it
is in order to immolate that in us which is contrary to life;
we must remove the obstacles that are opposed to the free
development within us of the Divine life which Christ brings
us: He is the great Author of our holiness, without Him we
can do nothing. It is therefore not a question of seeking or
practising mortification for itself, but primarily in view of
facilitating the development of the Divine germ placed
within us at Baptism. St. Paul, in telling the neophyte he
must ” die to sin’, does not include in this single formula
all the practice of Christianity; he adds that he must still
” live for God in Christ Jesus”. This expression, so rich in
meaning, as we shall see in the course of the following con-
ferences, sums up the second operation of the soul.
Like all life, the supernatural life has laws proper to itself,
1. Per unum hominem, peccatum in hunc mundum intravit et per pec-
catum mors, et ita in omnes homines mors pertranstit. Rom. v, 12.
THE TRUTH IN CHARITY. 213
to which it must be subject if it is to be maintained. In the
two preceding conferences I have shown you what are the
elements of the ” life for God in Jesus Christ ”.
It is necessary, first of all, to establish the fundamental
principle which regulates all Christian activity, and is the
condition of its value in God’s sight. Let us see now what
is this general essential order that should rule the infinite
variety of actions of which the ordinary thread of our life
is woven.
You know this text of St. Paul in his Epistle to the

Ephesians: Veritatem facientes in caritate*, ” Doing the
truth in charity”. I would like to dwell upon it with you for
afew moments. You will see that in these words the Apostle
states the fundamental law that regulates our supernatural
activity in the domain of grace.
” Doing the truth in charity” is equal to saying that the
supernatural life must be maintained in us by human acts,
animated by sanctifying grace and referred to God through
charity.
The term Facientes indicates the necessity of works. I

need not insist much on this point. All life must manifest
itself by acts; without works, faith, which is the foundation
of the supernatural life, is a dead faith: Fides, si non habeat
opera, mortua est in semetipsa?. It is the Apostle St. James
who writes this. And St. Paul, who never wearies of show-
ing the riches we have in Our Lord, does not fear to tell us
that Christ is only a cause of salvation and eternal life to
those who obey Him: Factus est omnibus OBTEMPERANTI-
BUS SIBI causa salutis aeternae *. If our desire to be pleasing
to God is sincere, let us listen to what Jesus Christ says:
"Tf you love Me, keep My commandments*”; ” for not
everyone that saith to Me (with the lips) Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the Will
of My Father®”. Christ wishes to lead us to do this.
” Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
1. Ephes. 1v, 15. — 2. Jac. 1, 17. —3. Hebr. v, 9. —4. Joan. xiv, 15.
— 5. Matth. vn, 21.
all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people accept-

able, a pursuer of good works?”.
But what are these works? What nature and character
do they bear? Veritatem facientes, they must be true works.
What does St. Paul mean by this? To speak the truth is to
express something that is in accordance with our thoughts.
An object is true when there is accord between what, by
nature, it ought to be and what it is in reality: gold is true
when it possesses all the properties that we know to belong
to the nature of this metal. It is false when it has the
appearance but not the properties of gold; there is no
accord between what it appears to be and what it ought to be
considering the elements that we know constitute its nature.
A human action is true if it really corresponds to our human
nature as creatures endowed with reason, will, and liberty.
St. Paul says we must do true works, that is, those that
accord with our human nature. Every act that is contrary
to our nature as reasonable beings, and that does not cor-
respond to it, is a false act. We are not statues, or machines;
neither are we angels. We are men, and the character that
ought, first of all, to be manifested in our actions and that
God wishes to find in them, is the character of human works
done by a free creature.
Consider the universe around you. God finds His glory
in all creatures, but only when they are conformed to the
laws that rule their nature. The stars of heaven praise God
in silence by their harmonious course in incommensurable
space: Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei*; the waters of the sea
praise Him by not overpassing the limits He has assigned
to them: Terminum posuisti quem non transgredientur® ;
the earth by keeping the laws of its stability: Fundasti ter-
ram, et permanet*; the trees by producing blossoms and
fruits after their kind and according to the seasons; the
animals by fulfilling the instincts placed in them by their
Creator. Special laws rule the existence of each order of
beings, and by manifesting God’s power and wisdom, frame
a song of praise to His glory: Domine, Dominus noster,
1. Dedit semetipsum pro nobis ut nos redimeret ab omni iniquitaie et
mundaret sibi populum acceptabilem, sectatorem bonorum operum. Tit.
Ml, 14. — 2, Ps. xvi, 2. — 3. Ibid, cm, 9. The whole of this psalm,
which is a magnificent hymn to the Creator, denotes the different ope-
rations peculiar to the three kingdoms, mineral, vegetable, and animal.
— 4. Ps. cxvil, go.
quam admirabile est nomen tuum in umiversa terra’!

Lastly, man, whom the Lord has established king of creation,
Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus, has laws which are the
condition of his nature and activity as a reasonable creature.
Like all creatures, man was made to glorify God, but he can
only glorify Him by acts conformable to his nature. Man
thus responds to the ideal God formed when creating him,
and thereby glorifies Him and is pleasing to Him.
By nature, man is a reasonable being. He cannot, like an
animal destitute of reason, act only by instinct: what
distinguishes him from all other beings of the earthly
creation, is that he is endowed with reason and liberty.
Reason must therefore be sovereign in man; but, as a
creature, reason must itself be subject to the Divine Will
on which it depends, and that is manifested by the natural
law, and by positive laws.
To be “true”, which is the first condition necessary in
order to be pleasing to God, each human action must be in
conformity with our condition as free and reasonable
creatures, subject to the Divine Will; otherwise this action
does not correspond to our nature, to the properties be-
longing to it and the laws that govern it: it is false.
Do not forget that the natural law is something essential
in the order of religion. God need not have created me;
but since I have been created, I am and remain a creature,
and the relations resulting from this fact are unchangeable.
One cannot, for example, conceive that a man could be
created, for whom it would be lawful to blaspheme his
Creator.
It is this character of human action, entirely free, but in
accord with our nature and the last end of our creation, and
consequently morally good, which must be primarily the
distinguishing mark of our works in God’s sight: Qui dicit
se nosse Deum et mandata ejus non custodit, mendax est et
in hoc veritas non est ”.
In order to act as Christians, we must first of all act as
men. And this is not without importance. Doubtless, a
perfect Christian will necessarily fulfil his duties as man, for
the law of the Gospel comprises and perfects the natural law.
But one meets with Christians, or rather with some calling
themselves Christians, and that not only among the simple
1. Ps. vit, 10. — 2. Joan. MI, 4.
faithful, but even among religious and priests, who are exact
even to scrupulosity as to their self-chosen practices of
piety, and yet hold certain precepts of the natural law very
cheaply. These people have it at heart not to miss their
exercises of devotion, and this is excellent, but, for example,
they do not abstain from attacking a neighbour’s reputation,
from falsehoods, and from failing to keep their word; from
giving a wrong meaning to what an author has written, from
not respecting the laws of literary or artistic property, from
deferring, sometimes to the detriment of justice, the
payment of their debts, and not observing the clauses of a
contract exactly.
Such as these ” whose religion spoils their morality’ ”, to
use the expression of the great English statesman, Gladstone,
have not understood St. Paul’s precept: Veritatem facientes.
There is a want of logic in their spiritual life, there is:
“untruth”. Many of these souls may be unconscious of
this ” untruth ”, but it is not less hurtful, because God does
not find in them that order which He wills should reign in
all His works.
So then, we must be “true”. That is the basis on which
grace works. As you know, grace does not destroy nature.
Although we have received that which is like a new being, by
Divine adoption, Nova creatura, grace (which must become
within us the source and principle of new and supernatural
operations) presupposes nature and the operations pro-
ceeding from it. Far from being opposed to one another,
1. There is one proposition which the experience of life burns into my
soul: it is this, that man should beware of letting his religion spoil hts
morality. In a thousand ways, some great, some small, but all subtle,
we are daily tempted to the great sin. Sir John Mortey, Life of Glad-
stone, 1, 185. — We can compare this thought with these words of
Bossuet: ” One is uneasy if he has not said his rosary or other fixed
prayers, or if he has omitted some Ave Maria in a decade ; [donot blame
him ; God forbid ! I have only praise for religious exactitude in exercises
of piety. But who can endure to have this same person easily breaking
four or five precepts of the Decalogue daily without troubling, and
treading under foot the holiest duties of Christianity without scruple?
Strange illusion, with which the enemy of the human race beguiles us!
He is not able to eradicate from the heart of man the principle of religion
which he finds too deeply implanted there, so he substitutes a dangerous
amusement instead of its legitimate employment, in order that, deceived
by the appearances, we may believe we have satisfied the serious obli-
gations religion imposes on us by these trifles. Undeceive yourselves,
Christians... In doing works of supererogation, take care not to forget
those that are of necessity.” Sermon for the Feast of the Conception of
the Virgin. 1669. Oratorical Works.
grace and nature, as regards what is good and pure in the

latter, are in harmony, each preserving its own character and
beauty.
Let us contemplate what took place in Jesus Christ, for
we must always regard Him in all things. Is He not the
model of holiness ? He is God and man. His state of Son
of God is the source whence flows the Divine value of all
His acts; but He is also man, Perfectus homo. Although
united in an ineffable manner to the Divine Person of the
Word, His human nature in no way lost its own activity, its
special manner of acting; this nature was the source of per-
fectly authentic human actions. Jesus Christ prayed,
worked, ate, suffered, slept: those were human actions,
which showed that Our Lord was truly man; I dare even
say that none has ever been so much man as He, for His
human nature was incomparably perfect. Only, in Him, the
human nature subsisted in the Divinity.
Something analogous is produced in us: grace does not
suppress or reverse nature either in its essence or in its
good qualities. Doubtless, it constitutes a new superadded
state, infinitely superior to our natural state. A profound
modification has been effected in us, both as regards our
end which has now become supernatural and the forces
which serve to attain it, but our nature is neither troubled
nor diminished thereby*. It is in exercising our own fac-
ulties, intelligence, will, love, sensibility and imagination,
that our human nature, even when adorned with grace, must
perform its actions: but these acts proceeding from nature,
are raised by grace to the point of being worthy of God.
We must, first of all, remain ourselves, live in a manner

coniormable to our nature as free and reasonable creatures:
this is the first element of the ” truth” of our actions. I
will add: we should live in a way that corresponds to our
individuality.
We must keep our personality in our supernatural life, as
to what is good in it; that is a part of that ” truth”, that
” sincerity ”, which the life of grace demands. Holiness is
1. It goes without saying, that the supernatural state tends to exclude
all that is vitiated in nature through original sin: that which is called
by ascetical authors the ” natural” life, as opposed to the “ supernatural”
life. We have seen above, how mortification consists precisely in
destroying this " natural” life.
not a single mould where the natural qualities that char-

acterise one’s personality have to disappear so that only a
uniform type may be represented. Far from that. God, in
creating us, endowed each of us with gifts, talents, priv-
ileges; each soul has its special natural beauty: one shines
by depth of intelligence, another is distinguished by strength
of will, a third attracts by breadth of charity. Grace res-
pects this beauty as it respects the nature on which it is
based; it will but add a supernatural splendour to the na-
tural beauty, raising and transfiguring it. In His sanctifying
operation, God respects His work of creation, for He has
willed this diversity: each soul, in translating one of the
Divine thoughts, has a special place in the Heart of God.
Lastly, we must be ” true” by being in accord with the
vocation to which God has called us. We are not only
isolated individuals; we form part of a society which in-
cludes different states of life. It is clear, that in order ” to
be in the truth”, we must also practise the duties of the
special state in which Providence has placed us; grace
cannot be in contradiction to this. It would be ” untrue” to
her state for the mother of a family to pass long hours in
church when her presence is required at home for the ruling
of her household. It would be ” untrue” to his vocation
for a religious to employ an hour in private devotions,
instead of the work prescribed at that hour by obedience,
however commonplace this work might be. Such acts are
not entirely ” true”.
” Sanctify them in truth”, was the prayer of Jesus, at the
Last Supper, for His disciples.
Il.
But if our acts are true and conformed to our condition

as reasonable creatures subject to God, freely accomplished
and according with our state, is this sufficient to make them
acts of supernatural life ?
No, this is not enough; it is necessary besides, (and this
is the capital point), that they should proceed from grace,
and be accomplished by a soul adorned with sanctifying
grace. That is what St.Paul means by the word: Jn ca-
ritate.
“In charity”, that is to say, first of all, in fundamental,

essential charity, which causes us to refer ourselves entirely
to God and find in Him the Supreme Good which we prefer
to all other good: that is the fruit of grace which makes
us pleasing to God to the extent of becoming His children.
Tt is true that supernatural charity is not grace; but charity
and grace always go together: Caritas diffusa est in cordibus
nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis4. Grace
elevates our being; charity transforms our activity; the
degree of one marks the degree of the other, and every grave
fault, of whatever nature it may be, kills grace and charity
in us at one and the same time.
Sanctifying grace should be the source from which our
human activity is nourished; without it, we cannot produce
any supernatural act, having any meritorious proportion
with the beatitude of eternal life. God first of all establishes
us in a state, the state of grace: this is of primary im-
portance. A being only accomplishes actions by reason of
his nature: we only accomplish human actions if we first
possess human nature; in the same way, we can only per-
form the acts of the supernatural life if we first possess, by
grace, what is, as it were, a new nature: Nova creatura.
There is a man lying on the ground before your eyes. He
may be only asleep or perhaps he is dead. In the first case
he will presently wake and give signs of life; his natural
energies will be manifested. Why? Because he still keeps
within him the source from whence issue these energies, that
is to say, the soul. But if the soul be absent, the body will
never move; whatever you may do to it, it will remain in
the cold inertness of a corpse. No activity will henceforth
arise from this body of death: the vital principle whence its
energies were derived has left it.
So it is with the supernatural life. Sanctifying grace is
the inward principle whence all supernatural activity em-
anates. If the soul possesses this grace, it can produce acts
1. Rom. v, 5. ” Sanctifying grace and Divine Charity are the outpouring
of Christ’s Spirit, the Paraclete. For habitual grace and the supernatural
spiritual endowment of charity are only distinguishable from one another
as the sun’s light is distinguished from the sun. Sanctifying grace is the
life of the soul; charity is that same living force ready to burst forth into
all the operations of the supernatural life, and chiefly into actual love of
the Source of all its life and beauty." Hepiey, Retreat, pp. 302-303.
of life, supernaturally meritorious: if not, the soul is dead in

the sight of God’.
Jesus Christ has given a comparison which makes us well
able to understand the function of grace in us. Our Lord
loved to make use of images which render the truth easy to
grasp. It is after the Last Supper. Our Divine Saviour
leaves the Cenacle with His disciples to go to the Mount of
Olives. On the way, outside Jerusalem, He passes over a
_ little hill covered with vineyards”. In pointing them out to
His Apostles He says: ” I am the Vine; you the branches:
he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much
fruit: for without Me you can do nothing... As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, so
neither can you, unless you abide in Me”. In the same
way as the branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains united
to the trunk, so is it with us, if we do not remain united
to Christ by grace.
Grace is the sap that rises from the root to the branches.
It is not the root or the trunk that bear fruit: it is the
branch; but the branch united by the trunk to the root, and
drawing from the root the sap that nourishes. Break off
the branch, separate it from the trunk, and, no longer re-
ceiving the sap, it withers and becomes dead wood, incapable
of producing the least fruit.
It is the same with the soul that does not possess grace: it
is not united to Christ, it does not draw from Him the sap
of sanctifying grace which would make it supernaturally
living and fruitful. Do not forget that Christ alone is the
source of our spiritual life; all our activity, all our existence
have no value for eternal life unless we are united to Christ
by grace. If we are not, it is in vain that we exert and
spend ourselves, and accomplish the most brilliant actions in
the sight of men; in God’s sight all this activity is devoid
of supernatural profit and without merit for eternal life.
1. Of course, this is only a comparison serving to show us the necessity
of grace as’a supernatural vital principle; for the soul in a state of
mortal sin can, through the Sacrament of Penance,live again by recovering
grace. Moreover the soul ought to prepare itself for the reception of this
sacrament by free, supernatural acts, (supernatural because they are
accomplished under the impulsion of supernatural actual help given by
God), acts of fear, hope, charity and contrition. Cf. note p. 223. —
2. Fouarp, Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. L. V1, ch. v, the Discourse
of Jesus on the way to Gethsemani.
You may say: Are these actions then bad? No, not nec-
essarily. If they are honest, they may yet be pleasing to
God, Who sumetimes rewards them with temporal favours:
they gain a certain merit, in the very wide sense of the word,
for the one who accomplishes them, or rather, there is a
certain appropriateness that God should not leave them
without some recompense. But as sanctifying grace is
lacking, there is not the necessary proportion between these
actions and the eternal inheritance God has promised only to
those who are His children by grace. Sz filui, et heredes?,
God cannot recognise in these actions the supernatural char-
acter requisite in order that they may count with Him for
eternity.
You may see two men giving alms to the poor: the one is,
by grace, in the holy friendship of God, he gives the alms
from a movement of Divine charity; the other is destitute
of sanctifying grace: both perform exteriorly the same
action, but what a difference in God’s sight! The alms of
the first gains for him an increase of infinite and eternal
happiness; it is of him Our Lord spoke when He said that
he who gives a cup of cold water in His Name should not
lose his reward*. The alms of the second is without merit
as regards the same eternal beatitude, even if he should
lavish handfuls of gold. That which proceeds from nature
alone has no value far eternal life. Certainly, God, Who
is Goodness itself, will regard graciously the good actions
done by the sinner, above all when they are acts of charity
towards the neighbour, not done from human ostentation,
but from a movement of compassion towards the un-
fortunate. Often indeed, and this is a great reason for con-
fidence, God’s mercy inclines Him to grant graces of con-
version to those who do these charitable actions, which, in
the end, give back to them the supreme good of the Divine
friendship. But it is sanctifying grace alone that gives true
meaning and fundamental value to our lives.
This is so true that, when the sinner again enters into a
state of grace, those actions which were done without grace
still remain valueless from the point of view of supernatural
merit, however numerous and excellent they may have been.
They are irretrievably lost.
St. Paul has thrown great light on this truth. This is
1. Rom. vu, 17. — 2. Matth. x, 42.
what he says: ” If I speak with the tongues of men and of

angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and
should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I
should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute
all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing 7”. In other words, the most extraordinary gifts,
the highest talents, the most generous undertakings, the most
splendid actions, the most strenuous efforts, the greatest
sufferings, are of no merit for eternal life without charity,
that is to say, without that supreme love of the soul for God,
considered as He is in Himself, that supernatural love which
is born of sanctifying grace, as the flower arises from its
stem.
Let us then refer all our life to God, our Last End and
Eternal Beatitude: the charity of God that we possess with
sanctifying grace must be the mainspring of all our activity.
When we possess Divine grace within us, we fulfil the wish
of Our Lord: we ” abide in Him”, Manete in me, and He
” abides in us”, Et ego in vobis; He abides with the Father
and the Holy Spirit: Ad eum veniemus et mansionem apud
eum faciemus*. The Holy Trinity, dwelling truly within
us as in a temple, does not remain inactive, but unceasingly
sustains us so that our soul may exercise its supernatural
activity: Pater meus usque modo operatur, et ego operor®.
You know that, in the natural order, God ever sustains us
in life and in the exercise of our acts, by His Divine action,
that is the ” Divine concourse”. This Divine concourse
exists also in the supernatural order; we can never act
supernaturally unless God gives us the grace so to act. This
grace, on account of its transitory effect is called actual, in
opposition to sanctifying grace, which, being in its nature,
permanent, is called habitual:grace. With sanctifying grace,
the infused virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, actual
grace makes part of the supernatural order. In the or-
dinary practice of the supernatural life, actual grace is
the Divine concourse applied to the supernatural order.
On special occasions however, resulting from the state of
the soul, in consequence of original sin, this Divine con-
1. I Cor. xi, 1-3. — 2. Joan. xiv, 23. — 3. Ibid. v, 17.
THE TRUTH IN CHARITY. 223.
course translates and manifests itself in particular il-

lumination of the intelligence, and greater strength given
to the will to enable it to resist a grave temptation or ac-
complish an arduous task. Without this special help, which
God grants to prayer, we could not attain the supreme end ;
we could not, as the Council of Trent says, ” persevere in
gustice? ’.
Such is then, in broad outline, the fundamental law of the
practice of our supernatural life. Without changing any-
thing of what is essential to our nature, of what is good in
our individuality or requisite for our particular state of
life, we must live by the grace of Christ, referring through
charity all our activity to the glory of His Father. Grace
is grafted on nature and envelops its operations; such is the
principal source of that diversity we meet with in the Saints
IIT.
Moreover, the degree of grace itself varies in souls. It

is true that there is only one singie model of holiness, as
there is only one source of grace and life: Jesus Christ.
Justification and beatitude are specifically, in their basis and
substance, the same for all: ” One Lord, one faith, one
baptism ”, says St. Paul ?.
But just as all those who possess human nature vary in
their qualities, so God freely distributes His supernatural
gifts in accordance with the designs of His wisdom: ” To
every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of
the giving of Christ”. Umnicuique nostrum data est gratia
secundum mensuram donationis Christi®. In the flock of
Christ, each sheep bears its name of grace. Jesus says
that the Good Shepherd knows His sheep and calls them
by name: Proprias oves vocat nominatim‘, just as the
Creator knows the multitude of the stars, and calls them all
by their name, for each one has its own form and perfection:
1. Sess. vi, can. 18; cf. can. 13. — It is quite evident, however, that
the soul in the state of mortal sin can receive actual supernatural graces
which enlighten the intelligence and strengthen the will in the work of
its conversion ; but in this soul these graces are not linked (as they are
in one which possesses sanctifying grace) to that " Divine concourse” of
which we are speaking, which maintains sanctifying grace in the souls
of the just. The Holy Spirit moves the sinner towards conversion, He
does not dwell in his soul. — 2. Ephes. 1v, 5. —- 3. Ibid. 7. — 4. Joan.
X, 3-
Qui numerat multitudinem stellarum, et omnibus eis nomina

vocat?. ” Now there are diversities of graces but the same
Spirit ”, says St. Paul, ” there are diversities of operations,
but the same God Who worketh all in all... to one... is given
the word of wisdom... to another, faith... to another the
grace of healing... to another the working of miracles... to
another, prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits...
but all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing
to everyone according as He will?”.
And each soul corresponds to the Divine idea in a manner
proper to itself, each turning to account the talent confided
to its liberty and reproducing the features of Christ in itself
by a co-operation which has its own special character.
Thus, under the infinitely delicate and varied action of the
Holy Spirit, we should aim at representing the Divine Model
by our own individual activity, elevated and transformed by
grace. Thus is realised that harmonious variety which
renders God “wonderful in His Saints”. Mirabilis Deus
in sanctis suis*. We finds His glory in them all, but one
can say of each of them, with the Church*: None has been
found like unto him who kept the law of the Lord. Non
est inventus similis illi... qui conservavit legem Excelsi’.
The splendour of the sanctity of a St. Francis of Sales is not
the same as that of a St. Francis of Assisi; the brightness
that adorns the soul of a St. Gertrude or a St. Teresa is
quite different to that of a St. Mary Magdalen.
In each of the Saints, the Divine Spirit has respected par-
ticular natural characteristics; grace has transfigured these
natural characteristics, and added gifts of the supernatural
order to them. The soul, guided by what the Church calls:
Digitus Paternae dexterae®, has been responsive to these
gifts, and has thus attained to holiness. It will certainly be a
true rapture for us to contemplate in Heaven the marvels
which the grace of Christ has caused to rise from so varied
a foundation as that of our human nature.
Great as are the Saints, exalted as they are in the state of

supernatural union, the first principle of all their holiness is
_ 1. Ps. cxtvi, 4. Cf. Baruch. m1, 34-35. "The stars have given light
in their watches, and rejoiced. They were called and they said, Here
we are ; and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to Him that made
them. — 2.1 Cor. xu, 4-11. — 3. Ps, yxvm, 36. — 4. Office of Con-
fessors. — 5. Eccli. xtiv, 20. — 6. Hymn, Veni Creator.
to be found in the grace of Divine adoption. I have already

said, but now wish to repeat, that all the graces, all the gifts
God bestows on us, have their source in that Divine regard of
predestination by which we have been called to be children
of God through the grace of Jesus Christ. There is the
dawning of all God’s mercies towards us. All the loving
dealings of God with each of us are linked to this grace
of adoption which Jesus brought us and which we received
at Baptism. Oh, if we but knew the gift of God! Si scires
donum Dei. If we knew the value of this grace which,
without changing our nature, makes us children of God, and
males us live as such while awaiting the eternal inheritance!
Without it, as you have seen, the life of the most brilliant
and gifted genius is profitless for heavenly beatitude. That
is why St. Thomas could say that the perfection that results
for a single soul from the gift of grace surpasses all the
natural riches of the entire universe’. ” What doth it profit
aman”, says Jesus, ” if he gain the whole world ”, if he win
its esteem, yet, not possessing grace, be shut out forever
from the Kingdom of Heaven”? Grace is the principle of
our real life, the seed of future glory, the true germ of a
blessed eternity.
Hence, we understand what an inestimable jewel is
sanctifying grace for a soul. It is a precious pearl, all the
beauty of which is due to the Blood of Jesus. We under-
stand why Our Divine Saviour pronounced such terrible
anathemas against anyone, who, by his scandals, drags souls
into sin and makes them lose the life of grace. ” It were
better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and he cast into the sea*”. We also understand why
saintly souls, leading a life of labour, prayer and expiation
for the conversion of sinners that grace may be restored to
them, are so pleasing to Jesus Christ. Our Lord one day
showed St. Catherine of Siena a soul for which she had
obtained salvation by her prayer and patience. ” The beauty
of this soul was such”, the Saint told Blessed Raymond,
her confessor, ” that no words could express it”. And yet
this soul was not yet clad in the glory of the Beatific Vision;
it had only the beauty given by the grace of Baptism.
” Behold”, said Our Lord to the Saint, ” it is through thee
1. Bonum gratiae unius majus est quam bonum totius universi. I-II,
gq. CXIl, a. 9, ad 2. — 2. Matth. xvi, 26. — 3. Luc. xvu, 2.
Christ, the life of the son!. 15
that I have regained this soul which was already lost”. Then
He added: ” Does it not appear to thee very resplendent and
beautiful? Who then, would not accept any pain in order to
win so wonderful a creature’... If I have shown thee this
soul, it is to make thee more ardent to procure the salvation
of all, and in order that thou mayest lead others to this work
according to the grace that shall be given thee*”.
Let us then be watchful jealously to guard Divine grace
within us, let us carefully put away all that could weaken it,
and leave it defenceless against the mortal blows of the
enemy, those deliberate resistances to the action of the Holy
Spirit Who dwells in us and unceasingly wills to direct all
our activity towards the glory of God. May our soul be
Radicata in caritate, as St. Paul says?; by possessing in
itself this Divine root of sanctifying grace and charity, the
fruits it produces will be fruits of life. Let us remain
united to Jesus Christ by grace and charity, as the branch
to the vine: Siizs in Christo radicati, the Apostle again says *.
Baptism has grafted us on Christ *, and henceforth we have
the Divine sap of His grace in us. It is thus that we can
accomplish all our actions divinely, because their inward
principle is Divine.
And when this principle is so powerful that it becomes
the only one, and our whole activity springs from it, then
we fulfil the words of St. Paul: Vivo ego, jam non ego, vivit
vero in me Christus®. ’I live”, that is to say, I exercise
my human and personal activity; ” now, not I, but Christ
liveth in me”: it is Christ Who lives, because the principle
on which all my own activity, all my personal life is based,
is the grace of Christ. All comes from Him by grace, all
returns to His Father by charity: I live for God in Jesus
Christ. Viventes autem Deo in Christo Jesu ®.
NOTE.
Can we know whether we are in a state of grace, in the Divine friend-

ship? If you mean with an absolute knowledge excluding even the
shadow of a doubt, we cannot; but we are able, and even we ought, to
hope that we possess grace if we are not conscious of any mortal sin,
and if we are sincerely striving to serve God with a steadfast goodwill.
1. Life of St. Catherine of Siena by Blessed Raymond of Capua. —
2. Ephes. m1, 17. — 3. Col. 1, 7. — 4. Rom. x1, 16. — 5s. Gal. 11, 20. —
6. Rom. vI, 11.
This last sign is given by St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi

somewhere in
her writings. To generous souls, docile to the inspirations from
on
high, the Holy Ghost often adds His own testimony :
Ipse Spiritus testi-
monium reddit spiritui nostro quod sumus filii
Dei. There is then a
practical certainty which does not exclude fear, but ought
to be sufficient
to enable us to live with confidence the divine life to which
God calls us,
and to taste the deep joy arising in the soul from
the thought that we
are, in Jesus, the object of the Heavenly Father’s delight.
VI. OUR SUPERNATURAL GROWTH IN CHRIST.
Summary. — The supernatural life is subject to a law of progress.

— I. Besides being so by the Sacraments, the supernatural
life is perfected by the exercise of the virtues. — Il. The
theological virtues. Nature of these virtues ; how they are
specific of the state of a child of God. — IM. Why pre-
eminence ought to be given to charity. — IV. Necessity of
acquired and infused moral virtues. — V. They safeguard
charity, which, in return, governs and crowns them. —
VI. The tending to perfect charity by purity of intention.
— VII. Charity can envelope all human actions, sublimity
and simplicity of the Christian life. — VIII. The fruit of
charity and of the virtues ruled by charity: to make us
grow up in Christ so as to complete His mystical body. —
IX. Supernatural progress can be continuous until death:
donec occurramus omnes... in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis
Christi.
LL life tends not only to manifest itself by acts which

are proper to it and emanate from its interior prin-
ciple, but also to grow, to progress, to unfold, to
become perfect. The child is not born to remain always a
child; the law of his nature is that he should come to the
age of manhood.
The supernatural life is no exception to this law. Our
Lord could, if He so wished, fix us in an instant, after one
act of adhesion of our will, in the degree of holiness and
of glory that He has destined for our souls, as was done for
the angels. He has not so willed. He has established that,
although His merits are the cause of all sanctification and
His grace the principle of all supernatural life, we should
constantly do our part in the work of our perfection and
spiritual progress; the time we pass here below in faith
is granted us for this end. We ought, as we have seen, to
put away all obstacles that are opposed to the divine life in
us and, at the same time, to accomplish the actions destined
to develop this life until at the moment of our death it is
OUR SUPERNATURAL GROWTH IN CHRIST. 229
established in its final term. This is what St. Paul calls ” to

come to the perfect age of Christ”.
The same Apostle is careful to show the necessity of this
growth, this progress, and how it should be ordered. After
having told us ” to do the truth in charity ” he immediately
adds: ” In all things grow up in Him Who is the Head,
even Christ”. Veritatem facientes in caritate, crescamus
in illo per omnia qui est caput Christus}.
We have seen in the preceding conferences what St. Paul
means by ” living in truth and charity” ; I have shown how
these words contain the fundamental principle according to
which we must act in order to live supernaturally: namely,
to remain united to Christ Jesus by sanctifying grace and,
through love, to refer all our human actions to the glory of
the Father. Such is the primordial law which governs the
divine life in us.
Let us now see how this life of which we have received
the germ in baptism must, as far as it depends on us, develop
and expand.
This is an important subject. Look at Christ Jesus. All

His life is consecrated to the glory of His Father Whose
will He always accomplishes: Non quero voluntatem meam,
sed ejus qui misit me Patris?. He seeks only that. At the
moment of achieving His life on earth, He says to His
Father that He has fulfilled His mission, which is to procure
His glory: Ego te clarificavi super terram?, The desire of
His Divine Heart is that we too should seek the glory of His
Father. And what does that mean for us ?
Our Lord tells us: ” That we should bear much fruit ”,
that our perfection should not remain mediocre, but that our
supernatural life be intense, / hoc clarificatus est Pater
meus ut fructum PLURIMUM afferatis*. Was it not for that
moreover that Jesus came, that He shed His blood and gave
us a share in His infinite merits ? He came that the Divine
life might abound in us to overflowing: Ego veni ut vitam
habeant et ABUNDANTIUS habeant®. Like the Samaritan
woman to whom He had revealed the greatness of the
” Divine Gift” let us ask Him to give us ” of the living
water ”; let us ask Him to teach us, through His Church, to
1. Ephes. 1v, 15. — 2. Joan. v, 30: vi, 38. — 3. Ibid. xv, 4. —
4. Ibid. xv, 8. — 5. Ibid. x, 10.
what sources we must go in order to find the abundance of

these waters; for they make us produce numerous fruits of
life and holiness pleasing to His Father; they quench our
thirst unceasingly until the day of eternal life.
The sacraments are the principal sources of the divine life
in us. They act in our souls ex opere operato, as the sun
produces light and heat; it is only necessary there should
be no obstacle within us to oppose their operation. The
Eucharist is, of all the sacraments, the one that most aug-
ments the divine life within us, because in it we receive
Christ in person, we drink at the very fountainhead of the
living waters. It is by reason of the greatness of this
sacrament that I will expose further on in a special con-
ference the nature and condition of its action within us.
What I wish now to show you are the general laws,
besides the reception of the Sacraments, by which we can
augment the life of grace within us.
This is how the Council of Trent exposes the doctrine

upon this subject: ” Once we are purified and become
friends of God and members of His race (by sanctifying
grace), we are renewed day by day, as St. Paul says, going
on from virtue to virtue... we grow, through the observance
of the commandments of God and of His Church, in the
state of justice in which we have been placed by the grace of
Jesus Christ; faith co-operates with our good works and so
we advance in the grace which renders us just in God’s sight.
For it is written: Let the just (that is to say, he who, by
sanctifying grace, possesses the friendship of God) become
ever more just. And again: Progress in the state of justice
until death. It is this increase of grace for which the Church
asks when she says to God (XIII. Sunday after Pentecost) :
Give unto us an increase of faith, hope and charity*”.
As you see, the Holy Council indicates good works and the
exercise of the virtues, especially of the theological virtues,
as the source of our progress and growth in the spiritual life
of which grace is the principle.
How is this to be realised ? First by good works. I
have said that every good work done in a state of grace,
1. Sess. VI, cap. 10.
under the action of divine charity, is meritorious: ” every

meritorious work is a source of the increase of grace within
us ”: Quolibet actu meritorio meretur homo augmentum gra-
tiae*. The good actions of a soul in a state of grace are not
only the fruits or manifestations of our quality of children
of God; they are besides, says the Council of Trent, a cause
of the increase of that justification which makes us pleasing
to God?. In the measure, then, that our good works are
multiplied, grace increases, it becomes stronger, more power-
ful and, with it, so does charity; and with it likewise is
increased the future glory which is only the blossoming in
heaven of our degree of grace here below®. That is why
the Holy Council repeats to us the words of St. Paul: ” Be
ye steadfast and immoveable: always abounding in the work
of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not vain in the
Lord 4 uv
But it is chiefly by the exercise of the virtues that the life

of grace is increased.
You know that in man, there are, inherent to his nature,
certain faculties, — intelligence, will, sensibility, imagination.
— which are in us principles of action, powers of operation,
which allow us to act fully as men; without these, a man is
not perfect in his concrete reality as man.
Something analogous is to be met with in the supernatural
life. Sanctifying grace animates our souls, and giving us
like a new being, Nova creatura, makes us children of God.
But to this being, God, Who does all things with wisdom
and scatters His gifts munificently, has given some faculties,
which, proportioned to his new condition, give him the cap-
acity of acting according to the supernatural end to be
attained, that is to say, as a child of God awaiting the in-
heritance of Christ in eternal beatitude: these are the infused’
supernatural virtues.
These faculties are called virtues (from the Latin word
1. S. Thom. I-II, q. cxiv, a.8.— 2. Si quis dixerit justitiam acceptam
non conservari atque etiam augeri coram Deo per bona opera, sed opera
ipsa fructus solummodo et signa esse justificationis acceptae, non autem
ipsius augendae causam, anathema sit. Sess. vi,can.24.— 3. Si quis dixe-
rit... ipsum (hominem) justificatum bonis operibus quae ab eo per Dei gra-
tiam et Jesu Christi meritum cujus vivum membrum est, fiunt, non vere
merert augmentum gratiae,vitam aeternam et ipsius vitae aeternae,si tamen
in gratia decesserit,consecutionem atque etiam gloriae augmentum,anathe-
ma sit. Concil.Trid.Sess. v1, can.32.— 4. Sess. vi, cap.16. Cf. I Cor. xv,58.
virtus ” strength”), because they are the capacities of action,

principles of operation, and energies that remain in us as
stable habits, and, being exercised at the befitting moment,
cause us to produce with promptitude, ease and joy, works
pleasing to God. As these powers of operation have not
their source in us and as they tend to make us act in view
of an end that surpasses our requirements and exceeds the
strength of our nature, they are called supernatural. Fi-
nally, the word ” infused ” indicates that God Himself places
them in us directly on the day of our baptism, with
sanctifying grace.
By grace, we are children of God; by the infused super-
natural virtues, we can act as children of God, and produce
acts worthy of our supernatural end.
We must distinguish between infused virtues and natural
virtues. The latter are qualities, ” habits”, that man, even
when he is an unbeliever, acquires and develops in himself
by personal effort and repeated acts: such are courage,
strength, prudence, justice, gentleness, loyalty, sincerity,
These are the natural dispositions we have cultivated and
that have arrived by exercise at the state of acquired habits.
They perfect and beautify our natural being in the in-
tellectual or simply moral domain’.
A comparison will make us grasp the nature of natural
acquired virtue. You possess the knowledge of several
foreign languages; you did not receive this knowledge at
birth; you have acquired it by exercise and repeated effort ;
once acquired, it has become in you a state of habit, of
power, ready to be used at the least command of the will.
When you wish to do so, you speak these languages without
any difficulty. It is the same with one who has acquired
the art of music; he cannot exercise this art at every
moment; but the art remains in him in the state of habit;
when the musician so wills, he takes the bow of his violin, or
places himself at the keyboard, and plays as easily as others
open their eyes, walk, etc. You understand equally that the
acquired natural virtues, like every acquired habit, must, so
as not to be lost, be kept up and cultivated; and this by the
same principle that gave it birth, that is to say by exercise.
The infused supernatural virtues are of another essence.
To begin with, they lift us above our nature. Doubtless
1. Cf. §. Thom. I-II, q. cx, a. 3.
OUR SUPERNATURAL GROWTH IN CHRIST. 233:
we exercise them with the faculties with which nature has

endowed us, (intelligence and will), but these faculties are
uplifted, if I may so express it, to the divine level, so that
the acts of these virtues attain the proportion necessary to:
reach our supernatural end. Then, it is not by personal
effort we acquire them ;but the germ of these virtues is
liberally implanted in us by God with the grace which they
accompany: Simul infunduntur.
II.
What are these virtues? As I have said, they are powers

of acting supernaturally, forces that render us capable of
living as children of God and arriving at our heavenly
beatitude.
The Council of Trent, when speaking of the growth of the
Divine life within us, distinguishes first of all faith, hope and
charity. These virtues are called theological, because they
have God immediately for their object’; by them, we can
know God, hope in Him, love Him in a supernatural manner,
worthy of our condition as God’s children. These are,
properly speaking, virtues of the supernatural order : hence
their priority and eminence.
And see how well they correspond to our divine vocation.
What is in fact necessary in order to possess God ?
First of all to know Him; in Heaven we shall see Him
face to face and therefore ” we shall be like to Him”; Si-
miles ei erimus quia videbimus eum sicuti est”; but here
below, we do not see Him; it is through faith in Him, and
in His Son, that we believe in His word, that we know Him.
It is knowledge in obscurity. But what He tells us of
Himself, of His nature, of His life, of His plan of Re-
demption through His Son, we know however with cer-
titude; the Word Who is always in the bosom of the Father
tells us that which He sees, and we know it because we
believe what He tells: Deum nemo vidit unquam; Unigent-
tus Filius qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit*. This
knowledge of faith is then a divine knowledge, and that is
1. S. Thom. (I-II, q. Lxu, a. 1) states two reasons for this term
” theological virtues" : these virtues are given by God alone, and Divine
Revelation alone makes them known to us. — 2. I Joan. m, 2. —
ay bid. ay er8:
why Our Lord said it is a knowledge that gains eternal life.

Haec est vita aeterna ut COGNOSCANT te solum Deum verum
et quem misisti Jesum Christum *.
In this light of faith, we know where our beatitude lies;
we know that which ”’eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive”,
that is to say, the beauty and greatness of the glory that “God
hath prepared for them that love Him?”. But this ineffable
beatitude is beyond the strength of our nature; can we
attain to it ? Yes, without any doubt; God even places in
our soul this certainty of arriving at this supreme end by His
grace, the fruit of the merits of Jesus, and in spite of the
obstacles opposed to it. We can say with St. Peter:
” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who according to His great mercy, hath regenerated us
(at baptism) unto a lively hope... unto an inheritance in-
corruptible... reserved in heaven*” for us.
Lastly, charity, love, achieves the work of bringing us here
below nearer to God, whilst we await the possession of Him
above: charity completes and perfects faith and hope; it
makes us experience a real complacency in God; we prefer
God to all things and we try to manifest towards Him this
complacency and preference by observing His will. ” The
companion of faith”, says St. Augustine, ”is hope; it is
necessary because we do not see what we believe; with
hope, we are not overcome with faint-heartedness in the
waiting; then charity comes and places in our souls the
hunger and thirst for God and makes our aspirations soar
up to Him‘”. For the Holy Spirit has shed abroad in our
hearts the charity whereby we cry to God: Father! Father!
It is a supernatural faculty that makes us adhere to God as
to the Infinite Goodness we love more than anything besides.
Quis nos separabit a caritate Christi *?
Such are the theological virtues: wonderful principles,
marvellous powers for living the divine life as long as we
are here below. To know God such as He is revealed to us
by Our Lord, to hope in Him and in that beatitude He
promises us because of the merits of His Son Jesus; to love
Him in preference to all: we can do nothing better to realise
our condition of children of God and tend to the acquisition
t. Joan. xvi, 3—"erl Cor. 1, oF — "30 Pt Petces. 3 5 Ch. Ti'Gorss, 3.
— 4. Sermo Liu. — 5. Rom. vit, 35.
of that eternal heritage which we are called to share with

Christ, become our Elder Brother.
God has liberally placed these powers in us.

But do not let us forget that if they are given to us
without our concourse, they are not however maintained nor
do they progress without our efforts.
It is of the nature and perfection of a power to ac-
complish the act correlative to itt; a power which would
remain inert, for example, an intelligence never producing
an act of thought, would never reach the end, and conse-
quently the perfection, due to it. Faculties are only given to
us that we may put them into action.
Although they are infused, the theological virtues do not
escape this law whereby perfection is brought about; if they
are unused, it will be to the great detriment of our super-
natural life. It is true that exercise does not give birth to
them, otherwise they would not be infused; for the same
reason, it is God alone Who augments them in us. There-
fore the Holy Council of Trent tells us to beseech God to
give us the increase of these virtues?. See how in the
Gospel the Apostles ask Our Lord to increase their faith *.
St. Paul writes to the faithful at Rome telling them how he
asks God to make hope abound in them‘*, and again he
beseeches the Lord to make charity “more and more abound”
in the hearts of his dear Philippians °.
To prayer, to the reception of the sacraments, exercise
must be added. If God is the efficient cause of the increase
of these virtues, our acts, done in a state of grace, are the
meritorious cause of this increase. By our acts, we merit
that God should augment these vital virtues in our souls.
Besides, exercise produces in us the facility of making
the acts of these virtues. And this is a very important
point, since these virtues are properly speaking the virtues
of our state as children of God.
Let us then often ask our Father in Heaven to increase
them in us; let us say to Him especially when we approach
the sacraments, in prayer and in temptation: O Lord, I
believe in Thee, but increase my faith; Thou art my only
1. S. Thom. II-II, q. tvi, a. 2; cf. I-II, q. tv, a. 2. — 2. Sess. x,
cap. 10. — 3. Luc. xvu, 5. — 4. Rom. xv, 13. — 5. Philipp. 1, 9.
hope, but strengthen my confidence; I love Thee above all

things, but increase this love so that I may seek for nothing
outside Thy holy will !...
LL
We ought especially to exercise charity. When we shall

have arrived at the ultimate goal of our existence, faith
and hope will pass away; faith will give place to vision, and
hope to possession; and from this perfect vision, this
assured possession, will radiate the love that shall have no
end. That is why St. Paul says charity is the greatest of
the three theological virtues, it alone remains for ever.
Major autem horum est caritas }.
Charity already holds this place of honour here below, and
on this capital truth I wish to dwell with you.
You know that when charity accompanies the exercise of

the other virtues, it adds new lustre to them, it confers on
them a new efficacy and is the principle of a new merit.
You submit to a humiliation and accept it with all your
heart, that is an act of the virtue of humility; you freely
renounce a permitted pleasure, that is an act of the virtue
of temperance; you honour God by singing His praises, that
is an act of the virtue of religion. Each of these acts, done
by a soul in a state of grace, has its own value, its particular
merit, its special splendour. But if each of these acts is,
moreover, done with an explicit intention of love of God,
this motive colours, if I may so express it, the acts of the
other virtues, and without taking from them any of their
particular merit, it adds a new one?.
What follows from this? This consequence, which puts
into full relief the eminence of charity, that our supernatural
life and our holiness grow and progress according to the
degree of love with which we perform our acts. Take the
accomplishment of any act, (provided, of course, that this
act be, as we have seen, supernatural and in accordance with
the divine order), take any exercise of piety, justice, religion,
humility, obedience or patience, and the more the love
of God is perfect, pure, disinterested and intense, that is to
say, the more the mainspring of these acts is our love for
1. Cor. x1, 13. — 2. S. Thom. IJ-II, q. xxi, a. 8.
God, for His interests and glory, the more elevated is the
degree of merit of this act; and hence more rapid is the
increase of grace and divine life in us. Listen to St. Francis
of Sales, the eminent doctor of the inner life, who has spoken
so well on these matters: ” If love be ardent, powerful and
excellent in a heart, it will the more enrich and perfect all
the virtuous works which proceed from it. One may suffer
death or fire without having charity, as St. Paul presupposes;
with still greater reason, one may suffer while having a little
charity: now I say, Theotimus, that it may well be that a
very little virtue has more value in a soul where holy love
reigns ardently, than even martyrdom where this holy love is
languid, feeble and dull... Thus the little simplicities, ab-
jections and humiliations under which the saints delighted to
hide themselves and shelter their hearts from vain glory,
having been done with great excellence in the art and ardour
of heavenly love, were found more pleasing before God than
the great and illustrous labours of some others which were
done with little charity or devotion’? ”.
In the same place, St. Francis of Sales sets before us the
example of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And with how much
reason !
Contemplate our Divine Saviour for a moment, for
instance, in the work-shop at Nazareth. Until the age of
thirty, He lived a life of labour and obscurity, so much so
that when He began to preach and worked His first miracles,
His compatriots were astonished even to being scandalized:
Nonne hic est fabri filius? “Is not this the carpenter’s
son ?... Whence therefore doth He all these things?”?
Indeed, ‘during these years, Our Lord did nothing extra-
ordinary to attract the eyes of the world upon Him: He
lived in labour, very simple labour. And yet this labour
was infinitely pleasing to His Father. Why was that ? For
two reasons: — First, because He Who laboured was the
very Son of God; at each moment of this obscure life, the
Father could say: ” This is My beloved Son in Whom I am
well pleased”. — Secondly because Our Lord Christ Jesus
not only brought to His work great material perfection, but
He did all things solely for the glory of His Father: Non
quaero voluntatem meam, sed ejus qui misit me (Patris) *;
ah Treatise on the Love of God. — 2. Matth. x11, 55. — 3. Joan. v1,
38.
this was the one motive power of all His actions, of all His
life: Quae placita sunt ei facio semper*. Our Lord did
every thing with an incomparable perfection of interior love
towards His Father.
Such is the two-fold reason why the works of Jesus,
however commonplace they may have appeared outwardly,
were so agreeable to God and redeemed the world.
Can we imitate Jesus Christ in this? Yes. What in us
corresponds to the hypostatic union which makes Jesus the
very Son of God, is the state of grace. This grace makes
us children of God: the Father can say in looking upon one
who possesses sanctifying grace: Hic est filius meus dilectus.
"This is My beloved child”. Our Lord said: Nonne
scriptum est... Ego dixi: Dii estis? I said you are gods ?;
although it is true that Christ is not, like us, a son by
adoption, but Son by nature. The second reason of the value
of our works is, as in Christ, not only the motive of charity,
but likewise the inward perfection of the charity with which
we do them, the degree of love that envelops these acts, and,
by the very fact, determines our growth in the Divine life.
This is very important if we do not wish to be content
only with what is strictly required to make our actions
meritorious, but to increase the degree of this merit and
advance rapidly in union with God. Look around you :
you meet with two pious persons, in the state of grace who
lead side by side the same kind of life; both perform out-
wardly the same material actions, and yet there may be,
often even there is, an enormous difference between them in
the eyes of God. The one continually goes over the same
ground, the other advances with speedy steps in the life of
grace, perfection and holiness. Whence comes the dif-
ference ? From the state of grace? No, since we are
supposing these two persons to be in possession of God’s
friendship. From the special excellence of the actions of
one of them ? No, since we are also supposing that these
material actions are substantially the same. Perhaps from
the care with which these actions are materially performed?
Again no; for although this exterior perfection certainly
matters, yet we are supposing it to be equal in both. Whence
then comes the difference ? From the inward perfection,
the intensity of love, the degree of charity with which each
1. Joan. vi, 29. — 2. Ibid. x, 34, and Ps. LXxx!, 6.
of them performs these actions. The one soul, attentive to

God, acts with elevated powerful love; she acts only to
please God; she remains interiorly prostrate in the spirit of
adoration before the Lord; the root of her activity proceeds
only from God; and that is why each of her actions draws
ther nearer to God; she advances rapidly in divine union.
— The other accomplishes the same work; but, in this
soul, faith is asleep; she does not think of God’s interests;
her love has little ardour, and is of but a low degree;
doubtless her action is not without merit, but the measure
of this merit is small and may still further be diminished by
dissipation, self-love, vanity and so many other human motive
powers that this soul, through negligence or levity, allows
to glide into her actions.
That is the secret of the great difference that sometimes
in the eyes of God exists between certain souls living side
by side and leading an outwardly identical life *.
Such is the eminence of the virtue of charity. It is
charity that, properly speaking, rules the measure of the
divine life in us.
Let us then be watchful to act in all things only to imitate
Our Lord so as to procure the glory of His Father. Let us
often ask Jesus Christ, in our intimate intercourse with Him,
that all our activity may spring, like His, from love; let us
ask Him to give us a share in that love He had for His
Father and that made Him do all things perfectly: Quia
diligo Patrem*. Our Divine Saviour cannot fail to hear us.
Py.
But you will say, if this be so, is it not sufficient to keep

to charity? Does not charity render the other virtues use-
less ? No, it would be a great error to think so. Why?
Because charity, love, is a treasure more exposed than the
others.
You know that faith and hope are not destroyed in us
except by grave sins directly contrary to their object, for
1. I have said in the eyes of God, for the human eye cannot always
distinguish this difference. It may be that outwardly one may be more
” correct” and give less occasion for the criticism of men ; while with the
other, although in reality more advanced in union with God, the outward
manifestation of grace is impeded by defects of temperament, indepen-
dent of the will. — 2. Joan. x1v, 31.
example, heresy or despair: — while charity is destroyed,

like the grace which is its root, by every mortal sin, of what-
ever nature this sin may be. Every grave sin is a mortal
enemy to charity. By grave sin, indeed, the soul turns away
completely from God so as to turn towards the creature and
this is the contrary of supernatural charity. Supernatural
charity is a pearl of great price, an inestimable treasure, but
it is exposed to be lost by any grave fault whatsoever. That
is why it is necessary to protect it on all sides; and such is
the function of the moral virtues. These virtues are the
safeguards of love; by means of them the soul is kept free
from deliberate venial sins and from the grave sins which
threaten charity.
I ought here to say a few words about the moral virtues;
the scope and character of our conferences do not allow me
to make a very extensive explanation ; I hope, however, to
show sufficiently the necessity of these virtues and the place
they hold in our supernatural life.
As the name indicates, the moral virtues are those that
regulate our morals, that is to say the actions we must freely
accomplish so that our conduct may be in accordance with
the divine law (the commandments of God, the precepts of
the Church, duties of state), and that thus we may attain our
last end. As you see, the immediate object of these virtues
is not God in Himself, as with the theological virtues. The
moral virtues are very numerous: patience, obedience, hu-
mility, self-abnegation, mortification, piety and many others;
but all refer to or are implied by the four great virtues called
cardinal? (fundamental): prudence, fortitude, justice and
temperance. These cardinal virtues are at the same time
natural (acquired) and supernatural (infused) : the first
correspond to the second; there is an acquired temperance
and an infused temperance, an acquired fortitude and an
‘infused fortitude, and so with the rest. What is their
mutual relation ? They have the same field of action, and
the concourse of the acquired moral virtues is necessary for
the full development of the infused moral virtues. Why is
this ?
In consequence of original sin, our nature is vitiated ;
1, From the Latin word cardo, "pivot, hinge” ; these four virtues
constitute, as it were, a pivot on which all our moral life rests and is
supported.
there are within us depraved inclinations resulting from

atavism and temperament, as well as from the bad habits
we contract, which are so many obstacles to the perfect
fulfilment of the divine will. What is to remove these
obstacles ? The infused moral virtues that God places in us
with grace ? No, they have not, of themselves, this priv-
ilege. Undoubtedly they are admirable principles of opera-
tion; but it is a psychological law that the destruction of
vicious habits and the redressing of evil inclinations can
only be effaced by the contrary habits, and these good habits
themselves only result from the repetition of acts: thence
the acquired moral virtues. It is for them to destroy our
bad habits and give rise to facility in doing good; this
facility is the concourse given by the acquired moral virtues
to the infused moral virtues. These latter turn this con-
course — very humble, but necessary — to their profit and,
in return, raise the acts of virtue to the divine level and
bestow on them a meritorious value. Remember this truth:
no natural virtue, however powerful it may be, can be raised
of itself to a supernatural level: that only belongs to the in-
fused virtues and this constitutes their superiority and pre-
eminence.
An example will make the explanation of this doctrine
clearer. In consequence of original sin, we bear in us an
inclination towards the pleasures of the senses. A man may,
by obeying his natural reason, strive to abstain from the
irregularities and abuse of these pleasures ; by often repeating
acts of temperance, he acquires a certain facility, a certain
habit which constitutes in this man a strength (virtus) of
resistance. This acquired facility is of the purely natural
order; if this man does not possess sanctifying grace, these
acts of temperance are not meritorious for eterna! life. But
let grace come with the infused virtues. If, in this man,
there had not been already, in consequence of the acquired
moral virtue, a certain facility for temperance, the infused
moral virtue of temperance would have difficulty in develop-
ing itself, on account of the obstacles which result from our
evil inclinations and have not been destroyed by contrary
good habits; but finding a certain facility for good, grace
utilises it so as to act with more ease. Then not only does
the infused virtue urge this man further and make him rise
higher in the degree of the virtue, to the point of causing
him to despise even permitted pleasures in order to imitate

Jesus Crucified more closely; but grace (without which
there is no infused virtue) will also give to the acts of the
acquired moral virtue a supernatural and meritorious value
which these acts could never attain of themselves.
Where the two virtues (acquired and infused) come in
contact, a necessary exchange is established between them:
the natural or acquired virtue destroys the obstacle and
creates facility for good; —- the infused or supernatural
virtue takes possession of this facility in order to develop
itself more freely, and also to raise the value of this good
habit, give it additional strength, extend its field of operation,
and render it supernaturally worthy of eternal beatitude.
}
V.
A like exchange of services exists between the moral

virtues (acquired and infused) and charity. — I have said
that charity is a treasure liable to be lost by every grievous
sin: it is for the moral virtues to protect it. They are love’s
safeguards. By means of these virtues, the soul avoids
mortal sins that threaten the existence of charity and the
venial faults that lead to grave sin.
This is above all true of those that are not far advanced
in the inner life and whose love has not yet reached that
eminent degree which makes it strong and stable. One of
these souls receives Our Lord in Communion; this com-
munion is fervent; the soul is, at that moment, full of love.
But if during the day, this soul is solicited by a temptation
of the senses, it is necessary that the moral virtue of tem-
perance should incline her to resistance; otherwise the soul
will consent and love will suffer shipwreck. In the same
way, if the soul be tempted to anger, it is necessary that the
moral virtue of patience, of meekness, should urge her to
accept the humiliation, otherwise she will give way to anger
and vengeance at the risk of losing sanctifying grace and,
with it, charity.
It is not mortal sin only that is a danger for charity ;
every venial fault of habit not striven against, as I have said
above, becomes a danger, because these faults expose the
soul to serious falls. Now to combat these venial faults,
deliberate or habitual, we need to exercise the moral virtues

which cause us to resist the many solicitations of con-
cupiscence. Our will is weakened in consequence of original
sin; it is of great flexibility and easily inclines towards evil.
To make it incline towards good needs strength; this
strength is virtue, it is a ” habit ” that constantly inclines the
soul towards good, It is a fact of experience that we act
nearly always if not always, according as our habits incline
us; from a habit, especially if not striven against, sparks
are continuously thrown out as from a furnace. A soul that
has the vice of pride will be constantly committing acts of
pride and vanity, unless this vice is combated. It is the
same with the virtues; they are habits whence constantly
arise the acts corresponding to them. The moral virtues
(acquired and infused) serve then principally to remove
from the soul all the obstacles that delay our advancement
towards God; they help us to use the necessary means to
fulfil the divers obligations of the moral life, and thus they
safeguard within us the existence of charity. Such is the
service that the moral virtues have to render to charity.
In return, charity, above all when it is strong and ardent,
crowns, as I have said, the other virtues by giving them a
special lustre and adding to them new merit.
The influence of charity goes still further: it may rule the
whole of our actions so that in case of need it leads the soul
to bring forth, so to speak, the acquired moral virtues; the
soul, urged by charity, accomplishes little by little the acts of
which the repetition produces the acquired moral virtues.
The motive then comes from charity; but charity cannot
exercise all the acts of every virtue. Each faculty has its
own work and special exercise.
This is what happens to souls advanced in the divine life.
In these souls, charity has attained high perfection. It is
not only on the lips and in the heart, but manifests itself by
works. If we really love God, we shall keep His command-
ments: S72 diligitis me, mandata mea servate 1.
Affective love is necessary for the perfection of charity;
we praise, and extol those whom we love, we rejoice in the
good qualities they possess. He who loves God _ takes
delight in His infinite perfections and repeats constantly
with the Psalmist: ’” Who is the great God like our God !
Z, Joan. XIV, 15.
whole
O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the
earth!” ! He ardently sings God’s glory; praise mounts
from his heart to his lips: Cantare amantis est?. It was
because they loved, that St. Francis of Assisi composed his
wonderful Canticles, and St. Teresa her burning Exclama-
tons.
But is that enough ? No; to be perfect, love must
translate itself by acts; affective love must be prolonged in
the effective love that embraces the divine good-pleasure and
yields itself entirely to it; that is the true mark of love *.
‘And when this love is ardent, when it is well anchored in
the soul, it then governs all the other virtues and every good
work; it acts supremely. Because it is powerful, it ever
inclines the will towards good, towards God*. It manifests
itself by constant fidelity to the divine good pleasure and to
the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. It is to these souls full
of love, that St. Augustine could say: Dilige, et quod vis
fac. " Love, and do what thou wilt®”, because these souls
embrace only what pleases God; following the example of
Christ Jesus, they can say: Quae placita sunt et facio sem-
per,” I do always that which pleases My Father in Heaven”.
That is perfection.
VI.
Now how is this perfect love to be acquired ? How are

we to increase it in us so as to live by it ? For it contains,
when it is true, the germ of every virtue: it sets them all in
motion, each of course at the required moment, as a captain
does with his soldiers ®. Caritas omnia credit, omnia sperat,
1. Ps. uxxvi, 14 and Ps. vin, 2. — 2. S. Augustin, Sermo cCCXxXXVI,
c. 1. — 3. " We have two principal exercises of love towards God; the
one affective, the other effective. By the first we bear affection to God
and to what He loves; by the second we serve God and do what He
ordains; the first makes us find our complacency in God, the second
makes us pleasing to God.” St. Francis of Sales, Treatise on the Love
of God. Rook VI, chap. 1. — 4 Cf. St. Francis of Sales, Treatise on the
Love of God. Book XI, c. 8. — 5. In Epistol. Joan. Tract. vu, c. 4. —
6. St. Francis of Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Book III, chap.z.
This is what St. Jane de Chantal wrote regarding the saint : "The Divine
Goodness had placed in this holy soul a perfect charity, and, as he says,
charity entering a soul lodges there with the whole train of virtues;
certainly charity had placed and arranged them in his heart in wonderful
order ; each held therein the rank and authority belonging to it; one
undertook nothing without the other; for he clearly saw what was
befitting for each and the degrees of their perfection ; and all produced
omnia suffert, omnia sustinet*. Each step taken in love is

a step in holiness, in union with God. How can we reach
this perfection of holiness? How can we maintain within
us the intensity of love ?
It is above all by the sacrament of the Eucharist, the
sacrament of union, that this love increases; we shall pre-
sently see this point in detail; we will here consider the
question in the domain of our co-operation, beyond the action
of the sacrament.
Charity is maintained and its intensity increased above all
by the renewal of the intention in view of which we act. As
the Fathers of the Church so truly say, in commenting the
words of Our Lord, the intention is the eye of the soul which
directs all one’s being towards God?. If this eye is pure,
is not obscured by any human, created obstacle, then all the
activity of the soul is referred to God.
Is it necessary that this intention of acting for love of
God, that is to say to procure His glory by doing His will,
should be always actual ? No, that is not requisite nor even
possible, but experience and the science of the saints have
shown how well founded and helpful is the practice of
frequently renewing our intention so as to advance, to
progress in the love of God and the divine life ®. Why is
this ? Because purity of intention keeps our soul in the
presence of God and urges us to seek Him alone in all
things, it prevents curiosity, levity, vanity, self-love, pride
their actions according to the occasions that presented themselves, and
in the measure that charity excited him and that gently and without
ostentation. ”
1. 1 Cor. xm, 8. —2. Oculum hic accipere debemus ipsam intentionem
gua facimus quidquid facimus : quae si munda fuertt et recta et illud aspi-
ciens quod aspiciendum est, omnia bona opera nostra, quae secundum ean
operamur, necesse est bona sint, St, Augustine. Lib. II. in posterior.
partem sermonis Domini in monte, c. XII, Nn. 45. — Ouid enim per
oculum exprimitur nisi opus suum praeveniens cordis intentio? Quae
priusquam se in actione exerceat, hoc jam quod appetit contemplatur.
'Et quid appellatione corporis designatur, nisi unaquaequec actio, quae in-
tentionem suam quasi intuentem oculum sequitur? Lucerna itaque cor-
poris est oculus quia per bonae intentionis radium, mevita illustrantur
actionis. S. Gregor. Moralia, Lib. XXVIII, c. x1, n. 30. Cf. Ven. Beda,
In Lucae Evang. Expositio, Lib. IV, c. x1. — St. Thom. I-Ie gs Xi,
a. 1 ad 1 and 2. — 3. We are not here speaking of what is strictly re-
quisite to make an act meritorious, but of the growth of perfection.
“Our intentions”, Bossuet somewhere says, " are subject naturally to
fall away, if we do not revive them.” Practically, the intention is
renewed by a sign of the cross, an ejaculatory prayer, an aspiration of
the heart towards God.
and ambition from insinuating and diffusing themselves into

our action so as to diminish their merit. A pure intention,
frequently renewed, surrenders the soul to God in its being
and in its activity: it unceasingly reanimates and maintains
in the soul the fire of divine love; and thus by each good
work it causes to be done and referred to God, it increases
the life of the soul. ” In order to make excellent progress in
devotion”, says St. Francis of Sales, ” we must offer all our
actions to God every day ; for, by this daily renewing of our
oblation, we spread over our actions the vigour and virtue
of love by a fresh application of our heart to the procuring
of the divine glory; by the means whereof it is ever made
holier. Besides this, let us apply ourselves hundreds of times
a day to the divine love by the practice of ejaculatory
prayers, elevations of the heart and spiritual retreats (re-
collections of the soul), for these holy exercises cast our
minds continually into God, bearing with them all our
actions. And how could it be, I pray you, that a soul that
at every moment throws herself into the arms of the Divine
Goodness and incessantly breathes forth words of love
whereby to keep always in the bosom of this Heavenly
Father, should not be considered as doing all her good
actions in God and for God?”.
Let us then take care to act habitually only for the glory
of God, to please Him and be pleasing to Him; so that,
according to Christ’s own prayer, the name of our Father in
Heaven may be hallowed, His Kingdom come in hearts and
His will be done. A soul thus turned towards God is one
taken possession of by love and that ever more and more,
for, at each step, she advances more deeply in divine love by
constantly renewing these acts of love. Love then becomes
a weight that draws the soul, with ever increasing power, to
generosity and fidelity in God’s service: Amor meus, pondus
meum*. Hence comes this promptitude of the soul to
devote herself to the service of God, to seek the interests of
His glory; that is true devotion. What is the meaning of
the word devotion ? The Latin word devovere means ” to
be consecrated ”, vowed to God’s service and to accomplish
it with ease; devotion is not only to have been consecrated
to Christ in baptism, but it is to vow all one’s energies and
1. Treatise on the Love of God. Book XII, chap. 1x. — 2. S. Augus-
tine, Confess. Book. XIII, chap. 1x.
works with ease and promptitude to His service and the

glory of His Father?.
That is what the Church frequently asks for us: ” Grant
us, O Lord, ever to have a will devoted to Thee, and to
serve Thy Majesty with a sincere heart”: Fac nos tibt
semper et devotam gerere voluntatem et majestati tuae sin-
cero corde servire®. Elsewhere the Church makes us ask
to be devoted in good works to the glory of God’s name: In
bonis actibus nomini tuo sit devota®.
To have no other principle than grace in the exercise of our
activity, no other end than the accomplishment of the will of
God Who has made us His children, no other supreme spring
of action than the love of God and the interests of His giory,
— that is, as St. Paul says, to ” walk worthy of God, in all
things pleasing to Him; being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God”. Ambuleits digne
Deo per omnia placentes; in omni opere bono fructificantes
et crescentes in scientia Dew*.
May this ideal be ours; then we shall fulfil the precept
Jesus gave us, that precept which is the greatest of all and
sums up all, namely, to love God with our whole heart, our
whole soul, our whole mind and our whole strength °.
VII.
St. Paul has just told us that in order to fulfil this precept,
we must be pleasing to God in all things: Per omnia pla-
centes. He uses the same expression when he speaks of the
increase of the Divine life within us: Crescamus PER OMNIA.
This term occurs more than once under the Apostle’s pen,
and it is full of meaning. What does St. Paul mean by this:
in all things to grow up in Him”? — He means that no
action, so long as it be ” true” in the sense we have spoken
of, is excluded from the domain of grace, of charity, of
merit; that there is none but may serve to the increase of
the life of God within us. St. Paul has himself detailed
this word per omnia, in his first epistle to the Corinthians.
” Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do
1. Devotio est quidam voluntatis actus ad hoc quod homo prompte’se
tyadat ad divinum obsequium. S. Thom. II-II, q. LXXxu, a. 3. — 2. Col-
lect for the Sunday in the octave of the Ascension. -— 3. Collect for the
21st Sunday after Pentecost. — 4. Col. 1, 10. — §. Marc. xl, 30.
all to the glory of God?”; and to the Colossians: ” All

whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the
Father by Him?”.
As you see, it is not only the actions which, of their nature,
refer directly to God, such as the ” exercises” of piety,
assistance at Holy Mass, Communion and the reception of
the other sacraments, the spiritual and corporal works of
mercy; but also the most commonplace actions, the most
ordinary incidents of our daily life, such as taking food, at-
tending to our business or work, fulfilling our social duties,
taking rest or recreation; — all those actions that occur
every day and literally weave, in their monotonous and suc-
cessive routine, the thread of our entire life, can be trans-
formed, by grace and love, into acts very pleasing to God
and rich in merit. To use another simile, each is like the
grain of incense which seems nothing in itself but, when
thrown into the fire, becomes a fragrant perfume. When
grace and love take hold of everything in our life, then all
our existence is like a perpetual hymn to the glory of the
Heavenly Father; it becomes for Him, through our union
with Christ, like a censer from whence arise perfumes that
rejoice Him: Christi bonus odor sumus DEo*. Each act of
virtue gives immense joy to the Heart of God because it is a
flower and fruit of grace, and because grace has been ac-
quired for us by the merits of Jesus: In laudem gloriae
gratiae suae *.
No good action then is excepted, no effort, toil, good work,
renunciation, suffering, pain, or tear but, if we will to have
it so, comes under the salutary influence of grace and charity.
How simple and sublime is the Christian life! Sublime,
because it is the very life of God, come forth from God,
come into us through the grace of Christ and leading to God:
Agnosce, O Christiane, dignitatem tuam*®. Simple, because
1. I Cor. x, 31. — 2. Col. m, 17. — 3. II Cor. m, 15. — 4. Ephes.
1, 6. — ” Those little daily acts of love, or this headache, toothache, this
fever, this breakage of a glass, this slight or mark of contempt, in brief,
all these little sufferings, being taken or accepted lovingly, are extremely
pleasing to the Divine Goodness Who, for a single cup of water, has
promised a sea of bliss to all His faithful..... Great opportunities of
serving God rarely offer themselves, but the little ones are always occur-
ring... let us then do all things in the name of God, and all will be well
done.” St. Francis of Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life. Part
Third. chap. xxxv. — 5. S. Leo. Sermo. I. de Nativitate Domini.
this Divine life is engrafted on the human life, however low,

humble, infirm, poor and ordinary this human life may be
of itself. To become His children and the co-heirs of His
Son, God does not ask us to perform many heroic acts; He
does not ask us to ” go up to heaven nor cross the sea’*”.
No, the kingdom of God is within us; within us it is built,
beautified and perfected: Regnum Dei intra vos est*®; the
supernatural life is an inner life of which the principle is
hidden with Christ in God and in the soul: Vita vestra
abscondita est cum Christo in Deo *.
We have not to change our nature but to repair what is
defective in it; we have not to use long formulas: a single
glance of the heart can contain an intensity of love. It suf-
fices for us to remain in sanctifying grace; to refer all to
God and to His glory by a pure intention, and thus to live
our human lives in the place assigned to us by Providence,
in accomplishing the Divine Will, in fulfilling the duty of the
present moment; and that simply and peacefully, not fe-
verishly and restlessly, but with that inward and deep confi-
dence — composed of liberty of soul and interior joy — of
a child who knows himself to be loved by his Father and
returns this love according to the measure of his weakness.
This life, animated by grace and filled with love, does not
always appear to the eyes of the world; undoubtedly, Our
Lord says‘, that every tree is known by its fruits; the
Holy Spirit Who dwells in the soul makes it produce fruits
of charity and benignity that outwardly manifest the power
of His action; but the principle of this actiom is altogether
hidden, its substantial splendour altogether interior: Omnis
gloria filiae regis ab intus *, its supernatural beauty is often
veiled beneath the common appearances of everyday life.
How careless we should be if we often neglected to profit
by so many treasures put every day within our reach, by
attaching ourselves to ” bewitching vanities”: Fascinatio
nugacitatis ® ! What should we say of poor people to whom
a great prince was to open his treasury and who, instead of
drawing freely from it and so enriching themselves, would
be indifferent to these riches and pass them by? We should
say they were senseless. Do not let us be such as these. As
I have said, of ourselves, we can do nothing; Our Lord
1. Deuter. xxx, 12-13. — 2. Luc. xv, 21. — 3. Col. 11, 3. —4. Matth.
XI, 33- — 5. Ps. xLiv, 14. — 6. Sap. Iv, 12.
wishes us never to forget that: Sine me nihil potestis fa-

cere?, but when we possess His grace within us, it becomes
with love, the principle of a life altogether divine.
With the grace of Christ, we must do everything to please
His Father. ”I can do all things”, says St. Paul, “in Him»
Who strengtheneth me”. Omnia possum in in eo qui me
confortat?; let all our actions, the least as well as the
greatest, the most obscure as well as the most brilliant, serve
to make us advance with great strides in the divine way, by
reason of the intense love with which we do these actions.
Then God will look upon us with complacency, because He
will find reflected in us the image of His Son, an image ever
becoming more and more perfect. With the growth of
grace, of charity and the other virtues, the features of Christ
will be more faithfully reproduced in us to God’s glory and
the joy of our souls.
VIII.
In order that we may become more conformable to Jesus

Christ we must live in all things by charity : Crescamus
per omnia IN ILLO QUI EST CAPUT CHRISTUS. The end of
all development in the supernatural life is, for each one of
us, to attain ” unto the measure of the age of the fulness of
Christ ”.
I said, when speaking of the Church, that Christ, in His
personal and physical reality, is perfect, but He forms, with
His Church, a mystical body which has not yet reached its
complete perfection. This perfection is attained gradually in
the course of the centuries by the sanctification of souls, ’ac-
cording to the measure of the giving of Christ*”. Ina
body there are many members and all have not the same
function and the same nobility. This mystical body makes
only one with Jesus Christ, Who is its Head; through grace
we make part of this body; but we must become perfect
members, worthy of the Divine Head; that is what we must
have in view in our supernatural progress.
And because He is the Head, Christ is the first source of
this progress. Never forget this: Jesus Christ, having taken
our nature, has sanctified all our actions, all our feelings:
His human life was like to ours, and His Divine Heart
1. Joan. xv, 5. — 2. Philipp. rv, 13. — 3. Ephes. iv, 7.
is the centre of every virtue. Jesus Christ exercised every

form of human activity; we must not think of Our Lord
as living rapt in ecstasy; on the contrary, He found the
motive power of His activity in the beatific vision of the
_-perfections of His Father; He willed to glorify His Father
by sanctifying in His Person the forms of activity we our-
selves have to exert. We pray: He passed the nights in
prayer; we work: He toiled in labour till the age of thirty;
we eat: He sat at table with His disciples; we suffer con-
tradictions on the part of men: He has known them; did
the Pharisees ever leave Him in peace? We suffer: He
has shed tears. He suffered for us, before us, both in His
body and soul, as none other has ever suffered. We ex-
perience joy: His holy soul felt ineffable joy; we take rest:
sleep has likewise closed His eyelids. In a word, He has
done all we do. And why has He done all this? Not only
to set us the example, since He is our Head; but also by all
these actions, to merit for us the power of sanctifying all
our acts: to give us that grace which renders our actions
pleasing to His Father. This grace unites us to Him, makes
us members of His body; and in order to grow up in Him,
to attain our perfection as His members, we have but to let
this grace take possession, not only of our being, but of all
our activities.
Christ dwells in us with all His merits, so as to vivify all
our actions; when, therefore, by an upright and pure in-
tention, often renewed, we unite all the actions of our day to
the same human actions that Jesus accomplished here below,
the Divine virtue of His grace exercises a constant influence
over us. If we do everything united to Him by love, it is
certain we shall advance very quickly. Listen to this
magnificent text of Our Lord: Pater non reliquit me solum,
quia quae placita sunt ei facio semper”. My Father is
with Me, and hath not left Me alone, for I do always the
things that please Him'”. Each one of us ought to do the
same. O Heavenly Father, it is solely to please Thee, for
Thy glory and that of Thy Son that I do this action. Christ
Jesus, it is in union with Thee I wish to accomplish this act
so that Thou mayest sanctify it by Thy infinite merits !
The love for His Father that filled the Heart of Christ
ought to become the motive power of the action of His
1. Joan. vmt, 29.
members as it was of His own action. The glory of His

Father was the constant thought of Christ in all His works;
may it also be ours through our continual union with the
grace and charity of Christ! That is why Holy Church
makes us ask God to render our actions conformable to His
good pleasure; by remaining united to ” the Son of His
love’, we shall deserve to abound in good works*. “Walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us”, says St. Paul*; and
then you will be fully in accord with your Head: Hoc enim
sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesu*. Thence we shall
go on from virtue to virtue: [bunt de virtute im virtutem *.
By this, we shall tend towards the perfection of our Model
by uninterrupted growth, for Christ dwells in us with His
Father Who loves us; Pater diliget eum*®; with the Holy
Spirit Who guides us by His inspirations; that is the source
of progress unceasing and fruitful for heaven. We shall
thus attain that solid perfection which is born of the fulness
of works entirely conformed to the Divine Will. Ut sTETIs
PERFECTI et PLENI in OMNI voluntate Dev®.
IX.
‘As long as we are here below we can always grow in

grace. The river of Divine life began to flow in us on the
day of Baptism, but it can ever go on increasing for the joy
of our soul which it waters and fertilises, until this river
flows into the Divine ocean; Fluminis impetus laetificat ct-
vitatem Dei".
Do not say that this is a mercenary thought. It is true,
it is to our interest to make the Divine life increase within
us, for the more we advance in grace and charity, the more
our merits increase and the greater will be our future glory
and eternal beatitude. But God Himself in the magnificence
of His generosity has willed it to be so; if it concerns our
joy throughout eternity, it also concerns the Will of God and
the glory that the accomplishment of this Will procures for
our Heavenly Father ®.
1. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, dirige actus nostros in beneplacito
tuo, ut in nomine dilecti Filii tui mereamur bonis operibus abundare.
Prayer for the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity. — 2. Ephes.
v, 2. — 3. Philipp. u, 5. — 4. Ps. rxxxm, 8. — 5. Joan. xiv, 23. —
6. Col. Iv, 12. — 7. Ps. xtv, 5. — 8. "A soul that loves God ought
to wish sincerely to unite within herself all the perfections in which God
St. Paul is an admirable model in this. He has reached

the end of his career; he has only a short time to live, for
he awaits death in the Roman prison; he has preached
Christ with unwearying perseverance and sought to repro-
duce in himself the Divine features of the Christ he so much
loves. And this is what he writes to his beloved Christians
of Philippi after so many labours undertaken for Jesus,
after so many struggles undergone for His glory, and tri-
bulations borne with that ardent love that nothing could
diminish: ” Not as though I had already attained, or were
already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means
apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus...
I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing
I do; forgetting the things that are behind and stretching
forth myself to those that are before, I press towards the
mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ
Jesus?”. Why does St. Paul press towards the mark with
all the energy of his great soul? Doubtless to win the prize,
but it is “the prize of the supernal vocation of God in
Christ Jesus”. It is to the glory of the Eternal Father that
we bear much fruit; Our Lord Himself has assured us of
this; it is that the Divine life may abound in us that God has
given us His Son, and that His Son has given us the Church,
His Spirit, and all His merits.
That is why St. Paul so much exhorted the Christians of
‘his time to progress in the Christian life: ” As therefore ye
have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in Him;
rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith as also
you have learned, abounding in Him in thanksgiving? ”.
Again from his prison he wrote to the Philippians: ” And
this I pray that your charity may more and more abound...
that you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of
Christ, filled with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ
unto the glory and praise of God*”. And yet more in-
sistently: ” May the Lord... confirm your hearts without
blame in holiness, before God and our Father, at the coming
of Our Lord Jesus Christ with all His Saints... brethren, we
pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus; that as you have
received from us how you ought to walk and to please God,
takes delight and to possess them in the degree conformable to His
Will.” St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. Life by P. Cepari.
1. Philipp. m1, 12-14. — 2. Col. u, 6-7. — 3. Philipp. 1, 9-11.
so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.
For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord
Jesus. For this is the Will of God, your sanctification”,
Haec est voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra?.
Let us then seek to realise this Will of our Heavenly
Father. Our Lord demands that the brightness of our
works be such that it leads those who behold it to glorify His
Father ?. Do not let us fear temptation: God makes it
profitable for us when we resist it. Cum tentatione pro-
ventum*, because it is the occasion of a victory that
strengthens us in the love of God; neither let us fear
trials: we may pass through great difficulties, undergo
serious contradictions, endure deep sufferings, but from the
moment we begin to serve God through love, these difficul-
ties, these contradictions and sufferings serve to nourish love.
When we love God, we may still feel the cross; God even
makes us feel it the more in the measure we advance, be-
cause the cross establishes in us a greater likeness to Christ ;
but we then love, if not the cross itself, at least the hand of
Jesus Who lays it on our shoulders; for this hand gives us
also the unction of grace wherewith to bear this burden;
love is a powerful arm against temptations and an invincible
strength in adversities. Neither let us be cast down by our
miseries, by the imperfections we deplore. They do not
prevent the growth of grace, for God knows of what dust
we are made: Cognovii figmentum nostrum*; they are the
consequences of our fallen nature and the fruitful root of
humility. Let us have patience with ourselves in this
striving after perfection, however long it may be. True
Christian life is not restless or unquiet; its development is
perfectly compatible with our miseries, our limitations, our
weaknesses; for it is in the midst of these weaknesses we
feel the triumphant strength of Christ dwelling within us:
Ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi ®.
God, in fact, is the first and principal author of our sancti-
fication, as of our salvation®. Never let us forget that.
1. I Thess. Im, 13; IV, 1-3. — 2. Luceat lux vestra coram hominibus
ut videant opera vestra bona et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in ceelis
est. Matth. v, 16.— 3. I Cor. x, 13. — 4. Ps. cu, 14. — 5. II Cor.
xu, 9. — 6. St. Paul writes: "May the God of peace... fit you in all
goodness, that you may do His Will: doing in vou that which is well
pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ: to Whom is glory for ever
and ever.” WHebr. xut, 20-21.
” Do not let us glory ”, says the Council of Trent, ” as if we

did everything ourselves; but God is so rich in mercy that
He wills to recompense the gifts He Himself places in us?”.
” By the grace of God I am what I am”, says St. Paul.
Gratia Det sum id quod sum, and he adds: Ef gratia ejus in
me vacua non fut? : ” and His grace in me hath not been
void, but I have laboured more abundantly than they all:
yet not I but the grace of God with me”. In order that
God may give the increase, he says again, it is necessary to
plant and water: Ego plantavi... Deus autem incrementum
dedit *.
With all the energy of our being, by the meritorious
practice of the virtues, above all, the theological virtues, and
by the essential disposition of doing all for the glory of the
Heavenly Father, let us aim at leaving the greatest freedom
possible to the development within us of the action of God
and of the Holy Spirit. It is by this ” we shall grow up in
Christ Who is our Head”; to this we have been called by
Christ Jesus: In quo et comprehensus sum a Christo Jesu *.
To stand still on the road of sanctification is to recede. On
the other hand we can always advance as long as we are here
below, as Our Lord Himself said: ” I must work the works
of Him that sent Me, whilst it is day; the night cometh when
no man can work®”. Only death puts an end to those
ascensions of the heart that are attained in this valley of
tears ®. Grant that we may then have arrived at the age of
the perfection of Christ, to that fulness of life and beatitude
God has willed for each one of us in predestinating us in His
beloved Son. Donec occurramus omnes... in virum perfec-
tum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi’.
1. Absit ut Christianus homo in seipso vel confidat vel glorieiur et non
in Domino; cujus tanta est erga homines bonitas ut noruM velit esse
MERITA quae sunt IPSIUS DONA. Sess. Vi, cap. 16. This is what the prayer
after the 12th. Prophecy on Holy Saturday expresses so well. Omnitpo-
tens sempiterne Deus, spes unica mundi... auge populi tut vota placatus,
quia in nullo fidelium, nisi ex tua inspiratione, proveniunt quarumilibet
incrementa virtutum. — 2. I Cor. xv, 10. — 3. Ibid. m, 6. — 4. Phi-
lipp. m1, 12. — 5. Joan. 1x, 4-5. —6. Ps. txxxiu, 6-7. — 7. Ephes. Iv,13.
NOTE.
(The numbers placed in parentheses indicate the pages of the present

volume in which the different points raised in this note are to be found
exposed more in detail.)
We think it useful to end this conference with a rapid glance at the

supernatural organism taken as a whole; this wide synthetic view will
serve to mark the order of the different elements that constitute the
life of the child of God. With this aim in view, we cannot do better
than contemplate for a few seconds the Person of Our Lord, since He is
our Model.
In virtue of the grace of the Hypostatic union, Jesus Christ is by
nature, God’s own Son (pp. 37 and 106-107); we become children of God
by the grace of adoption (pp. 14-15). In Christ, sanctifying grace exists
in its fulness (pp. 106-107) ; we share in this fulness in a more or less
abundant measure, according to the gift Christ makes of it to us : Secun-
dum mensuram donationis Christi (pp. 19-20). Sanctifying grace brings
in its train the infused theological and moral virtues. Our Lord had not,
properly speaking, faith, He had hope up to a certain point; He
carried charity to its highest degree (pp. 39-40) ; there remains in us,
as long as we are here below, faith, hope, and charity in a greater or
lesser degree (pp. 233-234). Jesus Christ possessed the infused cardinal
virtues and the other moral virtues compatible with His Divinity (p.
40) ; but in Him they developed freely, unimpeded and without effort,
because Our Lord, having a perfect human nature, exempt from sin and
the consequences of sin, these virtues met with no obstacle in their
exercise ; in us, as a result of the consequences of original sin, the de-
velopment of the infused moral virtues is hindered and requires the con-
course of the acquired moral virtues (p. 240). Lastly, the Holy Spirit
poured out in the soul of Jesus the fulness of His gifts (pp. 108-109) ; He
makes us participate in them, and this participation, although limited,
produces wonderful fruits (pp. 115-122). Let us add that the theological
virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit raise us to a special plane, which
does not necessitate the direct aid of the natural virtues (pp. 115-116 and
252-233) ; while the infused moral virtues require, for their full develop-
ment, the concourse of the corresponding natural moral virtues, a con-
course which they raise whilst utilising it. Charity, alone, supernaturally
quickens the other virtues; that is why charity has the priority.
Such is, in a few lines, the wonderful supernatural organism that
God’s infinite goodness has established to make us holy.
Vil. — THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE.
Summary. — The Eucharist, source of Divine life. — J. The

Eucharist considered as sacrifice ; transcendency of Christ’s
priesthood. — YJ. Nature of the sacrifice ; how the ancient
sacrifices were only figures; the immolation of Calvary, the
only reality ; the infinite vaiue of this oblation. — III. It is
reproduced and renewed by the sacrifice of the Mass. —
IV. Inexhaustible fruits of the sacrifice of the altar : homage
of perfect adoration ; sacrifice of full propitiation: the
only thanksgiving worthy of God; sacrifice of powerful
impetration. — V. Intimate participation of the oblation of
the altar through the identification of ourselves with Christ
High Priest and Victim.
N all the preceding pages, I have tried to show you how

God wills to give us a share in His life, how the grace
of Christ, making us children of God, is the principle of
Divine life in us. Baptism has given us this grace: it is the
supernatural life at its dawn, it is the divine river at its
source. There are obstacles opposed to the attainment of
the fulness of this life, to the widening of this river ; I have
said how these obstacles must be overcome. In the two last
conferences, I have pointed out what are the general laws
which govern the maintenance of this life in our souls and
the measure of its growth: namely, to remain united to
Christ by sanctifying grace, and to refer each of our actions
to the glory of His Father with a pure intention and an
intense movement of charity. This law extends to all our
activity, it embraces all our works of whatsoever nature
they may be.
When a soul has understood the greatness of this life,
when it has grasped that its principle is union with Christ
by faith and love, it aspires to the perfection of this union;
it seeks the fulness of this life which is to be its own
according to the eternal designs. Perhaps we ask ourselves
if such intimate union is not only a dream. No, sublime as
it is, it is not a dream; it can and ought to become a reality.
What seems impossible to men is easy to God: Apud ho-

mines hoc impossibile est, apud Deum autem omnia sunt
possibilia*. ;
It is true that all the efforts of human nature, left to itself,
apart from Christ, cannot advance us a step in the attain-
ment of this union, nor in the birth and development of the
life which is the fruit of this union. It is God alone Who
gives the seed and the increase. We tend the plant, we
water it: that is necessary, it is indispensable, says St. Paul *;
but the fruits of life are only produced because God makes
the sap of His grace to spring up within us.
God gives us incomparable means of maintaining this sap
in us. For if He is the infinite and sovereignly efficacious
Goodness Who wills to make us partakers of His nature and
beatitude, our God is also eternal Wisdom Who proportions
the means to the end with a strength only equalled by the
sweetness with which it acts: Atiingit a fine usque ad finem
fortiter, et dispomt omnia suaviter *.
Now if after having seen how God gives us in baptism
the germ of this life and the first fruits of this union, after
having seen to what general law their growth is subject, we
wish to know the special means God gives us, we shall see
they are principally to be found in prayer and the reception
of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
God has made an engagement with the soul that ap-
proaches Him: ”If you ask the Father anything in My
name’, Jesus says, ’” He will give it you”. Therefore He
adds, ” Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be
full”. This joy is the joy of Christ, Ut habeant gaudium
meum impletum in semetipsis *, the joy of His grace, the joy
of His life which, like a divine river, flows from Him into us
to make us glad: Fluminis impetus laetificat civitatem Dei®.
The Eucharist is another and a more powerful means.

God communicates His gifts in answer to prayer, under
certain conditions. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, it is
God, it is Christ who gives Himself to us. The Eucharist is,
properly speaking, the sacrament of union which nourishes
and maintains the Divine life in us. To it Christ’s words
especially apply when He says that He has come to. give
1..Matth. xix, 26. — 2. I Cor. m1, 6. — 3. Sap. vu, 1. — 4. Joan.
XVI, 23-24. — 5. Ps. XLV, 5.
THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE, 259
abundance of life to souls: Ego veni ut vitam habeant et

abundantius habeant*. In receiving Christ in Communion,
we unite ourselves to very Life.
But before giving Himself as food for the soul, Christ is
first immolated. He only renders Himself present under
the sacramental species in the sacrifice of the Mass. That is
why I must first speak to you of the oblation of the altar,
waiting till the next conference to speak of Eucharistic
Communion.
Let us then say what the Sacrifice of the Mass. is, and
what power of transformation into Jesus it contains for our
souls.
This is an ineffable subject. Even the priest, who makes
the Eucharistic Sacrifice the centre and sun of his life, is
powerless to put into words the marvels that the love of
Christ Jesus has there gathered up. All that man, a mere
creature, can say of this mystery come forth from the
Heart of a God, remains so far beneath the reality that,
when we have said all that we know of it, it is as if we had
said nothing. There is no subject the priest loves more and
at the same time dreads more to speak of, so high and holy
is this mystery.
Let us ask faith to enlighten us. The Eucharistic Sac-
rifice is pre-eminently a mystery of faith, Mysterium fidet;
in order to understand something of it we must go to Christ,
repeating to Him words like those of St. Peter when Jesus
announced this mystery to the Jews, and when even several
of His disciples left Him, being scandalised: To whom
shall we go, O Divine Master? Thou alone hast the words
that lead to eternal life: Ad quem ibimus? Verba vitae
aeternae habes*. And above all let us believe, as St. John
says, inlove. Et nos credidimus caritati?. Our Lord willed
to institute this Sacrament at the moment when, by His
Passion, He was about to give us the greatest testimony of
His love for us, and He has willed that it should be per-
petuated among us ” in commemoration of Him”. It is like
His last thought for us and the testament of His Sacred
Heart: Hoc facite in meam commemorationem *.
1. Joan. x, 10. — 2. Ibid. v1, 69. — 3. I Joan. 1v, 16. — 4. I Cor.
XI; (24)
Ts
As you know, the Council of Trent has defined that the

Mass is “a true sacrifice”, which ” recalls and renews
Christ’s immolation on Calvary. The Mass is offered as a
true sacrifice, properly so called?”. In ” this Divine Sac-
rifice which is accomplished at the Mass is contained and
immolated in an unbloody manner the same Christ Who upon
the altar of the cross was offered in a bloody manner. There
is only one victim ; and the same Christ Who was offered
upon the Cross offers Himself now by the ministry of priests ;
the difference only exists in the manner of the offering ?”:
Sola offerendi ratione diversa. Jf then we would under-
stand the greatness of the sacrifice offered on the altar, we
must consider for an instant what it is that makes the value
of the immolation of the Cross. This value is derived from
the dignity of the priest and of the victim. Let us then say
a word on the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ.
Every true sacrifice supposes a priesthood, that is to say
the institution of a minister charged to offer it in the name
of all. Under the Jewish law, the priest was chosen by God
from the tribe of Aaron and consecrated to the service of
the Temple by a special anointing. But Christ’s priesthood
is transcendent; the anointing which consecrates Him is
altogether unique: it is that grace of union which, at the
moment of the Incarnation, united to the Person of the
Word the humanity He has chosen. The Incarnate Word is
"the Christ ” which signifies ” the Anointed”, not anointed
with an outward unction such as that which served to con-
secrate the kings, prophets and priests of the Old Testament,
but with the Divinity out-poured on His Humanity like a
delightful oil : Unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo laetitiae prae
consortibus tuis*®. It is by the grace that makes Him the
Man-God, Son of God, and at the very moment of this
union, that Jesus is ” anointed”, consecrated and constituted
priest and pontiff, that is to say, mediator between God and
men; and it is His Father Who thus ordains Him supreme
high-priest. Hear what St. Paul says: ’” Christ did not
glorify Himself that He might be made a high priest: but
He that said unto Him (on the day of the Incarnation) :
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee”, — He
I. Séss.' XXII, Cam. I... Sess. xxi cap. 2, ——13. Ps.) XEiv, 5.
THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. 261
Who called and established Him ” priest of the most High

God a nh
It is then because He is God’s own Son that Christ is able

to offer the only sacrifice worthy of God. And we hear the
Eternal Father ratify this condition and this dignity of high-
priest by an oath: ” The Lord hath sworn and He will not
repent : Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of
Melchisedech?”. Why is Christ the eternal High Priest ?
Because the union of the Divinity and Humanity in the
Incarnation, the union which anoints Him pontiff, is in-
dissoluble. Christ... says St. Paul, ” for that He continueth
for ever, hath an everlasting priesthood * ”.
And his priesthood is ” according to the order” that is to
say, according to the resemblance of that of Melchisedech.
St. Paul recalls this mysterious personage of the Old
Testament who pre-figures, by his name and his offering of
bread and wine, the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ. Mel-
chisedech means ” King of justice ”, and Holy Scripture tells
us he was ” King of Salem*”, which means ” King of
peace”. Jesus is king; He affirmed His royalty at the
moment of His Passion: Tw dicis®; He is king of peace:
Princeps pacis®*; He comes to restore peace here below
between God and man; and it is in His sacrifice that justice,
at last satisfied, and peace, at last recovered, give one another
the kiss of reconciliation: Justitia et pax osculatae sunt*.
Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, is the eternal High Priest
the sovereign mediator between men and His Father: He
is the Christ, the high priest pre-eminently: Unxit te Deus...
prae consortibus tuis. That is why His sacrifice, like His
priesthood, bears a character of unique perfection and in-
finite value.
II.
Christ Jesus began the work of His priesthood from the

time of His Incarnation. ”Every high priest... is ordained...
that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices*”. That is why it
was necessary that Christ, the supreme High Priest, should
also have something to offer. And what will He offer°
oe ELDER Vans) sChs (Vil; -bs a 2aebs., Clk, 4.) — 3. Hebr. vu, 24. —
4. Gen. xiv, 18; Hebr. vu, 1. — 5. Joan. xvi, 37. — 6. Isa. 1x, 6. —
7. Ps. LXXXIv, 11. — 8. Hebr. v, 1.
What will be the matter of His sacrifice? Let us see what

was offered before His coming.
Sacrifice belongs to the very essence of religion; it is as
ancient as religion itself.
Since creatures exist it is equitable and just that they
should acknowledge the Divine sovereignty ; that is one of
the elements of the virtue of religion which is itself a form
of the virtue of justice. God is the Being Who subsists of
Himself; He contains in Himself all the reason of His
existence; He is the necessary Being, independent of all
other beings — while the essence of the creature is to depend
on God. In order for the creature to exist, for it to be
drawn out of nothing and its existence to be preserved, for
it to be able to put forth its activity, God’s concourse is
necessary. To be then in the truth of its nature, the creature
must confess and acknowledge this dependence; and this
confession, this acknowledgment, is adoration. To adore
is to acknowledge the sovereignty of God by our self-abase-
ment: Venite adoremus et procidamus ante Deum quo-
niam ipse fecit nos et non ipsi nos*. We can truly say that,
in presence of God, our self-abasement ought to go as far as
annihilation; that would be the supreme homage, although
it could not testify with sufficient truth our condition of mere
creatures, and the infinite transcendency of the Divine Being.
But as God has given us existence, we have not the right to
destroy it by the immolation of ourselves, by the sacrifice of
our life. Hence man substitutes creatures in his stead,
principally those that serve for the sustenance of his life,
such as bread, wine, fruit, animals*. By the offering, the
immolation or destruction of these things, man acknowledges
the infinite majesty of the Supreme Being: that is sacrifice.
After sin was committed, an expiatory character came to be
added to the other notions of sacrifice.
The first men offered fruits and immolated the best of
their flocks so as thus to testify that God is the supreme
Master of all things.
Later on, God Himself fixed the forms of sacrifice in the
1. Ps. xcrv, 6, and Ps. xcix, 3. — 2. Domine Deus noster, qui in
his potius creaturis quas ad fragilitatis nostrae subsidium condidisti, tuo
quoque nomini munera jfussisti dicanda constitui, tribue quaesumus ut et
vitae nobis praesentis auxilium et aeternitatis efficiant sacramentum.
Secret of the mass for the Thursday after Passion Sunday.
THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. : 263
Mosaic law. There were first of all the holocausts, sac-

rifices of adoration: the victim was entirely consumed.
Then there were the peace-offerings of thanksgiving or
petition: a part of the victim was burned, another part re-
served for the priests and a third attributed to those for
whom the sacrifice was offered. Lastly, the most important
of all, there were the expiatory sacrifices for sin.
All these sacrifices, says St. Paul, were only figures:
Omnia in figura contingebant illist ; ” weak and needy
elements: ” Egena elementa?; they were only acceptable to
God because they represented the sacrifice to come, the
only one which could be worthy of Him : the sacrifice of
the Man-God upon the Cross *.
The most expressive of these figures and symbols was the
sacrifice of expiation offered once a year by the high priest,
in the name of all the people of Israel, and in which the
victim was substituted for the people *. What do we see ?
A victim presented to God by the high priest, who, clad in
priestly vestments, places his hands upon it while the
multitude remain prostrate in the attitude of adoration.
What did this symbolical rite signify? That the victim was
substituted for the faithful; it represented them before God,
laden, as it were, with all the sins of the people*. Then the
victim is immolated by the high priest, and this deathblow,
this immolation, morally strikes the multitude who acknow-
ledge and deplore their crimes before God, sovereign Master
of life and death. Next the victim is laid upon the pile and
burnt, and the sacrifice ascends to the throne of God, m
odorem suavitatis, symbol of that offering of themselves,
which the people owed to Him Who is not only our first
principle but also our last end. The high priest having
sprinkled the horns of the altar with the blood of the victim,
enters into the holy of holies to sprinkle it likewise before
the ark of the covenant. In consequence of this sacrifice,
God renewed the compact of friendship made with His
people.
All this was, as I have said, only a symbol. Where then

1. I Cor. x, 11. — 2. Gal. Iv, 9. — 3. Deus legalium differentiam
hostiarum unius sacrificii perfectione sanxisti, Secret for the 7th Sunday
after Pentecost. — 4. Levit. xvi, 9 and 16. — 5. God Himself, in the
book of Leviticus, had declared He was the author of this substitution.
Levit. xv, 11.
is the reality? In the bloody immolation of Christ on Cal-

vary. Christ”, says St. Paul, ” hath delivered Himself
for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of
sweetness”. Christus tradidit semetipsum pro nobis obla-
tionem et hostiam Deo in odorem suavitatis*. It is Christ
Whom God has shown to men as the Victim of propitiation:
Quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem, in sanguine
ipsius .
But note well that it was upon the cross that Christ Jesus
achieved His sacrifice. He inaugurated it at His incarnation
in accepting to offer Himself for the human race. You
know that the least suffering of Christ, considered in itself,
would have sufficed to save humanity. Christ being God,
His least actions possessed, on account of the dignity of the
Divine Person, an infinite value. But the Eternal Father
willed, in His incomprehensible wisdom, that Christ should
redeem us by a bloody death upon the Cross*. Now,
St. Paul expressly tells us that Christ, upon His entrance
into the world, accepted this decree of the adorable will of
His Father. At the moment of the Incarnation, He em-
braced with a single glance all He was to suffer from the
crib to the cross for the salvation of mankind; and from
thenceforward He consecrated Himself to the entire ac-
complishment of the eternal decree: at that moment, Jesus
made the voluntary offering of His own body to be immolat-
ed. Let us listen to St. Paul: ” When He cometh into the
world He saith: Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldest not:
but a body Thou hast fitted Me... Sacrifices and oblations
and holocausts for sin Thou wouldest not... Then said I:
Behold I come to do Thy will, O God‘”. And having thus
begun the work of His priesthood, by the perfect acceptation
of the entire will of His Father and the oblation of Himself,
Christ consummated His sacrifice upon the cross, by a
bloody death, He inaugurated His Passion by renewing the
total gift He had made of Himself at the moment of the
Incarnation. ” Father...” He says when the chalice of -
sorrow is presented to Him, ’ not as I will but as Thou
wilt”: and His last word before expiring will be that He
has fulfilled all : Consummatum est ®.
You will see that in this sacrifice Christ achieved the most
1. Ephes. v, 2, — 2. Rom. m1, 25. — 3. See above p. 50. — 4. Hebr.
xX, 5 and 8-9, — 5. Joan. xIx, 30.
sublime act and rendered the most perfect homage to God

His Father. The Man-God, the beloved Son, is Himself the
High Priest. It is true that it is in His human nature He
offered His sacrifice, since only a man can die; it is true also.
that this oblation was limited to its historic duration ; but’
the High Priest who offered it is a Divine Person, and this
dignity gives infinite value to the immolation. The Victim
is holy, pure, immaculate, for it is Christ Himself; it is He,
the Lamb without stain, Who takes away the sins of the
world with His own blood, shed to the last drop as. in the
holocausts. Christ was immolated in our place; He substi-
tuted Himself for us. Bearing all our iniquities, He became
the victim for our sins: Posuit in eo Deus iniquitatem
omnium nostrum*.. Lastly, Christ accepted and offered this
sacrifice with a liberty full of love. He laid down His own
life because He willed to do so2, and He willed it because
He loved the Father: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo
Patrem, sic facio *.
Therefore this immolation of a God, an immolation vol-
untary and full of love, has worked out the salvation of the
human race. The death of Jesus redeems us, reconciles us
with God, re-establishes the alliance whence all good flows
for us, opens again the gates of heaven and restores to us
the inheritance of eternal life. This sacrifice henceforth
suffices for all: that is why when Christ dies, the veil of the
temple is rent in twain to show that the ancient sacrifices
are for ever abolished and replaced by the only sacrifice
worthy of God. From this time forward salvation and
righteousness are only to be had in the participation of the
sacrifice of the cross of which the fruits are inexhaustible.
” By one oblation”, says St. Paul, Christ ” hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified +”.
iil,
Do not be surprised if I have spoken at length of the

sacrifice of Calvary: — this immolation is reproduced on
the altar; the sacrifice of the Mass is the same as that of the
_ Cross. There cannot, in fact, be any other sacrifice than that
of Calvary. This oblation is one, says St. Paul; it fully
1. Isa. rim, 6. — 2. Joan. x, 18. — 3. Ibid. xiv, 31. — 4. Hebr.x,14.
suffices, but Our Lord has willed that it should be continued

here below so that the fruits of it may be applied to every
soul.
How has Christ accomplished this will of His since that
He has ascended into Heaven? It is true He eternally
remains the supreme High Priest; but, by the sacrament of
Holy Order, He chooses certain men whom He makes par-
takers of His priesthood. When the bishop, on the day
of ordination, extends his hands to consecrate the priests,
angels’ voices repeat over each of them: ” Thou art a
priest for ever; the priestly character thou bearest shall
never be taken away, but it is from the hand of Christ thou
receivest it, it is His Spirit that fills thee in order to make
thee Christ’s minister”. Christ is about to renew His
sacrifice through the intermediary of men.
Let us see what takes place at the altarr After some
preparatory prayers and the reading of the Epistle and
Gospel, the priest offers the bread and wine; it is the ” offer-
ing” or the ”offertory’”. These elements will soon be
changed into the Body and Blood of Our Lord. The priest
next invites the faithful and the heavenly spirits to surround
the altar that is about to become a new Calvary, and to
accompany the holy action with praise and homage. After
this, he enters silently into more intimate communication
with God. The moment of the consecration comes; he
extends his hands over the offering as the high priest did
formerly over the victim to be immolated. He recalls all
the gestures and words of Christ at the Last Supper when
Our Lord instituted the sacrifice: Qui pridie quam patere-
tur; then identifying himself with Christ, he pronounces the
words of the Canon: ” This is my Body”, ” This is My
Blood”... By these words, the bread and wine are changed
into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. By His express
will and His fornal institution, Christ renders Himself
present, really and substantially, with His divinity and hum-
anity, under the species which remain and hide Him from
our sight.
But, as you know, the efficacy of this formula is still more
extensive: by these words the sacrifice is accomplished. In
virtue of the words: ” This is My Body”, Christ, through
the intermediary of the priest, places His Flesh under the
species of bread; by the words: ” This is My Blood”, He
places His Blood under the species of the wine. He thus
mystically separates His Flesh and Blood which upon the
cross were physically separated, a separation that brought
death. Since His resurrection, Christ Jesus can die no
more: Mors ili ultra non dominabitur*; it is a mystical
separation of His body and blood that is made at the altar.
” The same Christ Who was immolated upon the cross is
immolated upon the altar, although in a different manner”:
and this immolation, accompanied by the offering, consti-
tutes a true sacrifice: In hoc divino sacrificio quod in missa
peragitur, idem ille Christus continetur et immolatur, qui in
ara crucis seipsum cruentum obtulit 2.
The communion terminates the sacrifice; it is the last im-
portant act of the Mass. The rite of the manducation of
the victim completes the expression of the idea of substitu-
tion and above all of alliance which is found in all sacrifice.
In uniting himself so intimately with the victim substituted
for him, man, as it were, immolates himself the more; in
eating the Host, become a holy and sacred thing, he in some
way appropriates to himself the divine virtue resulting from
this consecration.
In the Mass, the victim is Christ Himself, the Man-God:
that is why communion is pre-eminently the act of union
with the Divinity; it is the best and most intimate partaking
of the fruits of alliance and divine life gained for us by the
immolation of Christ.
So, then, the Mass is not only a simple representation of
the sacrifice of the cross; it has not only the value of a
simple remembrance; but it is a true sacrifice, the very same
as that of Calvary which it reproduces and continues and of
which it applies the fruits.
IV.
The friats of the Mass are inexhaustible because they

are the same fruits as of the sacrifice of the Cross.
It is the same Christ Jesus Who offers Himself to the
Father for us. Doubtless, since His resurrection, He can no
longer merit, but He offers the infinite merits acquired by
His Passion. The merits and satisfactions of Jesus always
keep their value, just as Christ keeps for ever, with His
1. Rom. vi, 9. — 2. Concil. Trid. Sess. xx, cap. 2.
character of high priest and universal mediator, the divine

reality of His priesthood. Now, after the sacraments, there
are no means through which Christ’s merits are more
especially and fully applied to us than through the Holy
Mass. The Holy Council of Trent says: Oblationis cruen-
tae fructus per hanc incruentam UBERRIME percipiuntur *.
That is why every priest offers each Mass not only for him-
self but ” for all present, as also for all faithful Christians,
both living and dead?”. So extensive and immense are the
fruits of this sacrifice, so sublime is the glory it gives to
God !
When therefore we feel the desire of acknowledging the

infinite greatness of God and of offering Him, in spite of our
poverty as creatures, a homage pleasing to His Majesty,
a homage which will surely be accepted at His hands, let us
offer the Holy Sacrifice, or else assist at it, and present the
Din Victim to God. The eternal Father will receive from
this Victim, as on Calvary, homage of infinite value perfectly
woxthy of His ineffable perfections.
It is indeed through Jesus Christ, the Man-God, His
beloved Son immolated upon the altar, that all glory and
honour are rendered to the Father: Per ipsum et cum ipso
et in ipso est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti... omnis honor et
gloria*. In all religion there is no action that gives so much
peace to the soul convinced of its nothingness, yet longing
to render to God a homage not unworthy of His divine
greatness. All the united homage of creation and the world
of the elect do not give the eternal Father such glory as He
receives from the offering of His Son. It needs faith to
understand the value of the Mass — that faith which is like
a participation of the knowledge God has of Himself and of
divine things. In the light of faith, we can regard the altar
as the Heavenly Father does. What does He see upon the
altar? He sees ”’the Son of His love”, Filius dilectionis
suae *, the Son in Whom He is well pleased, present in all
truth and reality, Vere et realiter, and renewing the sacrifice
of the cross. God measures all things by the glory He re-
_ I. Sess. Xx, cap. 2. — 2. Suscipe sancte Pater omnipotens... hanc
tmmaculatam hostiam... pro omnibus circumstantibus, sed et pro omni-
bus fidelibus christianis vivis atque defunctis ; ut mihi et illis proficiat
ad salutem in vitam aeternam. — 3. Ordinary of the Mass. — 4. Col. 1,13.
ceives from them; and in this sacrifice, as on Calvary,

infinite glory is rendered to Him by His Well-Beloved Son.
God cannot find more perfect homage than that. It contains
and surpasses all.
The Holy Sacrifice is also a source of confidence and

pardon.
When we are overwhelmed by the remembrance of our
sins and seek wherewith to repair our offences and satisfy
divine justice more fully, so that the penalty of sin may be
remitted, we cannot find a more efficacious and reassuring
means than the Mass. Hear what the Council of Trent says:
” By this oblation of the Mass, God, being appeased, grants
grace and the gift of penance; He forgives even enormous
crimes and sins: ” Hujus quippe oblatione placatus Dominus
gratiam et donum paenitentiae concedens, crimina et peccata
etiam ingentia dimittit?. Is it that the Mass forgives sins
directly? No, that is reserved for the sacrament of penance
and perfect contrition; but the Mass contains abundant and
powerful graces which enlighten the sinner and cause him
to make acts of sorrow for sin that will lead him to penance,
and, through penance, restore to him the friendship of God 2.
If this is true of the sinner not yet absolved by the hand of
the priest, it is still more true of souls that are justified but
seek to make as full satisfaction as possible for their faults
and so to fulfil their desire of reparation. Why is this ?
Because the Mass is not only a sacrifice of praise, or a simple
remembrance of that of the cross; it is a true sacrifice of
propitiation, instituted by Christ, “in order to apply to us
each day’ the redeeming virtue of the immolation of the
cross”: Ut illus cruenti sacrificu crucis salutaris virtus in
vemissionem eorum, quae a nobis quotidie comnuttuntur,
peccatorum, applicaretur*. That is why we see the priest,
who already possesses God’s friendship, offer this sacrifice
for his ” innumerable sins, offences and negligences”. The
Divine Victim appeases God and renders Him propitious to
us. When therefore the remembrance of our sins troubles
I. Sess. XXII, cap. 2. — 2. If we may thus speak, the Eucharist as
sacrament procures (or if you will, has for its primary end) grace in
vecto (directly, formally), and the glory of God in obliquo (indirectly) ;
the holy sacrifice procures in recto the glory of God, and in obliquo the
grace of penance and contrition through the sentiments of compunction
it stirs up in the soul. — 3. Concil. Trid. Sess. xxIl, cap. 1.
us, let us offer this sacrifice: it is Christ Who is offered for

us, the “Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the
world”, and renews ”as often as the commemoration of
this victim is celebrated, the work of our redemption”:
Quoties hujus hostiae commemoratio celebratur, opus nostrae
redemptionis exercetur?. What confidence we ought to
have in this sacrifice of expiation! Whatever be our of-
fences and ingratitude, one Mass gives more glory to God
than all our wrongs, so to speak, take from Him.
O Eternal Father, look upon this altar, look upon Thy
Son Who loved me and gave Himself for me on Calvary;
Who now offers His infinite satisfactions for me: Respice
in faciem Christi tui”, and forget those faults I have com-
mitted against Thy goodness. I offer Thee this oblation in
which Thou art well pleased, in reparation for all the wrongs
done to Thy Divine Majesty!
God cannot but hear such a prayer, for it relies on the
merits of the Beloved Son Who, by His Passion, expiated
all.
At other times, it is the remembrance of God’s mercies

that takes possession of us: — the benefit of the Christian
faith which has opened for us the way of salvation and
made us partakers of all Christ’s mysteries, whilst awaiting
the inheritance of eternal beatitude, the manifold graces
placed along our life’s path since baptism. When the soul
glances back, it is almost overwhelmed at the sight of the
numberless gifts God has poured out upon it with open
hands: Then, lost in wonder at being the object of divine
complacency, it cries out: ” Lord, what can I, poor creature
that I am, render to Thee for so many benefits? What can
1 render that is not unworthy of Thee? Although Thou
hast no need of my goods, Bonorum meorum non eges*, it
is however just that I should acknowledge Thy infinite good-
ness towards me; I feel the need of doing so in the depths
of my being; how can I satisfy it in a manner worthy both
of Thy goodness and Thy benefits, O my God”? Quid
retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi®? That
is the cry of the priest after the communion of the Host.
1. Secret for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost. — 2. Ps. Lxxxmt, 10.
= 3. Cf. Rom. 'v,18)19,\—\4., Ps, xv, 2,.-—="5. Ibid. cx, 12.
And what reply does the Church place upon his lips? Ca-
licem salutaris accipiam, "I will take the chalice of sal-
vation”... The Mass is the supreme act of thanksgiving, the
most perfect and pleasing we can ever render to God. The
Gospel tells us that before instituting this sacrifice, Our Lord
” returned thanks” to His Father: euyaotatioas. St. Paul
employs the same expression, and the Church has retained
the term of Eucharistic sacrifice, that is to say, the sacrifice
of thanksgiving, in preference to any other, to designate the
oblation of the altar, although it is not exclusive of the other
characters of the Mass. See how at every Mass, after the
offertory and before proceeding to the consecration, the
priest, following the example of Jesus, sings a hymn of
thanksgiving: ” It is truly meet and just, right and salutary,
that we should always and in all places, give thanks to Thee,
O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God. Through
Christ our Lord”...: Per Chrisium Dominum nostrum?.
Then he immolates the sacred Host: it is the Host that
returns thanks for us and worthily acknowledges, — for
Jesus is God, — all the benefits that have come down to us
from on high, from the bosom of ” the Father of lights”:
Omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre
luminum*. It is through Christ Jesus they have come, and
it is through Him too that all the soul’s gratitude ascends to
the throne of God.
Lastly, the Mass is a sacrifice of impeiration.

Our needs are immense, we are constantly in want of light,
strength and consolation and we find them in the Mass.
There indeed is He Who said: ”I am the Way, I am the
Truth, I give Life. Come unto Me all that labour and are
burdened, and I will refresh you. And him that cometh to
Me, I will not cast out”: Et ewm qui venit ad me, non eji-
ciam foras*. It is the same Jesus Who ” went about doing
good ”: Pertranstit benefaciendo*; Who forgave the Sam-
aritan woman and Magdalen, and the thief upon the cross;
Who delivered the possessed, healed the sick, restored sight
to the blind and movement to the paralytic; the same Jesus
Who let St. John rest his head on His Sacred Heart... But
He is there, upon the altar, in a. special quality: as the
1. Preface of the Mass. — 2. Jac. 1, 17. — 3. Joan. vi, 37. — 4. Act.
X, 39.
Sacred Victim offering Himself at this moment to His

Father and offering Himself for us; He is there immolated,
and yet living and praying for us: Semper vivens ad inter-
pellandum pro nobis*, He offers His infinite satisfactions
to obtain the graces of life necessary for us, He supports
our supplications by His merits; we cannot be more assured
than at this favourable moment of obtaining the graces we
need.
Speaking of ” the great High Priest that hath passed into
the heavens” and is full of compassion for those He
vouchsafes to call brethren, St. Paul says the altar where
Christ offers and immolates Himself, is ” the throne of
grace” which we must approach with confidence in order
” to obtain mercy and find grace” in opportune time’.
-Remember these words: Cum fiducia: ” with confidence”.
That is the condition for being heard. We must offer the
Holy Sacrifice or assist at it with faith and confidence.
This sacrifice does not act in us, like the sacraments, ex
opere operato. Its fruits are inexhaustible, but they are in
great part measured by our inward dispositions. In every
Mass there are infinite possibilities for us of perfection and
holiness; but the measure of the graces we receive is the
measure of our faith and of our love. You will have
noticed that when, before the consecration, the priest enum-
erates those he wishes to recommend to God, he ends by
speaking of all those present, but in indicating the dis-
positions of their hearts: Et omnium circumstantium quo-
rum tibi fides cognita est et nota devotio. ” Be mindful,
O Lord... of all here present, whose faith and devotion are
known unto Thee”... These words point out that the
graces flowing from the Mass are given to us according to
the measure of the ardour of our faith and the sincerity of
our devotion. Faith, as I have told you, is the nota devotio.
What is that ? It is the prompt and complete donation of
our entire selves to God, to His will and service. God, Who
alone reads the depths of our hearts, sees if our desire, our
will to be faithful to Him, to belong altogether to Him, is
sincere. If it is so, we are then, of those, Quorum fides
cognita est et nota devotio, for whom the priest especially
prays, of those who draw largely from the treasure of the
infinite merits of Christ offered for them.
1, Hebr. vu, 25. — 2. Ibid. 1v, 16.
Everything comes to us from our Father in heaven,

through Christ Jesus in Whom God has placed all the treas-
ures of holiness that men can desire; this Jesus is there upon
the altar with His treasures, not only present, but offering
Himself for us to the glory of His Father, rendering Him, at
this moment, the most perfect homage He can desire, re-
newing the sacrifice of the cross, so as to continue it and
apply its supreme efficacy to us. If we have a profound
conviction of these truths there is no grace we cannot ask °
and obtain. For, at this instant, it is as if we were with the
Blessed Virgin, St. John and Magdalen, at the foot of the
Cross, at the very fountain-head of all salvation and all
redemption. Oh! if we knew the gift of God! Si scires
donum Dei!... If we knew from what a treasury we might
draw for ourselves and the whole Church !...
¥.
We must go still further if we wish to enter deeply into

the intentions which Jesus Christ had in instituting the Holy
Sacrifice and that the Church, His Bride, expresses in the
ceremonies and words of the oblation. Through this divine
sacrifice, we can present perfect homage to God, ask Him to
entirely forget our faults, render Him worthy thanksgiving
and obtain the light and strength necessary for us. But all
these attitudes and all these acts of the soul, excellent as they
are, may be simply the acts and attitudes of a spectator who
assists with piety, but, as it were, outside the holy action.
There is a more intimate participation which we must seek
to attain. What is this participation? It is the identifying
of ourselves, as fully as possible, with Jesus Christ in His
double office of priest and victim, so that we may be trans-
formed into Him. Is this possible?
It was at the moment of the Incarnation that Jesus was
anointed Priest, and it is as man that He was able to offer
Himself to God as victim. Now, — this is a truth I have
shown you at length and want you never to forget — in
the Incarnation, the Word associated all humanity to His
mysteries and to His Person, by a mystical union.. All
humanity constitutes a mystical body of which Christ is the
Head and we the members. The members cannot, in prin-
ciple, separate themselves from the head nor remain strang-
Christ, the life. ofthe soul. 18
ers to its action. The supreme action of Jesus, the one

that sums up and crowns His life, is His sacrifice. In the
same way that He took upon Himself our human nature,
excepting sin, so He wills to make us partakers of the
principal mystery of His life. Certainly we were not present
in the body on Calvary when He was immolated for us,
after having substituted Himself for us. But He has willed,
says the Council of Trent, that His sacrifice should be per-
petuated, with its inexhaustible virtue, by the Church and her
ministers: Seipswm ab Ecclesia, per sacerdotes, sub sigms
sensibilibus immolandum*.
It is true that priests alone who participate, through the
Sacrament of Holy Order, in the priesthood of Christ, have
the right of officially offering the Body and Blood of Jesus
Christ. However, all the faithful can, in a real manner,
although by a lesser title, offer the sacred Host. By our
baptism we share in some manner in Christ’s priesthood,
because we share in the divine being of Christ, in His qual-
ities and His states. He is King; we are kings with Him.
He is Priest, we are also priests. Hear what St. Peter says
to the baptised: ” You are a chosen generation, a kingly
priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people”, Vos autem
genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus ac-
quisitionis?, The faithful can therefore offer the sacred
Host in union with the priest.
The prayers with which the Church accompanies this
Divine Sacrifice make it clearly understood that this oblation
also belongs to those who assist at it. What does the priest
say, after the offertory, when he turns a second time towards
the people before singing the Preface ? Orate fratres ut
meumt AC VESTRUM sacrificium acceptabile fiat apud Deum
Patrem omnipotentem. " Brethren, pray that my sacrifice
and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty ”.
Again, in the prayer preceding the consecration, the priest
beseeches God to be mindful of the faithful who are present,
those, he says, for whom we offer, or who offer up to Thee
this sacrifice of praise for themselves and those belonging to
them” : Memento Domine famulorum tuorum... pro qui-
bus tibi offerimus vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis,
1. Sess. Xx, cap. 1. — 2. I Petr. 11, 9; cf. Apoc. 1, 6. "Who hath
loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made
us a kingdom, and priests to God and His Father, to Him be glory and
empire for ever and ever. ”
pro se suisque omnibus. And then, extending his hands over

the oblation, he asks God to accept it as the oblation of His
whole spiritual family assembled around the altar : Hanc
igitur oblationem servitutis nostrae sed et cunctae familiae
tuae, quaesumus, Domine, ut placatus accipias. As you see,
it is the faithful united to the priest and, through him, to
Jesus Christ, who offer this sacrifice. Christ is the supreme
and principal pontiff; the priest is His minister chosen by
Him; lastly the faithful, in their rank, participate in the
sacred priesthood and in all the acts of Christ. ” Let us be
attentive: let us follow the priest who acts in our name
who speaks for us: let us call to mind the ancient custom
of each one offering bread and wine to provide the matter of
this heavenly sacrifice. The ceremony has changed; its
spirit remains; we all offer with the priest; we consent to
all that he does, to all that he says... Let us offer... with him.
Let us offer Jesus Christ; let us offer ourselves with all His
Catholic Church wide spread throughout the earth?”.
Our resemblance with Christ Jesus does not end here. He

is the High Priest, but likewise the Victim, and the desire of
His Sacred Heart is that we too should share in this state
of victim. It is above all by this that our souls will be
transformed and become holy.
Let us consider for a moment the matter of the sacrifice,
the bread and wine that are to be changed into the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ. The Fathers of the Church have
insisted on the symbolism of these two elements. The bread
is made of grains of wheat ground and kneaded together so
as to form only one substance; the wine is made of grapes
gathered and pressed together so that one beverage may flow
from them. That is the image of the union of the faithful
with Christ and of all the faithful with one another.
In the Greek rite, the union of the faithful with Christ ‘in
His sacrifice is expressed with all the vividness of oriental
conceptions. At the beginning of the Mass, the priest, with
a little golden lance, divides the bread in several fragments
and assigns to each of them, in a special prayer, the part of
representing the personages or categories of personages in
whose honour or for whom the sacrifice is about to be
offered. The first fragment represents Christ; another the
1. Bossuet, Meditations on the Gospel, LXIIII. day.
Virgin co-redemptress, others represent the apostles, mar-

tyrs, virgins, the saint of the day, all the train of the Church
triumphant. Next come the fragments reserved for the
Church suffering and the Church militant: the Sovereign
Pontiff, the bishops and the faithful who are present. This
function ended, the priest places all the fragments on the
paten and offers them to God, for all will presently be trans-
formed into the Body of Jesus Christ. This ceremony
shows how close our union with Christ in this sacrifice ought
to be.
The Latin liturgy is more sober, but not less explicit. It
possesses one of the most ancient ceremonies that the priest
cannot omit without grave sin and that clearly shows we
must be inseparable from Christ in His immolation. At the
moment of the offertory, the priest pours a little water into
the chalice already containing the wine. What does this
ceremony signify ? It is explained by the prayer that ac-
companies it: ” O God, Who in creating human nature didst
wonderfully dignify it, and (by the Incarnation) hast still
more wonderfully renewed it, grant that by the mystery of
this Water and Wine, we may be made partakers of His
Divinity, Who vouchsafes to become partaker of our hu-
manity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and
reigneth with Thee in the unity of the same Spirit, world
without end.” Then the priest offers the chalice that it may
be accepted by God in odorem suavitatis. So, then, the
mystery symbolised by this mingling of the water with the
wine is first of all the union, in Christ, of the Divinity with
the humanity; from this mystery proceeds another also
indicated by this prayer — our union with Christ in this
sacrifice. The wine represents Christ, the water represents
the people, as was said by St. John in the Apocalypse and
was confirmed by the Council of Trent : Aquae populi sunt ?.
We must be united to Christ in His immolation and offer
ourselves with Him; then He takes us with Him, He im-
molates us with Him, He bears us before His Father, in
odorem suavitatis. It is ourselves we must offer with Jesus
Christ. If the faithful share, through baptism, in the
priesthood of Christ, it is, says St. Peter, that they may
” offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
1. Apoc. xvu, 15. Hac mixtione, ipsius populi fidelis cum capite
Christo unio repraesentatur. Sess. XXu, c. 7.
Christ’: Sacerdotium sanctum, offerre spirituales hostias

acceptabitles Deo per Jesum Christum+. This is so true that
in more than one prayer following the offering about to be
made to God, the Church while awaiting the moment of the
consecration, lays stress on this union of our sacrifice with
that of her Bridegroom. ” Vouchsafe, O Lord, she says to
sanctify these gifts, and receiving the oblation of this spirit-
ual victim, make us an eternal sacrifice to Thyself: Pro-
pitius, Domine, quaesumus, haec dona sanctifica, et hostiae
spiritualis oblatione suscepta, NOSMETIPSOS tibi perfice munus
aeternum ?.
But in order for us to be thus accepted by God, the offer-
ing of ourselves must be united to the offering Christ made
of Himself upon the cross and renews upon the altar. Our
Lord substituted Himself for us in His immolation, He took
the place of us all, and that is why when He died we, in
principle, died with Him: Si wnus pro omnibus mortuus est,
ergo omnes moriut sunt*® For this mystical death to take
place effectually in each one of us, we must unite ourselves
to His sacrifice on the altar. And how are we to unite our-
selves to Christ Jesus in this character of victim? By
yielding ourselves, like Him, to the entire accomplishment of
the divine good pleasure.
It is for God to fully dispose of the victim offered to Him;
we must be in this essential attitude of giving all to God, of
making our acts of self-renunciation and mortification, of
accepting the sufferings and trials of each day for love of
Him, so that we may be able to say, like Jesus Christ at the
moment of His Passion: Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo
Patrem, sic facio. ‘That is to offer ourselves with Jesus.
Let us offer the Divine Son to His eternal Father and offer
ourselves with this ” holy Host ” in the same dispositions that
animated the Sacred Heart of Christ upon the cross: intense
love of His Father and of our brethren, ardent desire for
the salvation of souls, and full abandonment to all that is
willed from on high, above all, if it contains what is painful
and vexatious for our nature. When we do this, we offer
God the most acceptable homage He can receive from us.
We herein have also the most certain means of being
transformed into Jesus, especially if we unite ourselves to
1. I Petz. u, 5. — 2. Mass for Whit Monday. This prayer (Secret)
is to be found likewise in the Mass for Trinity Sunday. — 3. II Cor. v,14.
Him in Communion, which is the most fruitful partaking of

the sacrifice of the altar; for, if we are united to Christ, He
immolates us with Him, renders us pleasing to His Father
and makes us, by His grace, more and more like to Himself.
This truth is signified by that mysterious prayer the priest
recites after the consecration: ’” We humbly beseech Thee,
almighty God, command these things to be carried by the
hands of Thy holy Angel to Thy altar on high, in the sight
of Thy Divine Majesty, that as many of us as, by participa-
tion at this altar, shall receive the most sacred Body and
Blood of Thy Son may be filled with all heavenly benediction
and grace”.
It is then a most excellent manner of assisting at the Holy
Sacrifice to follow with the eyes, the mind, and the heart,
what is passing at the altar, and to associate ourselves with
the prayers the Church places at this sacred moment on the
lips of her ministers. When, with deep reverence, lively
faith, ardent love, and true contrition for our sins 1, we thus
unite ourselves to Christ, Priest and Victim, in His sacrifice,
Christ, Who dwells in us, takes all our intentions into His
Heart and offers perfect adoration and full satisfaction for
us to His Father, He renders Him worthy thanksgiving,
and His prayer is all-powerful. All these acts of the eternal
High Priest, by which He renews upon the altar His im-
molation of Calvary, become ours.
At the same time that we give to God, through Christ, all
honour and all glory: Omnis honor et gloria, abundant
graces of light and life are poured down upon us and on all
the Church: Fructus uberrime percipiuntur?. Each Mass
truly contains all the fruits of the sacrifice of the Cross. But,
if we wish to avail ourselves of them, we must enter into
the dispositions and sentiments of the Heart of Jesus when
He went to offer Himself on Calvary: Hoc enim sentite...
quod et in Christo Jesu*. Then the Eternal High Priest
takes us with Him into the holy of holies, unto the throne of
the Divine Majesty, to the very source of all grace, of all life |
‘and all beatitude.
If you knew the Gift of God !...
1. Docet sancta synodus... per istud sacrificium fieri ut si cum vero
corde et recta fide, cum metu et reverentia, contriti ac poenitentes, ad
Deum accedamus, misericordiam comsequamur et gratiam inveniamus
in auxilio opportuno. Concil. Trid. Sess. xxm, cap. 2. — 2. Concil.
Trid. Sess. xxu, cap. 2. — 3. Philipp. m, 5.
Vill. — PANIS VITAE.
Summary. — Eucharistic Communion, the most assured means of

maintaining the Divine life in us. — I. Holy Communion is
the Banquet wherein Christ gives Himself to us as the
Bread of Life. — I]. By Communion Christ abides in us,
and we in Him. — III. Difference between the effects of
corporal nourishment, and the fruits of the reception of the
Eucharist ; how Christ transforms us into Himself; the
influence of this wonderful food upon the body. — IV. The
necessity of preparation in order to assimilate the fruits of
Communion. — V. Remote dispositions: the complete gift of
oneself to Christ ; the direction of all our actions towards
Communion. — VI. Immediate preparation: faith, con-
fidence and love ; how Our Lord rewards these dispositions:
Communion is the fullest participation possible in the Divine
Sonship of Jesus. Variety of formulae, and attitudes for the
immediate preparation. — VII. Thanksgiving after Com-
munion: Mea omnia tua sunt et tua mea.
« RANT, Almighty God, that as many of us as, by

participation at this altar, shall receive the Most
Sacred Body and Blood of Thy Son, may be
filled with all heavenly benediction and grace”. Ut quot-
quot, ex hac altaris participatione, sacrosanctum Filia tui
Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione cae-
lesti et gratia repleamur.
These words conclude one of the prayers following the
august rite of consecration in the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. As you know, Our Lord is present upon the altar,
not only to offer perfect homage to His Father by a mystical
immolation which renews His oblation on Calvary, but also
to make Himself, under the sacramental species, the food of
our souls.
Jesus Christ Himself manifested this intention of His
Sacred Heart at the moment of instituting this Sacrifice:
” Take ye and eat, for this is My Body”. Accipite et man-
ducate; hoc est enim corpus meum1; Take ye and drink,
Tyh Corsext, 24,
for this is My Blood”. Accipite et bibite: hic est enim

calix sanguinis mei?. If Our Lord has willed to make Him-
self present under the species of bread and wine, it is in
order to become our Food. And if we seek to know why
Christ willed to institute this Sacrament under the form of
food, we see that it is first of all to maintain the Divine life
within us; next, in order that, receiving this Divine life from
Him, we may remain united to Him. Sacramental Com-
munion, the fruit of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, is the most
certain means for the soul of remaining united to Jesus.
It is in this union with Christ, that, as I have said, the
true life of the soul is to be found. Jesus is the Vine, we
are the branches; grace is the sap that rises up into the
branches to make them bear fruit. Now it is principally by
the gift of Himself in the Eucharist that Christ makes grace
to abound within us.
Let us contemplate with faith and reverence, love and
confidence, this mystery of life whereby we are united to
Him Who is at the same time our Divine Model, our infinite
satisfaction, and the source of all our holiness”. We will
next see with what dispositions we ought to receive the Holy
Eucharist that so we may arrive at the perfection of this
union which Christ wishes to effect with us in giving us
Himself.
I.
When, in prayer, we ask Our Lord to tell us why He

willed, in His Eternal Wisdom, to establish this ineffable
Sacrament, what does He reply?
To begin with, He repeats those same words with which
He first announced the institution of the Eucharist to the
Jews. ” As the Living Father hath sent Me and I live by
the Father, so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by
Me”. Sicut misit me vivens Pater, et ego vivo propter
Patrem, et qui manducat me et ipse vivet propter me*. It
is as if He said: My desire is to communicate My Divine
life to you. I hold My being, My life, all, from My Father
and because I hold all from Him, I live only for Him; I
desire with an intense desire that you, likewise, holding all
1. Cf. Luc. xx, 17 and 20. — 2. Catechism of the Council of Trent.
Cf. xx, § 1, — 3. Joan. vr, 57.
PANIS VITAE. 281
from Me, live only for Me. Your corporal life is sustained
and developed by food; I will to be the food of your soul,
so as to preserve and develop its life which is Myself?. He
that eats Me, lives by My life; I possess the fulness of grace,
and those to whom I give Myself as food partake of this
grace. The Father has life in Himself, but He has given
to the Son also to have life in Himself: Sicut enim Pater
habet vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio habere vitam in
semetipso?. And because I possess this life I am come to
give it fully and abundantly: Ego veni ut vitam habeant et
abundantius habeant*. I give you life because I give Myself
as food. I am the Living Bread, the Bread of Life come
down from Heaven so as to give you eternal life; that
Bread which gives the Heavenly life, the everlasting life, of
which grace is the dawn. Ego sum panis vitae, panis vivus
qui de caelo descendi*. The Jews in the desert did eat
manna, a corruptible food; but I am the ever Living Bread,
ever needful for your souls, for, ” except you eat the Flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have
life in you”. Nist manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis...
non habebitis vitam in vobis ®.
Such are the very words of Jesus. It is therefore not
only in order that we may adore Him, and offer Him to His
Father as infinite satisfaction, that Christ renders Himself
present on the altar; it is not only to visit us that He comes,
but it is that we may eat Him as the Food of our souls, and
that eating Him, we may have life, the life of grace here
below, the life of glory hereafter.
” As the Son of God is Life by essence, it is for Him to
promise: and to give life. The holy Humanity He has
vouchsafed to take in the fulness of time, touching Life so
closely, takes its virtue so fully, that an inexhaustible source
of living water springs forth from it Is He not the Bread
of Life, or rather, is it not a Living Bread which we
eat so that we may have life? For this sacred Bread
is the Holy Flesh of Jesus, this living Flesh, the Flesh
conjoined to life, this Flesh altogether filled and pene-
trated with a vivifiying spirit. If ordinary bread, which
1. Sumi autem voluit sacramentum hoc tamquam spiritualem anima-
rum cibum quo alantur et confortentur viventes vita illius qui dixit =
et qui manducat me et ipse vivet propter me. Concil. Trid. Sess. xm,
cap. 2. — 2. Joan. v, 26. — 3. Ibid. x, 10. — 4. Ibid. v1, 35, 48, 51-
=i 5 eeOATINEV TS 4
is without life, preserves the life of our bodies, with what

a wonderful life shall we not live who eat a Living Bread,
Life itself, at the table of the Living God? Who has
ever heard of a like prodigy; that one can eat life? It
belongs to Jesus alone to give us such Food. He is Life by
nature; whosoever eats Him eats life. Oh, sweetest Ban-
quet of the children of God?”! This is why the priest,
when he gives Holy Communion, says to each one: ” May
the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul to life
everlasting”! Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat
animam tuam in vitam aeternam.
I have said that the Sacraments produce the grace they
signify. In the natural order, food preserves, increases,
restores, and develops the life of the body”. It is the same
with this Heavenly Bread;it is the food of the soul which
preserves, repairs, and rejoices the soul, and increases the
life of grace within it because it gives it the very Author of
grace. The Divine life can enter into us by other ways,
but it is by Holy Communion that this life inundates our
souls ” like an impetuous torrent”. Communion is so much
a Sacrament of life that, of itself, it remits and effaces the
venial sins to which we no longer have any attachment ?. It
acts in such.a way that the Divine life within the soul
recovers its vigour and beauty, grows, develops, and bears
abundant fruit. O Sacred Banquet in which the soul
receives Christ! O sacrum convivium in quo Christus
sumitur... mens impletur gratia*. O Jesus Christ, Incarnate
Word, in Whom ” dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
corporally®”, enter into me to make me a partaker of this
fulness; this is life for me, since to receive Thee, is to
become a child of God §, that is to have a share in the life
Thou hast received from Thy Father and by which Thou
livest for Thy Father — this life which overflows, through
grace, from Thy Humanity, upon all Thy brethren. Come
to be my Food, that so I may live by Thy life: Et qui man-
ducat Me et ipse vivet propter Me.
1. Bossuet, Sermon for Holy Saturday, Oratorical Works. — 2. Accord-
ing to St. Thomas, these are the four effects of food; the holy doctor
applies this to the Eucharist, the food of the soul. — 3. See above,
p. 181, text from the Catechism of the Council of Trent.— 4. Antiphon
of Magnificat of znd Vespers of Corpus Christi. — 5. Col. u, 9. —
6.) Joans 1,112)
PANIS VITAE, 283
Il.
One of the intentions of the Heart of Jesusin instituting
the Sacrament of the Eucharist, is, therefore, to be the
heavenly Bread which maintains and increases the Divine life
in us. But Our Lord has willed another end which com-
pletes the first: Qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum
Sanguinem in me manet et ego in eo1,” he that eateth My
Flesh and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in him”.
What is the meaning of the word manere, " abide” ?
When we read the Gospel of St. John, who tells us the
words of Jesus, we see that he nearly always uses this term
when he wishes to express perfect union. There is no union
greater than that of the Father and the Son in the Holy
Trinity, since, with the Holy Ghost, they both possess one
and the same Divine nature; St. John says that the Father
“abideth ” in the Son 2.
” To abide in Christ ” is, first of all, to share, by grace, in
His Divine Sonship: it is to be one with Him by being, as He
is, although in a different manner, the child of God. That
is the essential and fundamental union, which Christ Him-
self points out in the parable of the vine: ” I am the Vine;
you the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the
same beareth much fruit”.
This union is not the only one. ” To abide” in Christ is
to be identified with Him in all that relates to our intelligence,
our will, our activity. We abide in Christ through our intelli-
gence when we accept with a simple, pure, and integral act
of faith all that Christ tells us. The Word is always in the
Bosom of the Father; He sees the Divine secrets, and He
makes us share in what He sees: Unigenitus Filius, qui est
im sinu Patris, ipse enarravit*. By faith, we say : ” Yes”,
Amen, to all that the Incarnate Word tells us; we accept His
word; and thus identify ourselves with Christ in our in-
telligence. Holy Communion makes us abide in Christ by
faith; we can only receive Him if we accept in faith all
that He says, and all that He is. When Our Lord announced
the institution of the Eucharist to the Jews, He said to them:
”T am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall not
hunger : and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst *”.
1. Joan. vI, 55. — 2. Ibid. xIv, 10.— 3. Ibid. 1,18. — 4. Ibid. v1, 35.
And as the Jews murmured in their incredulity, He repeated

His words: ” Amen, amen, I say unto you: he that be-
lieveth in Me hath everlasting life?”. Itis in faith that Our
Lord gives Himself to us as food, and to be united to Him
is to accept, by the adhesion of our intelligence to His word,
all that He reveals to us; Christ is the food of our in-
telligence in bringing us all truth.
To abide in Him is also to submit our will to His, it is to
make all our supernatural activity dependent on His grace.
That is to say we must abide in His love by accepting to do
His Will: Si praecepta mea servaveritis, MANEBITIS IN DI-
LECTIONE MEA, sicut et ego Patris mei praecepta servavt, et
maneo in ejus dilectione?. Itis to prefer His desires to
our own, it is to espouse His interests, it is to yield ourselves
to Him entirely, without counting the cost, reserving nothing,
and taking nothing back, for one cannot ” abide” unless one
is firm and stable, with that absolute confidence that a bride
should have in her bridegroom. The bride is never more
pleasing to the bridegroom than when she relies only upon
his wisdom, his power, his strength and his love. In thus
giving food to love, this heavenly Bread vivifies our will.
This is the supernatural condition in which Jesus Christ
desires to place the soul that receives Him. He comes into
it so that it may “abide” in Him, that is, that having full
confidence in His word, it abandons itself to Him in order
to accomplish His Divine good pleasure, and have no other
mainspring for its activity than the action of His Spirit:
Qui adhaeret Domino unus spiritus est ®.
Not only do we abide in Our Lord, but He also abides in

us: Et ego in eo*. See what took place in the Incarnate
Word. There was in Him a very intense human and natural
activity. But the Word, to Whom the Humanity of Christ
was indissolubly united, was the furnace where all His
activity was nourished, and whence it radiated.
The desire of Christ in giving Himself to us is to produce
something analogous within us. Without establishing a
union as close as that of the Word with His Sacred Human-
ity, Christ, in giving Himself to us, wills to be in us by His
grace and the action of His Spirit the principle of all our
1. Joan. vi, 47. — 2. Ibid. xv, 10. — 3. I Cor. vi, 17. — 4. Joan.
XV, 5.
PANIS VITAE. 285
inner activity: Hi ego in eo ; He is in the soul, He abides

in it, but He is not idle, He wills to work in it?, and when
the soul remains given up to Him, to His every will, then
Christ’s action becomes so powerful that this soul will in-
fallibly be carried on to the highest perfection, according to
God’s designs. For Christ comes to the soul with His
Divinity, His merits, His riches, to be its Light and Way,
Truth, Wisdom, Justice and Redemption: Qui factus est
nobis sapientia a Deo, et justitia, et sanctificatio et redemp-
tio 7, in a word, to be the Life of the soul, to live Himself
within the soul: Vivo ego, jam non ego; vivit vero in me
Christus *. This is the dream of the soul: to make only one
with the Beloved. Communion, in which the soul receives
Christ as Food, brings about the realisation of this dream,
by transforming it, little by little, into Christ.
TI:
The Fathers of the Church point out the great difference

there is between the action of the food which serves to nour-
ish our corporal life, and the effect produced in the soul by
the Eucharistic Bread.
When we assimilate the food of the body, we change it
into our own substance, while Christ gives Himself to us
as food in order to transform us into Himself. St. Leo
writes these remarkable words: ” Participation in the Body
and Blood of Christ produces in us none other effect than
to make us pass into that which we take”. Nihil aliud agit
participatio Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, quam ut in id
quod sumimus transeamus*. St. Augustine is still more
explicit; He makes Christ say: ”I am the Food of the
strong; have faith and eat Me. But thou wilt not change
Me into thyself, it is thou who wilt be transformed into
Me*”. And St Thomas with his usual clearness, has
defined this doctrine in a few lines: ” The principle of ar-
tiving at clearly understanding the proper effect of a Sac-
rament, is to judge of it by analogy with the matter of the
sacrament... The matter of the Eucharist is a food; its
proper effect must then be analogous to that of food. He
who assimilates corporal food transforms it into himself;
1. Usque modo operor. Joan. v, 17. — 2. I Cor. 1, 30. — 3. Gal. 11,20.
— 4. Sermo 63 de Passione 12, c. 7. — 5. Confess. L. vil, c. 4.
this change repairs the losses of the organism and gives it

the necessary increase. But the Eucharistic Food, instead
of being transformed into the one who takes it, transforms
him into Itself. It follows that the proper effect of the
Sacrament is to transform us so much into Christ, that we
can truly say: ” I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me”.
How is this spiritual transformation brought about? In
receiving Jesus Christ, we receive Him wholly: His Body,
His Blood, His Soul, His Humanity, His Divinity. Christ
makes us sharers of His thoughts, and His sentiments; He
communicates His virtues to us, but above all, He enkindles
in us the fire that He came to cast upon earth 2, the fire of
iove, of charity: that is the result of this transformation pro-
duced by the Eucharist. ” The efficacy of this Sacrament ”,
writes St. Thomas, ” is to work a certain transformation of
ourselves into Christ, by means of charity. And that is the
fruit proper to It... the property of charity is to transform
the one who loves into the object of his love”. That is to
say, that the coming of Christ in us tends, of its nature, to
establish between His thoughts and ours, between His sen-
timents and our sentiments, between His Will and our will,
such an exchange, such a correspondence and similitude that
we have no other thoughts, no other sentiments, no other
will than those of Christ: Hoc enim sentite in vobis, quod et
in Christo Jesu®. And this through love. Love yields our
will to Christ, and through it, all our being, all our energies ;
and because love thus yields up the whole man, it is the
means of our supernatural transformation and growth.
St. John has well said: ” He that abideth in charity, abideth
in God, and God in him‘ ”,
Without this, there is no real “communion”. Without
this, we receive Christ with the lips, it is true, but He means
us to be united to Him with mind and heart and will and all
our soul, so that we may share His Divine life as far as
this is possible here below, and so that, by the faith we
have in Him, by the love we bear towards Him, it may
be really His life, and no longer our ego that is the
principle of our life. This is very clearly shown in a prayer
which the Church makes the priest recite after Communion :
” Grant, O Lord, that the operation of Thy heavenly Gift
1. In IV Sentent. Dist. 12, q. 2, a. 1. — 2. Luc. x1, 49. — 3. Philipp.
N, 5. — 4. Joan. rv, 16.
PANIS VITAE. 287
may possess both our minds and bodies, that its effect, and
not our senses, may ever have dominion within us!”.
This prayer of the Church leads us to understand that the
Eucharistic action overflows from the soul upon the body
itself. It is true that it is to the soul Christ immediately
unites Himself; it is to the soul that He comes first of all,
to assure and confirm its deification: Ut inter ejus membra
numeremur cujus Corpori communicavimus et Sanguini 2.
But the union of body and soul is so close that in increasing
the life of the soul, in powerfully drawing it towards heaven-
ly delights, the Eucharist tempers the heat of the passions,
and brings peace to all our being.
The Fathers of the Church? even speak ofa still more
direct influence. What is there astonishing in this ? When
Jesus Christ dwelt upon earth, the simple contact with His
Holy Humanity sufficed to heal the sick. Is this curative
power to be lessened because Christ veils Himself under
the Sacramental Species? ” Do you think, my daughters ”,
said St. Teresa, ” that this most holy nourishment does not
also sustain the body, and is not a remedy for its ills. As
for myself, I know it has this virtue. I know a person (the
Saint is doubtless speaking of herself) who, besides other
great infirmities, often experienced much suffering before
going to Communion, and had no sooner received the Bread
of Life than she felt all her sufferings had vanished, as if
a hand had taken them away... Certainly, His Majesty
is not accustomed to pay so badly for the lodging He
makes in the inn of our soul when He there meets with
a good. welcome*”. Before Communion the priest be-
seeches Christ ” that the participation of His Sacred Flesh
may be a safeguard and remedy both of soul and body”:
Perceptio Corporis tui, Domine Jesu Christe,... prosit mihi
ad tutamentum mentis et corporis. The Church makes us
repeat the sameprayer in more than one of her post-
communions at the moment of returning thanks to God for
the Divine Gift. ” Purify our minds, we beseech Thee, O
1. Mentes nostras et corpora possideat, quaesumus,Domine, doni cae-
lestis operatio ; ut non noster sensus in nobis, sed jugiter ejus praeveniat
effectus. Postcommunion of 15th. Sunday after Pentecost. — 2. Post-
communion of the Saturday of the 3rd. week of Lent. — 3. S. Justin.
Apolog. ad Anton. Pium, n. 66. S. Iraen. Contra haereses, L. Visi, 2
S._ Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. xx (Mystag IV), n. 3; Catech. xxim
(Mystag V), n. 15. — 4. The Way of Perfection, ch. xxxv. The Saint
is even more explicit in ch. xxx of her Life by Herself.
Lord, and renew them with heavenly sacraments, that by

them, our bodies themselves may receive both present and
future aids’*”.
Do not let us forget that Christ is ever living, ever acting.
In coming to us He unites our members to His own; He
purifies, He uplifts, He sanctifies, He transforms, as it were,
all our faculties, so that, to borrow the beautiful thought of
an ancient author, we love God with the Heart of Christ, we
praise God with the life of Christ, we live by His life. The
Divine Presence of Jesus and His sanctifying virtue pene-
trate our whole being, both body and soul, with all their
powers, so intimately, that we become ” other Christs ”.
Such is the truly sublime culmination of this union with
Christ in the Eucharist which each Communion tends to
make us realise ever more perfectly. If we but knew the
gift of God! For those who draw the water of grace at this
fountain ” shall not thirst for ever”: Qui autem biberit ex
aqua quam ego dabo ei, non sitiet in aeternum?. At this
fountain they find every good: Quomodo non etiam cum
illo omnia nobis donavit?*. From the altar there proceeds
for us all heavenly benediction and grace: Omni benedictione
caelesti et gratia repleamur.
PVE:
These wonderful effects are not wrought in the soul unless

it is prepared for the effusion of so many graces. It is true,
as I have said, that the Sacraments produce fruit of them-
selves, the fruit for which they were instituted; but on
condition that no obstacle be opposed to their action: Non
ponentibus obicem. Now what is here the obstacle?
Naturally, there can be none on Christ’s part: in Him
are all the treasures of the Divinity, and He infinitely desires
to communicate them to us in giving Himself. He is not
parsimonious, for He has come to bring us life, He wills to
give it with superabundance: Ut abundantius habeant. He
repeats to each one of us what He said to His Apostles on
1. Sit nobis Domine REPARATIO mentis ET CORPORIS caeleste mysterium.
‘Postcommunion of 8th. Sunday after Pentecost. Purifica, quaesumus,
Domine, mentes nostras et renova caelestibus sacramentis : ut conse-
quenter et CORPORUM PRAESENS pariter et futurum capiamus AUXILIUM.
Postcommunion of 16th. Sunday after Pentecost. — 2. Joan. Iv, 13. —
3. Rom. vii, 32.
PANIS VITAE. 289
the evening of the institution of this Sacrament: ” With
desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you”. Desider
io
desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum }.
Do not let us lose sight of the fact that Communion is not
a human invention, but a divine Sacrament instituted by
Eternal Wisdom. Now it belongs to wisdom to proportion
the means to the end. If, then, Our Divine Saviour in-
stituted the Eucharist in order to unite Himself to us and
make us live by His life, we may be assured that the Sac-
rament contains all that is needful to bring about this union
and that to a supreme degree. In this marvellous invention
are hidden virtualities of incomparable efficacy to produce
in us a divine transformation.
The obstacle is then in us. What is it?
To know it we have only to consider the very nature of
the Sacrament. It is a Food which is to maintain the life of
the soul and strengthen union.
All that is opposed to the supernatural life and union is
then an obstacle to the reception and to the fruit of the
Eucharist. Grave sin which causes the death of the soul
is the absolute obstacle. As food is only given to the living,
so the Eucharist is only given to those who already possess
the life of grace. Together with “a right intention”, this
is the first condition for the faithful to be able to approach
Christ and receive the Bread of Life. The great Pontiff
Pius X. established this in a memorable document2. The
Sacrament acts: Ex opere operato: of itself. The Eucharist
feeds the soul and increases grace and the habit of charity.
This is the first and essential fruit of the Sacrament.
There are’ also other fruits, secondary, it is true, but yet
so great that they merit to be brought forward. ‘These are:
the actual graces of union which put charity into action %,
excite our fervour to return love for love, to perform the
Divine good pleasure, to avoid sin, and that fill the soul with
joy. ” This heavenly Bread, containing in itself all sweet-
ness” is communicated to the soul to enkindle its devotion
1. Luc. xxm, 15. — 2. Decree of Dec. 2oth. 1905. The Sovereign
Pontiff thus explains what a right intention is: "he who approaches
the
holy table should do so, not out of routine, or vain-glory, or human
respect, but for the purpose of pleasing God, of being more closely united
with Him by charity, and of seeking this divine remedy for his
weaknesses and defects.” — 3. "It is charity which is brought into
exercise in the Sacrament, not only as to the habit of charity, but also
as to the act.” S. Thom. III, q. txxrx, a. 4.
19
in the service of the Lord, and make it strong against sin and
temptation?. Now these secondary effects may be more or
less abundant, and they practically depend in a large measure
on our dispositions 2, above all, when love, the principle of
union, is the motive-power which urges us to prepare for
Our Lord a dwelling less unworthy of His Divinity, and to
render Him with all possible affection the homage due to
Him for vouchsafing to come to us.
Certainly, Jesus Christ, being absolutely free and infinitely
good, grants His gifts to whom He pleases; but apart from
the fact that His Infinite Majesty requires that we should
prepare for Him, according to the measure of our weakness,
a dwelling in our heart, can we doubt for a single moment
that He regards with extreme graciousness the efforts of a
soul that desires to receive Him with faith and love *?
See in the Gospel how He rewarded the desires and efforts
of Zachaeus. This prince of the publicans desired only to
see Jesus, and Our Lord, meeting him, anticipated his desires
and told him He willed to abide in his house; and His visit
brought pardon and salvation to this man. See again when
Our Lord is received by Simon the Pharisee. Behold, the
woman, Magdalen, enters the dining-hall during the meal,
draws near to Jesus, begins to pour perfumes on His Feet,
and to kiss them. But immediately, those present recognise:
in this woman one who is a sinner. And Simon the
Pharisee is indignant within himself thinking: ”If only
Jesus knew what manner of woman this is!” Christ knows
these secret thoughts and He defends Magdalen. He con-
trasts what she does to please Him with what the Pharisee
has omitted in the exercise of hospitality towards Him:
"Dost thou see this woman”? He says to Simon. "I
entered into thy house, thou gavest Me no water for My
Feet; but she with tears hath washed My Feet, and with
her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest Me no kiss; but
she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss My Feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with oint-
1. See Catechism of the Council of Trent, ch. xx, § 1. — 2. D.
Coghlan, De SS. Eucharistia, p. 368. — 3. " Whereas the Sacraments
of the New Law, though they take effect ex opere operato, nevertheless
produce a greater effect in proportion as the dispositions of the recipient
are better; therefore, care is to be taken that Holy Communion be
preceded by serious preparation, and followed ty a suitable thanksgiving.”
Pius X. Decree of 20th. Dec. 1905. on Daily Communion.
PANIS VITAE, 291
ment hath anointed My Feet. Wherefore I say to thee:

Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much.
But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And He said
to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee... thy faith hath made
thee safe, go in peace?”.
You see then, that Our Lord is attentive to our disposi-
tions, to the marks of love with which we receive Him. The
Eucharist is the Sacrament of union, and the less Christ
meets with obstacles to the perfection of this union, the more
the grace of His Sacrament acts in us. The Catechism of
the Council of Trent tells us that ” we receive all the abun-
dance of God’s gifts when we partake of the Eucharist with a
heart well-disposed and perfectly prepared ?”.
Ve
Now there is a very important general disposition drawn

from the nature of union, which serves admirably as an
habitual preparation for our union with Jesus Christ, and,
above all, for the perfection of this union: it is the total gift,
frequently renewed, of ourselves to Jesus Christ.
The more we remain in this essential disposition which
Baptism inaugurated, the better is our remote preparation
for receiving the abundance of Eucharistic grace. To
remain attached to venial sin, to deliberate imperfections, to
wilful negligences, and premeditated infidelities, all these
things cannot fail to impede Our Lord’s action when He
comes to us. If we desire the perfection of this union we
ought not to bargain with Christ for our heart’s liberty, nor
reserve any place, however small, for creatures loved for
their own sake. We should empty ourselves of self, dis-
engage ourselves from creatures, aspire after the perfect
coming of the reign of Christ in us by the submission of all
our being to His Gospel and to the action of His Spirit.
This is a most excellent disposition. What is it that
prevents Christ from identifying us perfectly with Himself
when He comes to us? Do our infirmities of mind or body,
the miseries inherent to our condition as exiles, the limita-
tions of our human nature? Certainly not. These imperfec-
tions, or even faults that escape us and that we deplore and
strive to destroy, do not prevent the action of Christ. On
1. Luc. vu, 36-39 ; 44-50. — 2. Ch. xx, § 2.
the contrary, He comes to help us to overcome these faults,

and to support our weaknesses patiently; for He is a com-
passionate High Priest Who ” knoweth our frame, and re-
membereth that we are dust?”, and Who has taken upon
Himself all our miseries: Vere languores nostros ipse tulit ?.
The things that hinder the perfection of union are the bad
habits known and not repudiated, which, from want of gen-
erosity, we have not the courage to attack ; voluntary
attachment to ourselves or to creatures. Christ cannot make
us share in the abundance of His grace as long as we do
not labour, by watchfulness over ourselves and by mortifi-
cation, to uproot these bad habits and break off these at-
tachments.
And this is true, above all, of deliberate or habitual faults
against charity towards our neighbour. I shall develop this
point when I show the motives we have for loving one
another. But I must say a word here. Our Lord is one
with His mystical body; all Christians are His members by
grace, and when we communicate we must do so with the
whole Christ, that is to say, unite ourselves by charity with
Christ in His physical being and with His members ; we can-
not separate these two. The Council of Trent says: ” Our
Lord has willed to leave us this Sacrament as a symbol of
the intimate union of this mystical body of which He is the
Head?”. St. Paul says in speaking of the Eucharist: ” For
we being many are one bread, one body, all that partake of
one bread*”. Hear what Our Lord Himself says: ” If
therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou re-
member that thy brother hath anything against thee; leave
there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be re-
conciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer
thy gift®”. This is why the least wilful coldness, the least
resentment harboured in the soul towards our neighbour
form a great obstacle to the perfection of that union which
Our Lord wishes to have with us in the Eucharist.
If then we discover in our heart some voluntary attach-
ment to our judgment, or self-love, or, above all, habits
contrary to charity, we may be certain that as long as we
1. Ps. ctl, 14. — 2. Isa. Li, 4. — 3. (Sacramentum hoc voluit esse)
symbolum unius illius corporis, cujus ipse caput existit, cuique nos,
tamquam memobra, arctissima fidei, spei et caritatis connexione adstrictos
esse voluit, ut idipsum omnes diceremus nec essent in nobis schismata.
Sess, xm, cap. 4. — 4. I Cor. x, 17. — 5. Matth. v, 23-24.
PANIS VITAE. 2903
tolerate this state of things, the abundance of the fruits of

the Sacrament will remain restricted. But if we take the
resolution of correcting ourselves of our bad habits, and
make serious efforts to destroy them, we may be assured
that Our Lord will regard us with kindness, bless our efforts
and reward us abundantly, when we approach Him in Holy
Communion to find in Him the necessary strength.
Again, it is true that our dispositions do not cause the
grace of the Sacrament; all they do is to give it free course,
by removing the obstacles; but we must open our hearts as
widely as possible to the outpouring of the Divine Gift. An
excellent disposition, then, is to try to refuse nothing to
Christ. A soul that remains habitually in this disposition of
putting away all that could offend the sight of the Divine
Guest, and holding itself always ready to accomplish His
Divine Will, is admirably ” adapted” for the Sacramental
action.
And what is the reason of this? The Eucharist is the
Sacrament of union, as the word ” communion” indicates;
it is in order to unite Himself to us that Our Lord comes to
us. To unite is to make of two things only one thing. But we
unite ourselves to Christ as He is. Now every Communion
presupposes the Sacrifice of the Altar, and consequently, the
immolation of the Cross. In the offering of the Holy Mass,
Christ associates us to His state of High Priest, and in Com-
munion He causes us to participate in His condition of
Victim. The Holy Sacrifice supposes,as I have said, that
inward and entire oblation that Our Lord made to the Will
of His Father when entering into the world, an oblation that
He often tenewed during His life and completed by His
death on Calvary. All this, says St. Paul, is recalled to
our minds by Communion: ” As often as you shall eat this
Bread and drink the chalice, you shall show forth the death
of the Lord”. QUOTIESCUMQUE enim manducabitis panem
hunc et calicem bibetis, mortem Domini annuntiabitis donec
vemiat*. Jesus Christ gives Himself to us as Food, but after
having been first offered as Victim; Victim and Food are, in
the Eucharist, Sacrifice and Sacrament — two inseparable
characters. And that is why this habitual disposition of
giving oneself totally is so important. Christ gives Him-
self to us in the measure we give ourselves to Him, to
ry 1 Core xi, 626,
His Father, to our brethren who are the members of His

mystical body; this essential disposition makes us one with
Christ, but with Christ as victim; it establishes sympathy
between the two terms of the union. ;
When Our Lord finds a soul thus disposed, given up
entirely and unreservedly to His action, He acts in it with
His Divine virtue which works marvels of holiness because
it meets with no obstacle. The absence of this dispositio
unionis also explains why some advance so little in perfection,
despite frequent Communions. Christ does not find in these
souls the supernatural alacrity which would permit Him to
act freely in them. Their vanity, self-love, susceptibility,
selfishness, jealousy and sensuality prevent the union be-
tween them and Christ being made with that intensity, that
fulness by which the transformation of the soul is effected
and completed.
Let us ask Our Saviour Himself to help us to acquire
this fundamental disposition: it is extremely precious be-
cause it adapts our soul in a wonderful manner to the action
of the Sacrament of Divine union.
To this disposition of union, which serves excellently as

habitual preparation, we can join another, also remote, which
consists in directing each day by an explicit act, all our
actions towards Communion, in such a way that our union
with Christ in the Eucharist becomes truly the sun of our
life.. At the time of his ordination to the priesthood,
St. Francis of Sales took the resolution of making of every
action of the day a preparation for the Eucharistic Sacrifice
of the morrow, so as to be able to reply truly if anyone asked
him the reason of his conduct: ” I am preparing myself to
celebrate Mass1”. This is an excellent practice.
But if it is true that without Jesus Christ we can do
nothing, how much more do we realise this when it is a
question of our accomplishing the most holy action of each
day! To be sacramentally united to Jesus in the Eucharist is
the highest action possible to us; all human wisdom, how-
ever elevated it may be, is nothing in comparison to this act.
We are incapable of preparing ourselves fittingly for it with-
out the help of Christ Himself. We show our reverence for
Him by our prayers, but it is He Who must prepare a dwell-
1. Hamon, Vie de St. Francois de Sales, t. I, L. II, ch. 1.
PANIS VITAE. 295
ing for Himself in us. The Most High must sanctify His
own tabernacle. As the Psalmist says: Sanctificavit taber-
naculum suum Altissimus?. Let us ask this of Our Lord
when, during the day, we go to visit Him in the Blessed Sac-
rament. ”O Jesus Christ, Incarnate Word, I desire to
prepare a dwelling for Thee within myself, but I am in-
capable of this work. O Eternal Wisdom! prepare my soul
to become Thy temple by Thy infinite merits. Grant that I
may attach myself to Thee alone! I offer Thee my actions
and the sufferings of this day in order that Thou mayest
render them pleasing in Thy Divine sight, and that to morrow
I may not come before Thee with empty hands”. Such a
prayer is excellent, the day is thus directed towards union
with Christ; love, the principle of union, envelops our acts.
Far from murmuring against what may happen to us that.
is disagreeable or painful, we shall offer it to Christ by a
movement of love, and the soul will thus be prepared quite
naturally, as it were, when the moment comes to receive its
God.
VI.
After this, the moment of Communion being come, there

will be nothing more to do than to make the immediate pre-
paration required by the infinite dignity of Him Who comes
to us. And although this preparation derives its value and
virtue from that fundamental disposition of which I have
spoken, it is useful to say a few words about it.
One of the most important immediate dispositions is fazth.
The Eucharist is essentially a mystery of faith: Mysterium
fidei®. But are not all the mysteries of Christ mysteries of
faith? Certainly they are, but nowhere is faith so useful
as in this mystery. Why is this? Because neither the
reason nor the senses perceive anything of Christ. Look at
the manger; Christ is a little Child, but the angels hymn His
coming that they may manifest His Divinity, and His mission
as Saviour of mankind; during His public life, His miracles
and the sublimity of His doctrine give testimony that He is
the Son of God; on Thabor, His Humanity is transfigured
in His Divinity; on the Cross itself, the Divinity does not
1. Ps. xiv, s. — 2. Words contained in the formula of the Conse-
cration of the Precious Blood.
296 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE. SOUL.
entirely disappear: nature proclaims, by the upheaval it

undergoes, that the Crucified is the Creator of the world?.
But on the altar, neither the Humanity nor the Divinity are
apparent: Latet simul et humanitas?. For the senses, the
sight, the taste, the touch, there are only the bread and wine.
To see through these appearances, to penetrate these veils as
far as the Divine realities, needs the eye of faith.
This appears very clearly when we read the chapter in
which St. John records how Christ announced the mystery
of the Eucharist to the Jews*. The Saviour had shown,
on the previous day, His goodness and power in feeding
some thousands of men with a few loaves. Seeing this
striking miracle, the Jews had cried out: ” This is of a truth
the Prophet that is to come”! And, passing from admiration
to action, they try to take Him by force and make Him
king. But now Jesus reveals a much more astounding
mystery than the prodigy of the multiplication of the loaves,
to them. ”I am the Living Bread which came down from
Heaven”. These words alone immediately arouse murmurs
among the Jews: Is not this the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came
down from heaven”? And Jesus answers them: ” Murmur
not among yourselves ... I am the Bread of Life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead. This is
the Bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any
man eat of it, he may not die... If any man eat of this Bread,
he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my
Flesh, for the life of the world”. Thereupon the Jews,
becoming more incredulous, begin to dispute among them-
selves: ” How can this man give us his flesh to eat”? But
Christ withdraws none of His assertions, on the contrary,
He makes them more emphatic: ” Amen, amen, I say to
you: Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and
drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that
eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting
life... for My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink
indeed”. Then incredulity gains ground even among His
disciples. Some among them protest: ” This saying is hard,
and who can hear it”? From this moment, adds St. John,
many of His disciples believed no more in Jesus, ” they went
back and walked no more with Him”. After they had gone,
1. Luc. xxi, 44 and 51. — 2. Hymn Adoro te. — 3. Joan. vi, 30-70.
PANIS VITAE. 297
Our Lord turned towards the twelve Apostles and said to
them: ” Will you also go away”? Then Peter answering
said: ” 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”.
Let us also believe with Peter, and the Apostles who re-
mained faithful; let our faith supply what is lacking to the
senses: Praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui 1.
Jesus Christ has said: ” This is My Body, this is My Blood;
take, eat, and you shall have life”. Thou hast said it, Lords
that is sufficient, I believe it. This Bread that Thou givest
is Thy own self, the Christ, the beloved Son of the Father,
Who becamest Incarnate and wast delivered up for me; Who
wast born at Bethlehem, didst dwell in N azareth, Who didst
cure the sick and give sight to the blind; Who didst forgive
Magdalen and the Good Thief; Who at the Last Supper
didst let St. John lay His head upon Thy Heart; Thou Who
art the Way, the Truth and the Life; Who didst die for
love of me, and didst ascend into heaven, and now, at the
tight hand of God Thy Father, dost reign and intercede un-
ceasingly for us. O Jesus, Eternal Truth, Thou declarest
that Thou art present upon the altar, really and substantially,
with Thy Humanity and all the treasures of Thy Divinity.
I believe it, I fall down in adoration before Thee. My God
and My All, receive this homage of mine”! This act of
faith is the most sublime we can make and the most complete
homage of our intelligence to Christ.
It is likewise an act of confidence. For the Christ that
faith presents to us comes to us as our Chief, and our Elder
Brother. We must enkindle our desires. ”O Lord Jesus ”,
we should say, with the priest at the moment of Communion,
” regard not my sins, (which I detest) but the faith of Thy
Church, which tells me that Thou art there present under
the veils of the Host, in order to come to me. Thou hast
this power, O Christ Jesus, of drawing me entirely to Thy-
self, so that I may be transformed into Thee. I yield myself
entirely to Thee that Thou mayest be the Master of all my
being, and of all my activity, that I may live only of Thee, by
Thee, and in Thee”. If we ask this grace, let us be certain
that Christ will grant it to us; that is why we ought to go so
far as to be importunate, without placing any bounds to our
1. Hymn Pange lingua
holy desires. If we took into account what riches this Sacra-
ment possesses — and they are infinite, since it contains
Christ Himself 1 — if we knew all the fruits that the coming
of Christ is able to produce in us, we should have an immense
desire to have them brought forth in us. All the fruits of
the Redemption are contained in the Eucharist to become
ours: Ut Redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis jugiter sen-
tiamus 2, Our Lord wills, with an intense will, to give us a
part in them, but He requires that we should enlarge our
hearts by desire and confidence. ” Certainly God knows”,
says St. Augustine *, ” what we have need of, but He wills
that our desire should be enkindled in prayer so that we may
have a greater capacity for receiving what He prepares for
us. The greater our faith, the firmer our confidence, and
the more ardent our desire, so much the more shall we be
capable of receiving the fruits of the Bread of Life’. “Open
thy mouth wide and I will fill it”, God says to us, as
formerly to the Psalmist: Dzlata os tuum et implebo illud *.
” Open thy soul by faith, by confidence, by love, by holy
desires, by abandonment to Me, and I will fill it”. ” With
what, Lord”? ” With Myself. I will give Myself to thee
entirely, with My Humanity, and My Divinity, with the fruit
of My mysteries, the merit of My labours, the satisfaction
of My sufferings, and the price of My Passion. I will
come to thee, as heretofore I came on the earth in order
to destroy the works of the devil®; I will offer with thee
Divine homage to My Father; I will give thee a share in the
treasures of My Divinity, in the eternal life I hold from My
Father. and which My Father wills Me to communicate to
thee that thou mayest resemble Me. I will fill thee with My .
grace so as Myself to become thy wisdom, thy sanctification,
thy way, thy truth, thy life. Thou shalt be another Myself,
the object, like Me, and because of Me, of My Father’s
1. Utilitatis hujus Sacramenti magna est et universalis... nam cum
hoc Sacramentum sit Dominicae Passionis, continet in se Christum pas-
sum; unde quidquid est effectus Dominicae Passionis, totum etiam est
effectus hujus Sacramenti, S. Thom. In Joan. Evang. C. vi. lect. 6 and
again: Effects quem Passio Christi fecit in mundo, hoc Sacramentum
facit in homine. III, gq. Lxxix, a. 1. — 2. Prayer for the Feast of Corpus
Christi. — 3. Sumemus capacius quanto id et fidelius credimus, et spe-
ramus firmius et desideramus ardentius, Epist. cxxx, c. 8. St. Augustine
says this of eternal life, but it can be applied as well to the Eucharist
which is the pledge of that life: Et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.
— 4: PS. LXxX) DI.8—— 95 1 Joan.) m1,
PANIS VITAE. 299
delight. Open thy soul and I will fill it”. Dilata os tuum
et mplebo illud !
What is needed beyond such words to make us yield our-

selves up to Christ, so that His grace may take possession
of us, and He may accomplish all His Will in us? And see
the return Jesus Christ makes to us for what we give Him,
how He increases this faith, this confidence, this love with
which we receive Him! He is the Word, the eternal Word
Who repeats in the depths of our heart Divine secrets and
inundates us with His light, for He enlightens every man
coming into the world. He is also the One Who came down
on earth for our salvation, Who, in this Eucharistic union,
applies the infinite merits of His death to us. What in-
vincible assurance and what peace Jesus brings to the soul in
coming to it! Not content with applying His satisfactions
to us, He gives us the pledge of the future life: Et futurae
gloriae nobis pignus datur*. Finally, He enkindles love.
Love lives by union. This is truly the Sacrament of super-
natural growth. Each Communion well made brings us
nearer and nearer to our Mode!; above all, it makes us
penetrate more intimately into the knowledge, the love, and
the practice of the mystery of our predestination and adop-
tion in Christ Jesus, our Elder Brother. It perfects the
grace of divine sonship in us.
There is no action wherein our faith can be exercised
with greater intensity than in Communion; there is no more
sublime homage of faith than to believe in Christ Whose
Divinity and Humanity are both hidden under the ap-
pearances'
of the host. When Christ Jesus, in showing us a
little bread and wine, tells us: ” This is My Body. This is
My Blood”, and our intelligence, putting aside all that the
senses say, accepts these words of Christ; when our will
leads us in faith and love to the Holy Table, to put into
practice this adhesion of the intelligence, then we accomplish
the highest and most absolute act of faith that can be.
Eucharistic Communion is the most perfect act of our
Divine adoption. There is no moment when we are more
justly entitled to say to our Father in heaven: ” O heavenly
Father, I abide in Thy Son Jesus, and He abides in me.
Thy Son, proceeding from Thee, receives the communication
1. Antiphon of Vespers of Corpus Christi.
of Thy Divine life in its fulness. I have received Thy Son

with faith; faith tells me that at this moment I am with
Him, and since I share in His life, behold me in Him,
through Him, with Him as the son in whom Thou art well-
pleased”. What graces, what light, what strength does not
such a prayer bring to the child of God! What superabun-
dance of Divine life, what closeness of union, what depth
of adoption does not such a faith communicate to us! We
here touch the culminating point, on earth, of this Divine
adoption.
As to the formulae to help us in the immediate preparation

for this union with Jesus, one cannot fix on any exclusively,
the needs of souls as well as their aptitudes being so varied.
Some are accustomed to follow the prayers and move-
ments of the priest who offers the Holy Sacrifice, and they
approach the Holy Table during Mass, at the moment of the
Communion. When possible, this is the best immediate
preparation for receiving Christ. Why should not the faith-
ful use the same prayers that our holy Mother the Church
puts on the lips of the priest to prepare him to receive Our
Lord? In thus preparing ourselves, we are united more
directly to the Sacrifice of Christ and to the intentions of His
Sacred Heart. Moreover, the Missal contains, as in the
Gloria in excelsis, for example, admirable expressions of
faith, confidence, and love. Others read the sixth chapter
of the Gospel of St. John, where the Apostle relates the
Eucharistic promises, and they intermingle aspirations of
faith, hope, and charity with the Sacred Text. We can also
nourish our devotion with Book IV. of the Imitation of
Christ, which deals especially with the Mystery of the Altar,
or again, we can use the formulae contained in approved
works of piety.
Each can follow, in this, the bent of his preferences, as
long as the mind and heart are associated with the words
pronounced by the lips, and provided that the soul enlarges
its capacity of union by an intense faith, deep reverence,
absolute confidence, ardent desire and love, and above all,
generous abandonment to the Will of Jesus Christ. Then
all is well: there is nothing further to do than to receive
the Divine gift...
PANIS VITAE. 301
Wil
I would leave the same latitude for the thanksgiving.

Some, in silence, adore the Divine Word within them. The
Humanity we receive is the Humanity of the Eternal Word.
By It, we enter into communion with the Word, Who from
the Bosom of the Father, Jn sinu Patris, has descended into
us. The Word, by essence, belongs wholly to His Father;
He holds all from Him, without on that account, being less
than His Father. But He refers all to His Father: Ego vivo
propter Patrem, His essence is to live by His Father. When
we are thus united to Jesus and give ourselves up to Him,
He bears us up by the faith we have in Him even to the
Holy of Holies, Usque ad interiora velaminis1. There, we
may unite ourselves to those acts of intense adoration that
the Sacred Humanity of Christ renders to the Blessed Trin-
ity. We are so united to Christ at this moment that we
can appropriate to ourselves the acts of the Sacred Human-
ity and render an extremely acceptable homage to the Eter-
nal through the Holy Spirit. Christ Himself becomes our
thanksgiving, our Eucharist; let us never forget that He
supplies for all our weakness, for all our infirmities, all our
miseries. What unlimited confidence ought not the soul to
derive from Christ’s Presence within her !
Again, we can lend our lips to sing the canticle of all
creation which takes its life in the Word, so that all the
things which were made by the Word — Omnia per ipsum
facta sunt; et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est ? —
may sing, in Him and by Him, to the glory of God. This is
what the priest does on coming down from the altar. The
Church, the Bride of Christ, who knows better than anyone
the secrets of her Divine Bridegroom, makes the priest sing
in the sanctuary of his soul where the Word dwells, the in-
ward canticle of thanksgiving. The soul leads all creation to
the feet of its God and its Lord, that He may recieve homage
from every creature: Benedicite omma opera Domini Do-
mino*. All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise
and exalt Him above all for ever. O ye Angels of the Lord,
bless the Lord, O ye heavens, bless Him... Sun and moon,
stars of heaven, bless the Lord... Showers and dew, winds
and tempests, fire and flames, cold and heat, dews and rime,
1. Hebr. vi, 19. — 2. Joan. 1, 3. — 3. Dan. in, 57.
frost and cold, ice and snow, bless the Lord. Nights and
days, light and darkness, lightnings and clouds, bless
Him...” The priest invites the earth, the mountains and
hills, the plants, the seas and rivers, the fish, the birds,
wild beasts and cattle, and again, men, priests, the holy and
humble of heart, to render glory to the Holy Trinity, to
Whom all honour is given through the Sacred Humanity of
Jesus. What a wonderful song is that of all creation sung
thus by the priest at the moment when he is united to the
Eternal High-Priest, the one Mediator, the Divine Word by
Whom all was created!
Others, sitting, like Magdalen, at the feet of Jesus, speak
to Him familiarly, listening to what He says in the depth of
the soul, ready to give Him all He asks; for, at these
moments when the Divine Light is in us, Jesus often shows
the generous soul what He requires of it. ” A sovereignly
precious time”, says St. Teresa, ”is that hour following
Communion: the Divine Master is then pleased to instruct
us; let us listen to Him, and in gratitude for what He
vouchsafes to teach us, let us kiss His feet, and beg Him
not to leave us?”.
We can also read slowly, as if listening to the words of

Christ, the magnificent discourse after the Last Supper, when
Jesus had just instituted this Sacrament: ” Believe you not
that J am in the Father, and the Father in Me?.. he that hath
My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and
I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him... As the
Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My
love... These things I have spoken to you that My joy may
be in you, and your joy may be filled... I have called you
friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of My
Father, I have made known to you... the Father Himself
loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed
that I came out from God... These things I have spoken to
you, that in Me you may have peace; in the world you
shall have distress, but have confidence, I have overcome the
world ?”.
Or again, we can converse interiorly with Our Lord, as
if we were at the foot of the Cross; or pray vocally by
1. Way of Perfection, ch xxxiv. — 2. Joan. x1v and xv.
PANIS VITAE, _ 303
reciting the psalms which refer to the Eucharist: ” The
Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing; He hath set me
in a place of pasture: He hath brought me up on the water
of refreshment: He hath converted my soul... though I
should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evils, for Thou art with me?”.
All these attitudes of the soul are excellent. The inspi-
rations of the Holy Spirit are of endless variety. The one
thing necessary is that we should recognise the greatness of
the Divine Gift which St. Paul declares to be ” unspeak-
able”, and that we should draw, for our own needs and
those of our brethren and of the whole Church, from this
infinite treasury. For ” the Father loveth the Son, and He
hath given all things into His Hand”: Pater diligit Filium,
et omnia dedit in manu ejus?. Christ gives all in giving
Himself; we too ought to give all, while repeating from the
depths of our hearts, the words He Himself said: Quae
placita sunt ei facio semper. "1 do always the things that
please Him *”, or again those words of Jesus to His Father
at the Last Supper, words which are the very expression of
perfect union: ” All My things are Thine, and Thine are
Mine” Et omnia mea tua sunt, et tua mea sunt *.
This is, I repeat, the fruit properly belonging to the Eu-

charist :the identification of ourselves, through faith and love
with Christ. If, as St. Augustine admirably says, you re-
ceive well the Body of Christ, you are what you receive °.
Doubtless, the act itself of Communion is transitory, but
the effect it produces, union with Christ the life of the soul,
is, of its nature, permanent; it lasts as long and in the same
measure as we wish. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of life
only because it is the Sacrament of union; we must abide
in Jesus and Jesus in us. Do not let us, then, in the course of
the day, diminish by our levity, our dissipation, our curiosity,
vanity and selfseeking, the fruit of the Eucharistic reception
and union. It is a Living Bread, a Bread of life, a Bread
which makes us live, that we have received. The works
1. Ps. xxl, 1-4. — 2. Joan. m1, 35. — 3. Ibid. vat, 29.— 4. Ibid.
Xvu, 10. — 5. The virtue proper to this food is to produce unity, to unite
us so closely to the Body of Jesus Christ that,having become His members,
we may be that. which we receive: « Virtus ipsa quae ibi intelligitur
unitas est, ut redacti in Corpus ejus, effecti membra ejus simus quod
accipimus. Sermo, LVI. Cc. 7. »
we ought to accomplish are the works of life, the works

of a child of God, after having been nourished every day
with this Divine Bread in order to be transformed into
Christ. For ” he that saith he walketh in Christ, ought him-
self so to walk even as Christ walked ?”.
Do not let us, from want of generosity, and so as to
excuse our sloth, say that we are weak. This is true, more
true even than we think. But by the side of this abyss,
(it is one), of our weakness, which is, however, compatible
with our good will — and Our Lord knows this good will
better than we do — there is another abyss, that of the
merits and treasures of Christ ; and, by Communion, this
Christ is ours.
1. I Joan. 1, 6. This is what the Church makes us ask at the Mass
of the znd. Sunday after Pentecost: « May the offering to be dedicated
to Thy Name purify us, O Lord, and carry us on from day to day, to
the practice of a heavenly life.
IX. — VOX SPONSAE.
Summary. — The Divine praise forms an essential part of the

sanctifying mission confided by Christ to the Church. —
I. The Eternal Word, the Divine Canticle ; the Incarnation
associates humanity with this canticle. — II. The Church
charged to organize, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost,
the public worship of her Spouse ; the use that is made of
the psalms ; how these inspired canticles exalt the Divine
perfections, express our needs and speak to us of Christ.
— Ill. The great power of intercession this divine praise
has on the lips of the Bride. — IV. Numerous fruits of
sanctification : the prayer of the Church, source of light ;
it makes us share in the sentiments of the Soul of Christ.
— V. It likewise gives us a share in His mysteries ; a sure
and infallible way of making us one with Jesus. — VI. Why
and how the Church honours the Saints.
? |‘HE Holy Sacrifice in which the soul participates by

sacramental communion constitutes, as we have seen,
the centre of our religion; it includes in one and the
same act the commemoration, renewal and application of the
immolation of Calvary.
But the Mass in itself alone does not supply the place of
all the religious actions we ought to accomplish; although it
is the most perfect homage we can render to God and
contains the substance and virtue of all homage, it is, how-
ever, not the only homage. What do we yet owe to God?
The homage of prayer, at one time public, at another in-
dividual. I will speak in the following conference of private
and mental prayer. Let us now see in what the homage of
public prayer consists.
If you read the letters of St. Paul, you will see he exhorts
us to it more than once. He writes to the Colossians telling
them to teach and admonish one another ” in psalms, hymns,
and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to
God*”. And again: ” Speaking to yourselves in psalms and
hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things,
1. Col. m1, 16.
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the

Father”. While he himself was in prison, with his com-
panion Silas, he would rise during the night to offer to
God with a glad heart praises for his sufferings and thanks-
giving for his wounds”: Media autem nocte Paulus et Silas
orantes laudabant Deum *.
This Divine praise is closely linked with the Holy Sac-
rifice and we see that Our Lord wished to show us this by
His example. The Evangelists, in fact, tell us that Christ
did not leave the Cenacle, after the institution of the Eu-
charist, until He had said a hymn of praise: Hymno dicto *.
Public prayer gravitates all around the sacrifice of the altar;
it is there it finds its best support, it is thence it draws
its greatest value in the sight of God. This is because it is
presented to Him by the Church, in the name of the Bride-
groom, the Eternal High Priest, Who, by His Sacrifice
unceasingly renewed, has merited that all glory and honour
should be rendered to the Father in the unity of the Holy
Ghost: Per ipsum et cum ipso et im ipso est tibi... omnis
honor et gloria ®.
Let us see in what this homage of the official prayer of
the Church consists, and how, whilst constituting a work
most acceptable to God, it becomes for us a pure and
abundant source of union with Christ and of eternal life.
kk
Before ascending into Heaven, Christ Jesus bequeathed to

His Church its greatest treasure — the mission of continuing
His work here below *. This work, as you know, is double:
it is a work of praise in regard to the Eternal Father, a work
of salvation in regard to men. The Word was made flesh
for us: Propter nos et propter nostram salutem descendit de
caelis™, That is true; but this work of our redemption has
for its cause the love of Christ for His Father: Ut cognos-
cat mundus quia diligo Patrem... sic facto *.
The Church receives her mission from Christ: she re-
ceives the sacraments and the privilege of infallibility in
order to sanctify men; but she has a part too in the religion
1. Ephes. v, 19-20. — 2. Bossuet, Panegyric on St. Paul. — 3. Act.
xvi, 25, — 4. Matth. xxv1, 30; Marc. xiv, 26. — 5. Canon” of the
Mass. — 6. See the conference on The Church. — 7. The Nicene Creed.
— 8 Joan. xIV, 31.:
VOX SPONSAE. 307
of Christ towards His Father in order to continue upon
earth the homage of praise that Christ in His sacred human-
ity offered to His Father.
Christ Jesus, in this as in all things, is our Model. Let
us for an instant contemplate the Incarnate Word. Christ
is the only Son of the Father; He is the Eternal Word. In
the adorable Trinity, He is the Word by which the Father
eternally says to Himself all that He is; He is the living
expression of all the perfections of the Father, the ” figure
of His substance”, says St. Paul, and the ” brightness of
His glory’”. The Father contemplates His Word, His
Son; He sees in Him the perfect, substantial, living image of
Himself ;such is the essential glory that the Father receives.
If God had created nothing, had left all things in the state
of possibility, He would, however, have had His essential and
infinite glory. By the very fact of being what He is, the
Eternal Word is like a Divine canticle, a living canticle,
singing the praise of the Father, expressing the plenitude of
His perfections. It is the infinite hymn which resounds un-
ceasingly Jn sinu Patris.
In taking a human nature, the Son remains what He was:
Quod fuit permansit ?; He does not cease to be the only Son,
the perfect image of the perfections of the Father; He
does not cease to be of Himself the living glorification of His
Father. The infinite canticle, sung from all eternity, began
to be sung upon earth when the Word became incarnate.
By the Incarnation, humanity is, as it were, drawn by the
Word into this work of glorification; the canticle sung in
the sanctuary of the Divinity is prolonged by the Incarnate
Word in His humanity.
Upon the lips of Christ Jesus, true Man as well as true
God, this canticle takes a human. expression and human
accents, and likewise a character of adoration that the Word,
equal to the Father, could not offer Him as such. However,
if the expression of this canticle is human, its perfection is
all-holy; it is of Divine price and infinite value. Who
amongst us could measure the greatness of the worship
Christ rendered to His Father ? Who could recount some-
thing of the song of praise Christ sang in His thrice blessed
soul to the glory of His Father ? The soul of Christ con-
templated, in a continual vision, the divine perfections, and
1. Hebr. 1, 3. — 2. Antiphon for the Feast of the Circumcision.
from this contemplation sprang forth the fulness of religion,

perfect adoration and sublime praise. At the end of His
earthly life, Christ Jesus declares to His Father that He has
always glorified Him. This was the chief work of His
life and He has perfectly fulfilled it : Ego te clarificavt super
terram : opus consummavi, quod dedisti mihi ut faciam :
”T have glorified Thee on the earth ; I have finished the
work which Thou gavest Me to do*”.
But it is note-worthy that in personally uniting our nature
to Himself, the Word incorporated, so to speak, all humanity
with Himself. He associated, by right and in principle, all
humanity in the perfect praise He gives to His Father.
Here again we have received of the fulness of Christ, so that,
in Christ and by Christ, every Christian soul, united to Him
by grace, should sing divine praises. Christ is our Head, all
the baptized are the members of His mystical body; in Him
and through Him, we should give all glory and honour to
God.
Christ has left us a share of praise to fulfil as He has given
us a share of suffering to bear. Does our adoration and
praise add something to the merit or the perfection of those
of Christ ? Certainly not. But Christ has willed that,
through the Incarnation, all humanity, of which He holds
the place, should be by right indissolubly united to all His
states and to all His Mysteries. Let us never forget this.
He makes only one with us. He rendered His adorations
and praises to His Father not only in our favour but also in
our name. And that is why the Church, His mystical Body,
must be associated here below with this work of religion and
praise which the humanity of Christ now renders to His
Father in splendoribus sanctorum?. The Church must
offer, after the example of her Spouse, this ” sacrifice of
praise’, as St. Paul calls it * that is due to the infinite per-
fections of the Father.
Ley
Let us see how the Church, guided in this by the Holy

Ghost, fulfils her mission. At the centre of her worship she
places the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the veritable sac-
rifice which renews the work of our redemption on Calvary
1. Joan. xvm, 4. — 2. Ps. cix, 3. — 3. Hebr. xm, 15.
VOX SPONSAE, 309
and applies the fruits of it. She accompanies this oblation

with sacred ceremonies which she carefully regulates and
these are like the protocol of the court of the King of kings.
She surrounds it with readings, canticles, hymns and psalms
which serve as preparation or thanksgiving for the euchar-
istic immolation.
This constitutes the ” Divine Office”; you know that the
Church imposes the recitation of it as a grave obligation on
those whom Christ, by the sacrament of Holy Order, has
made partakers of His Eternal Priesthood. As to the
elements, the ” formulae” of her praise, the Church com-
poses some of them herself — as the hymns — by the pen
of her doctors, who are also great saints, for example,
St. Ambrose; but she principally borrows them from the
books of the sacred Scriptures, the books inspired by God
Himself. St. Paul tells us ” we know not what we should
pray for as we ought; but”, he adds, ” the Spirit Himself
asketh for us”: Sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gem-
tibus inenarrabilibus+. That is to say God alone knows how
He ought to be besought. This is true of the prayer of
petition, but it is especially true of the prayer of praise and
thanksgiving. God alone knows how He ought to be praised.
The most magnificent conceptions of God formed by our
intelligence are human. To praise God worthily, it is
necessary that God Himself should compose the expression
of these praises. And that is why the Church places the
psalms upon our lips as the most perfect praise we can, after
the Holy Sacrifice, offer to God ”.
Read the divine pages. You will see how these canticles,
inspired by the Holy Ghost, relate, proclaim and exalt all
the perfections of God. The canticle of the Eternal Word
in the Holy Trinity is simple, yet infinite; but upon the lips
of creatures, incapable of comprehending the infinite, praises
are multiplied and repeated. With wonderful and great
variety of expression, the psalms sing by turns the power,
magnificence, holiness, goodness, mercy and beauty of God *.
” He hath done all things whatsoever He would, for He
spoke and they were made: He commanded and they were
1. Rom. vim, 26. — 2. Ut bene laudetur Deus, laudavit seipsum Deus;
et ideo quia dignatus est laudare se, invenit homo quemadmodum laudet
eum. S. Augustin. Enarr. in Ps. 144. — 3. So as not to overcrowd these
pages with notes, we do not give here the many references to the texts
Wwe are about to quote, which are all taken from the book of Psalms.
created... O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name

in the whole earth... Thou hast made all things in wisdom...
The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above
the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God... The
mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord: the
heavens declared His justice and all people saw His glory...
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; the Lord shall
rejoice in His works. He looketh upon the earth and
maketh it tremble: He touched the mountains and they
smoke... ’”.
And hear in what terms the psalms speak to us of the
goodness and mercy of the Lord. ” The Lord is faithful
in all His words; He is gracious and merciful. The Lord
is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His
works... The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,
to all that call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of
them that fear Him: He will hear their prayer and save
them. The Lord keepeth all them that love Him... Let all
that is within me bless His holy name, for His mercy
endureth for ever...” Quoniam in aeternum misericordia
ejus...
These are some of the accents the Holy Ghost Himself
places on our lips. Let us love to use these inspired accents
to praise God; let us repeat with the psalmist: ” I will sing
to the Lord as long as I live”. A soul that loves God feels
indeed the need of praising and blessing Him and exalting
His perfections; she delights in celebrating them as they
merit’; it is a torment for her to feel herself incapable of
celebrating them as is due, and that is why in the psalms we
so often invite all creatures to praise God with us. ” The
heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament
declareth the works of His hands... O praise the Lord, all
ye nations : praise Him, all ye people.” These are for the
soul so many acts of perfect love, of pure complacency,
extremely pleasing to God.
At the same time as they celebrate the Divine perfections,

the psalms wonderfully express the sentiments and needs of
our souls. The psalms know how to weep and rejoice; to
desire and supplicate*. There is no inward disposition of
1. Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis of Sales. Book V,
Chap. 7, 8 a. 9. — 2. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. xxx ; sermo TU, tee
VOX SPONSAE, 311
our souls they cannot express. The Church well knows our
needs, and that is why, like a solicitous mother, she places
upon our lips all these deep and ardent aspirations of re-
pentance, confidence, joy, love and complacency, dictated
by the Holy Ghost Himself: ” Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to Thy great mercy... against Thee only have I
sinned... My soul hath hoped in the Lord... because with
the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemp-
tion... O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste
to help me. Let them be confounded and ashamed that
seek my soul... Thou art become my support and my
refuge. Protect me under the shadow of Thy wings;
though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”... Quoniam tu
mecum es, ” Thou art with me”! What an act of confi-
dence!
At times too we feel the need of telling God how much we
thirst for Him, and how we wish only to seek after Him.
Here again we find the most adequate expression of this
need in the psalms. ”O Lord, Thou art my glory and my
salvation... For what have I in heaven, but Thee: and
beside Thee what do I desire upon earth... Thou art the
God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength, Thou shalt fill me
with joy with Thy countenance; at Thy right hand are de-
lights for evermore. As the hart panteth after the foun-
tains of water; so my soul panteth after Thee, O God...
When shall I come and appear before the face of God...
I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear” : Satiabor
cum apparuerit gloria twa! Where else could we find such
profound accents wherewith to tell God the ardent desires
of our souls ?...
Finally, and this is the highest motive for the choice that
the Church makes of the psalms, they, like all the inspired
books, speak to us of Christ.
According to the beautiful expression of an author of the
first centuries, the Law, that is to say, the Old Testament,
” bore Christ in its loins” : Lex Christo gravida erat*, I
have shown this when speaking of the Eucharist. All was
1. This text is found in a sermon attributed to St. Augustine (the
cxvi of the appendix to his Works) ; but the substance of this sermon is
from Faust de Riez. The Church gives an extract from it in the
Breviary on the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
symbol and figure for the Jews, says St. Paul; the reality
announced by the prophets, figured by the sacrifices, sym-
bolized by so many rites, was the Incarnate Word, and His
work of redemption. And this is especially true of the
psalms. You know that David, to whom many of these
sacred songs refer, was the figure of the Messias, as Jeru-
salem, so often mentioned in the psalms, is the type of the
Church. Our Lord said to His Apostles : ” All things must
needs be fulfilled, which are written... in the psalms, con-
cerning Me’”. These are full of Christ: His divinity,
His humanity, many of the circumstances of His life and
details of His death are clearly shown forth. ” The Lord
hath said unto Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I
begotten Thee... With Thy comeliness and beauty go forth,
proceed prosperously, and reign. The kings of the Arabians
and of Saba shall bring gifts... God hath anointed Thee with
the oil of gladness; Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedech... He shall deliver the poor from the
mighty, and the needy that hath no helper... ”
In the following accents, listen to the voice of Christ
Himself speaking to us of His sorrows and humiliations:
” The zeal of Thy house hath eaten Me up, and the re-
proaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon Me...
And they gave Me gall for My food, and in My thirst they
gave Me vinegar to drink ... They parted My garments
amongst them; and upon My vesture they cast lots... ”.
Then we hear the psalmist celebrate the triumph of the
victorious Christ: ” The stone which the builders rejected,
the same is become the head of the corner... Thou wilt not
give Thy Holy One to see corruption... Thou hast ascended
on high, Thou hast led captivity captive... Lift up your
gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates,
and the King of Glory shall enter in... Let His name be
blessed for evermore: His name continueth before the sun.
And in Him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all
nations shall magnify Him!” Sit nomen ejus benedictum
im saecula! Ante solem permanet nomen ejus: et benedi-
centur im ipso omnes tribus terrae: omnes gentes magni-
ficabunt eum.
You see how wonderfully all these words apply to Christ
Jesus. During His mortal life, He certainly recited or
1. Lucy XXIV, (aas
VOX SPONSAE. Buiey |
sang these canticles composed by the Holy Ghost. He alone,

indeed, could sing them with all the truth they contain about
His Divine Person.
And now that, all having been fulfilled, Christ has as-
cended into glory, the Church has gathered up these canticles
to offer them as daily praise to her Divine Bridegroom and
the Holy Trinity: Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur
Ecclesia*. For she ends all the psalms in the same way by
chanting: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto: " Glory
be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ” or,
according to another formula: ” Glory be to the Father,
through the Son, in the Holy Ghost, as it was in the
beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end 2. »
The Church wills by this to refer all glory to the Holy
Trinity, the first principle and last end of all that exists.
She associates herself, by faith and love, with the eternal
praise that the Word renders to His Father as being the
prototype of all creation. j
ITT.
But it is in Christ she finds her support. All her prayers
end by recalling the titles of her Spouse: Per Dominum
Nostrum Jesum Christum. It is through Him, now seated
at the right hand of His Father and reigning with Him and
the Holy Spirit, that the Church claims to be heard. Qui
tecum vivit et regnat. Christ is the Bridegroom and the
Church is the Bride, as St. Paul says. What is here the dowry
of the Bride? It is her miseries, her weakness, but likewise her
heart to love with and her lips with which to praise. And what
does the Bridgroom bring? His satisfactions, His merits, His
precious Blood, all His riches. Christ being united to the
Church gives her His power of adoring and praising God.
The Church is united to Jesus and leans upon Him. Seeing
her, the Angels ask: Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto,
delicus affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? " Who is this
who cometh up from the desert, (but) flowing with
delights, leaning upon her Beloved *”? It is the Church
who, from the desert of her native poverty, mounts towards
God, adorned like a virgin with the glorious treasures her
1. Hymn Te Deum. — 2. Cf. S. Leo, Sermo I de Nativitate Domini:
Agamus Deo gratias Patri per Filium ejus in Spiritu Sancto. — 3. Cant.
Vill, 5.
Bridegroom gives her. And in the name of Christ, and with

Him, she offers the adoration and praise of all her children
to the Heavenly Father. This praise is the voice of the
Bride: Vox Sponsae, the voice that delights the Bride-
groom. It is the canticle sung by the Church in company
with Christ and that is why, when we join in it with faith
and confidence, it is so pleasing to Christ Jesus : Vox tua
dulcis; in God’s sight, it surpasses in value all our private
prayers. Behold this Bride, proud of her condition and
state and assured of the eternal rights gloriously won by her
Divine Bridegroom, penetrating boldly into the sanctuary of
the Divinity where Christ, her Head and her Bridegroom,
ever lives and prays for us. Between the two, there is all .
the distance from earth to heaven, but the Church bridges
over this distance by faith and blends her voice with that of
Christ in simu Patris: it is one and the same prayer, the
prayer of Jesus united to His mystical body with whom He
offers one and the same homage to the adorable Trinity.
How should such a prayer fail ‘to be acceptable to God since
He receives it from Christ? What power will it not have
over the Heart of God? How too could such praise fail to
be a source of graces for the Church and for all her children?
It is Christ Who prays, and Christ has always the right to be
heard: Pater, sciebam quia semper me audis 1.
See how already, in the Old Testament, the prayer of the
leader of the children of Israel was all-powerful over the
Heart of God; and yet this chosen people was only a figure,
only a shadow of the Church. An important combat is
being fought between the Hebrews and their enemies the
Amalecites*. The struggle lasts some time with alternate
success. At one time the Israelites give way, at another
time they have the upper hand. Finally the victory rests
with the Hebrews. And what was the event, the fact that
decided this victory? Let us suppose for an instant that
those who conducted the battle had left detailed reports upon
the varying fortunes of the day, and that these reports were
submitted to a general of modern times in order to learn his
opinion. This general would find that such or such a fault
of tactics had been committed, that such or such a measure
of strategy had not been realized, that such a manceuvre
had failed, such an attack been badly sustained. He would
1. Joan. xt, 42. — 2, Exod. xvun, 8-16.
VOX SPONSAE. 315
give every reason except the true one. And what was that ?
God Himself has made known to us the reason of the
alternating success and the happy issue of the combat for the
Israelites. It was that, upon the neighbouring mountain,
Moses, the leader of Israel, prayed with arms upraised, for
his people. Each time that Moses, being out-wearied, let
his arms fall, the Amalecites had the victory; each time
that Moses raised his suppliant hands, the victory was on
the side of the Israelites. At the end, Aaron and_ his
companions supported the arms of Moses until the victory
_ was won for Israel... What a grand scene is that of the
leader obtaining, by his prayer, the victory for his people !
If we were to give this explanation ourselves, many would
smile pityingly; but it is God in person Who has given it,
the God of Hosts of Whom Israel was the chosen people,
and Moses the friend ?.
Doubtless, this teaching is to be applied to all prayer, but
with how much greater truth to the prayer of Christ, the
Head of the Church, praying by the voice of the Church,
for His mystical body struggling here below against ” the
Prince of this world?” and ” of this darkness 3”; renewing
every day upon the altar the prayer He made for us with
extended arms upon the mountain of Calvary, and offering
to His Father the infinite merits of His passion and death :
Exauditus est pro sua reverentia *.
IV.
This praise that the Church offers to God in the Holy

Sacrifice and in the ” Canonical Hours” that circle around
the Mass, possesses not only power of intercession but has
besides great value of sanctification. Why is this?
Because of the way in which the Church has disposed the
liturgical cycle, public prayer becomes for our minds a
source of light, of union with the sentiments of the soul
of Christ and with the mysteries of His life. See, in fact,
how the Church disposes the cycle of feasts during which
she comes before God to celebrate His praises officially and
render Him homage?
1. "The hands that are raised to God break through more battalions
than those that strike.” Bossuet, Funeral oration on Maria Teresa of
Austria. — 2. Joan. xu, 31. — 3. Ephes. vi, 12. — 4. Hebr. v, 17.
As you know, this liturgical cycle can be divided into two

sections : one lasts from Advent, the season preparatory to
Christmas, until Pentecost ;the other comprises the Sundays
after Pentecost.
The first part is essentially founded on the mysteries of
Christ. The Church commemorates, in broad outline, the
principal stages of the earthly life of her Spouse : during
Advent, the preparation for this coming of Christ under the
ancient alliance; at Christmas, His birth at Bethlehem; His
Epiphany, that is to say, His manifestation to the Gentiles
in the person of the Magi; Christ’s presentation in the
Temple; then, during Lent,His fast in the desert. Next,
during Holy Week, the Church celebrates His Passion and
Death; she sings His Resurrection at Easter; His Ascen-
sion; the mission of the Holy Ghost to the apostles, and
the founding of the Church.
Like a bride who holds nothing dearer than her bride-
groom, the Church unfolds before her children’s eyes all
the events of the life of Jesus in their real succession, and
even at times follows a detailed chronology, as from Holy
Week to Pentecost.
Tf our souls are attentive, this representation will be for
them an abundant source of light. From this vivid repre-
sentation, renewed every year, we derive a sure and deep
knowledge of Christ’s mysteries.
Moreover this representation is not a simple and dry re-

production; but the Church, by the choice and arrangement
of the extracts taken from the sacred books, makes us pene-
trate into the very sentiments that animated the Heart of
Jesus. How can this be?
You will have already noticed that the Evangelists often
give only a purely historical narration even of the most
important events of Christ’s life, without adding anything or
hardly anything of all that filled the soul of Jesus. For
example, during the passion, the Evangelist, thus recounts
the Crucifixion of Jesus: Eduxerunt Jesum in Calvariae
locum, ubi crucifixerunt eum, the soldiers ” took Jesus and
led Him forth to Calvary where they crucified Him?’ It
is the simple attestation of the fact; nothing more. But
who will tell us of the sentiments with which the soul of
1. Joan x1x, 16-18.
VOX SPONSAE. 317
Jesus overflowed? It is true we are here upon the threshold
of a sanctuary of which God alone knows the sacred depths;
however, we would gladly know something of them, for this
knowledge would bring us nearer to our Divine Model.
The Church, our Mother, raises for us a corner of the
veil. You know that Christ when hanging upon the cross
exclaimed: ” My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me”? These words form the first verse of a messianic
psalm only to be applied to Jesus, and where not only the
circumstances of His crucifixion, but the thoughts and
feelings which must, at this moment, have filled His blessed
soul are expressed in a wonderful manner?. St. Augustine
says explicitly that Christ upon the Cross recited this psalm
which is ” an anticipated gospel?”. Read it: you will hear
Our Lord, crushed beneath the weight of Divine justice,
reveal His inmost anguish. ” I am a worm and no man; the
reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they
that saw me, have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken
with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord,
let Him deliver him: let Him save him seeing He delighteth
in him... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are
scattered. My heart has become like wax melting in the
midst of my bowels... But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy
help to a distance from me: look towards my defence... save
me from the lion’s mouth” !... These words are a re-
velation of what was passing in the Heart of Jesus in His
Passion. The Church knows this well. Guided by the
Holy Spirit, she makes us recite this psalm during Holy
Week, so that our souls may share in the feelings of Christ’s
Heart. '
So it is with the other mysteries. You will see that the
Church, at the same time as she recounts and reproduces
under the eyes of her children the history of the mystery,
interweaves with it these psalms, these prophecies, these
passages from the letters of St. Paul, wherein the sentiments
of Jesus are expressed. ;
Thus the Church not only gives us, each year, a living
representation of the life of her Bridegroom, but she makes
us penetrate as far as the creature is able to penetrate into
1. Ps. xxt. — 2. Verba psalmi voluit esse sua, in cruce pendens.
Enarr. in Ps. txxxv, c. 1. — Passio Christi tam evidenter quasi Evan-
gelium recitatur. Enarr. in Ps. XXI.
the soul of Christ so that, reading His inmost dispositions,

we may share them and be more intimately united to our
Divine Head. The Church, with profound art and wonder-
ful ease, helps us to fulfil the precept of St. Paul: ” Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”, Hoc enim
sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesw+. Is not this to
fulfil the very rule of our predestination?
Vi,
This is not all. These mysteries of Christ that the Church

causes us to celebrate each year are siill living mysteries.
Place a believer and an unbeliever before the representa-
tion of the passion at Oberammergau or Nancy. The un-
believer might admire the beautiful way in which the drama
is unfolded and the scenes are rendered; he would be moved
from the aesthetic point of view. The influence on the
believer would be yet more marked. Why? Because al-
though he might not be struck by the artistic side of the
representation, the scenes before his eyes would recall events
touching his faith very closely. But, even with him, this
influence would be produced only by an outward cause :
the spectacle at which he assists. The representation does
not contain inward extrinsic value, able of itself to touch his
soul supernaturally. That belongs only to the mysteries of
Christ celebrated by the Church; not that they contain
grace as the sacraments do, but these mysteries are living,
they are sources of life for the soul.
Each of Christ’s mysteries is not only an object of con-
templation for the mind, a remembrance we evoke the better
to praise God and thank Him for what He has done for us ;
it is something more; each of these mysteries constitutes,
for a soul having faith, a participation in the different states
of the Incarnate Word.
And this is very important. The mysteries of Christ
were first lived by Him, but in order that we may live them
in our turn in union with Him. How can we do so? By
being inspired with their spirit and appropriating their virtue,
so that living by them we may be made one with Christ.
It is true that Christ Jesus is now glorious in heaven; His
earthly life, in its physical duration and outward form, only
i. Philipp. oii ess
VOX SPONSAE, 319
lasted thirty three years. But the virtue of each of these
mysteries is infinite and remains inexhaustibl
e. » When we
celebrate them in the holy liturgy, we receiv
e from them,
according to the measure of our faith, the
same graces as if
we had lived with Our Lord and been presen
t at all His
mysteries *. These mysteries had the Incarn
ate Word for
their author. As I have said, Christ, by His Incarnation,
associated all humanity with His Divine
mysteries and
merited for His brethren the graces he has
willed to attach
tothem. It is in the Church’s celebration of these myster
ies,
since it is to her He has confided the care of conti
nuing His
mission here below, that Christ, in the course
of the cen-
turies, makes faithful souls partakers of the
graces these
mysteries contain. They are, says St. Augustine ?, the type
of the Christian life we ought to lead as discip
les of Jesus.
Thus it is for the Nativity. ” In adoring Our Saviour’s
birth”, says St. Leo, ” it follows that it is our
own origin
we celebrate. In fact, this temporal generation of Christ is
the source of the Christian people, and the birth of
the Head
is at the same time the birth of His mystical body.
Every
man, in whatever part of the world he dwells, may
find
through this mystery a new birth in Christ?”. Fach year
Christmas brings to our souls when we celebrate this myster
y
with faith, — for it is first of all by faith and next by
Eu-
charistic communion that we enter into contact with the
mysteries of Christ, — a grace of newness of life that
increases the degree in which we are made partakers
of the
Divine filiation in Christ Jesus.
So it is with the other mysteries. The celebration of
Lent, ofthe Passion and Death of Jesus during Holy Week,
brings with it a grace of ”death to sin” helping us. to
destroy sin more and more within us, and all attachment
to
sin and to the creature. For, as St. Paul explicitly says,
Christ has caused us to die and be buried with Him: Si unus
mortuus est, ergo ommes mortui sunt... coNsepulti enim
sumus cum illo*. That is in right and principle for all, but
the application of it is made, in the course of the centuries, to
1. See above p. 78 and the following pages. — 2. Quidquid gestum est
in cruce Christi, in sepultura, in resurrectione tertia die, in ascensione ii
coelum, in sede ad dexteram Patris, ita gestum est ut his rebus,
non
mystice tantum dictis sed etiam gestis, configuraretur vita christiana
quae
hic gevitur. S. Augustin, Enchiridion, c. uu. — 3. Serm. IV. In nativi-
tate Domini, — 4. Rom. VI, 4.
each of our souls by the participation we have in Christ’s

death,above all during the season when the Church especially
recalls the remembrance of it to us.
Again at Easter, when we sing the glory of Christ coming
forth from the tomb, victorious over death, we receive, by
being partakers of this mystery, a grace of spiritual life and
liberty. God, says St. Paul, raises us up with Christ: con-
resuscitavit nos1; and he says again speaking of the grace
proper to this mystery: Si consurrexistis cum Christo, quae
sursum sunt quaerite... non quae super terram?. ” There-
fore if you be risen with Christ seek (and savour not that
which is of the earth and being created contains the germ of
corruption and death but) the things that are above”, and
which will lead you to eternal life: Ur QUOMODO CHRISTUS
surrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris. ITA ET NOS im no-
vitate vitae ambulemus *.
After having associated us with His risen life, Christ
makes us share in the mystery of His Ascension. And what
is the special grace of this mystery? St. Paul tells us:
Deus... consedere fecit nos in caelestibus in Christo Jesu *.
The great Apostle — who, by all these examples, wonderfully
illustrates the doctrine so dear to him of our union with
Christ as members of His mystical body — tells us in very
explicit terms that God has made us sit together with Christ
in the Kingdom of Heaven. An ancient author likewise
writes: ” Let us follow Christ to Heaven by faith and love
while we are here below, so that we may follow Him thither
on the day designed by the eternal promise*”. Is not this
what the Church makes us ask in the collect of this feast ?
Ut qui Redemptorem nostrum in caelos ascendisse credimus,
ipst quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus. " Grant... that
we who believe... Our Redeemer to have this day ascended
into the heavens, may ourselves also in mind dwell amid
heavenly things ”.
So, year by year, the Church places before our eyes the
representation of the events marking the earthly life of her
1. Ephes, u, 6. — 2. Col. mr, 1-2. — 3. Rom. vi, 4. — 4. Ephes.
1, 4-6. — 5. Ascendamus cum Christo interim corde, cum dies ejus pro-
missus advenerit sequamur et corpore. Si ergo recte, si fideliter, si sancte,
si pie ascensionem Domini celebramus, ascendamus cum illo et sursum
corda habeamus. ‘This sermon, from which an extract is read in the
breviary at the 2nd nocturn of the Sunday in the octave of the Ascension,
is wrongly attributed to St. Augustine. The substance of it is, however,
taken from the works of the great Doctor.
VOX SPONSAE, 321
Spouse. She first makes us contemplate these mysteries,

and each year a new light enlightens us; she discloses the
inmost sentiments of the Heart of Christ, and each year we
enter more deeply into them. She makes all these mysteries
of our Divine Head to live again in us. She supports our
prayer that we may obtain the special grace proper to each
of the mysteries lived by Christ; and so, by faith and love,
and the imitation of our Divine Model ever placed before
our eyes, we advance towards that supernatural transfor-
mation that is the end and object of union with Jesus: Vivo
ego, jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus}. Does not all
sanctity and the very form of our divine predestination
consist in this: To become so like to the Beloved Son that
His life becomes ours ?
Let us then be guided by the Church our Mother in this
primordial devotion which is to make us share in the worship
rendered by Christ to His Father. Christ has placed the -
celebration of these mysteries in the hands of His Bride.
The prayer established by the Church is the true and au-
thentic expression of the homage worthy of God. When the
Church, knowing the secret of Jesus, prepares herself, and
us with her, to celebrate Christ’s mysteries it is as if we heard
from heaven those words of the Canticle of Canticles: Sonet
vox tua in auribus meis; vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua
decora. "Let thy voice sound in my ears, for thy voice is
sweet and thy face comely?”. The Church is adorned with
the riches of the Divine Bridegroom, she has the right to
speak in His name; that is why the homage of adoration
and praise she places on the lips of her children is extremely
pleasing to Christ and to His Father.
This prayer of the Church is also a sure way for us. We
could not take one that would lead us more directly to Christ,
and make our life more one with His. The Church leads us
as by the hand straight to Him. To let oneself be guided by
her is an act of humility and obedience, for she has received
all from Christ. Qui vos audit me audit, qui vos spernit me
spermit*. It is likewise for us a means of arriving infallibly
to know Christ, of sounding the depths of His mysteries and
remaining united to Him, so as to find in Him, not only a
model, but the source of eternal life which He has caused
to spring forth from the abundance of His merits: Sacri-
1. Gal. u, 20, — 2. Cant. u, 14. — 3. Luc. x, 16.

ficium laudis honorificabit me, et ilhc ITER quo ostendam

ili salutare Det?.
VI.
Besides the mysteries of Christ, the Church celebrates the

Feasts of the Saints.
What has led the Church to keep the feasts of the saints?
That ever fruitful principle of the union existing, since the
Incarnation, between Christ and His members.
The saints are the glorious members of Christ’s mystical
body ; Christ is already ” formed” in them ; they have
” attained their plenitude” and, in praising them, it is Christ
we glorify inthem. ” Praise Me”, Christ said to St. Mech-
tilde, ” in that I am the crown of all the saints”. And the
nun saw all the beauty of the elect was nourished with the
Blood of Jesus and shone with the virtues practised by Him.
And answering to the Divine bidding, she praised the blessed
and adorable Trinity ”’ for having vouchsafed to be the
diadem and admirable dignity of the saints 7”.
It is indeed, as you know, to the Trinity that the Church
still offers up her praises in keeping the festivals of the
saints. Each saint is a manifestation of Christ ; each
bears the features of the Divine Model, but in a special and
distinct manner*. This is the result of the grace of Christ,
and it is to the glory of this grace that the Church delights
to exalt her triumphant children: Jn laudem gloriae gratiae
suae *.
Complacency is the form the Church’s piety takes towards
the saints. She is proud of these legions of the elect who
are the fruit of her union with Christ and already make part
of the kingdom of her Spouse. She celebrates Christ in
them: ” O Lord, how admirable is Thy name... Thou hast
crowned (Thy saint) with glory and honour:” Domine
Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa
terra... Gloria et honore coronasti eum®. The Church
renews in them the remembrance of the joy that took
possession of their souls when they entered into heaven:
” Enter, good and faithful servant, into the joy of thy
Lord... Come, spouse of Christ, receive the crown which the
1. Ps. XLIx, 23,— 2. The Book of Special Grace.—3. See above pp.223-
234. —4. Ephes. 1,6. See the development of this idea in the conference
Christ the Crown of all the Saints in our volume Christ in His Mysteries.
— 5. Ps. vim, 2-6.
VOX SPONSAE. . 323
Lord hath prepared for thee from all eternity...” She
exalts the virtues and merits of her apostles, and martyrs, of
her pontiffs, confessors and virgins; she rejoices in their
glory, she sets before us their example, if not always to be
imitated, at least to be praised by their brethren on earth :
St martyres sequi non vales actu, sequere affectu; si non
gloria, certe laetitia; si non meritis, votis; si non excellentia,
connexione }.
And after having praised them, the Church recommends
herself to their suffrages. Is this derogatory to the infinite
power of Christ without Whom we can do nothing? Cer-
tainly not. Christ is pleased, not in diminishing His action
but in extending it, to listen to the saints who are the princes
of His heavenly court, and through them to give us the
graces we ask*. Thus a supernatural current of exchange
is established between all the members of His mystical body.
Lastly, not being able to celebrate all the saints indivi-

dually, the Church reunites them at the end of the liturgical
cycle in one solemn feast, the festival of All-Saints, when
she exhausts, as it were, her most triumphant praises.
Transporting us into Heaven, in the company of the
apostle St. John, she shows us that glorious portion of the
kingdom of her Bridegroom, those legions of the elect, that
” great multitude which no man could number... standing
before the throne... clothed with white robes, and with
palms in their hands”. And from their ranks rises a
mighty acclamation: Glory to God, glory to the Lamb immo-
lated for us. Who by His blood hath redeemed us out of
” all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues?”. Be-
fore this glorious vision, the Church is thrilled with joy.
Hear how she calls upon her triumphant children: ” Bless
ye the Lord, all His elect, keep days of joy and give glory
to Him. A hymn to all His saints, to the children of Israel,
the people who form His court... this glory is to all His
saints” : Benedicite Domino, omnes electi ejus ; agite dies
laetitiae et confitemini ih: hymnus omnibus sanctis ejus...
gloria haec est omnibus sanctis ejus *.
1. St. Augustine, Sermo CCLXXx, c. 6. — 2. Haec vero nostra et sanc-
torum cohaerentia est, ut nos congratulemur eis, ipsi compatiantur no-
bis, militent pia intercessione. St. Bernard. Sermo V. in festo omnium
sanctorum. — 3. Apoc. VU, 9-10; V, 9. — 4. Antiphons of the Vespers
for All Saints) €f Tob. xi, to 7 Ps. cxivin, 14; Ps. cxiix, 9.
We too are cailed-to share this triumph, to form the court

of Christ in splendoribus sanctorum, to share in sinu Patris
the glory of the Son, after having shared in, His mysteries
here below. Let us as a prelude to the praises of Heaven,
where an eternal Alleluia resounds, associate ourselves as
much as possible while upon earth, with great faith and
ardent love, in the prayer of the Church, the Bride of Christ
and our Mother.
X.— PRAYER.
Summary. — The importance of prayer: the life of prayer is

transforming. — I, Nature of prayer: the intercourse of
a child of God with his Heavenly Father, under the action of
the Holy Spirit. — II, The first element that must determine
the direction of the intercourse or conversation is the
measure of the grace of Christ ; discretion to be kept in
this respect; the teaching of the great masters of the
spiritual life; the method is not prayer. — III. Second
element : the state of the soul. The different stages in the
way of perfection characterise, in a general manner, the
different degrees of the life of prayer. The discursive
labour of beginners. — IV. How important the contem-
plation of the mysteries of Christ is in the illuminative way ;
the state of prayer. — V. The prayer of faith; extra-
ordinary prayer. — VI. The dispositions requisite to render
prayer fruitful: — purity of heart, recollection of mind,
docility to God’s will, humility and reverence. VII. How
union with Christ Jesus through faith can alone make the
life of prayer fruitful ; the joy that is born to the soul from:
this life of prayer.
uR Lord’s desire to give Himself to us is so great that

He has multiplied the means whereby He does so.
Besides the different sacraments, He has appointed
prayer as the source of grace. As I have often said in the
course of these conferences, it is true that the sacraments
produce grace by the very fact of being applied to the soul
that places no obstacle to their action.
Prayer has not, of itself, an equally intrinsic efficacy. It
is however no less necessary in order to obtain divine help.
We see Christ Jesus grant miracles to prayer, during His
public life. A leper comes to Him: ” Lord, have mercy on
me”, and He heals him. They bring a blind man to Him.
”"Lord”, he says, “grant that I may see”. Our Lord
restores his sight. Martha and Magdalen say to Him:
” Lord, if Thou hadst been here, our brother had not died”.
That was a prayer of impetration to which our Lord res-
ponds by the resurrection of Lazarus.
These are temporal favours; but grace itself is granted to

prayer. The Samaritan woman asks Him to give her of the
living water of which He is the source and that procures
eternal life, and He reveals Himself to her as the Messias
and leads her to confess her sins in order to give her the
remission of them. Upon the cross, the good thief asks
Him for a remembrance, and He grants him plenary for-
giveness: ” This day, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”.
Our Lord has, moreover, urged us to make this kind of
impetration: ” Ask and it shall be given you: seek, and you
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’... If you
will ask the Father anything in My name (that is to say,
making your claim through Me), He will give it you*”.
St. Paul too exhorts us ” by all prayer and supplication” to
pray ” at all times in the Spirit*”. You see how the vocal
prayer of impetration is a powerful means of drawing down
upon us the gifts of God.
It is especially of mental prayer I want to speak to you.

This is a very important subject.
Mental prayer is one of the most necessary means for
attaining union with God here below and being made like to
Christ Jesus. The frequent contact of the soul with God,
through the prayer of faith and the life of prayer, is a power-
ful aid towards the supernatural transformation of our
souls. If prayer is well made, the life of prayer is trans-
forming *.
Still more, union with God in prayer makes us able to
partake with more fruit of the other means which Christ has
established whereby to communicate Himself to us and
make us like to Him. How can this be? Is mental prayer
greater and more efficacious than the Holy Sacrifice, than
the reception of the sacraments that are the authentic
channels of grace? Certainly not. Each time we approach
these sources we obtain from them an increase of grace and
divine life. But this increase depends, at least in part, on
our dispositions.
Now prayer, the life of prayer, maintains, stimulates, ani-
1. Matth. vu, 7. — 2. Joan. xvi, 23. — 3. Ephes. vi, 18. — 4. "A
soul cannot flatter itself that it is the interior image of Jesus if it
is not what is called a soul of prayer. The form matters little, but
the thing itself is indispensable.” Mgr Gay, Instructions in the form of
a Retreat, chap. x1. i
PRAYER. 327
mates and perfects those sentiments of faith, humility, con-

fidence and love which together form the best predisposition
for the soul to receive divine grace in abundance. A soul
given to prayer profits more from the sacraments and other
means of salvation than another whose prayer is without
constancy and intensity. One may recite the divine office,
assist at Holy Mass and receive the sacraments, but if the
soul does not give itself faithfully to prayer its progress will
often be mediocre. Why is that? Because the principal
author of our perfection and holiness is God Himself and
it is prayer that keeps the soul in frequent contact with God;
it establishes and, after having established, maintains, as it
were, a furnace in the soul. Even if the fire of love is not
always active, at least it lies smouldering, and as soon as:
the soul is put in direct communication with the divine life,
for example, in the sacraments, this fire is enkindled as by a
powerful breath, making it rise upwards and wonderfully
increase. The supernatural life of a soul is measured
by its union with God through Christ, in faith and love;
this love must bring forth acts, but these acts, if they are
to be produced in an intense and regular manner, require the
life of prayer. It can be established that according to
ordinary ways, our progress in divine love practically de-
pends on our life of prayer.
Let us then say what is the nature of prayer; — what are
its degrees; — next, what dispositions are necessary for
prayer to produce all its fruits.
There is scarcely need to tell you that I do not intend to
give here a treatise upon prayer. Many excellent ones exist.
I will simply touch on some essential points in relation with
the central idea of these conferences: that is to say, our
supernatural adoption in Christ Jesus which makes us live
by His grace and His Spirit.
What is prayer’
We will define it as the intercourse of the child of God
with his heavenly Father. You will note the words ” the
intercourse of the child of God”. I have used them design-
edly. Sometimes men are to be met with who do not believe
in Christ’s divinity, like certain deists of the eighteenth
century and such as those who instituted, at the French

Revolution, the cultus of the Supreme Being and invented
prayers to the ” Divinity”. They perhaps thought to dazzle
God with these prayers which were nothing better than the
vain conceits of a purely human spirit that God could not
accept.
Such is not our prayer. It is not simply as creatures we
speak with God, but as children with our heavenly Father
coming before Him to adore and praise Him, to tell Him of
our love, to learn to know His will and to obtain from Him
the necessary help to accomplish this will.
Undoubtedly, we can never forget our condition of
creatures, that is to say, of nothingness, but the point of
departure, or rather the stand-point on which we ought
to place our intercourse with God is the supernatural
stand-point. In other words it is our divine sonship, our
quality of children of God through the grace of Christ, that
ought to determine our fundamental attitude in prayer.
Hear how St. Paul throws light on this point. ” We
know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings?”.
Now St. Paul says, in the same place, this Spirit Who prays
for us and in us, is the Spirit of adoption that ” giveth.
testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God, and if
sons heirs also,... whereby we cry, Abba Father?”. This
Spirit was given to us when ” the fulness of time being come,
God sent His Son... that we might receive the adoption of
sons*’”. Because the grace of Christ makes us the children
of God, He has also sent the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts so that we may pray to God as to a Father : Quoniam
estis filti, misit Deus Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra?.
Because indeed, we ” are no more strangers and foreigners ”,
but members of God’s family, built upon the foundation of
which Christ Jesus is the chief corner-stone: Ipso summo
angulari lapide Christo Jesu ®.
Let us listen to Our Lord Himself. He came to be the
” Light of the world”, and His words, full of truth, tell us
the way we are to follow: Ego sum lux mundi, et via et
veritas °..
Seated upon the edge of Jacob’s well, He speaks with the
1. Rom. vil, 26. —2. Ibid. 15. — 3. Gal. 1v, 4-5.— 4. Ibid. 6; Cfr.Rom.
vil, 15; II Cor. 1,22. — 5. Ephes. u, 20. —6. Joan.,vi, 12 ; xiv, 6.
PRAYER. 329
Samaritan woman*. This woman has just acknowledged
that He Who speaks to her is a prophet, one sent by God,
and at once she asks Him (it was the subject of lively
contestation between her compatriots and the Jews) if God
must be adored on the mountains of Samaria or at Jerusalem.
And what does Christ reply? ” Woman, believe Me that
the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father... the hour cometh, and.
now is, Et nunc est, when the true adorers shall adore the
Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh
such to adore Him”. Note how our Lord lays stress on
the name of Father. At Samaria, as you know, false gods
were adored, and that is why Christ says it is ”in truth”,
that is to say, it is the true God that must be adored. At
Jerusalem, the true God was adored, but not ” in spirit”;
the religion of the Jews was altogether material in its
expression and in its aim. It is the incarnate Word Who
inaugurates — Et nunc est — the new religion, that of the
true God, adored in spirit, the spirit of the divine, super-
natural, and spiritual adoption, whereby we are made
children of God; and that is why our Lord insists upon this
term of ” Father”. “The true adorers shall adore the
Father in spirit and in truth”. Doubtless, as we are adoptive
children, and as God, while making us His children, di-
minishes nothing of His Divine Majesty nor of His absolute.
sovereignty, we must adore Him, prostrate ourselves before
Him; but it is in spirit and in truth we must adore Him,
that is to say in the truth and spirit of the supernatural order
whereby we are His children.
Ovr Lord is elsewhere still more explicit. With the
Samaritan woman He has, so to speak, laid down the
principle; with His disciples He gives the example. One
day, says St. Luke, He was praying; ” when He ceased,
one of His disciples said to Him: Lord, teach us to pray?”.
And what reply does Christ give ? ” When you pray, you
shall pray thus: Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed
be Thy name...” Never forget this: Our Lord is God.
As the Word, He is ever in sinu Patris; no one knows God
except the Son; Christ, then, knows perfectly what we ought
to say to God, or ask of Him, so as to be those ” true
adorers” for whom God seeks. He knows perfectly too
1. Joan. Iv, 5 sq. — 2. Luc. x1, 1 sq.; Matth. vi, 9.
in what attitude we ought to come before God in order to

speak with Him and be pleasing to Him. He reveals to us
that which He sees: Unigenitus Dei Filius... tpse enarra-
vit?. And we must listen to what He reveals. He is the
Way we must follow without fear: he who follows this way
”“walketh not in darkness?’”. Now what does Jesus say
when He wants to teach us this science of prayer that He
has declared to be so necessary that we ought always to pray:
Oportet semper orare®? He begins by pointing out the
title we ought to give to God before offering Him our
homage, this title that is like the direction or, if you will, the
colour that is to be given to the conversation, and on which
we are to support our petitions — the title that denotes what
the attitude of the soul should be in God’s presence. And
what is this title? ” Our Father... ”.
We thus gather from the very lips of Christ, the beloved
Son in Whom the Father is well pleased, this precious
teaching that the first and fundamental disposition we must
have in our relations with God is that of a child in presence
of his father. Certainly, once more, — and this point is not
less important, —— this child will never forget his primitive
condition of a creature fallen in sin and having within him a
source of sin that is able to separate him from God: for He
Who is our Father dwells in Heaven, and is likewise our
God. “I ascend to My Father and to your Father: to My
God and to your God ¢ ”, said Our Lord when about to leave
His apostles. That is why the child of God will always have
deep reverence and great humility; he will pray that his
sins may be forgiven, that he may not succumb to temptation,
that he may be delivered from evil; but he will crown this
humility and this reverence with unshaken confidence — for
” every perfect gift is from on high coming down from the
Father of lights >” — and with a tender love, the love of a
son for his father, and for a father who loves him °.
1. Joan. 1, 18. — 2. Ibid. vir, 12. — 3. Luc. xv, 1. — 4. Joan. xx,
17, — 5. Jac. 1, 17. — 6. "Carried as it were upon (the) two wings
(of faith and hope), the soul takes its flight towards heaven and is
raised even up to God... With ardent piety and deep veneration, the
soul speaks to Him in full confidence of all its needs, as an only son
might do to the most loving of fathers.” Catechism of the Council of
Trent, 44h part, chap. 1, § 3. "God commands us to come before Him,
not with constraint and trembling, like a slave before his master, but
to take refuge near Him in all liberty and in perfect confidence like a
child with his father." Catech. of the Council of Trent, Part. IV,
chap; 22, 'S*2.
PRAYER. 331
Prayer, then, is like the expression of our intimate life as
children of God, like the outcome of our divine sonship in
Christ, the spontaneous blossoming of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. And that is why it is so vital and so fruitful. The
soul that gives itself regularly to prayer derives therefrom
ineffable graces that transform it little by little to the image
of Jesus, the Only Son of the heavenly Father. ” The
door”, says St. Teresa, ” by which graces of choice, such as
those God has given to me, enter into the soul, is prayer;
once this door is closed, I do not know how He could grant
them to us?”.
The soul too derives from prayer such joy as is like a
foretaste of the blissful union of heaven, of that eternal
heritage awaiting us. ’ Amen, I say to you”, says Christ
Jesus, ” if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will
give it you... that your joy may be full”: Ut gaudiwm ves-
trum sit plenum ?.
Such is mental prayer: a heart to heart between God and
the soul; ” a communing alone with God, so as to express
our love to Him by Whom we know ourselves to be loved? ”.
And this communing of the child of God with his heavenly
Father is accomplished under the action of the Holy Spirit.
God promised by the prophet Zacharias, that, under the new
covenant, He would pour out upon souls the spirit of grace
and of prayers: Effundam super habitatores Jerusalem Spi-
ritum gratiae et precum*. This spirit is the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of adoption, Whom God sends into the hearts of those
He predestines to be His children in Christ Jesus. The gifts
which this Divine Spirit confers on our souls on the day of
baptism, by the infusion of His grace, help us in our relations
with our Father in Heaven. The gift of fear fills us with re-
verence in presence of the divine majesty; the gift of piety
harmonizes, with fear, the tenderness of a child towards a
beloved father; the gift of knowledge places the truths
of the natural order in a new light ; the gift of under-
standing makes us penetrate into the hidden depths of the
mysteries of faith ; the gift of wisdom gives us the relish,
the affective knowledge of revealed truths. The gifts
of the Holy Spirit are very real dispositions which we do
not take enough into account. It is by these gifts that the
1. Life by Herself, chap. vu1. — 2. Joan. xvi, 24. — 3. St. Teresa,
Life by herself, chap. vii. — 4. Zach. xu, 10.
Spirit, Who dwells in the soul of the baptised as in a temple,

helps and guides us in our intercourse with the Heavenly
Father: Spiritus adjuvat infirmitatem nostram... IPSE pos-
tulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus +.
The essential element of prayer is the supernatural contact

of the soul with God whence it imbibes that divine life that
is the source of all holiness. This contact is produced when
the soul, raised by faith and love, supported by Jesus Christ,
yields itself to God, to His will, through the movement of
the Holy Spirit: Sapiens cor suum tradidit ad vigilandum
diluculo ad Dominum qui fecit illum, et in conspectu Altisst-
mi deprecabitur. No reasoning, no purely natural effort,
can produce this contact: Nemo potest dicere: Dominus
Jesus, nisi in S‘piritu Sancto*. This contact is produced in
the darkness of faith, but it fills the soul with light and life.
Prayer is, then, the expression, under the action of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, of the sentiments that result from
our divine adoption in Jesus Christ; and that is why it is
accessible to every baptised soul of good will. Moreover,
Christ Jesus invites all His disciples to tend to perfection, so
that they may be worthy children of the heavenly Father:
Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut et Pater vester caelestis per-
fectus est*. Now perfection is only practically possible if
the soul lives by prayer. Is it not therefore evident that
Christ has not willed that the manner of treating with Him
in prayer should be difficult or beyond the capacity of the
most simple souls that sincerely seek Him? This is why
I have said mental prayer may be defined as the intercourse
or conversation of a child of God with his Heavenly Father:
Sic orabitis: Pater noster qui es in caelis.
Ty.
In a conversation, one both listens and speaks. The soul

gives itself up to God, and God communicates Himself to the
soul.
To be able to listen to God and receive His light, it is
1. Rom. vi, 26. "The Holy Spirit is the very soul of our prayers:
He inspires them and makes them always acceptable.” Catech. of the
Council of Trent, 4th part, ch. 1, § 7. — 2. Eccli. xxx1x, 6. —.3. I Cor.
XU, 3. — 4. Matth. v, 48
PRAYER. 333
enough if the heart is filled with faith, reverence, humility,

ardent confidence and generous love.
In order to speak to God, it is necessary to have something
to say to Him. What is to be the subject of the con-
versation? That depends principally on two elements: the
measure of grace that Christ Jesus gives to the soul, and the
state af the soul itself.. _ °
The first element to be taken into account is the measure
of the gifts of grace communicated by Christ: Secundum
mensuram donationis Christit. Christ Jesus, being God, is
absolute master of His gifts; He dispenses grace to the soul
as He wills; He pours His light into us as it pleases His
sovereign majesty. By His Spirit, Christ guides and draws
us to His Father. If you read the masters of the spiritual
life, you will see they have always religiously respected the
sovereignty of Christ in the dispensation of His~ favours
and lights. That explains their extreme reserve when they
have to intervene in the relations of the soul with God.
St. Benedict, who was a great contemplative favoured with
extraordinary graces of prayer and was a past-master in the
knowledge of souls, exhorts his disciples to give themselves
frequently to prayer: Orationi frequenter incumbere2 ; he
makes it clearly understood that the life of prayer is abso-
lutely necessary in order to find God. But, when it concerns
regulating the manner of giving one’s self to it, he is sin-
gularly discreet. He naturally supposes one has already
acquired a certain habitual knowledge of divine things from
the assiduous reading of the Holy Scriptures and the works
of the Fathers of the Church. Concerning prayer, he con-
tents himself first of all with pointing out what ought. to be
the attitude of the soul when approaching God, namely,
profound reverence and humility*. He wills that the soul
should remain in God’s presence in a spirit of great com-
punction and perfect simplicity; this is the best attitude in
which to listen to the voice of God with profit.. As to
mental prayer itself, beyond linking it closely. with the
psalmody (of which it is, as it were, only the interior pro-
longation), St. Benedict makes it consist of short and fervent
aspirations of the heart towards God. Repeating the
1. Ephes. 1v, 7. —2. Rule, chap. 1v. — 3. It is remarkable that the
patriarch of monks entitles the chapter on prayer: De reverentia. ora-
tionis. "Of Reverence at Prayer.” Rule, chap. xx.
334. CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
counsel of Christ *, he says we ought to avoid multiplicity

of words; our prayer ought to be short unless prolonged
under the prompting of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the soul
by grace. We do not find anything more formally laid down
on this subject by the legislator of the monastic life.
Another great master of the spiritual life, arrived at a
high degree of contemplation and full of the lights of grace
and experience, — St. Ignatius of Loyola — has written
some words of which we cannot too much weigh the deep
wisdom. ” For each one”, he writes to St. Francis Borgia,
"that meditation is the best in which God communicates
Himself the most. For God knows and sees what is most
suitable for us, and, knowing all, He Himself points out to
us the way to be followed. But we first have to grope
dimly, before finding this way which will lead us to the life
that has no end where we shall enjoy the most holy gifts of
God?”. The saint teaches, then, that the care of showing
to each soul the best manner of speaking with Him must
be left to God.
St. Teresa, in different places in her Works, expresses the
same thought: ” Whether a soul gives herself much or little
to prayer, it is extremely important not to constrain her too
much, nor to hold her, as it were, chained up in a corner ®”.
St. Francis of Sales is not less reserved. Hear what he
says. The text is a little long, but it well characterises the
nature of prayer — the fruit of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit — and the discretion necessary to regulate it: ” Do
not suppose, my daughters, that prayer is a work of the
human mind; it is a special gift of the Holy Spirit, raising
the powers of the soul above their natural strength, so that
they may be united to God by sentiments and communica-
tions that all the discourses and wisdom of men cannot:
produce without Him. The ways by which He leads the
saints in this exercise, (the most divine employment of a
reasonable creature), are wonderful in their diversity; and
they are all to be honoured, since it is to God they bring us
and under the guidance of God ; but we must not be anxious
1. Matth. vi, 7. — 2. Etudes, 1905, 1, pp. 567-68. — 3. The Interior
Castle ; First Mansion, chap. 11. See also her Life by herself, chap. xt
and chap. xm. She writes: "God leads souls by many roads, many
different paths”. See also chapters xvmit and xxvu in which she shows
what an excellent prayer it is to keep in our Lord’s company in His
different mysteries and speak with Him in simple colloquies.
PRAYER. 335
to follow them all, nor even to choose any of them of our
own impulse ; the important point is to discover what is the
attraction of grace for us and to be faithful to it)”.
Such testimonies could be multiplied, but these are enough
to show that much as the masters of the spiritual life urge
souls to give themselves to prayer, — for it is a vital element
of spiritual perfection, — so too do they take care not to
impose indiscriminately upon every soul one way rather than
another. We say ”impose”; they praise or recommend
certain ways; they suggest or propose particular methods;
all have their value which it is well to know, all have their
utility that can be experienced ; but to wish to impose in-
differently on every soul one exclusive method would be not
to take into account either the divine liberty with which
Christ Jesus distributes His grace, nor the attractions placed
in us by His Spirit.
As for the matter of method, what helps one soul may bea
hindrance to another. Experience shows that many souls
that have facility in speaking habitually and simply with God
and gain much good from this intercourse, would be impeded
if one tried to tie them down to such or such a method. It is
then for each and every soul to study for themselves first of
all what is the best manner for them of conversing with God.
They should, on the one hand, consider their aptitudes, their
dispositions, tastes, aspirations, and kind of life, and seek
to know the attraction of the Holy Spirit, besides taking into
account the progress they have made in spiritual ways. On
the other hand, they should be generously docile to the grace
of God and the action of the Holy Spirit. Once the best
way is found, after some inevitable trials at the beginning,
they should keep faithfully to it, until the Holy Spirit draws
them into another way. That is the condition for them of
gaining fruit from their prayers.
Another point I consider important and one very closely
connected with the preceding, is not to confound the essence
of prayer with the methods, whatever these may be, that are
used in making mental prayer. Some souls think that if
they do not use such or such a method, they are not praying,
a mistake which cannot be without danger in its con-
1. Abrégé de Vesprit intérieur des religieuses de la Visitation, expliqué
par Bee bes et recueilli par Mgr Maupas. Rouen, Cabut, 1744,
pp. 63-69.
sequences. Having bound up the essence of prayer with

the use of some special method, they dare not change the
method, even when they have recognised that it is an ob-
stacle for them or has become useless ; or even, which
most often happens, finding the method wearisome, they
relinquish it and, at the same time, relinquish the prayer
itself, and this to their great detriment. Method is one
thing, prayer another. The method ought to vary according
to the aptitudes and needs of souls, while prayer (I am
speaking of ordinary prayer) remains substantially always
the same for every soul : — an intercourse in which the
child of God pours out his soul before the Heavenly
Father, and listens to Him in order to please Him. The
method, by sustaining the mind, helps the soul in its union
with God; it is a means but ought not to be, nor to become, an
obstacle. If such a method enlightens the intelligence,
warms the will, leads it to yield itself to the divine guidance,
‘and to pour itself out before God, then it is good; but it
should be abandoned when it really fetters the attraction of
the soul, constrains us, and does not help us to make any
progress in the spiritual way; or, on the contrary, when it
has become useless in consequence of the progress already
made. '
Tt;
The second element necessary to be taken into account in

order to fix the habitual subject of our intercourse with God,
is the state of the soul.
The soul is not always in the same state. As you know,
ascetic tradition distinguishes three stages or states of per-
fection: — the purgative way, or that of beginners; the
illuminative way, where the fervent advance; and the unitive
way, belonging to perfect souls. These states are thus
named according as such or such a characteristic pre-
dominates, although not exclusively: here, the labour of
purifying the soul; there, its illumination; lastly, its state
of union with God. It goes without saying that the habitual
nature of prayer varies according to the stage the soul is in?.
1. We will take up this point again at greater length in another series
of conferences ; the little we say here will however suffice to make our
meaning clear.
PRAYER, 237
Therefore, reservation made of the attraction of the Holy

Spirit *, and of the aptitudes of the soul, a beginner in spirit-
ual ways ought to try to acquire the habit of mental prayer
by personal effort. Although the Holy Spirit helps us
powerfully in our relations with our Heavenly Father, His
action is not produced in the soul independently of certain
conditions resulting from our nature. The Holy Spirit leads
us according to our nature. We are intelligence and will,
but we only will the good we know; affection is only felt
towards the good shown by the intelligence. In order to
attach ourselves fully to God — and is not that the best fruit
of prayer ? —- we must therefore know God as perfectly as
possible. That is why, says St. Thomas, ” all that renders
faith true is ordered towards charity 2”.
At the beginning, then, of its seeking after God, the soul
ought to store up intellectual principles and knowledge of our
faith. Why? Because, without that, one will not know what
to say and the prayer will degenerate into vague reverie,
without depth or fruit, or else will became an exercise full
of weariness that the soul will soon abandon. This know-
ledge has first of all to be stored up; then, afterwards,
maintained, renewed and increased. How is this to be
done? By applying oneself for some time, with the aid of
a book, to prolonged reflection on some point of Revelation.
The soul consecrates a period, longer or shorter according
to its aptitudes, to considering in detail the chief articles of
faith. The result is that, in these successive reflections, the
necessary notions are gained that serve as a point of de-
parture for prayer.
This purely discursive work ought not to be confounded
with prayer. It is only the introduction, useful and ne-
cessary to enlighten, guide, render pliant or sustain the in-
telligence, but an introduction all the same. Prayer only
really begins at the moment when the will, set on fire with
love, enters supernaturally into contact with the Divine Good,
yielding itself lovingly to God in order to please Him and
fulfil His precepts and desire. It is in the heart that prayer
essentially dwells. It is said of the Virgin Mary that she
1. It is recounted in the Life of St. Teresa that a young novice was so
forestalled by Divine grace that from the first days of her religious life,
she received the gift of contemplation. History of St. Teresa, by the
Bollandists, vol. 11, p. 70. — 2. In Epist. 1. S. Pauli ad Timoth. cap. 1,
lect.e22.
kept the words of Jesus In corde suo, ” in her Heart 7,

When Our Lord taught His apostles to pray, He did not bid
them apply themselves to such or such reasoning, but to tell
the love of their hearts as children ; Sic orabitis: Pater
noster... sanctificetur nomen tuum. St. Augustine says
that the petitions Christ has instructed us to make are the
model of what the desires of our hearts should be?. A
soul — we are here only making a supposition — that would
regularly confine itself to the work of intellectual reasoning,
even on matters of faith, would not be applying itself to
prayer *. This is why some are to be met with, even among
beginners, who reap more fruit from a simple reading, inter-
spersed with affections and aspirations of the heart than
from an exercise where the reason enters almost exclusively
into play. But in order to guard against the illusions of
sloth, the soul ought necessarily to be aided by the counsels
of an enlightened director.
IV.
Nevertheless, it is a fact proved by experience that the

more a soul advances in spiritual ways, the more the dis-
cursive work of reasoning is reduced. Why is this? Because
the soul is now filled with the knowledge of Christian truths.
It is no longer needful to store up notions of faith. These
have already been gained. There is nothing more to do
but maintain and renew them by the reading of holy books.
It follows that long considerations are far less necessary
1. Luc. u, 51. — 2. Verba quae Dominus Noster Jesus Christus in
oratione docuit forma est desideriorum. S. Aug. Serm. Lvi, c. 3. —
3. This is what the Abbé Saudreau, whose ascetic works are well known,
has written on this subject [the phrase between brackets is ours]: ” Let
us note well that the petition is the chief part of prayer, or rather
prayer only begins with this. As long as the soul does not turn towards
God to speak to Him [to praise Him, to bless and glorify Him; to
delight in His perfections, to make supplication and yield itself to His
guidance] it may, it is true, meditate, but it is not applying itself to
mental prayer. We see people sometimes mistaken in this and,
in an exercise of half an hour, pass all their time in reflecting without
saying anything to God. Even when they have added holy desires and
generous resolutions to these reflections, still that is not praying.
Doubtless, the mind has not been acting alone, the heart is enkindled
with ardour and borne along to what is good, but it does not pour itself
out into the Heart of God. Such meditations are almost fruitless, they
very quickly bring fatigue and very often also discouragement and the
relinquishment of this holy exercise." The Degrees of the Spiritual Life,
See also R. P. Schrijvers, C. SS. R. La bonne volonté, II part, chap. I-
L’ Oraison.
PRAYER. d 339
to one all permeated with divine truths ; such a soul possesses

all the material elements of prayer and can now enter into
contact with God without discursive labour. This law of
experience naturally allows of exceptions that must be care-
fully respected. There are some far advanced in spiritual
ways who can never enter into prayer without the help of a
book; reading serves to put them in the right atmosphere
for prayer; it would be a mistake for them to do without it.
There are others who can only commune with God through
vocal prayer; they would be ill at ease if led into another
way. However, as a general rule, it remains true that in the
same measure as one progresses in the light of faith and in
fidelity, the action of the Holy Ghost increases within the
soul and there is ever less need of having recourse to reason-
ing in order to find God.
This is above all true, as experience shows, of those whose
knowledge of Christ’s mysteries is deeper and more ex-
tensive. Listen to what St. Paul wrote to the early Christ-
ians. ” Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly”,
Verbum Christi habitet abundanter in cordibus vestris+. The
great apostle desires this in order that the faithful may teach
one another ” in all wisdom”. But this exhortation is of
value too for our own intercourse with God. Why so?
The word of Christ is contained in the Gospels which, with
the letters of St. Paul and St. John, are the most superna-
tural, because the inspired, exposition of Christ’s mysteries.
The child of God therein finds the best title to his divine
adoption and the Model he has to imitate. Christ Jesus
shows Himself to us in His earthly existence, in His doctrine,
in His love. We there find the best source of the knowledge
of God, of His nature, His perfections and His works.
Illuxit in cordibus nostris, in facie Christi Jesu?. Christ is
God’s great Revelation to the world. God tells us: ” This
is My beloved Son, hear ye Him:” Ipsum audite. It is as
if He said to us: If you wish to please Me, look at My Son;
look at My Son, imitate Him ; I ask nothing besides this,
for in this is your predestination that you be conformed to
My Son.
Look at Our Lord and contemplate His actions; that is
the most direct way of knowing God. To see Him is to see
His Father ; He is only one with His Father ; He only does
1. Col. m, 16. — 2. II Cor. Iv, 16,
what is pleasing to His Father, Each of His actions is

the object of His Father’s complacency and we should
delight in making it the object of our contemplation.
“Were you at the summit of contemplation”, writes
St. Teresa, ” take no other road than that of regarding the
holy Humanity of Jesus. One walks with assurance along
that road. Our Lord is for us the source of every good ;He
Himself will teach us. Look at His life; He is the best
Model”. And the saint adds: ”If instead of taking the
habit of having (in prayer) this holy Humanity ever present
before us — and would to God it was ever present —- we
purposely and deliberately do precisely the contrary, once
again that is what I disapprove of. To act thus is to walk
on air, as they say. And in fact, however full of God a
soul may believe itself to be, it lacks a point of support.
Being men, it is very advantageous to us, as long as we are
in this life, to consider God made man?”,
But Christ has not only acted. He has also spoken:
Caepit facere et docere®. All His words reveal the Divine
secrets to us. He only speaks of that which He beholds;
and His words, as He Himself tells us, are for us ” spirit
and life” ; they contain life for the soul, not in the manner
of the sacraments, but they bear with them the light that
enlightens and the strength that sustains. The actions and
words of Jesus are for us motives of confidence and love
and principles of action.
That is why the words of Christ ought to ” abide” in us so
as to become in us principles of life; that is the reason too
why it is useful for the soul that desires to live by prayer
to read the Gospels constantly, and to follow the Church,
our Mother, when she represents to us the actions and recalls
the words of Jesus in the course of the liturgical cycle. In
making all the stages of the life of Christ, her Bridegroom
and our Elder Brother, pass before our eyes, the Church
supplies us with abundant food for prayer. A soul that thus
follows Our Lord step by step possesses, presented by the
Church, the material elements necessary for prayer; it is
there the faithful soul finds above all the ” Word of God”,
and, being united to Him by faith, it brings forth super-
1. Life by Herself, chap. xxu. This magnificent chapter should be
read through ; it will be seen in what bitter terms the great contemplative
deplores having, a long time, excluded from her prayer the contemplation
of the humanity of Christ Jesus. — 2. Act. 1, 1.
PRAYER. 341
natural fruit. For the least word of Jesus Christ is for the
soul a light, and a source of life and peace.
It is the Holy Spirit Who makes us understand these words
and all that they contain for each one. What did Jesus say
to His apostles before ascending into Heaven? ” The Holy
Ghost Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things, and bring all things to your mind whatsoever
I shall have said to you:” Suggeret vobis omnia quae-
cumque dixero vobis*, That promise is ever being fulfilled,
for Christ’s words do not pass away. Christ, the Incarnate
Word, together with His Father, gave us His Spirit on the
day of our baptism, which made us children of the heavenly
Father and Christ’s own brethren. This Spirit abides in us.
Apud vos manebit et in vobis erit®. And what does He do
in us, this Divine Spirit, the Spirit of Truth? He brings to
our mind the words of Jesus. Our Lord Himself tells us so.
What does this mean? It means that when we contemplate
the actions and mysteries of Christ Jesus, either in reading
the Gospel or a ” Life” of Our Lord or when, under the
Church’s guidance, in the course of the liturgical year, one
day it happens that some word, such as we have many times
read and re-read without it having particularly struck us,
suddenly stands out in supernatural relief in a way we have
not hitherto known. It is a flash of light that the Holy
Spirit makes all at once to rise from the depth of the soul;
it is like the sudden revelation of a source of life hitherto
unsuspected, like a new and wider horizon that opens out
before the eyes of the soul; it is like a new world that the
Spirit discovers to us. He, Whom the liturgy names ” the
finger of. God” Digitus Dei*, engraves this Divine word on
the soul, there ever to remain a light and principle of action;
if the soul is humble and attentive, this Divine Word works
therein, silent but fruitful.
When we are every day faithful to consecrate a time,

longer or shorter according to our aptitudes and duties of
state, in speaking with our Heavenly Father, in gathering
up His inspirations and listening to what the Holy Spirit
”brings to mind”, then the words of Christ, the Verba
Verbi, as St. Augustine calls them, go on multiplying, in-
undating the soul with Divine Light and opening out in it
1. Joan. xiv, 26. — 2. Ibid. 17. — 3. Hymn. Veni Creator.
342 CHRIST, THE LIFE* OF THE SOUL;
fountains of life so that the soul’s thirst may be ever

assuaged. In this is realised the promise of Christ Jesus :
that if any man should thirst, and come to Him and drink
there should spring up within him that believeth ” rivers of
living water”. And St. John adds: ” This He said of the
Spirit which they should receive, who believed in Him)”.
The soul, in return, constantly expresses itself in acts of
faith, repentance, compunction, confidence, love, complacen-
cy and submission to the will of the heavenly Father. It
moves in an atmosphere that maintains it more and more in
union with God. Prayer becomes its breath, its life; it is
filled with the spirit of prayer. Prayer then becomes a
state, and the soul can find its God at will, even in the midst
of many occupations.
The moments in the day that the soul consecrates exclusi-
vely to the formal exercise of prayer are only the intensify-
ing of this state in which it remains habitually, but gently,
united to God, speaking to Him interiorly and listening to the
voice from on high.
This state is more than the simple presence of God. It is
an intimate intercourse, full of love, in which the soul speaks
to God, sometimes with the lips, most often from the
heart, and remains intimately united to Him, despite the
variety of the day’s work and occupations. There are many
souls, simple and upright, who, faithful to the attraction of
the Holy Spirit, arrive at this desirable state.
” Lord, teach us to pray” !...
V.
Soon, however, in the same measure as the soul draws near

to the Supreme Good, it shares the more in the Divine sim-
plicity. In meditation we form a conception of God for our-
selves by means of what we learn from reason and Re-
velation; in the measure we advance in the supernatural
life, these conceptions become simpler, but these conceptions
are not God. Where are we to find God such as He is? In
pure faith, Faith is for our souls, during this life, what the
beatific vision will be in heaven where we shall see God,
face to face, such as He is.
Faith reveals to us God’s incomprehensibility; when we
1. Joan. vit, 37-38.
PRAYER. 343
arrive at seeing that God infinitely surpasses all our con-
ceptions, then we have arrived at the point where we begin
to understand what God is. The conceptions we have of
God, although they be only analogical, manifest to us how-
ever something of the divine perfections and attributes; in.
the prayer of faith, the soul understands that the divine
essence, such as it is in itself, in its transcendant simplicity,
is nothing that the intelligence, even with the help of Re-
velation, can represent to us?. From the eye of the soul
has been taken away all that the sense, imagination, even
the intelligence, up to a certain point, represented to it. _It
rests where God is shown by pure faith.
The soul has progressed, has passed successively through
the sphere of the senses and imagination, of intellectual
notions and revealed symbols, and has reached the veil of the
Holy of holies. It knows God is hidden behind that veil as
in the darkness; it almost touches Him but does not see
Him. In this state of the prayer of faith, the soul remains
recollected in God, feeling united to Him in spite of the
darkness that the beatific light alone will dispel; it tastes,
without varying much its affections, the sweetness of rest-
ing there before God: Sub umbra illius quem desideraveram
sedi, et fructus ejus dulcis gutturt meo?. —
That is the beginning of the prayer of quiet; it can be
affirmed that many souls, faithful to grace, arrive there.
When this kind of prayer has taken strong hold in a soul, it
finds in this most simple cleaving of faith, in this embrace
of love, the courage, the inward elevation, the liberty of
heart, humility before God, and submission to His will, that
are so necessary in this long pilgrimage towards the holy
mountain, towards the fulness of God: Aliud est, says
St. Augustine, sermo multus, aliud diuturnus affectus *.
Then, if it pleases the Supreme Goodness, God leads the

soul beyond the common frontiers of the supernatural so
as to give Himself to it in mysterious communications where
the natural faculties, raised by the Divine action, receive,
under the influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit — notably
the gifts of understanding and wisdom — a higher mode of
operation. Mystic writers describe the different degrees of
1. S: Thom. 1, q- xi, a. 2, ad 3. —.2. Cant. 0, 3. — 3. Hpist.
CXS EN LG:
these divine operations which are sometimes accompanied

by extraordinary phenomena, such as ecstasy *.
We can in nowise reach such degrees of prayer and
union to God by our own efforts. They depend solely on
the free and supreme will of God. May we, however, desire
them?
No, if it concerns the accidental phenomena that may
accompany contemplation such as ecstasy, revelations, stig-
mata; that would be presumption and temerity.
But if it concerns what is the very substance itself of
contemplation, that is to say the most pure, simple and
perfect knowledge which God gives us therein of Himself
and His perfections, and the intense love the soul derives
from this knowledge, then, I would say to you, desire with
all your strength to possess a high degree of prayer and to
enjoy perfect contemplation. For God is the principal
author of our sanctity; He acts powerfully in these com-
munications, and not to desire them would be not to desire
to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole
mind and our whole strength ”.
And, then, what is it that gives to our life all its value,
that determines for our part, — reservation made of the
Divine action, — the degree of holiness to which we are to
attain? It is, as I have said, the purity and intensity of the
love with which we pass through this life and perform our
actions. Now, beyond the direct action of the sacraments,
this purity and intensity of charity come to us abundantly
in prayer, and that is why it is so useful for us; that, too, is
why we may legitimately desire to attain a high degree of
prayer.
It is clear, however, that we ought to subject this desire to
the will of God. He alone knows what is best for our
souls; and while sparing neither our efforts to remain
generously and humbly faithful to present grace, nor our
ardent aspirations towards higher perfection, it is extremely
important to keep always in peace, assured as we are of
God’s goodness and wisdom in regard to each one of us.
1. Our readers will know well the recent excellent works, The Mystical
State by the Abbé Saudreau, Graces of Prayer by R. P. Poulain, S. J.,
The Contemplation or the principles of Mystical Theology, by R. P.
Lamballe; The ways of Mental Prayer, by Dom Lehodey. — 2. Marc.
SRT a0
PRAYER. 345
VI.
Now returning to the subject of ordinary prayer, it re-
mains for me to speak of the dispositions of heart we must
bring to it so as to render it fruitful.
To have intercourse with God, it is first of all necessary to
be detached from creatures. We cannot fittingly speak to
our heavenly Father if creatures occupy the imagination, the
mind and above all the heart. Purity of soul is extremely
necessary. It is an indispensable remote preparation.
Moreover, we must be recollected. A light, dissipated
soul, one habitually distracted and making no effort to
repress the wanderings of the imagination, will never be a
soul of prayer. During prayer itself, we ought not to
disturb ourselves about the distractions that may arrive, but
remain faithful, anr lead the mind gently back without
violence, by the aid of a book if needful, to the subject that
should be occupying us.
Why is this outward solitude, and this interior detach-
ment, so necessary for prayer? Because, as I have said,
repeating the words of St. Paul, it is the Holy Spirit Who
praysinus. Now His action in the soul is extremely
delicate ;we ought in nothing to act in opposition to it, which
St. Paul calls ” grieving the Holy Spirit of God!”; if we
do so, this Divine Spirit will become silent. But we must,
whilst yielding ourselves to Him, put away every obstacle
opposed to the liberty of His operations. We ought to say:
Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus?. Speak, O Divine
Master, speak to my soul, and grant that my soul may
hear! But we can only hear this voice well in the silence
of the soul.
We must especially be in that general and fundamental
disposition of refusing nothing God may ask of us, and,
following Our Lord’s example, of being ready to do all that
pleases His Father. Quae placita sunt ei facio semper ®.
This is an excellent disposition because it yields the soul to
the fulfilling of the Divine will. When we say to God in
prayer: Lord, Thou art infinitely good and perfect, Thou
alone dost merit all love and all glory. I give myself to
Thee, and because I love Thee, I embrace Thy holy will!
1. Ephes. 1v, 30. — 2. I Reg. m, 10. — 3. Joan. vill, 29.
then the Divine Spirit shows us some imperfection to be
corrected, some sacrifice to be made or a good work to be
done; and our love will lead us to exterminate all that is
displeasing in the sight of our Father in Heaven and will
carry us on to the fulfilment of His good pleasure.
This disposition must besides be one of profound re-
verence in presence of our Father’s majesty: Patrem im-
mensae majestatis?. We are adopted children; of our-
selves, we remain creatures. God, even when He com-
municates Himself intimately to the soul, remains God,
that is to say, the infinitely supreme Being: Dominus uni-
versorum*. Adoration is an essential movement of the
soul when we come before God. Pater tales quaerit qui
adorent eum in spiritu et in veritate. Note the alliance
between the two terms: Pater... adorent; we become children
of God, but we remain creatures.
God, moreover, wills that by this humble and deep re-
verence, we should acknowledge our powerlessness; in
prayer, He subjects the giving of His graces to this acknow-
ledgment which is at the same time an act of homage to His
power and goodness. Resistit superbis, humilibus autem dat
gratiam *. God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to
the humble”. And you know how in the parable of the
Pharisee and Publican, Our Lord impresses this truth on us.
This humility ought to be the greater in a soul that has
offended God by sin. The attitude of the soul must then
reveal that inward compunction that makes us regret our
sins and prostrate ourselves at Our Lord’s feet like Mag-
dalen the sinner.
However, despite our past sins and present miseries, we
are able to approach very near to God. How can we do so?
Through Our Lord. ” God is so great, so holy, so perfect ”,
you may say. That is true. Of ourselves we are far from
God, but Christ Jesus has ” made us nigh” Facti estis prope
im sanguine Christi*. ” Tam so poor and miserable”! That
too is certain, but Christ makes us rich with His own riches
with which to come before His Father. ” My soul has been
so stained”! But the Blood of Jesus has washed it and
restored all its beauty. It is Christ Who supplies for our
misery, our unworthiness. We must lean upon Him in
t. Hymn Te Deum, — 2. II Mach. xiv, 35. — 3. Jac. 1v, 6. —
4. Ephes. u, 13.
PRAYER. 347
prayer. By His Incarnation, He has filled up the distance
that separates man from God.
Wi
This point is of such importance for every soul aspiring
to the life of prayer, that I want to insist on it.
You know that between God and us, between the Creator
and the creature, the gulf is infinite. ”I am Who am yi
the Being subsisting by Myself: Ego sum qui sum*. Every
other being is taken out of nothingness. Who is going to
throw a bridge across this gulf ? Christ Jesus. He is pre-
eminently the Mediator, the Pontiff. It is through Jesus
Christ alone we can be raised up to God. The Incarnate
Word tells us decisively: Nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per
me*. ” No man cometh to the Father, but by Me”. It is
as if He said: ” You will never attain to the divinity save in
passing through My humanity”. Never forget He is the
Way, the only way. Christ alone, God and Man, raises us
up to His Father. We here see how important it is to have
a living faith in Christ Jesus. If we have this faith in the
power of His Humanity, as being the Humanity of a God, we
shall be assured that Christ can make us enter into contact
with God. For, as I have often told you, the Word in
uniting Himself to human nature, has, in principle, united us
all to Himself. And if we are united to Him by grace,
Christ bears us with Him Jn sancta*, as St. Paul says, into
” the Holy of holies ”, the sanctuary of the Divinity where, as
Word, He is before all ages: Et Verbum erat apud Deum *.
Through Christ we have become God’s children: Misit
Deus Filium suum ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus °;
it is likewise through Christ and united with Christ that we
truly act as children of God and fulfil the duties proceeding
from our Divine adoption. Consequently, we ought never
to begin our prayer without uniting ourselves, in intention
and heart, to Our Lord and without asking Him to introduce
us into the Father’s presence. We must join our prayers
to those He made here below when upon earth, especially to
that sublime prayer which as Mediator and Pontiff He
1. Exod. 1, 14. — 2. Joan. xiv, 6. — 3. Hebr. 1x, 12. — 4. Joan. 1,
I. — 5. Gal. tv, 4-5.
unceasingly continues in Heaven for us, Semper vivens ad

interpellandum pro nobis *.
See how Our Lord has sanctified our prayers by His
example. Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei?. St. Paul tells
us that this Divine High Priest, ” in the days of His flesh,
with a strong cry and tears, offered up prayers and suppli-
cations?”. Species tibi datur, forma tibi praescribitur,
quam debes aemulari, ’O Christian, here is a model pre-
sented to thee that thou mayest imitate it”, says St. Am-
brose *, when speaking of the prayer of Christ. Jesus prayed
for Himself when He asked His Father to glorify Him:
Clarifica me, tu, Pater®; He prayed for His disciples, not
that they should be taken out of the world but that they
should be kept from evil, for they belonged, through Him,
to the Father: Quia tui sunt®; He prayed for all of us
who believe in Him: Non pro eis tantum rogo, sed et pro eis
qui credituri sunt im me’.
Christ Jesus has, moreover, given us that wonderful for-
mula of prayer wherein is contained all that a child of God
can need to ask of his Father in Heaven. O Father ” hallow-
ed be Thy name”, may I act in all things for Thy glory, may
that be the chief motive power of all my actions; ” Thy
kingdom come”, in me, in all whom Thou hast created; be
truly the Master and King of my heart. In everything,
pleasant or painful, ” Thy will be done”! May I be able
to say, like Thy Son Jesus, that I live for Thee...
All our prayers, says St. Augustine, ought to refer in
their substance to these acts of love, to these supplications,
these most pure desires that Christ Jesus, the beloved Son,
has placed upon our lips and that His Spirit, the Spirit of
adoption, repeats in us*. The Pater Noster is essentially
the prayer of a child of God.
Not only has Our Lord sanctified our prayers by His
example; not only has He given us the model of them, but
He also supports them by His power with God, a Divine
1. Hebr. vu, 25. — 2. Luc. vi, 12. — 3. Hebr. v, 7. —4. Exposit.
Evangel.in Luce. lib. v, c. 6.— 5. Joan.xvu1,5.— 6.Ibid. 9.— 7. Ibid. 20. —
8. Verba quae Dominus noster Jesus Christus in oratione docuit, forma
est desideviorum : non tibi licet petere aliud quod ibi scriptum est (S.
Aug., Sermo Lvi, c. 3). Nam quaelibet alia verba dicamus quae af-
fectus orantis vel praecedendo format ut clareat, vel consequendo atten-
dit ut crescat, nihil aliud dicimus quam quod in ista dominica oratione
positum est, si vecte et congruenter oramus. Liberum est aliis atque aliis
verbis, eadem tamen, in orando dicere, sed non debet esse liberum alia
dicere (Epist. cxxx, c. 12).
PRAYER. 349
infallible power, for our High Priest has always the right to
be heard: Exauditus est pro sua reverentia!; He Himself
tells us that all we ask the Father in His name, that is to
$ay in making our petition through Him, shall be given to
us.
When, therefore, we come into God’s presence, let us cer-
tainly be mistrustful of ourselves, but still more let us arouse
our faith in the power that Christ, our Head and Elder
Brother, has to bring us near to His Father, Who is our
Father likewise: Ascendo ad Patrem meum et patrem
vestrum*. For if this faith is lively, we cleave closely to
Christ, and Christ, Who dwells in us by this faith, Christum
inhabitare per fidem in cordibus vestris*, takes us with Him
where He is. ” Father, I will that where I am, they also
whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me”: Volo Pater,
ut ubi sum ego, et illi sint mecum*. And where is He? In
sinu Patris. We are by faith there where He is in reality:
in the bosom of the Father. ” In Jesus Christ ”, says St. Paul,
” we have boldness and access [to God] with confidence by
faith in Him”, In Christo habemus fiduciam et accessum in
confidentia per fidem ejus*. Christ, by His Spirit, prays
with us, in us, Semper vivens ad interpellandum pro nobis °.
What a motive we have for immense confidence when we
come before God ! Presented by Christ Who has merited
for us our divine filiation, we ” are no more strangers and
foreigners?”, but children; we can open our hearts in
tender love, perfectly allied to a deep reverence. The Holy
Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Jesus, harmonises in us, by His
gifts of fear and piety, that profound adoration and that
boundless confidence, seemingly at first sight so contrary to
one another, and He thereby gives the keynote proper to
such an intercourse.
Let us then lean upon Christ. ” Whatsoever you shall ask
the Father in My name”, Jesus says, ” that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified inthe Son”. ” Hitherto”, He
says again to His disciples, ’” you have not asked anything in
My name. Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may
be full®”. To ask in the name of Jesus is to ask what is
conformable to our salvation, while remaining united to Him
1. Hebr. v, 7. — 2. Joan. xx, 17. — 3. Ephes. mt, 17. — 4. Joan.
XVU, 24. — 5. Ephes. m1, 12. — 6. Hebr. xm, 25. — 7. Ephes. 11, 19. —
8. Joan. xiv, 13. — g. Ibid, xvi, 24
by faith and love, as living members of His mystical body.

” Christ prays for us as our High Priest. He prays in us
as our Head”, says St. Augustine’: Orat pro nobis ut
sacerdos noster ; orat in nobis ut caput nostrum. That is
why, he adds, the Eternal Father cannot separate us from
Christ, any more than the head is separated from the body.
In seeing us, He sees His Son, for we only make one with
Him.
And that is why, too, in granting us what His Son asks
of Him in us, He ” is glorified in His Son”, for the Father
finds His glory in loving His Son, and being well pleased
with Him. St. Teresa says ” God is extremely pleased to
see a soul humbly place His Divine Son as the intermediary
between it and Him?”. Is not that what the Church her-
self, Christ’s Bride, does when she ends her prayers in the
name of her Divine Bridegroom ” Who with the Father and
the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, world without end ”?
At the same time, joy is born to the soul from this life of
prayer. Of course, while here below, it has not its full
perfection ; we have still to struggle and cannot always
obtain at once what we desire, for, according to St. Au-
gustine, “the man who sows to-day cannot hope to reap
to-morrow *’”; but that inward joy of being a child of
God is made perfect little by little, and we have confidence it
will reach its fulness one day in heavenly beatitude. For
the soul that gives itself faithfully to prayer is detached
more and more from created things, and so enters more fully
into the life of God.
Let us, then, seek to be of those who keep united to God by
a life of prayer and let us ask Our Lord to grant us this
infinitely precious gift, itself the source of exceeding great
graces, in the measure that is good for each one of us ac-
cording to the Divine plan. If we are faithful to ask, and,
on the other hand, to respond, in the measure of our weak-
ness, to the graces God gives us in Christ, we may be assured
we shall live more and more according to the spirit of our
adoption, and as children of God and brothers and sisters of
Jesus Christ, for the glory of our heavenly Father and the
fulness of our joy: Ut glorificetur Pater in Filio... ut gau-
dium vestrum sit plenum.
1. Enarr. in Ps, XLXXV, ¢. 1. — 2. Works. vol. 1, p. 281. — 3. Cf.
Tract. in Joan. Lxxi, n. 4.
XI. — LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Summary. — I, Fraternal Charity, the new commandment

and the
distinctive sign of souls that belong to Christ: why love
towards our neighbour is the manifestation of love towards
God. — II. Principle of this dispensation ; the extension of
the Incarnation ; Christ is one: we cannot separate our-
selves from the mystical body without being separated from
Christ Himself. — HII. The exercise and different forms of
charity ; it must be modelled on that of Jesus Christ ; how
St. Paul exhorts us to this. Ut sint consummati in unum.
N all the preceding pages, we have seen how faith in

Jesus Christ, the Son of God — a living practical faith
which shows itself, under the influence of love, by works
of life, and is nourished by the Eucharist and by prayer —
leads us by degrees to intimate union with Christ to the
point of transforming us into Himself.
But if we wish this transformation of our life into that of
Jesus Christ to be complete and true, and to meet with no
obstacle to its perfection, the love we have towards Our
Saviour must radiate around us and shine forth upon all
mankind. This is what St. John points out to us when he
sums up all Christian life in these words: ” And this is
[God’s] commandment, that we should believe in the Name
of His Son Jesus Christ — and that we love one another”,
I have shown thus far how faith in Our Lord is exercised:
it remains to me now to tell you how we are to fulfil His
precept of mutual love. Let us see then why Jesus Christ
has made this precept of charity towards His members the
completion, as it were, of the love we ought to have for His
Divine Person, and what characters this charity bears.
I.
When did St. John hear this commandment which he

makes known to us? At the Last Supper. The day so
ardently desired by Our Lord has come: Desiderio desi-
i. Joan. 1,23.
deravi'; He has eaten the Jewish Pasch with His disciples;

but He has replaced the figures and symbols by a Divine
reality; He has just instituted the Sacrament of union, and
given His Apostles the power of perpetuating it. And now
it is that before going to suffer death, He opens His Sacred
Heart to reveal its secrets to His ” friends”; it is like the
last will and testament of Christ. ” A new commandment
I give unto you”, He says, ” that you love one another as I
have loved you?”; and at the end of His discourse, He
renews His precept: ” This is My commandment, that you
love one another *”.
Our Lord begins by saying that the love we must have
for one another constitutes a new commandment. Why
does He use this expression?
Our Lord calls this precept of Christian charity ” new”,
because it had not been explicitly promulgated in the Old
Testament, at least in its universal acceptation. The precept
of the love of God had indeed been given explicitly in the
Pentateuch, and the love of God contains implicitly the love
of our neighbour: some of the great saints of the Old
Testament had understood, by the light of grace, that the
duty of fraternal affection extended to all the human race.
But nowhere under the Old Law do we find an explicit
precept to love all men. The Israelites understood the
precept: ” Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart...
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself +”, not indeed of all
men but of the neighbour in a restricted sense (the Hebrew
word indicates what is signified by neighbour, i. e. those of
thy race, compatriots, relatives). Moreover, God Himself
having forbidden His people to have any relations with
certain races, having even commanded them to exterminate
them, for instance, the Canaanites *, the Jews added a false
interpretation which did not come from God : ” Thou shalt
love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy”. The explicit
command to love all men, enemies included, had not been
affirmed and promulgated before the time of Jesus Christ.
That is why He calls this a “new precept” and ” His”
precept. And He holds so much to the observance of this
commandment that He asks His Father to bring about this
1. Luc. xxm, 15. — 2. Joan. xin, 34. — 3. Ibid. xv, 12. — 4. Levit.
XIX, 17, 18. —5. We can understand this severity of Jehovah with regard
to the populations steeped in the worst idolatries and immoralities, as
contact with them would have inevitably been fatal to the Israelites.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER, 353
mutual love in His disciples: ” Holy Father, keep them in

Thy Name whom Thou hast given Me: that they may be
one, as we also are... I in them and Thou in Me, that they
may be made perfect in one?”.
Jesus did not make this prayer only for His disciples,
but for us all: ” And not for them only do I pray”, He
says, ’ but for them also who believe in Me : that they
may be all one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that
they also may be one in Us?”.
So this commandment of the love of our brethren is the
supreme wish of Christ: it is so much His desire that He
makes of it, not a counsel, but a commandment, His com-
mandment, and He makes the fulfilment of it the infallible
sign by which His disciples shall be recognised: In hoc co-
gnoscent omnes qui discipuli mei estis si dilectionem habueri-
tis ad invicem*. It is a sign all can understand, none other is
given: Cognoscent OMNES: no one can be mistaken as to it:
the supernatural love you have for one another will be the
unequivocal proof that you truly belong to Me. And, in
fact, in the first centuries, the pagans recognised the Christ-
ians by this sign: ” See”, they would say, ” how they love
one another *”.
For Our Lord Himself, it will be the sign He will use in
the day of judgment to distinguish the elect from the re-
probate: He Himself says so; let us listen to Him, for He
is the infallible Truth.
After the resurrection of the dead, the Son of Man will be
seated on the throne of His Majesty: the nations will be
gathered together before Him: He will place the good on His
right hand and the wicked on His left. And speaking to
the good He will say: ” Come, ye blessed of My Father,
possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foun-
dationof the world”. And what reason will He give for
this?” JI was hungry and you gave Me to eat: I was
thirsty and you gave Me to drink: I was a stranger, and you
took Me in: I was naked and you covered Me: I was sick
and you visited Me: I was in prison and you came to Me ‘f
And the just will wonder, for never have they seen Christ in
these necessities. But He will answer them: ” Amen, I say
to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren
1. Joan. xvm, 11 and 23. — 2. Ibid. 20-21. — 3. Ibid. xm, 35. —
4. Tertullian. Apolog. c. 39.
you did it to Me”: Mihi fecistis*. He will then speak

after the same manner to the wicked. He will separate
them for ever from Himself . He will curse them. Why?
Because they have not loved Him in the person of His
brethren.
Thus, from the mouth of Jesus Himself, we know that the
sentence which will decide our eternal lot will be founded
on the love we have had for Jesus Christ in the person of our
brethren. When we appear before Christ on the last day,
He will not ask us if we have fasted a great deal, if we have
passed our life in penance, if we have given many hours to
prayer: no, but if we have loved and helped our brethren.
Are the other commandments, then, put aside? Certainly
not, but our observance of them will have served for nothing
if we have not kept this precept of loving one another — this
precept which is so dear to Our Lord, since it is His com-
mandment.
On the other hand, it is impossible for a soul to be perfect

in the love of its neighbour without possessing in itself the
love of God, which love at the same time embraces the
Divine Will in all its extent. Why is this?
It is because charity — whether it has God for its object
or is exercised towards our neighbour — is one in its super-
natural motive which is God’s infinite perfection*. There-
fore, if you truly love God, you will necessarily love your
neighbour. ” Perfect charity towards the neighbour”,
said the Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena, ” es-
sentially depends on the perfect charity a soul has for Me.
The soul has the same measure of perfection or imperfection
in its love for the creature as is found in its love for Me*”.
From another point of view, there are so many causes

which separate us from our neighbour: selfishness, con-
flicting interests, differences of character, injures received,
that, if you really and supernaturally love your neighbour,
the love of God necessarily reigns in your soul, and, with the
love of God, the other virtues which He commands. If you
do not love God, your love of your neighbour will not long
resist the difficulties met with in its exercise.
We see then with how much reason Our Lord gives this
1. Matth. xxv, 40. — 2. Cf. S. Thom. II-II, q. xxv, a. 1. — 3. Dial.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 355
charity as the distinctive sign by which His disciples will be
infallibly recognised: In hoc cognoscent omnes. St. Paul,
too, writes that all the precepts are summed up in these
words: ” Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?”. And
again, still more explicitly: ” All the law is fulfilled in one
word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. Omnis
lex in UNO sermone impletur: diliges proximum tuum sicut
teipsum ?.
Tt is as St. John has so well said: ” If we love one another,
God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us?”.
Like Christ, Whose last words he heard, St. John repeats
that charity is the mark of the children of God. “We know”,
— observe the sovereign certitude this term expresses —
’ we know that we have passed from death to life”, (super-
natural and divine) ” because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not, abideth in death+”. ” Would you know ”, says
St. Augustine, ” if you are living the life of grace, if God is
giving you His friendship, if you are numbered among
Christ’s disciples, if you are living by His Spirit? Question
yourselves; see if you love men, your brethren, all men: if
you love them for God, and you will have the answer. And
this answer does not deceive *”.
Hear what St. Teresa says likewise on this subject; the
text is a little long, but it is very explicit. “God asks of
you only two things, the one is to love Him, and the other is
to love our neighbour. That is, therefore, what we have to
strive for; in accomplishing this perfectly, we shall be doing
His Will and shall be united to Him...”. That is the aim,
but are we sure of attaining it? ” The most certain sign by
which we 'may know if we are faithfully practising these.
two commandments ”, the saint continues, ” is, in my opinion,
if we have a true and genuine love for our neighbour. For
we cannot know for certain to what extent we love God,
although there are many signs by which we may judge of
this; but we see much more clearly where the love of our
neighbour is concerned. It is then extremely important to
consider carefully the disposition of our soul and our out-
ward behaviour towards our neighbour. If, both interiorly
and exteriorly, all is perfect, then we can be well assured,
1. Rom. xi, 9-10. — 2. Gal. v, 14. — 3. I Joan. 1v, 12. — 4. Ibid.
WI, 14. — 5. Si vis nosse quia accepisti Spiritum (Sanctum) interroga
cor tuum : si est ibi dilectio fratris, securus esto. Non potest esse dilectio
sine Spiritu Dei. In Epistol. Joan. Tract. v1, c. 3.
, we could
for, considering the depravation of our nature
love our neigh bour perfec tly unless we had within us
never
a great love for God*”. é
The great saint here only echoes the doctrine of St. John.
This Apostl e, who is the herald of love,tr eats as a Ueto
, for,
one who says: “I love God”, and hates his brother
says he, if you love not your brother whom you see, how
can you love God Whom you see not® ? What do these
words signify?
We must love God fotaliter and totum.
To love God totaliter, totally, is to love God with all our
soul, all our mind, all our heart, and all our strength: it is
to love God in accepting, in its full extent, all that His holy
Will ordains.
To love God totum is to love God and all that God asso-
ciates with Himself. Now what is it that God associates with
Himself? First of all, the Humanity of Christ in the Person
of the Word, and that is why we cannot love God without
loving Jesus Christ at the same time. When we tell God
that we wish to love Him, God first asks us to accept this
humanity personally united to His Word. Hic est Filius
meus ...ipsum audite. But the Word, in uniting Himself to
human nature, has fundamentally united to Himself all hu-
manity in a mystical manner. Christ is only the eldest-born
of a multitude of brethren whom God makes the partici-
pants of His nature. They are so united to Him that Our
Lord Himself declares they are as gods, that is to say, like
to God: Ego dixi, dit estis* They are by grace what Jesus
is by nature: the beloved sons of God. We here touch upon
the intimate reason of the precept which Jesus calls ” His
commandment”, the profound reason which makes its im-
portance so vital: since the Incarnation, and by the In-
carnation, all men, are, by right, if not in fact, united to
Christ as the members are united to the head in the same
body: the damned, alone, are cut off for ever from this
union.
‘There are souls that seek God in Jesus Christ, and accept
the humanity of Christ, but stop there. That is not sufficient:
we must accept the Incarnation with all the consequences it
involves: we must not let the gift of ourselves stop at
1. The Interior Castle. 5th Mansion, c. 3. — 2. I Joan. Iv, 20. —
3. Joan. x, 34; Cf. Ps, Uxxxi, 6.
Christ’s own humanity but extend it to His mystical body.

That is why — never forget this, for it is one of the most
important points of the supernatural life — to abandon
the least of our brethren is to abandon Christ Himself ;
to succour one of them, is to succour Christ in person. If
anyone strikes one of your members, your eye or your arm,
it is yourself they strike; in the same way, to touch one of
the members of the body of Christ is to touch Christ Him-
self. And that is why Our Lord has told us that any good
or evil we do to the least of His brethren, it is to Himself
we doit. Our Lord is the Very Truth; He cannot teach us
anything which is not founded on a supernatural reality.
Now, in this, the supernatural reality that faith discovers to
us is that Christ, in becoming incarnate, has mystically united
Himself to all humanity; not to accept and not to love all
those who belong or who could belong to Christ by grace, is
not to accept and not to love Christ Himself.
We find a remarkable confirmation of this truth in the
account of the conversion of St. Paul. Filled with hatred
against the Christians, he goes towards the city of Damascus
to imprison Christ’s disciples. While on the road thither, he
is overthrown by the Lord and he hears a voice crying to
him: ” Why persecutest thou Me”? Quid me persequeris?
"Who art Thou, Lord”? Paul asks. And it is told him:
”T am Jesus Whom thou persecutest’”. Christ does not
say: ” Why persecutest thou My disciples”? No, He
identifies Himself with them, and the blows which the per-
secutor deals to the Christians strike Christ Himself: ” I
am Jesus Whom thou persecutest ”.
The lives of the saints abound in traits of this kind. Look
at St. Martin; he is a soldier, not yet baptised; and lo! he
meets a poor man on his road, and, being touched with com-
passion, he divides his mantle with him. The following
night Our Lord appears to him clad in that part of the
mantle given to the poor man and Martin, enraptured, hears
Jesus Christ say to the angels who accompany Him, ” Mar-
tin, while yet only a catechumen, gave Me this mantle. ”
Again, there is St. Elizabeth of Hungary. One day, in
the absence of the Duke, her husband, she meets a little
leper, abandoned by all. She takes him and lays him upon
her own bed. The Duke, on his return learns the news and,
in a rage, wants to drive away the poor leper. But on
approaching the bed, he sees the form of Christ Crucified *.

We read likewise in the life of St. Catherine of Siena how
one day she was in the Church of the Friars Preachers; a
poor man came to her and asked alms for the love of God.
She had nothing to give him for she never carried with her
either gold or silver. She asked the beggar to wait till she
returned home, promising him that she would then willingly
give him the alms of all she could find in her house. But
the poor man insisted: ” If you have anything to give, I beg
you to give it me here, for I cannot wait so long”. Catherine
anxiously sought for something she could give him to relieve
his necessity; she ended by finding upon her a small silver
cross, and at once gave it with joy to the poor man, who
went away content. The following night, Our Lord ap-
peared to the saint. He had in His Hand the little cross set
with precious stones. ’ Dost thou recognise this cross, My
daughter”? ‘” Certainly I recognise it”, replied the Saint,
” but it was not so beautiful when it was mine”. Our Lord
continued: ’” Thou gavest it to Me yesterday, for love of the
virtue of charity; the precious stones signify this love. I
promise thee that at the day of judgment, before the whole
assembly of angels and men, I will give thee this cross such
as thou seest it, so that thy joy may be full. On that day,
when I shall solemnly manifest the justice and mercy of My
Father, I shall not forget the work of mercy thou hast done
unto Me?”.
Christ has become our neighbour, or rather our neighbour
is Christ, presenting Himself to us under such or such a
form. He presents Himself to us suffering in the sick, in
the needy, in those who are in want, a prisoner in those in
captivity, sad in those who mourn. But it is faith that shows
Him thus in His members, and if we do not see Him in them,
it is because our faith is weak, our love imperfect. That
is what St. John says: ” If we love not our neighbour whom
we see, how can we love God Whom we see not”? If we
do not love God under the visible form under which He
presents Himself to us, that is to say, in our neighbour, how
can we say that we love Him in His Divinity *?
1. Montalembert, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, c. 8. — 2. Life of St. Ca-
therine of Siena, by Blessed Raymond of Capua. — 3. Cf. S. Thom.
II-II, q. XxIv, a. 2, ad 1.
II.
I have already said, in speaking of the Church, that there

is something remarkable in the Divine economy such as it
has been manifested to us since the Incarnation, and this is
the large place held by men, like to ourselves, as instruments
in the distribution of grace.
If we would know the authentic doctrine of Christ, we
have not to ask it directly of God, nor seek it ourselves in
the inspired Books, in interpreting them by our own judg-
ment, but we have to ask it of the pastors constituted to
govern the Church. ” But these are men”, you will say:
” men like ourselves”. That does not matter, it is to them
we must go: they represent Christ, it is Christ we must see
in them. ” He that heareth you, heareth Me ; and he that
despiseth you, despiseth Me?”.
In the same way, in order to receive the Sacraments, we
must receive them by the hand of men appointed by Christ:
in Baptism, Penance, etc., it is Christ Who confers the Sac-
taments on us, but by the intermediary of man.
It is the same with charity. Do you wish to love God?
Do you wish to love Jesus Christ? And we ought to do so
because it is “the greatest and first commandment ?”.
Love your neighbour, love those with whom you live; love
them because God destines all, as He destines you, to the
same eternal beatitude * merited by Christ, our one and only
Head, because it is under the form of our neighbour that
God presents Himself to us here below.
So true is this that God’s conduct towards us is regulated
on our conduct towards our neighbour. Here are Our
Lord’s own words:
“With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you
again*”. And see how He takes the trouble to enter into
details: Your Father will only forgive your offences if you
forgive those which are committed against you. Unless you
show mercy there shall be reserved for you judgment with-
out mercy. Would you be neither judged nor condemned?
Do not yourselves judge or condemn. And if you wish God to
show kindness towards you, show it yourselves towards
1. Luc. x, 10. — 2. Matth. xxu, 38. — 3. Deus diligitur sicut beati-
tudinis causa: proximus autem sicut beatitudinem ab eo simul nobiscum
participans. S Thom. II-II, q. xxvi, a. 2. — 4. Matth. vu, 2.
men, your brethren. ” Give”, He says again, ” give, and it

shall be given to you; good measure and pressed down and
shaken together and running over*”. Why so much in-
sistance ?...Once more, because, since the Incarnation, Christ
is so united to humanity that all the love we show super-
naturally to men falls back upon Him.
I am sure that many souls will here find the reason of the
difficulties, the sadness, the want of expansion in their inner
life; they do not give themselves enough to Christ in the
person of His members; they hold themselves back too
much. If they would but give, it would be given to them
and given abundantly; for Jesus Christ will not let Himself
be outdone in love; if they would overcome their selfish-
ness and give themselves generously to their neighbour for
God’s sake, Christ would give Himself to them in His
fulness; if they would forget themselves, Christ would take
the care of them upon Himself, and Who better than He can
lead us to beatitude?
It is not a small thing to love our neighbour always and
unfailingly; it needsa strong and generous love. Although
the love of God is in itself, on account of the transcendance
of its object, more perfect than the love of our neighbour,
yet, as the motive ought to be the same in the love we bear
to God and that we bear to our neighbour 2, often the act of
love towards our neighbour requires more intensity and
gains more merit. Why is this? Because God, being Him-
self Goodness and Beauty, and having shown infinite love
towards us, grace urges us to love Him; while, as for our
neighbour, there is always the probability of meeting in him
— or in ourselves — with obstacles resulting from the
differences of interest that arise between us. These diffi-
culties require from the soul more fervour, more generosity,
more forgetfulness of self and one’s own feelings and
personal desires: that is why, if love towards our neighbour
is to be maintained, there is more need of effort.
Here something happens like that which occurs when a
soul is in interior aridity ; it needs more generosity to remain
faithful than when it abounds in consolation. It is the same
1. Luc. vi, 38. — 2. "God being the formal reason of the love we
should have for our neighbour, for we only ought to love our neighbour
for God, it is manifest that the act by which we love God is specifically
the same as that by which we love our neighbour.” S. Thom. II-II,
G; SXVe savers
with suffering; God often makes use of it in the spiritual

life to develop our love, because, in such moments, the soul
has to overcome itself, and that is a mark of the strength of
its charity. Look at Our Lord; He made no act of love
more intense than when in His Agony He accepted the bitter
chalice offered to Him, and when, abandoned by His Father,
He achieved His sacrifice upon the Cross.
In a like manner, the supernatural love that is exercised
toward our neighbour, despite repugnances, antipathies, or
natural dissimilarity, manifests in the soul possessing this
love, a greater intensity of Divine life. I do not fear to
say that one who yields himself supernaturally and unreserv-
edly to Christ in the person of his neighbour, loves Christ
greatly and is infinitely loved by Him; he will make great
progress in union with Our Lord. While if you meet with
one who devotes much time to prayer and, in spite of that,
voluntarily shuts up his compassion against the necessities of
his neighbour, you may hold it for certain that there is much
illusion in his life of prayer. For the object of prayer
is to yield the soul to the Divine Will; and if the soui shuts
out the neighbour, it also shuts out Christ and fails to comply
with Christ’s most sacred desire: Ut unum sint, ut sint con-
summati in unum. True sanctity manifests itself by charity
and the entire gift of self.
If, then, we wish to remain united to Our Lord, it is of
extreme importance to see if we are united to the members
of His mystical body. Let us take care. The least volun-
tary coldness, deliberately cherished against one of our
brethren, could form an obstacle,more or less grave according
to its degree, to our union with Christ. That is why Christ
telis us that, if at the moment of making our offering at the
altar, we remember our brother has anything against us, we
must ” leave there our offering, and go first to be reconciled
to our brother, and then coming we shall offer our gift*”.
When we communicate, we receive the substance of Christ’s
physical Body ;we must also receive and accept His mystical
body; it is impossible for Christ to descend into our souls
and there be the principle of union, if we retain resentment
against one of His members. St. Thomas calls sacrilegious
Communion a lie. Why so? Because to receive Christ in
Communion is to declare by the very fact that we are united
1. Matth. v, 23-24.
to Him; if one is in a state of grievous sin, and therefore

turned away from Christ, to approach Him in Communion is
a lie’. In the same way, all proportion guarded, to draw
near to Christ, wishing to be united to Him, while we exclude
from our love a single member of His, is to lie in act; it is
wishing to divide Christ; we must communicate with what
St. Augustine calls the ” whole Christ?”. Hear what
St. Paul says on this subject: ” The chalice of benediction ”
(that is to say, the Eucharistic cup), 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, ” he
adds”, we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that
partake of one bread *”.
Thus the great Apostle, who understood so well and ex-
posed so vividly the doctrine of the mystical body, had in
horror the discords and dissensions which might arise be-
tween Christians. ” I beseech you, brethren, ” he says”, by
the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing and that there be no schisms among you; but
that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same
judgment *”. And what reason does he give for this? ” As
the body is one and has many members, and all the members
of the body whereas they are many yet are one body, so also
is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptised into one
body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free... you
are the body of Christ, and members of member °”.
Til.
It is from this high principle that charity derives its most

intimate reason, it is also according to this principle that we
may lay down what qualities this charity should have in
practice.
As we all form one single body, our charity ought to be
universal. In principle, charity excludes no one, for Christ
died for all, and all are called to belong to His kingdom.
Charity embraces even sinners, because the possibility re-
I. Cum peccatores sumentes hoc sacramentum cum peccato mortali,
stgnificent se Christo per fidem formatam unitos esse, falsitatem in sa-
cramento committunt... S. Thom. III, q. rxxx, a. 4. Conclusio. —
2. St. Aug. De unitate Eccles. 4. See texts from the same quoted
previously p. 96. — 3. I Cor. x, 16, 17..— 4. Ibid. 1, 10. — 5. Ibid. xu,
12-14 and 27.
mains of their again becoming living members of Christ’s

body; only those souls that the sentence of damnation has
for ever separated from the mystical body are excluded from
charity.
But this love has to take different forms according to our
neighbour’s state; our love, in fact, ought not to be a platonic
love, of theory alone, which occupies itself with abstractions,
but a love that translates itself into appropriate acts.
The blessed in heaven are the glorious members of Christ’s
body, they have reached the term of their union with God;
our love towards them will take one of its most perfect
forms, that of complacency and thanksgiving ; it will consist
in congratulating them on their glory, in rejoicing with them,
in praising God with them for the place He has granted them
in the Kingdom of His Son. Towards the souls that are
finishing their purification in Purgatory, our love becomes
one of pity; our compassion should urge us to assist them
by our suffrages, and especially by means of the Holy Sac-
tifice of the Mass.
Here on earth, Christ presents Himself to us in the person
of our neighbour under many different forms which furnish
us with various ways of exercising our charity. Undoubt-
edly, there must be degrees and a certain order to follow.
Our neighbour is, first of all, anyone who is closely united to
us by ties of blood, for neither in this case does grace over-
throw the order established by nature. Charity in a superior
will not have the same ” tonality ” as in an inferior. More-
over, the exercise of material charity must be compatible
with the supernatural virtue of prudence: a father of a
family cannot despoil himself of all his fortune, in favour
of the poor, but to the detriment of his children. While the
supernatural virtue of justice can and ought to require re-
pentance and expiation from the culprit before he is for-
given, hatred, that is to say, to will or wish evil for evil, is
not permitted; it is not permitted to exclude anyone from
our prayers: such an exclusion would be directly opposed to
charity.
There is often no better proof of forgiveness than to pray
for those who have offended us. To love our neighbour
supernaturally is, indeed, to love him in view of God, to the
end that he may gain or preserve God’s grace which will
364 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL,
bring him to eternal beatitude*. To love is to ” wish good ”

to another, says St. Thomas ”, but all individual good is sub-
ordinate to the supreme good. That is why to give God,
the Infinite Good, to the ignorant by instructing them, is so
pleasing to God; and so it is to pray for the conversion of
infidels and sinners that they may receive the faith or recover
Divine grace. When, during prayer, we recommend to God
the needs of souls, or when at Mass, we sing the Kyrie
eleison for all those who are awaiting the light of the Gospel
or the strength of grace in temptation, when we pray on
behalf of the labour of missionaries, we perform acts of true
charity extremely acceptable to Our Lord. If Christ has
promised to give a reward for a cup of cold water given in
His Name, what will He not give for a life of prayer or
of expiation consecrated to the advancement of His Reign?
There are yet other necessities. It may be a poor man who
needs help; a sick person to be relieved, nursed, or visited;
one who is in sorrow to be comforted by kind words;
another overflowing with joy, who wants to share it with
someone: Gaudere cum gaudentibus, flere cum flentibus*;
Charity, says St. Paul, makes itself ” all things to all men ¢”.
See how Jesus Christ fulfilled this precept of charity, in
order to be our Model.
Christ loved to give pleasure. The first miracle of His
public life was to change water into wine at the marriage-
feast of Cana, so as to spare His hosts any confusion when
the wine failed °. We hear Him promise to refresh all who
labour and are burdened and come to Him*. And how well
He has kept His promise! The Evangelists often repeat
that it is because He is ” moved with compassion”, Miseri-
cordia motus 7, that He works His miracles; it is from this
motive He cures the lepers and raises the son of the widow
of Naim. It is because He has compassion on the multitude
who, having unweariedly followed Him during three days,
now suffer honger, that He multiplies the loaves: Misereor
super turbam*. Zacheus, a chief of the publicans, one of
that class of Jews looked upon as sinners by the Pharisees,
ardently wishes to see Christ. But, on account of his short
1. Ratio diligendi proximum Deus est : hoc enim in proximo debemus
diligere ut in Deo sit. S. Thom, I-IJ, q. xxv, a. 1, and q. xxvi. —
2. Amare nihil aliud est quam velle bonum alicui. S. Thom. I, gq. xx,
a. 2; cf. also I-II, q. 28, a. 1. — 3. Rom. xu, 15. — 4. I Cor. 1x, 22.
— 5. Joan. u, 1-11. — 6. Matth. x1, 28. — 7. Luc. vu, 23. — 8. Marc.
VIII, 2.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. | 365
stature he cannot succeed in doing so, for the multitude sur-
rounds Jesus on every side. Therefore Zacheus climbs up
into a tree along the road where Jesus is about to pass, and
Our Lord anticipates this publican’s desire. Having come
close up to him, He tells him to come down for He wills to
be His guest that very hour, and Zacheus, full of joy, and at
the height of his wishes, receives Him into his house. See
again how, for His friends, He puts His power at the
service of His love. Martha and Magdalen lament in His
presence for their brother Lazarus who is already buried;
Jesus is moved: tears, true, human tears, but the tears of a
God, fall from His eyes; Jesus... lacrymatus est. ' Where
have you laid him”? He at once asks, for His love cannot
remain inactive, and He goes to raise up His friend. And
the Jews who were witnesses of this scene, said: ” Behold
how He loved him”! Ecce quomodo amabat eum?!
Christ, says St. Paul, who loves to employ this term, is the
very kindness of God appearing upon earth *; He is a King,
but a King full of meekness*, Who bids us forgive and
proclaims those blessed who, following His example, are
merciful®. St. Peter, who had lived with Him three years,
says that everywhere He went about doing good, Pertransiit
benefaciendo®. Like the Good Samaritan, whose charitable
action He so wonderfully describes, Christ has taken human-
ity into His arms, He has taken its sorrows into His soul:
Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, et dolores nostros ipse
portavit’?. He comes ” for the destruction of sin*®”, which
is the supreme evil, the only true evil; He drives out the
devil from the bodies of the possessed; but, above all, He
drives him out from souls, in giving His own life for each
one of us: Dilexit me et tradidit semetipsum pro me ®.
What greater mark of love is there than this? There is
none. Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet ut animam
‘suam ponat quis pro amicis suis 7°.
Now, the love of Jesus for men is the model of what our
love should be: ” Love one another as I have loved you”;
Sicut dilexi vos**. What is the deep reason of Our Lord’s
love for His disciples, and for us in them?
Because they belonged to His Father: Rogo... pro his
1. Luc. x1x, 5-6. — 2. Joan. xi, 36. — 3. Tit. m1, 4. — 4. Matth. xx1,
5. — 5. Ibid. v, 7. — 6. Act. x, 36. — 7. Isa. yim, 4. — 8. Hebr. 1x. —
9 Gal. un, 20. — 10. Joan. xv, 13. — 11. Ibid. xin, 34.
quos dedisti mihi, quia tui sunt*. It is because souls belong

to God and to Christ that we must love them. Our love
must be supernatural; true charity is the love of God,
enfolding, in the same embrace, God and all that is united to
Him. We must love all souls as Christ loves them, even to
the supreme degree of giving ourselves: im finem.
See how St. Paul, so animated with the spirit of Christ,
was full of charity towards the Christians: ” Who is weak
and I am not weak?... Who is scandalised and I am not on
fire?”’? How charitable was he who could say: “I most
gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls”. Li-
BENTISSIME impendam et superimpendar*! The Apostle
goes even so far as to wish himself to be anathema for the
sake of his brethren*; in the midst of his continual jour-
neys, he labours with his own hands so as not to be burden-
some to the Christian communities who receivehim®. And
you know his touching letter to his friend Philemon asking
mercy for the slave, Onesimus. This slave has run away
from his master’s house so as to escape punishment; he has
taken refuge with St. Paul, who converts him and to whom
he ministers. But the great Apostle, who would not injure
the rights of Philemon according to the laws then in force,
sends back the slave to his friend; he writes to Philemon,
who had the power of life and death over the fugitive, a
few lines to prepare a favourable reception for him. This
note, St. Paul writes in the Roman prison, with his own
hand, as he himself says; it expresses all that charity can
find to say that is most urgent and delicate. ” I, Paul, an
old man and now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ, I beseech
thee for my son, whom I have begotten in my bonds... whom
I have sent back to thee, and do thou... receive him as my-
self. And if he hath wronged thee in anything, or is in thy
debt, put that to my account... Refresh my heart in the
Lord a8
We understand after this how the Apostle could write
such a magnificent hymn to exalt the excellence of charity:
” Charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not, dealeth not
perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not
her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth
not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things,
1. Joan. xvur, 9, — 2. IT Cor. x1, 29. — 3. Ibid. xu, 15. — 4. Rom.
Ix, 3. — 5. II Thess. m, n.; cf. If Cor. xu, 16. — 6. Philem. 9 sq.
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things? ”.

But all these diverse acts spring from the same source:
namely, Christ seen through faith, in our neighbour.
Let us then endeavour first of all to love God by keeping

united to Our Lord: from this Divine love, as from an
ardent furnace whence a thousand rays shine forth to give
light and warmth, our charity will be extended to all around
us, and so much the further according as the furnace is the
more ardent. Our charity towards our neighbour is to flow
from our love for God. So then, I will say to you with
St. Paul; “Love one another with the charity of brotherhood,
with honour preventing one another... Rejoice with them that
rejoice; weep with them that weep, being of one mind one
towards another... If it be possible, as much as is in you,
have peace with all men?”. And to sum up his doctrine:
” 1 beseech you to support one another with charity... care-
ful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; one
body and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your
calling *””.
Let us never forget the principle that should guide us in
this path: — we are all one in Christ; and it is charity that
preserves this unity. We only go to the Father by Christ;
but we must accept Christ entirely, in Himself and in His
members; there lies the secret of the true Divine life within
us.
That is why Our Lord has made mutual charity His com-
mandment and the object of His last prayer: Ut sint con-
SUMMATI in unum. Let us strive to fulfil, as far as possible,
this supreme wish of Christ’s Heart. Love is a source of
life, and if we draw forth this love from God so that it
may be shed unfailingly upon all the members of the body of
Christ, life will superabound within our souls, for Christ,
according to His own promise, will pour upon us, in return
for our self-forgetfulness, a measure of grace ” good and
pressed down, and shaken together and running over”.
1. I Cor. xu, 4-7. — 2. Rom. xu, 10 et sq. — 3. Ephes. Iv, 1-4.
XI. — THE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATE
WORD.
Summary. — The place that devotion to the Virgin Mary holds in

our spiritual life : the disciple of Christ must, like Jesus, be
the Son of Mary. — I. What Mary has given to Jesus. By
her ” Fiat”, the Virgin consented to give a human nature
to the Word; she is the Mother of Christ ; as such, she
enters essentially into the vital mystery of Christianity. —
I. What Jesus has given to His Mother. He chose her
from among all women; He loved and obeyed her. He
has associated her, in the closest manner, with His mysteries,
especially with that of the Redemption. — Il. The homage
we owe to Mary: to exalt her privileges, following the
example of the Church in her liturgy. — IV. The profit that
devotion to the Blessed Virgin brings to the soul: Mary
inseparable from Jesus in the Divine Plan ; her all powerful
influence with God ; her grace of spiritual maternity. — To
ask Mary to ” form Jesus” within us.
I w the course of these conferences, I have often said that

all holiness for us consists in the imitation of Jesus
Christ, in the conformity of our whole being to the Son
of God, and in our participation in His Divine Sonship.
To be by grace what Jesus is by nature is the end of our
predestination and the norm of our sanctity: Quos praesci-
vit et praedestinavit conformes fiert imaginis Filii sui?.
Now, in Our Lord some things are essential to Him and
some accidental. Christ was born at Bethlehem, He fled
into Egypt, He passed His childhood and youth at Nazareth,
_ He died under Pontius Pilate; these diverse circumstances
of place and time are only accidental to Christ’s existence.
There are other things so far essential to Him that without
them Christ would no longer be Christ. He is God and
Man, Son of God and Son of man, true God and true Man:
these are constitutive, intangible qualities.
In the Scriptures, some astonishing words are applied to
Eternal Wisdom, the Word of God. ” My delights are to
be with the children of men”: Deliciae meae esse cum filus
1. Rom. vill, 29.
THE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATE WORD. 369
kominum*. Who could have believed that? The Word is

God: Deus erat Verbum; in the bosom of His Father, He
lives in infinite light; He possesses all the riches of the
Divine perfections; He enjoys the fulness of all life and
all beatitude. And yet He declares by the sacred writer
that He finds His joy in living among men.
This marvel has come to pass; for ” the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us”, Et Verbum caro factum est et
habitavit in nobis. The Word desired to become one of us;
He has realised His Divine desire in an ineffable manner;
and this realisation seems, so to speak, to have fulfilled His
desires. When we read the Gospel, we see indeed that
Christ often affirms His Divinity, as when He speaks of
His eternal relations with His Father: “I and My Father
are one*”, or when He confirms the profession of faith of
His hearers: ” Blessed art thou”, He said to Peter upon his
proclaiming the divinity of his Master, ” blessed art thou,
for it is My Father hath revealed it to thee*”; however,
we do not hear Him in express words give Himself the title
of ” Son of God”.
How many times, on the contrary, do we not hear Him
call Himself the” Son of Man”. One would say that Christ
is proud of this title which He loves to give Himself. But
He never separates it from His Divine Sonship or the pri-
vileges of His Divinity. He tells us that ” the Son of man
has the power (which alone belongs to God), to forgive
sins*’”; we see that, immediately after His disciples have
proclaimed Him ” Christ, the Son of God”, He announces
to them that this Christ, ” the Son of man” must suffer, that
He will ” be put to death, and after three days rise again ®”,
Nowhere, perhaps, has our Divine Saviour more clearly
and forcibly spoken of Himself as both God and Man as in
the days of His Passion. See Him before the tribunal of
the Jewish high priest Caiphas. Caiphas, in the midst of
the assembly, conjures Jesus to declare if He is the Son of
God. ” Thou hast said it”, Jesus answers: ” nevertheless I
say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of the power of God and coming in the clouds
of heaven®”. Notice that Jesus does not say as we
might have expected, — since here, there is only question of
1. Prov. vill, 31. — 2. Joan. x, 30. — 3. Matth. xvi, 17. — 4. Marc
MN, 10. — §. Ibid. vi, 31. —6. Matth. xxvi, 64; cf. Joan. 1, 51 ; 11, 13.
Christ, he life of the soul. 24
His Divinity — ” You shall see the Son of God coming in the
clouds of heaven as eternal and sovereign Judge”; but:
"You shall see the Son of man”. In presence of the
supreme tribunal, He joins this last title to that of His Di-
vinity: for Him, these two titles are inseparable, in the same
manner as the two natures upon which they are founded are
indissolubly united and inseparable. There is not less sin in
rejecting the Humanity of Christ than there is in denying His
Divinity.
Now, if Jesus Christ is the Son of God by His ineffable

and eternal birth ” in the bosom of the Father”, Filius meus
es tu, ego hodie genui te1, He is Son of man by His tem-
poral birth in the bosom of a woman: Misit Deus Filium
suum, factum ex muliere ?.
This woman is Mary, and she is a Virgin. It is from
her, and from her alone, that Christ takes His human na-
ture; it is to her He owes it that He is Son of man; she
is truly Mother of God. Mary, therefore, occupies a trans-
cendent, essential and unique place in Christianity. In the
same way as the quality of ” Son of man” cannot be sep-
arated in Christ from that of ” Son of God”, so is Mary
united to Jesus: indeed, the Virgin Mary enters into the
mystery of the Incarnation by a title belonging to the very
nature of the mystery.
_ That is why we must stay a few moments to contemplate
this marvel of a simple creature being associated, by such
close bonds, with the economy of the fundamental mystery of
Christianity and, consequently, with our supernatural life,
that divine life which comes to us from Christ, the God-Man,
and that Christ gives to us, inasmuch as He is God, but by
means of His Humanity *. We must be, like Jesus, Filius
Dei and Filius Mariae; He is both of these perfectly ; if
then we wish to reproduce His likeness within us, we must
bear this double quality.
No piety would be truly Christian if it did not include in
its object the Mother of the Incarnate Word. Devotion
towards the Virgin Mary is not only important, but ne-
cessary, if we wish to draw abundantly at the source of
life. To separate Christ from His Mother in our piety, is
1. Act. xt, 33 ; cf. Ps. 1, 7. — 2. Gal. 1v, 4. — 3. See fourth Con-
ference : Christ, the Efficient Cause of all Grace.
to divide Christ ; it is to lose sight of the essential mission of

His holy humanity in the distribution of divine grace.
Where the Mother is left out, the Son is no longer un-
derstood. Has not this befallen Protestant nations? In
rejecting devotion to Mary under pretext of not derogating
from the dignity of a single Mediator, have they not ended
in even losing faith in the Divinity of Christ Himself? If
Jesus Christ is our Saviour, our Mediator, our Elder
Brother, because He has taken upon Himself our human
nature, how can we love Him truly, how can we resemble
Him perfectly, without having a special devotion for her
from whom He took this human nature?
But this must be an enlightened devotion. Let us say,
then, in a few words what Mary has given to Jesus; sec-
ondly, what Jesus ‘has done for His Mother; from this we
shall see what the Blessed Virgin must be for us; and finally
what is the supernatural fruitfulness of our devotion to the
Mother of Christ.
if
What has Mary given to Jesus?

While remaining a virgin, she has given Him a human
nature. That is a unique privilege that Mary shares with
none: Nec primam similem visa est, nec habere sequentem*.
The Word might have appeared here below by taking a
human nature created ex nihilo, drawn out of nothing, and
already formed in the perfection of its organism, as Adam
was formed in the earthly paradise. For reasons of infinite
wisdom, this was not done. In uniting Himself to humanity,
the Word willed to pass through all the stages of human
growth in order to sanctify them; He willed to be born of a
woman.
But what is so wonderful in this birth is that the Word
made it subject, so to speak, to the consent of this woman.
Let us transport ourselves in spirit to Nazareth and con-
template this ineffable scene. The Angel appears to the
young virgin. After having saluted her, he delivers his
message: ” Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and
shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus,
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most
1. Antiphon for the office of Lauds at Christmas.
High... and of His kingdom there shall be no end”. Mary

asks the angel how this shall be done, since she is a virgin:
Quomodo fiet istud quomiam virum non cognosco 1? Gabriel
answers :” The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And there-
fore the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God”. Then, instancing the example of Elizabeth,
who has conceived in spite of her former barrenness, because
it hath thus pleased the Lord, the Angel adds: ” No word
shall be impossible with God”; He can, when He so wills,
suspend the laws of nature.
God proposes the mystery of the Incarnation which will
only be fulfilled in the Virgin when she shall have given her
free consent. The accomplishment of the mystery hangs in
suspense until then. At this moment, according to the
saying of St. Thomas, Mary represents us all in her person.
It is as if God awaited the response of the humanity to which
He wills to unite Himself: Per annuntiationem exspecta-
batur consensus virginis loco totiushwmanae naturae *. What
a solemn moment it is! For now the vital mystery of
Christianity is about to be decided. St. Bernard, in one of
his most beautiful homilies on the Annunciation *, shows us
the whole human race, who for thousands of years have
hoped for salvation, the Angelic choirs, and even God Him-
self, as if in suspense, awaiting the acceptation of the young
Virgin.
And Mary gives her reply: full of faith in the heavenly
word, and entirely submissive to the Divine Will that has
just been manifested to her, she says: Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word”, Ecce
ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum‘. This
Fiat is Mary’s consent to the Divine plan of Redemption ;
this Fiat is like the echo of the Fiat of the creation; but it
is a new world, an infinitely higher world, a world of grace
that God Himself creates after this consent: for at this
moment the Divine Word, the second Person of the Holy
Trinity, becomes incarnate in Mary : Et Verbum caro fac-
tum est ®,
It is certain,as we have just heard by the voice of the angel,
no human concourse is to intervene, for all must be holy in
1. Luc. 1, 34. — 2. S. Thom. III, q. xxx, a. 1. — 3. Homil. 1v. super
Missus est, c. 8. — 4. Luc. 1, 38. — 5. Joan. 1, 14.
Christ’s conception and birth; but it is from her most pure

blood that Mary conceives by the operation of the Holy
Ghost, it is from her that the Man-God is to come forth.
When Jesus is born at Bethlehem, who is it Who lies there
upon the straw? It is the Child-God, it is the Word, Who,
while remaining a Divine Person, Quod erat permansit},
has united to Himself a human nature in the bosom of the
Virgin. In this Child there are two quite distinct natures,
but only one Person, the Divine Person: the term of this
virginal birth is the Man-God: ” The Holy which shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God ?; this Man-God,
this God-made-man, is Mary’s Son. This is what Eliza-
beth, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to her: ” Whence is
this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me 3?
Mary is the Mother of Christ, for, as all other mothers do
for their children, she formed and nourished with her most
pure substance the body of Jesus. This is a dogma of faith.
If by His eternal birth Jn splendoribus sanctorum *, Christ is
truly the Son of God, Deum verum de Deo vero, by His
temporal birth, He is truly the Son of Mary; the only Son
of God is also the only Son of the Virgin.
Such is the ineffable union existing between Jesus and
Mary: she is His Mother, He is her Son. This union is
indissoluble ;and as Jesus is at the same time the Son of God,
come to save the world, Mary is indeed intimately associated
with the vital mystery of all Christianity. All her greatness
is founded on this special privilege of her divine Mother-
hood.
TF.
This privilege is not the only one. A whole crown of

graces adorn Christ’s Virgin Mother, all due to her Divine
maternity. Jesus, as man, depends on Mary; but, as the
Eternal Word, He is anterior to her. Consider what He has
done for her from whom He was to take a human nature.
Being God, that is to say the Almighty and Infinite Wisdom,
He will adorn this His creature with priceless jewels.
First He has, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, chosen
her in preference to all others. To show the eminence of
1. Antiphon for the Office of the Circumcision. —- 2. Luc. 1, 35. —
3. Ibid. 43. — 4. Ps. crx, 3.
this choice, the Church, on the feasts of Our Lady, applies
to her a passage of Scripture which can only relate in certain
points to Eternal Wisdom: ” The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the
beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before
the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was
already conceived... the mountains had not as yet been
established: before the hills I was brought forth”: Ante
colles ego parturiebar...*. What do these words show?
The specia! predestination of Mary in the Divine plan. The
Eternal Father, in His Divine thoughts, does not separate
her from Christ: He comprehends in the same act of love,
the Virgin, who is to be the Mother of Christ, and the Hu-
manity of His Son in Whom He is well pleased?. This
singular predestination is the fountainhead of unique graces
for Mary.
The Virgin Mary is immaculate. All the children of
Adam are born with she stain of original sin, slaves of the
devil, enemies to God. This is the law passed by God for
all Adam’s race. Alone out of all creatures, Mary is to
escape this universal law. The Eternal Word will make
this one exception — one only — for her in whom He is to
be incarnate. Not for a single moment is the soul of Mary
to belong to the devil; it will be radiant with purity; and
that is why, from the morrow of the Fall of our first parents,
God put absolute enmity between the devil and the chosen
Virgin; it is she whose heel is to crush the infernal ser-
pent *. With the Church, let us often remind Mary of this
privilege which she alone possesses, of being without stain;
let us love to repeat to her: Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula
originalis non est in te*. ” Thy garments are white as
snow and thy face like the sun °: therefore the King of glory
hath ardently desired thee”.
Not only is Mary born immaculate, but grace abounds in
her. When the Angel salutes her, he declares her ” full of
grace”, Gratia plena; for the Lord, the source of all grace,
is within her: Dominus tecum. Then, in the conception
1. Prov. VIM, 23, 25. — 2. Ipsissima.verba quibus divinae scripturae
de increata Sapientia loquuntur ejusque sempiternas origines repraesen-
tant, consucvit Ecclesia... ad illius virginis primordia transferre quae
uno eodemque decreto cum divinae Sapientiae incarnatione fuerant praes-
tituta. Pius X, Bull Ineffabilis for the definition of the Immaculate
Conception. — 3. Gen. m1, 15. — 4. Antiphon of Vespers for the Feast
of the Immaculate Conception. — 5. Ibid.
and birth of Jesus, Mary keeps her virginity intact. She

brings forth, while remaining a virgin; as the Church sings,
with the honour of virginity, Mary has the joy of mother-
hood: Gaudia matris habens cum virginitatis honore?.
There are the graces that the hidden life with Jesus brings to
Mary; there are those coming from her union with her Son
in the mysteries of His public life and of His Passion; and,
to fill up the measure, there is her Assumption into Heaven.
Mary’s virginal body, whence Christ took the substance of
His human nature, is not to know corruption; upon her head
is to be placed a crown of inestimable price; she will reign
as queen at her Son’s right hand, adorned with the vestment
of glory woven for her by all these privileges: Adstitit
regia a dextris tuis, in vestitu deaurato ”.
Now, whence does Mary derive all these signal graces,
all these wonderful privileges, which make her a creature
above every other creature, Benedicta tu in mulieribus ?
From the eternal choice God made of Mary to be the
Mother of His Son. If she is ” blessed among women”;
if, for her, God has set aside so many of the laws He had
Himself established, it is because she is to be the Mother of
His Son. If you take away this dignity from Mary, all
these prerogatives would have no more reason or meaning’;
for all these privileges prepare or accompany Mary as
Mother of God.
But what is incomprehensible is the love which determined
this unique choice that the Word made of this young Virgin,
in order to take from her a human nature.
Christ loved His Mother. Never has God so loved a
simple creature; never has son loved his mother as Jesus
Christ has done. He has so loved men, He Himself tells
us, as to die for them, and He could not give them a greater
proof of love: Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut
animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis*. But never
forget this truth: Christ above all died for His Mother, to
pay for her privileges. The singular graces Mary received
are the first fruits of the Passion of Jesus. The Blessed Vir-
gin would not have enjoyed any prerogative without the
merits of her Son; she is the greatest glory of Christ because
she has received the most from Him.
The Church gives us to understand this doctrine very
1. Antiphon of Lauds at Christmas. —2. Ps. xLiv, 10.—3. Joan. XV,13-
clearly when she celebrates the Immaculate Conception, the

first, according to time, of the graces received by the Virgin.
Read the collect for the feast; you will see that this signal
privilege is granted to Our Lady because the death of Jesus,
foreseen in the eternal decrees, had paid the price of it in
advance: Deus qui per immaculatam Virginis Conceptionem
dignum Filio tuo habitaculum praeparasti, concede, quaesu-
mus, ut qui ex morte ejusdem Fil tui PRAEVISA, eam ab
omni labe praeservastt... We may say that Mary was the
first object, out of all humanity, of the love of Christ, even
of the Suffering Christ: it is above all for her, in order that
grace might abound in her in a singular measure, that Jesus
Christ shed His Precious Blood.
Lastly, Jesus obeyed His Mother. You have read how
all that the Evangelists tell us of Christ’s hidden life at
Nazareth, with Mary and Joseph, is that ” He was subject to
them” and ” advanced in wisdom and age?”. Is there
anything incompatible with His Divinity in this ? Cer-
tainly not. The Word is made Flesh, He has stooped so
far as to take a nature like to ours, sin excepted; He came,
said He, ” not to be ministered unto, but to minister 2” ; to be
” obedient unto death *”; that is why He willed to obey His
Mother. At Nazareth, He obeyed Mary and Joseph, the
two privileged beings whom God had placed near Him. In
a certain measure, Mary shares in the authority of the
Eternal Father over His Son’s Humanity. Jesus could say
of His Mother what He said of His Father in Heaven:
Quae placita sunt ei facio semper*. "1 do always the things
that please her”.
The Word not only predestined Mary to be His Mother
according to His Humanity, He not only gave her, in filling
her with grace, the honour belonging to this dignity, but He
associated her in His mysteries.
We see in the Gospel that Jesus and Mary are inseparable
in Christ’s mysteries. When the angels announce the birth
of the Saviour in the cave of Bethlehem, the shepherds come
and find ” Mary... and the Infant®”; it is Mary who pre-
sents Jesus in the Temple as a prelude to the Sacrifice of
Calvary °; all the life at Nazareth, as I have just said, is lived
under Mary’s authority; it is at her request that Jesus, at
1. Luc. m, 51-52. — 2. Matth. xx, 28. — 3. Philipp. m, 8. — 4. Joan.
vil, 29. — §. Luc. u, 8, 16. — 6. Ibid. 23, 39.
the beginning of His public life, reveals Himself by His first

miracle at Cana’; the Evangelists tell us that she followed
Christ in more than one of His apostolic journeys.
But notice, there is not question here of only a simple
material union. It is with her heart and soul that the Virgin
Mary enters into the mysteries of her Son. St. Luke tells
us that the Mother of Jesus kept all the words of her Son
” pondering them in her heart”: Maria autem conservabat
omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo”. The words of
Jesus were for her sources of contemplation; can we not
say as much of the mysteries of Jesus? When Christ lived
these mysteries, He assuredly enlightened the soul of His
Mother upon each of them; she understood them, she as-
sociated herself with them; all that Our Lord said or did
was for her a source of graces. In return for the human
life He had received from her, Jesus, so to speak, gave her
the Divine life of which He is the source. That is why Christ
and the Virgin are so indissolubly united in every mystery;
and that is also why Mary has united us all in her heart with
her Divine Son.
Now the pre-eminent work of Jesus, the holy of holies of
His mysteries, is His Passion; it is by His bloody sacrifice
upon the Cross that He achieves the restoration of life to
men, that He raises them up again to their dignity as children
of God. Christ Jesus willed to make His Mother enter
into this mystery by so special a title and Mary united her-
self so fully to the will of Her Son, our Redeemer, that,
while keeping her rank of simple creature, she truly shares
with Him the glory of having at that moment brought us
forth to the life of grace.
Let us go to Calvary at the moment when Christ Jesus is
about to consummate the work that His Father has given
Him to do here below. Our Lord has reached the end of His
apostolic mission: He is about to reconcile all mankind with
His Father. Whom do we find at the foot of the Cross at
this supreme instant? Mary, the Mother of Jesus, with
John, the beloved disciple, the Magdalen and several other
women: Stabat mater ejus*. Mary is standing there; she
has just renewed the offering of her Son — that offering she
made when she presented Him in the Temple; at this
moment she offers the ” blessed fruit of her womb” to the
1. Joan, m1, 1-11. — 2. Luc. 1, 19. — 3. Joan. xIx, 25.
Eternal Father for the ransom of the world. Jesus has only
a few minutes to live; then the sacrifice will be accomplished,
and Divine grace restored to men. He wills to give us
Mary to be our Mother. This is one of the forms of the
truth that the Word is united, in the Incarnation, to all
humanity, and that the elect form the mystical body of
Christ from Whom they cannot be separated. Christ will
give us His Mother to be also ours in the spiritual order ;
Mary will not separate us from Jesus, her Son and our
Head.
Then, before expiring and achieving, as St. Paul says, the
conquest of the world of souls that He wishes to make His
glorious kingdom 1, Jesus sees, at the foot of the Cross, His
Mother, plunged in deep sorrow and the disciple He so much
loved, the same who heard and has related to us the Last
Words. Jesus says to His Mother: ” Woman, behold thy
son”; then He says to the disciple: ” Behold thy mother *”.
St. John here represents us all; it is to us that Jesus, when
dying, bequeathed His Mother. Is He not our ” Elder
Brother”? Are we not predestined to be like to Him, so
that He may be ” the Firstborn among many brethren*” ?
Now if Christ has become our Elder Brother in taking from
Mary a nature like ours, which makes Him one of our race,
is it astonishing that, in dying, He should have given her to
be our mother in the order of grace who was His Mother
according to human nature?
And as this word, being that of the Eternal Word, is om-
nipotent and of Divine efficacy, it creates in the heart of
St. John filial sentiments worthy of Mary, as it gives birth
in the Blessed Virgin’s heart to a special tenderness for those
whom grace renders brothers of Jesus Christ. Can we
doubt fer a moment that, for her part, the Virgin responded
as at Nazareth with a Fiat, a silent one this time, but equally
full of love, humility and obedience, in which the plenitude
of her will lost itself in that of Jestis, so as to bring about
her Son’s supreme wish.
St. Gertrude relates that hearing one day, in the chanting
of the Divine Office, those words of the Gospel naming
Christ: Primogenitus Mariae Virginis, ” the Firstborn Son
1. Dilexit Ecclesiam et seipsum tradidit pro ea... ut exhiberet ipse sibi
gloriosam Ecclesiam non habentem maculam. Ephes. v, 25-27. — 2. Joan.
XIX, 25-27. — 3. Rom. Vit, 29.
of the Virgin Mary” she said to herself: ” The title of Only

Son would seem to be more befitting for Jesus than that of
Firstborn”. While she was dwelling on this thought, the
Virgin Mary appeared to her: ” No”, said she to the holy
nun, ” it is not ” Only Son” but ” Firstborn Son” which is
most befitting; for, after Jesus, my Sweetest Son, or more
truly, in Him and by Him, I have given birth to you ail in
my heart and you have become my children, the brothers and
sisters of Jesus?”.
PLES
In order to acknowledge the unique place Jesus has willed

to give Mary in His mysteries and the love of the Virgin
for us, we should give her the honour, love and confidence
due to her as the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.
How can we fail to love her if we love Our Lord? If
Christ Jesus wishes us, as I have said, to love all the mem-
bers of His mystical body, how can we do otherwise than
give the first place in that love to the one who gave Him that
human nature by which He became our Head, that Humanity
which is the instrument He uses to communicate grace to
us? Wecannot doubt that the love we show to the Mother
of Jesus is extremely pleasing to Christ. If we want to love
Christ, if we want Him to be everything to us, we must
have a very special love for His Mother.
In what way shall we manifest this love? Jesus, as God,
loved His Mother and heaped sublime privileges upon her;
we shall show our love by exalting these privileges; if we
wish to be greatly pleasing to Our Lord, let us admire the
marvellous gifts with which, through ilove, He has adorned
the soul of His Mother. He wills that, with her, we should
render unceasing thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity for these
graces, and that we should praise the Virgin herself for
having been chosen from among all women to give a Saviour
to the world. By this, we shall truly enter into the feelings
which Jesus had for her to whom He owes it that He is
the Son of man. Yes, we shall sing to her: ” thou alone
hast ravished the Heart of thy God”; Sola sine exemplo
placisti Domino”; thou art blessed among all creatures;
1. The Herald of Divine Love. Book IV, chap. 3. — 2. Antiphon of
the Benedictus for the office of the Blessed Virgin in Sabbato.
blessed because thou didst believe in the Divine word and in

thee are fulfilled the eternal promises.
To be helped in this devotion, we have only to see what
the Church does. See how the Bride of Christ has mul-
tiplied here below her testimonies in honour of Mary, and
how she observes that worship which is called hyperdulia
since it transcends the worship of all the other saints *.
The Church has consecrated numerous feasts to the
Mother of God: she celebrates in turns her Immaculate Con-
ception, her Presentation in the Temple, the Annunciation,
Visitation, Purification and Assumption.
See, too, how, at each of the principal seasons of the litur-
gical cycle, she consecrates to the Blessed Virgin a special
antiphon, which is to be recited daily at the end of the
Canonical Hours by all who are bound to the Divine Office.
You will notice how in each of these Antiphons, the Church
delights in recalling the privilege of the Divine Motherhood,
the foundation of all Mary’s greatness. ” Fruitful Mother
of the Redeemer” we sing during Advent and Christmas-
tide, ’ thou hast to the astonishment of nature, given birth
to thy Creator; Virgin in thy Conception, thou didst after
child-bearing, remain a Virgin; Mother of God, intercede
for us”. During Lent, we salute her as ” the root of which
Christ is the flower, and as the gate through which light has
arisen upon the world”. At Eastertide, it is a hymn of
gladness; we congratulate Mary on the triumph of her Son;
we recall to her the joy that inundated her soul at the dawn-
ing of this glory. ” Queen of Heaven, rejoice, He Whom
thou didst bear, hath arisen; yea, rejoice and exult, O Virgin,
for Christ the Lord hath truly arisen, glorious and living
from the tomb”. Then, during the time after Pentecost, sym-
bolising the time of our pilgrimage here below, it is the Salve
Regina, full of confidence: ” Mother of Mercy, our hope
and our salvation, to thee do we sigh in this valley of tears...
Show unto us after this exile, Jesus the blessed fruit of thy
womb. Pray for us, Holy Mother of God, that we may be
made worthy of the promises of Christ”. Thus, there is not
a single day on which the voice of the Church is not uplifted
1. To all the saints, we owe the homage of dulia, a Greek word meaning
service ; the Mother of the Incarnate Word, merits, because of her eminent
dignity, altogether special homage which is expressed by the word
hyper-dulia.
to congratulate Mary on her graces and remind her that we

are her children.
Is this all? No. Every day at Vespers, the Church
sings the Magnificat; she unites with the Virgin herself
in praising God for His bountiful goodness to the Mother
of His Son. Let us often say after Our Lady and with
the Church : ” My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my
spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour... for He hath re-
garded the lowliness of His handmaiden... Henceforth, O
Mary, all nations shall call thee blessed, for He that is mighty
hath done great things in thee”. When we sing these
words, it is a song of gratitude we offer to the Holy Trinity
for Mary’s privileges as if these privileges were ours.
There is also the ” Little Office” of the Blessed Virgin ;
there is the Rosary so pleasing to Mary because in it we
always praise her united with her Divine Son, by ever loving-
ly repeating the salutation that the heavenly messenger
addressed to her on the day of the Incarnation: Ave Maria,
gratia plena. It is an excellent ” practice” to recite the
rosary devoutly every day; thus to contemplate Christ in
His mysteries so as to unite ourselves to Him; to congratu-
late the Virgin on having been so closely associated with
these mysteries and return thanks to the Holy Trinity for
Mary’s privileges. Then, if each day we have often said to
the Virgin: ” Mother of God, pray for us... now and at the
hour of our death”, we may be sure that, when the moment
comes at which nunc and the hora mortis nostrae will be
one and the same, the Blessed Virgin will not forsake us.
There is still the Litany of Our Lady; there is the Angelus,
by which we renew in the heart of the Virgin the ineffable
joy she must have felt at the moment of the Incarnation.
There are besides many other forms of devotion.
It is not necessary to overburden one’s self with ” prac-
tices”; let us chose some, and once the choice is made let
us remain faithful to them; this daily homage offered to His
Mother will be most acceptable to Our Lord.
LV
Besides being extremely acceptable to Jesus Christ, this
devotion to the Blessed Virgin is very profitable for us.
And it is so for three reasons which you will have already
foreseen.
First of all, because, in the Divine plan, Mary ts insep-

arable from Jesus, and our holiness consists in entering as
far as we can into the Divine economy. In God’s eternal
thoughts, Mary belongs indeed to the very essence of the
mystery of Christ; Mother of Jesus, she is the Mother of
Him in whom we find every thing. According to the Divine
plan, life is only given to mankind through Christ the Man-
God: Nemo. venit ad Patrem nisi per me*, but Christ is
only given to the world through Mary: Propter nos homines
et propter nostram salutem, descendit de caelis et incarnatus
est... ex Maria Virgine*. This is the Divine order and it
is unchanging. For, notice that this order was not meant
only for the day when the Incarnation took place; it still
continues as regards the application of the fruits of the
Incarnation to souls. Why is this? Because the source of
grace is Christ, the Incarnate Word; but as Christ, as Me-
diator, He remains inseparable from the human nature which
He took from the Virgin *.
The second reason, which is very closely related to the
preceding, is that no one has more influence than the Mother
of God in obtaining grace for us. In consequence of the
Incarnation, God is pleased — not so as to derogate from
the power of His Son’s mediation but on the contrary to
extend and exalt it — to recognise the credit of those who
_are united to Jesus, the Head of the mystical body; this
credit is so much the more powerful according as the union
of the saints with Christ is the more intimate.
” The nearer a thing approaches to its principle”, says
St. Thomas, ” the more it experiences the effects produced
by this principle. The nearer you come to a furnace, the
more you feel the heat which radiates from it”. The holy
1. Joan. xIv, 16. — 2. Credo of the Mass. — 3. God having once
willed to give Jesus Christ to us by the Blessed Virgin, and the gifts of God
being without repentance, this order never changes. It is and ever
will be true that having received through her love the universal principle
of all grace, we still receive, through her the divers applications of grace
in all the different states which composes the Christian life. Her mater-
nal love having contributed so much to our salvation in the mystery of
the Incarnation, which is the universal principle of grace, she will eter-
nally contribute to it in all the other operations which are only dependent
on this mystery.” Bossuet, Sermon for the Feast of the Conception, 1669.
Let us likewise quote these words of Pope Leo XIII: " Of the magnificent
treasure of grace brought to us by Christ, nothing, according to the
eternal designs, is to be distributed to us except through Mary.
Hence, it is through her we must go to Christ, almost in the same way
as through Christ we approach our Heavenly Father." Encycl. on the
Rosary, Sept. 22. 1891.
doctor adds: ” Now, Christ is the principle of grace since,

as God, He is the Author of it, and, as Man, He is the
instrument of it; and the Blessed Virgin being the nearest
of anycreature to the Humanity of Christ, Christ having
taken this human nature from her, she has received from
Him higher graces than any creature.
” But each one receives from God (it is still St. Thomas
who is speaking) grace proportionate to his providential
destination. As Man, Christ was predestined and elected
in order that, being the Son of God, He might have power
to sanctify all men, Jn virtute sanctificandi; therefore He,
and He alone, was to possess such plenitude that it might
overflow on all souls: De plenitudine ejus omnes nos accepi-
mus. The fulness of grace received by the Blessed Virgin
had for its end to bring her nearer than any other creature to
the Author of grace; so near, indeed, that she enclosed in her
bosom the One Who is full of grace, and in giving Him to
the world by bringing Him forth, she, so to speak, gave
grace itself to the world, because she gave Him Who is the
source of it”: Ut eum, qui est plenus omni gratia, pariendo,
quodammodo gratiam ad omnes derivaret*. In giving us
Jesus, the Blessed Virgin has given us the very Author of
life. The Church sings this in the prayer after the antiphon
to the Virgin, during Christmastide, when celebrating Christ’s
birth: Per quam meruimus auctorem vitae suscipere, " by
whom we have been made worthy to receive the Author of
life ” ; and the Church invites the redeemed nations to hymn,
in exultation, the Life which this virginal Motherhood has
brought to them:
Vitam datam per Virginem
Gentes redemptae plaudite.
If, therefore, you wish to draw largely from the fountain
of Divine life, go to Mary; ask her to lead you to this
fountain; she it is, indeed, more than any other creature,
who will bring you near to Jesus. That is why we so justly
name her: Mater divinae gratiae, "Mother of Divine grace”; ©
again that is why the Church applies to her this passage of
the Sciptures: ” He that shall find me, shall find life, and
he shall have salvation from the Lord”, Qui me invenerit,
mvemiet vitam et hauriet salutem a Domino?. Salvation,
1. III, gq. xxvu, a. 5. — 2. Prov. vill, 35.
the life of our souls, only comes from the Lord Jesus, @
Domino, He alone is the one Mediator; — but who more
surely than Mary will lead us to Him, who will have more
power to render Him propitious to us than His Mother ¢
She has, moreover, received from Jesus Himself a special
grace of maternity towards His mystical body. That is the
last reason why devotion to the Blessed Virgin is so pro-
fitable for our souls. Christ, having received human nature
from Mary, has associated His Mother, as I have said, with
all His mysteries from the offering in the Temple to the im-
molation on Calvary. Now what is the end of all Christ’s
mysteries? To make of Him the example of all our super-
natural life,the ransom for our sanctification and the source
of all our holiness; to create for Him an eternal and glo-
rious fellowship of brethren like unto Himself. That 1s
why Mary, like a new Eve, is associated with the new Adam;
but much more truly than Eve, Mary is ” the Mother of all
the living? ”, the Mother of all who live by the grace of her
Son.
This association was not only outward. Christ, being
God, being the omnipotent Word, created in the soul of
His Mother the feelings she was to have towards those
who being born of her and living by His mysteries, He
willed to constitute His brethren. The Virgin, for her
part, enlightened by the grace abounding in her, responded
to this call of Jesus by a Fiat of entire submission and in
union of spirit with her Divine Son. In giving her consent
to the Divine proposition of the Incarnation, she accepted
to enter into the plan of the Redemption in a unique ca-
pacity ; she accepted, not only to be the Mother of Jesus, but
to be associated with all the mission of the Redeemer. To
each of these mysteries of Jesus, she had to renew this Fiat
full of love until the moment when she was able to say:
” All is consummated ”, after having offered at Calvary, for
the world’s salvation, this Jesus, this Son, this Body she had
formed, this Blood which was her own. At this blessed
hour, Mary entered so deeply into the mind of Jesus that
she may truly be called Co-Redemptress. Like Jesus, she,
at this moment, achieved the act of love of bringing us forth
to the life of grace*. Mother of our Head, according to the
1. Gen. 11, 20. — 2. Cooperata est caritate ut fideles in Ecclesia nas-
cerentur. S. Aug. De sancta Virginitate, n. 6
thought of St. Augustine, in bearing Him corporally, she

became spiritually the Mother of all the members of this
Divine Head : Corpore mater capitis nostri, spiritu mater
membrorum ejus*.
And because here below she is thus associated with all the
mysteries of our Redemption, Jesus has crowned her not
only with glory, but with power. He has placed His Mother
at His right hand that she may dispose of the treasures of
eternal life by a unique title — that of Mother of Cod :-
Adstitit regina a dextris tuis®. This is what Christian piety
means when it proclaims the Mother of Jesus : Omnipotentia
sup plex.
Full of confidence, let us then say to her with the Church:

’ Show thyself our Mother: Mother of Jesus by thy in-
fluence with Him; our Mother by mercy towards us. May
Christ receive our prayers through thee, this Christ Who,
born of thee to bring us life, willed to be thy Son”.
Monstra te esse Matrem

Sumat per te preces
Qui pro nobis natus
Tulit esse tuus *.
Who, indeed, better than she knows the Heart of her Son?
We find in the Gospel * a splendid example of her confidence
in Jesus. It is at the feast at Cana. She is there with
Jesus and she is not so absorbed in contemplation as to know
nothing of what is passing around her. The wine begins
to fail. Mary notices the confusion of her hosts; she says
to Jesus: ” They have no wine”, Vinum non habent. We
here recognise the heart of a mother. What of such ” mys-
tics” as would not have wanted to think of the wine !
And yet what are they in comparison with the Blessed
Virgin? Urged by her kindness, she asks her Son to come
to the aid of those whose embarrassment she sees. Our
Lord looks upon her and only says: Quid mihi et tibi est,
mulier? But she knows her Jesus. She is so sure of Him
that she says at once to the servant: ” Whatsoever He shall
say to you, do ye”, Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite. And
1. S. Aug. De sancta Virginitate, n.6. — 2. Ps. xLiv, 10. — 3. Hymn
Ave Maris stella. — 4. Joan. u, 1 seq.
indeed, at the word of Christ, the amphorae are found to be

filled with excellent wine.
What shall we ask of the Mother of Jesus, if not that,

before and above all, she will form Jesus within us by com-
municating her faith and love to us?
All Christian life consists in forming Christ within us and
making Him liveinus. This is the idea of St. Paul*. Now
where was Christ first formed? In the Virgin’s bosom, by
the operation of the Holy Ghost. But, say the Holy Fathers,
Mary first bore Jesus by faith and love, when, by her Fiat,
she gave the awaited consent : Prius concepit mente quam
corpore*. L,et us ask of her to obtain for us this faith that
will make Jesus dwell in us: Christum habitare per fidem m
cordibus vestris; this love which will make us live by the life
of Jesus. Let us ask of her that we may become like to her
Son; there is no greater favour we could ask her; neither .
is there any she more wishes to grant us. For she knows,
she sees that her Son cannot be separated from His mystical
body; she remains so united in heart and soul to her Divine
Son that, now in glory, she only desires one thing, and this
is that the Church, the kingdom of the elect, bought with the
blood of Jesus, should appear before Him, as a ” glorious ”
Church not having spot not wrinkle, but... holy and without
blemish *”.
Therefore, when we speak to the Blessed Virgin, let us do
so united with Jesus and say: ”O Mother of the Incarnate
Word, your Son has said : All that you do to the least of
Mine, you do it unto Me. I am one of the least of the
members of your Son Jesus; it is in His name I come before
you to implore your help”. In refusing petitions thus made,
Mary would be refusing something to Jesus.
Let us, then, go to her, but let it be with confidence. There
are souls who go to her as to a Mother, confiding to her
their interests,laying before her their sorrows and difficulties,
having recourse to her in all their needs and temptations, for
eternal enmity exists between the Virgin and the devil;
with her heel, Mary crushes the head of the infernal ser-
pent *. On every occasion, such souls as I have spoken of
1. Gal, iv, 19. — 2. S. Aug. De Virgin, c. 3; Sermo ccxv, n. 4;
S. Leo, SermoI de nativitate Domini, c. 1; S. Bernard, Sermo I de
Vigilia nativit. —.3. Ephes. v, 27. — 4. Gen. mi, 15.
deal with the Blessed Virgin as children with a Mother;

they will go before one of her statues to tell her what they
want. But this is childishness, you may say. Perhaps it is,
but has not Christ said: ” Unless you become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven1”?
Let us, moreover, ask Our Lady that, from the Humanity
of her Jesus Who possesses the fulness of grace, it may be
poured forth abundantly upon us, so that by love we may
become more and more conformed to this beloved Son of
the Father, Who is also her Son. It is the best request we
make to her. At the Last Supper, Our Lord said to His
disciples: ” The Father Himself loveth you, because you
have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from
God*”. He could say the same to us of Mary: ” My
Mother loveth you, because you love Me, and believe that I
was born of her”. Nothing pleases Mary more than to hear
it proclaimed that Jesus is her Son, and to see Him beloved
by ali creatures.
The Gospel, as you know, has only preserved a very few

words of the Blessed Virgin. I have just reminded you of
one of these words, that which was said to the servants at
the marriage feast at Cana: ’” Whatsoever my Son shall say
to you, do ye”, Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite*. This
word is like an echo of the word of the Eternal Father:
” This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear
ye Him”: Ipsum audite*. We can apply to ourselves
this word of Mary: ” Doall that My Son shall say to you”.
That will be the best fruit of this conference; it will be too,
the best form our devotion towards the Mother of Jesus can
take. The Virgin Mother has no greater wish than to see
her Divine Son obeyed, loved, glorified and exalted. Jesus
is the Son in whom she, like the Eternal Father, is well
pleased.
1. Matth. xvi, 13. — 2. Joan. xvi, 27. — 3. Ibid. u, 5. — 4. Matth.
muir = ck. Ll Pet.) 1, 17.
XIil. — COHEREDES CHRISTI.
Summary. — The heavenly heritage, the final term of our adoptive

predestination. —- J. Eternal beatitude consists in the face
to face vision of God, unchanging love and perfect joy. —
Il. The bodies of the just will share, after the resurrection,
in this beatitude; the glory of this resurrection already
realised in Christ, the Head of His mystical body. — II. The
degree of our beatitude is fixed here below by the measure
of our grace ; how St. Paul exhorted the faithful to progress
in the exercise of the supernatural life ” until the day of
Christ”.
« [ HAVE glorified Thee on earth. I have finished the

work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now glorify
Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory
which I had, before the world was, with Thee... Father,
I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me
may be with Me; that they may see My glory which Thou
hast given Me?”.
These words form the beginning and the end of the inef-
fable prayer that Jesus addressed to His Father at the Last
Supper, when about to crown His mission of salvation upon
earth by His redeeming Sacrifice.
Christ Jesus first asks that His holy Humanity may share
in that glory which the Word possesses from all eternity.
Then, as Christ never separates Himself from his mystical
body, He asks that His disciples and all those who shall
believe in Him, may be associated with Him in that glory.
It is His will that we should be ” where He is”. And where
is He? In gloria Dei Patris: "in the glory of God the
Father?”. There is the final term of our predestination, the
consummation of our adoption, the supreme completion of
our perfection, the plenitude of our life.
Let us hear how St. Paul sets forth this truth. After
having said that God, Who wills us to be holy, has pre-
destinated us to be made conformable to the image of His
Son, in order that this Son may be the firstborn amongst
1. Joan. Xvi, 4, 24. — 2. Philipp. u, 11.
COHEREDES CHRISTI. 389
many brethren, He immediately adds: ” And whom
He pre-
destinated, them He also called. And whom He called them
He also justified. And whom He justified, them
He also
glorified*”. These words point out the successive
phases
of the work of our sanctification: namely, our predes
tination
and vocation in Christ Jesus, our justification
by grace,
which makes us the children of God, and our supre
me glo-
tification assuring eternal life to us.
We have seen God’s plan for us: how Baptism is the
sign
of our supernatural vocation, the Sacrament of our
Christ-
ian initiation, and how we are justified, that is to say, render-
ed just, by the grace of Christ. This justification can go
on being made more and more perfect, according
to the
degree of our union with Jesus Christ, until it finds its
final
term in glory. Quos justificavit, illos et glorificavit. Glory
is this Divine inheritance which comes to us from the fact
of our being the children of God: Si filii et haeredes, hae-
redes Dei; an inheritance Christ has merited to give us,
which He Himself already possesses, and wills to share with
us: cohaeredes autem Christi?. The same inheritance
which is Christ’s is to become ours — eternal life, glory and
beatitude in the possession of God. ‘The term of the Divine
life in us is not to be found here on earth. It is, as Jesus
says, with the Father: apud te... in gloria Patris.
It is fitting, therefore, that in ending these conferences
upon the life of Christ in us, we should cast our gaze upon
this eternal inheritance that our Lord has asked His Father
to give us. We should often think of it, for it is the final
aim of all the work of Christ.
Vem ut vitam habeant: ” 1 am come that you may have
life”. But the only true life is that which is eternal. All
our knowledge and all our love of the Father and His Son
Jesus must attain to the eternity of this life which makes us
children of God. Haec est vITA AETERNA wt cognoscant te
solum Deum verum et quem misisti Jesum Christum*, Here
on earth it is always possible for us to lose the Divine life
which Christ gives us through grace ; only death ”in the
Lord” fixes and assures this life in us in a permanent manner.
The Church notes this truth in calling the day on which the
Saints enter into eternal possession of this life their ” birth-
1. Rom. vin, 30. —2. Ibid. 17. —- 3. Joan. xvi 3.
day”: Natalitia?. The life of Christ in us here below

by grace is like the dawn of day; it only attains its noon-tide
— a noon-tide without decline — if it comes to its fulness in
glory. Baptism is the source whence the Divine river rises;
but this river, which makes glad the city of souls, flows at
last into the ocean of eternity. That is why we shall only
have an incomplete idea of the life of Christ in our souls if
we do not contemplate the end which, of its nature, it must
reach.
You know how earnestly St. Paul prayed for the faithful
of Ephesus that they might understand the mystery of
Christ, and that it might be granted them to comprehend the
sublimity and depth of this mystery ?. But the great Apostle
is also careful to point out that this mystery is only crowned
in eternity, and that is why he ardently desires that this
thought should occupy the minds of his disciples. ” I do not
cease”, he writes to them, ”to make commemoration of
you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may enlighten the eyes of your heart
that you may know what is the hope of your calling, and
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints”. Ut sciatis quae sit spes vocationis ejus et quae
divitiae gloriae hereditatis ejus in sanctis *.
Let us then see what is this “hope”, what are these
” riches” that St. Paul so much wished should be known.
Yet did he not say himself that ” eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man what
things God hath prepared for them that love Him*” ? This
is true. All that we can say of these ” riches of the glory
of our inheritance” will fall short of the reality. Revelation,
however, teaches us something of this. We can comprehend
it if we have the Spirit of Jesus, for, says St. Paul in the
same place, ’ the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God... Now we have received... (at Baptism)
the Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that
are given us from God”, the marvels of His grace®, the
dawn of glory. Let us then listen to this revelation, but
with faith, not with the senses, for here, all is supernatural.
1. For example in the Oremus for the feast of St. Prisca. (January
18th.) — 2. Ephes. mi, 14, 18. — 3. Ibid. 1, 16-18. — 4. I Cor. u,9.
— 5. Ibid. 1, 10, 12. f
iE
Speaking of the theological virtues which accompany

_sanctifying grace and are like the sources of supernatural
activity in a child of God, St. Paul says that in our present
state on earth remain these three virtues, ” faith, hope and
charity ”; but he adds, ” the greatest of these is charity?”.
And why is this ? Because at the heavenly term of our
adoption, faith in God gives place to the vision of God, hope
vanishes in the possession of God, but love remains and
unites us to God for ever.
The glorification which awaits us and will be ours con-
sists in this: We shall see God, we shall love God, we shall
enjoy God. ‘These acts constitute eternal life, the assured
and full participation in the very life of God, and thence the
beatitude of the soul, a beatitude in which the body is to
share after the resurrection.
In heaven, we shall see God. To see God as He sees
Himself is the first element in this participation in the
Divine nature that constitutes the life of blessedness. It is
the first vital act in glory. Here below, as St. Paul tells us,
we only know God by faith, in a dim manner, but then
"face to face”. ” Now”, he says, “I know in part, but
then I shall know even as Iam known?”. What this vision
is in itself, we cannot know now, but the soul will be con-
firmed in grace by ” the light of glory ” which is the unfold-
ing of grace in heaven. We shall see God with all His
perfections ; or, rather, we shall see that all His perfections
are but one infinite perfection, which is the Divinity. We
shall contemplate the inner life of God. We shall enter,
as St. John says, into fellowship with the Holy and Blessed
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit®. We shall contem-
plate the fulness of Being, the fulness of alli truth, of all
holiness, all beauty and all goodness. We shall contemplate,
and that for ever, the Humanity of the Incarnate Word;
we shall see Jesus Christ, in Whom the Father is infinitely
well pleased; we shall see Him Who has willed to become
our ” Elder Brother” : we shall contemplate the Divine
features, henceforward glorious, of Him Who has delivered
us from death by His bitter Passion, Who has given us to
live this immortal life. To Him we shall sing the song of
1. I Cor. xm, 13.:—.2. Ibid. 12. — 3. I Joan..1, 3.
gratitude: ” Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood,

and hast established us in Thy Kingdom; to Thee be praise
and glory*”. We shall see the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
choirs of angels, all that multitude of the elect which
St. John declared to be innumerable, surrounding the throne
of God.
This vision of God, unveiled and clear, and without inter-
mediary, is our future inheritance; it is the consummation
of our Divine adoption. ” The adoption of the sons of
God”, says St. Thomas ?, ” consists of a certain conformity
of similitude to the image of Him Who is His Son by
nature*”. This conformity is brought about in a double
manner: here below by grace, per gratiam viae, which is
imperfect conformity, according to the Words of St. John:
” Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it hath
not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He
shall appear, we shall be like to Him because we shall see.
Him as He is*”. Here below, then, our Divine resem-
blance is not complete, but in heaven it will appear in its
perfection. Here below, we have to work in the dim light
of faith, to render ourselves like to God ; to destroy the
”old man”, and to allow the “new man” created in the
image of Jesus Christ °, to increase in newness of life. We
must ever become more perfect, that we may attain a closer
resemblance to the Divine Model. In heaven our resem-
blance to Christ will be consummated; we shall realise that
we are truly the children of God.
But this vision will not constitute us in a state of im-
mobility like a statue. The contemplation of God will not
be the annihilation of our activity. While not ceasing for an
instant to contemplate the Divinity, our soul will keep the
full play of all its faculties. Let us look at Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Here upon earth, His blessed soul constantly en-
joyed the Beatific Vision, and yet His human activity was
not absorbed by this continual contemplation. It remained
intact, and was manifested by His Apostolic journeys, by
preaching and miracles. The perfection of Heaven would
no longer be a perfection if it were to annihilate the activity
of the elect.
We shall see God. Is that all? No; to see God is the
I. Apoc. v, 9-10, and 13. — 2. III, q. xiv, a. 4. — 3. Praedestina-
vit nos conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui, Rom. vit, 29. — 4. I Joan.
mr, 2. — 5. Col. 1, 9-10 ;Cf. Ephes. tv, 22 and 24.
first element of eternal life, the first source of beatitude, but

if the intelligence is divinely satisfied by the Eternal Truth,
must not the will also be so by the Infinite Goodness? We
shall love God*. ” Charity”, says St. Paul, ” never falleth
away””. We shall love God, no longer with a weak, vacil-
lating love, so often turned aside by creatures, and exposed
to fall away, but with a love that is powerful and pure, per-
fect and eternal. In this vale of tears where we must pain-
fully struggle to preserve the life of Christ in us, love is
already so strong and intense in certain souls as to draw from
them such words as those of the Apostle: ” Who shall sep-
arate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation? or dis-
tress? or persecution?... neither death nor life... nor height
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God”. What then will this love be when
it embraces, never more to lose it, the Infinite Good? What
loving aspirations towards God ceaselessly satisfied! And
this unending love will express itself in acts of adoration,
complacency and thanksgiving. St. John shows us the
saints prostrating themselves before God, and making Hea-
ven resound with their praise: ” Glory, honour and power
to our God for ever andever*”. That is the expression of
their love.
Finally, we shall enjoy God. You have read in the Gospel

how Our Lord Himself compares the Kingdom of Heaven
to a wedding feast that God has prepared to honour His
Son. ” He will gird Himself and make them sit down to
meat, and passing, will minister to them*”. What does this
signify if not that God will be our joy? The Psalmist
exclaims: ” (Thy elect) shall be inebriated with the plenty
of Thy house: and Thou shalt make them drink of the
torrent of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of
life”. Quoniam apud te est FONS vItaE*®. God says to
the soul that seeks Him: ”I Myself will be thy reward
exceeding great”. Eco ero merces tua magna nimis®. It
1. According to St. Thomas (I-IJ, q. ui, a. 4), beatitude consists
essentially in the possession of God contemplated face to face. This
Beatific vision is, above all, an act of intelligence. From this possession
of God by the intelligence proceeds, as a property, the beatitude of the
will which finds its complete satisfaction and repose in the possession
of the beloved object rendered present by the intelligence. — 2. I Cor.
xia, S$: —- 3: Apoc. vil, 12. — 4. Luc. xu, 37. — §. Ps. XXxXV,. 9. —
6; Gens XV, X.
is as if He said: ” I have loved thee so much that I have not
willed to give thee a natural bliss: I have willed to bring
thee into My own house, to adopt thee as My child, that
thou mayest partake of My beatitude. It is My will that
thou shouldst live of My very life, that My beatitude should
become thine. Here below, I have given thee My Son ;
become mortal by His humanity, He delivered Himself up to
merit for thee the grace of being and remaining My child.
He has given Himself to thee in the Eucharist under the
veil of faith; now, it is I in glory Who give Myself to thee
to make thee share in My life, and to be thy endless beati-
tude”. Seipsum dabit quia seipsum dedit; seipsum dabit
ammortalibus immortalem, quia seipsum dedit mortalibus
mortalem*. Grace here below, glory above; but it is the
same God Who gives us both and, as I have said, glory is
only the unfolding of grace: the Divine adoption, on earth,
is hidden and imperfect, in Heaven, it is revealed and con-
summated,
This is why the Psalmist so longed and thirsted after the
possession of God: ” As the hart panteth after the fountains
of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God. My soul
hath thirsted after the strong, living God”. Sitivit anima
mea ad Deum vivum. ” For I shall be satisfied when Thy
glory, shall appear”. Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua.
Again when Our Lord speaks of this beatitude, He tells
us how God bids His faithful servant enter into the joy of
his Lord*. This joy is the joy of God Himself, the joy
that He possesses in the knowledge of His infinite perfec-
tions, the beatitude that God has in the ineffable society of
the Three Persons; the infinite repose and_ satisfaction
wherein He dwells. His joy will be ours: Ut habeant gau-
dium meum impletum in semetipsis*. His beatitude and
His repose will also be ours. His life, our life — perfect
life in which all our faculties will be perfectly satisfied.
There we shall find that ” entire participation in the un-
changing good” as St. Augustine excellently calls it : Plena
participatio incommutabilis boni®. Even to this extent God
has loved us. Oh ! if we knew what God has reserved for
them that love Him '!...
1. S. Aug. Enarr. in Ps. xun, 2. — 2. Ps. xu, 1-3. — 3. Ibid.
XVI, 15. — 4. Matth. xxv, 21. — 5. Epist. ad Honorat. cx1, 31.
And because this beatitude and this life are those of God
Himself, they will be eternal. ” Death shall be no more”,
says St. John, ” nor mourning nor crying nor sorrow shall
be any more... and God shall wipe away all tears?”, from
the eyes of those who enter into His joy. We shall be
always with the Lord: Semper cum Domino erimus?.
There where He is, we shall be.
Hear in what forcible terms Jesus has given us this as-
surance. He says of those who are His sheep: ” I give them
life everlasting ; and they shall not perish for ever, and no
man shall pluck them out of My hand. That which My
Father hath given Me is greater than all; and no one can
snatch them out of the hand of My Father. I and the
Father are one?”. What confidence Jesus Christ gives us!
” You now indeed have sorrow”, He said to His disciples,
’ but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice; and
your joy no man shall take from you”: Et gaudium vestrum
nemo tollet a vobis*. Let us say to Him like the Samaritan
woman: O Lord Jesus, Divine Master, Redeemer of our
souls, Elder Brother, give us of this Divine, life-giving water,
that we may never thirst®; grant to us here below to
remain united to Thee by grace so that one day we may be
where Thou art, to behold the glory of Thy Humanity, as
Thou didst pray the Father for us®, and enjoy Thee for
ever in Thy Kingdom!
II.
As you know, this life of blessedness becomes the portion

of every soul as soon as it goes forth from this world, if
it is, by grace, a child of God, and if nothing more remains
of the penalty of sin to be expiated in Purgatory. How-
ever, this is not all. God reserves something yet more for
us. Can it be that the soul is not wholly filled with joy?
Truly it is, but God wishes to give the body also its beatitude,
when the end of time shall bring the resurrection.
The resurrection of the dead is a dogma of faith: Credo...
carnis resurrectionem... vitam aeternam. Our Lord has
promised it to us : ” He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh
1. Apoc. xx1, 4. — 2. I Thess. 1v, 16. — 3. Joan. x, 18-30. — 4. Ibid.
XVI, 22. — 5. Ibid. 1v, 15. — 6. Ibid. xvu, 24-26.
My Blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at

the last day? ”.
Furthermore, Christ Himself has already risen, and com-
ing forth victorious and living from the tomb, has, by so
doing, raised us up with Him. As I have often said to you,
the Word, on becoming Incarnate, mystically united Himself
to all humanity, and forms, with His elect, a body of which
He is the Head. If our Head is risen again, not only shall
we one day rise again with Him, but on the day of His
triumph, He already raised up, in principle, and by right, all
who believe in Him... See how clearly St. Paul sets forth
' this doctrine: ” God (Who is rich in mercy) for His exceed-
ing charity wherewith He loved us... hath quickened us
together in Christ; and hath raised us up together, and hath
made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ
Jesus”. Deus... Conresuscitavit nos et consedere fecit nos
in caelestibus in Christo Jesu?. God loves us so much in
His Son, Jesus, that He will not separate us from Him.
He wills us to be like to Him, that we may share His glory,
not only as to the soul but also as to the body.
Well might the great Apostle say that God is rich in mercy,
and loves us with an exceeding charity! It is not enough for
God to satisfy our souls with eternal happiness. It is His
Will that our bodies, like that of His Son, should share in
this endless beatitude. He wills to adorn them with those
glorious prerogatives of immortality, agility and spirituality
with which the Humanity of Jesus was resplendent on
coming forth from the tomb. Yes, the day will come when
we shall all rise again, ” everyone in his own order”; Christ
has risen the first, being the Head of the elect and the first-
fruits of the harvest; next all those will rise again who are
His by grace*. ” As in Adam all die, so also in Christ, all
shall be made alive... Afterwards the end when He shall
have delivered up the Kingdom (won by his Blood) to God
and the Father... He must reign until He hath put all
things under His feet, and the enemy death shall be des-
troyed last... and when all things shall be subdued unto Him;
then the Son also Himself (in His Humanity) shall be sub-
ject unto Him that put all things under His feet, that God
1. Joan. vi, 55 and x1, 25. — 2. Ephes. um, 4-6. — 3. The damned
will likewise rise again, but without the glorious prerogatives of the
elect ; their bodies will be for ever subject to eternal suffering.
may be all in all*”. Jesus Christ overcame death on the

day of His Resurrection. ”“O death, where is thy victory 2”?
He will again overcome death in His chosen ones at the final
resurrection.
Then His work as Chief and Head of the Church will be
achieved, entirely consummated. Christ will possess this
Church for which He delivered Himself up, that she might
be glorious ” not having spot or wrinkle... but... holy and
without blemish*”. The mystical body will have wholly
come “unto the measure of the age of the fulness of
Christ*”. Then Jesus Christ will present to His Father
that multitude of the elect of whom He is the Elder Brother.
What a glorious sight it will be to see this kingdom subject
to Jesus, to contemplate the work of His Blood and His
grace, offered by Christ Himself to the glory of His Father'!..
What ineffable beatitude to belong to this kingdom together
with the Blessed Virgin, the Angels, the elect, the blessed
souls we have known here below, with whom we have been
united by ties of blood, or by holy affection! Then Jesus will
be able to say in all truth to His Father: ” I have finished the
work Thou gavest Me todo”. The wish manifested by His
Sacred Heart at the Last Supper will be fulfilled: Father...
I pray for them whom Thou hast given Me... that they may
have My joy filled in themselves... that where I am, they
also whom Thou hast given Me may be; that they may see
My glory... that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me
may be in them °”. The Church triumphant will con-
template the glory of her Head; she herself will be filled
with the fulness of joy. Divine, eternal life will flow forth
from Christ into each one of us, and we shall reign for ever
with Him.
St. John, in His Apocalypse, has described something of
the glory of this kingdom: ” I heard as it were the voice of
a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of great thunders, saying: Alleluia: for the Lord
our God the Almighty hath reigned. Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb
(Who is Christ) is come and His spouse (the henceforward
triumphant Church) hath prepared herself, and it is granted
to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen glittering
1. ICor. xv, 22-28. —2. Ibid. 55. — 3. Ephes. v, 27. — 4. Ibid. 1v,
13. — 5. Joan. xvi, 4, 9, 13, 24, 26
and white”. This fine linen, adds St. John, is ” the justi-
fication of the saints”. And the Angel said to him: “Write:
Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of
the Lamb*” 1...
This in only a shadow of the Divine reality of the bea-
titude awaiting us. We received the germ of it at Baptism.
But this germ needs to grow, to develop, to be secured
against briars and stones; by penance we have put away
from it all that could destroy or diminish its growth; we
have maintained it by the Sacrament of life, and by the
practice of the virtues. This Divine life communicated to us
by Christ now remains hidden in us: Vita vestra abscondita
est cum Christo in Deo?, but in Heaven it is revealed, its
splendour appears, its beauty is manifested. And never
forget that, arrived at its efflorescence, it will not know any
more growth, its splendour will increase no more, its beauty
reach no higher perfection. Faith tells us that here below
is the place of labour, and of merit, that Heaven is the term;
there no more growth will be possible: there is the reward
after the struggle. ” He who believes, gathers up merits;
he who sees, enjoys the recompense”: Credenti colligitur
meritum, videnti redditur praemium *.
Li
There is yet something more. We shall enjoy God ac-

cording to the same measure of grace to which we have at-
tained at the moment of our going out of the world *.
Do not let us lose sight of this truth: the degree of our
eternal beatitude is, and will remain fixed for ever by the
degree of charity we have attained, by the grace of Christ,
when God shall call us to Himself. Each moment of our
life is then infinitely precious, for it suffices to advance us a
degree in the love of God, to raise us higher in the beatitude
of eternal life.
And let us not say that one degree more or less is a small
matter. How can anything be a small matter when it con-
cerns God, and the endless life and beatitude of which He is
the source? If, according to the parable spoken by Our
1. Apoc. xIx, 6-9. — 2. Col. m1, 3. — 3. S. Aug. In Joan. Lxvin, 3.
— 4. Unusquisque propriam mercedem accipiet secundum suum laborem.
DeCors an ss:
Lord in person, we have received five talents, it was not
that we might bury them, but that we might make them
- Bear increase*. And if God measures the reward according
to the efforts we have made to live by His grace and increase
it in us, do not think it matters little what kind of a harvest
we bring to our Father in Heaven. Jesus Himself has told
us that His Heavenly Father is glorified in seeing us abound,
by His grace, in fruits of holiness, which will be fruits of
Deatitude in heaven. In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus ut
fructum plurimum afferaiis®. This is so true that Christ
compares His Father to a vine-dresser Who prunes us by
suffering in order that we bear much fruit: Ut fructum plus
afferat*. Can it be that our love for Jesus Christ is so weak
that we account it a small thing to be a more or less res-
plendent ‘member of His mystical body in the heavenly
Jerusalem? The holier we become, the more we shall glo-
tify God during all eternity, the greater will be our part in
that song of thanksgiving sung by the elect to Christ the
Redeemer: Redemisti nos, Domvine.
Let us then be vigilant ever to put away from us the ob-
stacles that might lessen our union with Jesus Christ; to let
the Divine action penetrate us deeply, and the grace of Jesus
act so freely within us that we may ” come to the fulness of
the age of Christ”. Hear the pressing exhortation that
St. Paul, who had been caught up to the third heaven, made
to his dear Philippians: ” For God is my witness how I
long after you all in the Heart of Jesus Christ. And this I
pray that your charity may more and more abound... that
you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of
Christ; filled with the fruits of justice, through Jesus Christ,
unto the glory and the praise of God”: Et hoc oro ut caritas
vestra magis ac magis abundet ut sitis... repleti fructu justi-
thae per Jesus Christum, in gloriam et laudem Dei‘.
And, above all, see what a wonderful example he sets in the
fulfilment of this precept. The great Apostle has reached
the end of his career; the imprisonment he is enduring in
Rome has suspended the course of the numerous journeys
undertaken to spread abroad the good news of Chrst: he
has arrived at the term of his struggles and labours. He is
so deeply imbued with the mystery of Christ which he has
1. Matth. xxv, 14-30. — 2. Joan. xv, 8. — 3. Ibid. 2. — 4. Philipp.
I, 8-11.
A400 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.
revealed to so many souls that he can say to these same

Philippians: ” For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain ””.
However, he continues: ” And if to live in the flesh, this is
to me the fruit of labour, and what I shall choose I know not.
But I am straitened between two; having a desire to be
dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better.
But to abide still in the flesh, is needful for you... for your
furtherance and joy of faith”... The Apostle then recalls
how he has despised the advantages of Judaism in order to
join himself only to Jesus Christ in Whom he has found all,
for nothing henceforward can separate him from Christ.
And yet, these are the words he writes: ” Not as though
I had already attained (the prize, the crown that is given
to the victor after the race) or were already perfect... But
one thing I do; forgetting the things that are behind, and
stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press to-
wards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God
in Christ Jesus?”. Thus St. Paul wished to forget all the
progress he had already made so as toa tend with ever more
energy towards the eternal aim. And he exhorts the faithful
to follow him: ” Be ye followers of me, as I also am of
Christ... our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also
we look for the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will
reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of
His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is
able to subdue all things unto Himself”. And the Apostle,
at last ends with this moving and pressing salutation :
” Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, and most desired,
my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord *”.
And to you also, I would say, in ending these conferences,
stand fast in the faith in Jesus Christ; keep an invincible
faith in His merits, live in His love. By ardent faith, holy
desires, and a charity which causes you to yield yourself
without reserve to the generous and faithful accomplishment
of the Divine good pleasure, do not cease, as long as you are
here below, ” absent from the Lord*”, as St. Paul says, to
augment your capacity of seeing and loving God, of enjoying
Him in eternal beatitude, of living of His own life. The
day will come when faith will give place to vision, when hope
1. Philipp. 1, 21. — 2. Ibid. a1, 12-14. — 3. Ibid. tv, 20-21 ; cf. I Cor.
x1, and Philipp. tv, 1. — 4. II Cor. v, 6
will be succeeded by the blessed reality, when love will fully

unfold in God’s eternal embrace. Sometimes it seems to
us that this beatitude is so far off; but no, each day, each
hour, each minute brings us nearer to it.
I would say to you again, with S. Paul: ” Seek the things
that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of
God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that
are upon the earth”, such as fortune, honours, pleasures;
” for you are dead ” to all these passing things; ” your life”,
your true life, that of grace, ” is hidden with Christ in God ”.
But ” when Christ ”, your Head, ” shall appear” triumphant
at the last day, ” you also shall appear with Him in glory”,
that glory which you will share with Him because you are
His members. Cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc et
vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria}. .
Therefore, let no pain, no suffering cast you down; ” for
that which is at present momentary and light of our tribu-
lation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal
weight of glory ?”. Let no temptation hold you back, for if
you are found faithful in the hour of trial, the hour will
come when you will receive the crown which will be given
to you on entering into the true life ” which God hath pro-
mised to them that love Him*”. Let no senseless joy seduce
you, ” for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal*”. Time is short, and
the world passes away. That which does not pass away is
the word of Jesus Christ: Verba autem mea non transibunt °.
These words are for us the principle of Divine life: Spiritus
et vita sunt ®,
I have endeavoured to show you, in the course of these

conferences, that the Divine life in us is only a participation,
by grace, in that fulness of life which is in the humanity of
Christ Jesus, and flows in each of our souls to make us chil-
dren of God: De plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus.
The source of our holiness is there and not elsewhere. This
holiness, as I have often told you, and, in ending, wish to
repeat, is of an essentially supernatural order; we shall only
find it in our union with Jesus Christ: Sine me, nihil potestis
1. Col. m1, 1-4. — 2. II Cor. 1v, 17. — 3. Jac. 1, 12. — 4. II Cor. rv,
18 ; cf. Rom, vi, 18. — 5. Luc. xx1, 33. — 6. Joan. vi, 4. — 7. Ibid
1; 16.

402 CHRIST, THE LIFE OF THE’ SOUL.
facere+. All the treasures of grace and of holiness that

God destines for souls are gathered up in Jesus Christ; He
came here below to give us a share in these treasures: Veni
ut vitam... abundantius habeant. The Eternal Father gives
us His Son that He may be our redemption, our wisdom,
our sanctification, our justification ?, our life.
So that, if without Him we can do nothing, in Him we are
” made rich”, and nothing is wanting to us: Jta ut nihil
vobis desit in ulla gratia*. These riches are incomprehen-
sible, says St. Paul, because they are divine, but, if we so
wish, we may make them ours. What, then, is necessary ?
That we should remove the obstacles, sin, attachment to sin,
to creatures, to ourselves, all that might impede the action of
Jesus Christ and of His Spirit within us; that we yield
ourselves to Christ with every energy of body and soul,
to seek, like Him, to do always, through love, what pleases
our Heavenly Father.
Then our Father in Heaven will recognise in us the fea-
tures of His Beloved Son; for the sake of Jesus Christ, He
will be well pleased with us, He will shower His gifts upon
us, whilst we await that thrice-blessed day when we shall all
be for ever with the Lord, Christ Jesus, our Life: Cum
CHRISTUS apparuerit VITA VESTRA, tunc ET VOS apparebitis
CUM IPso in gloria.
” O Christ Jesus, Incarnate Word, Son of Mary, come and

live in Thy servants with Thy Spirit of holiness, the fulness
of Thy power, the reality of Thy virtues, the perfection of
Thy ways, the communication of Thy mysteries, and over-
come all hostile powers by Thy Spirit to the glory of the
Father. Amen”.
1. Joan, xv,)5. — 2. I. Cor. 1, 30; —3- Ibid. 1, 5, 7.
DEUS CHRISTUS PATRIA EST QUO IMUS,

HOMO CHRISTUS VIA EST QUA IMUS.
(S. Aug., Sermo 123, c. 3.)

CONTENTS
I. THE ECONOMY OF THE DIVINE DESIGNS

I, — The Divine Plan of our Adoptive Predestina-
tion in Jesus Christ. . . . _ 3-26
Capital importance for the inner life of knowing
the Divine Plan
and adapting ourselves to it, 3-5.
I. — General idea of this plan : the holiness to which
God calls
us by supernatural adoption is a Participation in
the divine life
brevght to us by Christ, 5-8.
II. — God wills to make us share in His own life in
order to
make us holy and fill us with beatitude, 9 ; what holiness
is in
God, 9 ; its double element, 10.
III. — Revelation casts a new light upon what holiness is in
God, 11 ; holiness in the Trinity, II-I2 ; our holiness consists in
adhering to God, known and loved as He knows and loves Himself
in the bliss of the Trinity, 12; eminence of this calling and the
Divine love it reveals, 13-14.
IV. — God fulfils His plan by adopting us for His children, 14 ;
grace, the mysterious means of this adoption, 15 ; the supernatural
character of our holiness resulting from this adoption, 16.
V. — The Divine Plan, destroyed by Adam’s sin, is re-established
by the Incarnation, 17-18; fulness of the grace given to Jesus
Christ, 19 ; of this fulness we must receive everything, 20.
VI. — Universality of the Divine adoption in Christ, 21; the
ineffable ‘love that it manifests, 22; summary of the foregoing
doctrine, 23.
VII. — Primordial aim of the Divine Plan: in laudem gloriae gra-
tae suae, 24-25 ; how St Paul insists on this point, 25 ; prayer of the
child of God, 26.
Ii. — Christ, the only Model of all Perfection. . . 27-45
All the mission of St Paul consists in making known the riches

of the mystery of Christ, 27 ; how the first Christians understood
the Apostle’s doctrine, 28 ; how useful it is for our souls to be
penetrated with this doctrine, 29 ; different aspects of the mystery
of Christ, 30.
404 CONTENTS
I. — Our holiness consists in imitating the life of God, so that
we may share in it, 31 ; necessity of knowing God in order to
imitate Him, 31 ; God reveals Himself to us through Jesus Christ
and in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, 32 ; ” He that seeth Me,
seeth the Father also”, 32-33.
II. — Christ is our Model and Exemplar in a two-fold manner :
in His Person and in His works, 33. In His Person : Christ is
perfect God, 33-34 ; perfect Man, in all things like to us, but without
Sin, 34-35-36 ; grace, the means of imitating the Divine Sonship of
Jesus, 37.
III. — Christ, our Model in His works, 38 ; Christ’s virtues, 38-
39-40 ; Christ in Whom His Father is weil pleased, 41.
IV. — To imitate Christ by referring all our being and all our
works to the glory of His Father, 42 ; it is not presumption to wish
to realise this ideal, 43 ; to seek to know Christ more and more, 44 ;
Christianus, alter Christus, 45.
Ill, — Christ, the Author of our Redemption and

Infinite Treasury of Grace. . . . . . 46-63
Although mere creatures, we may aspire to reproduce within us

the traits of the Incarnate Word, 46 ; Christ has merited this grace
for all mankind, 47.
I. — The human race excluded from eternal beatitude by Adam’s
sin, 47 ; the powerlessness of man, being but a creature, to redeem
himself from slavery of the devil and regain possession of the
eternal inheritance, 48 ; God solves the problem by the Incarnation ;
the Divine Word, become Man, substitutes Himself for sinful human
nature, 48; the Incarnate Word can alone give fully sufficient
satisfaction, 40.
II. — The coming of Christ in “the fulness of time”, 49 ; name
and mission of the Incarnate Word: Jesus, Saviour, 50; infinite
value of all Christ’s works in consequence of the hypostatic union,
51 ; however, it is by His Blood shed for us upon the Cross that
Christ saves us, 52.
III. — Christ merits not only for Himself but for us, 52-53 ; this
merit is founded upon the grace of Christ constituted the Head
of the human race, 53 ; upon the supreme liberty and ineffable love
with which Christ underwent His Passion, 54-55 ; Christ died for
all men, 56.
IV. — Inexhaustible fruits of His sacrifice, 57 ; the boundless
confidence we ought to have in the merits of Jesus Christ, 58.
V. — Although Christ now merits no longer, He offers un-
ceasingly His satisfactions to His Father :Semper vivens ad inter-
pellandum pro nobis, 590 ; we find everything in Him, 60 ; why we
glorify God in acknowledging our misery and in pleading through
CONTENTS 405
the infinite satisfaction made by His Son, 60 ; example of St Paul
who ‘ gloried in his infirmities ”, 61; and said: "I can do all things
in Him Who strengtheneth me”, 61 ; to have an ardent faith and
boundless confidence in the inexhaustible riches acquired by Christ,
62.
IV. — Christ, the Efficient Cause of all Grace. . . 64-84

The contemplation of Christ is sanctifying, 64; Christ Jesus, in
Whom the Father is well pleased, ought likewise to be our All, 65;
progress of souls that understand the mystery of Christ, 65 ; Christ,
source of all holiness for every soul, 66.
I. — How, during His earthly existence, Christ Jesus was the
source of life, 66; of corporal life, 66-67; the holy Humanity,
instrument of life united to the Divinity, 67; Christ, source of
spiritual life, 68 ; above all, in His Passion and Death, 68-69 ; why
Christ has been established, by His Father, the Dispenser of all
grace, 609.
II. — How, since His Ascension, Christ exercises this efficiency,
69-70; infinite variety of His modes of operation, 70 ; official means:
the Sacraments, 70 ; nature of the Sacraments, 71 ; they producé
grace of themselves, 71 ; necessity, however, of certain conditions,
72; Christ, the First Cause of the grace produced by the Sacra-
ments, 73-74.
Iif. — Universality of the Sacraments : they envelop all our
supernatural life with sanctifying influences ; analogy with the na-
tural life, 74-75; why we ought to have great faith in the Sacraments,
75-76 ; all our supernatural life flows from sacramental grace, 76-77;
Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris, 77; words of
St Augustine, 77.
IV. — Power of sanctification of the Humanity of Jesus, apart
from the Sacraments, by the contact we have with Him in faith,
78; examples taken from the Gospel, 79; ” Blessed are they that have
not seen, and have believed”, 79; by faith, we touch Christ; words
of St Augustine, 80-81; efficacy of this faith in the Divinity of
Tesus, the Man-God, 81-82 ; words of St. Teresa, 82; by faith, we
abide in Christ and Christ abides in us, 82-83 ; Christ’s action within
the souls of the just is unceasing, 83.
Vz. The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. . 85-98
God has subjected all things under the feet of Christ and has
made Him Head of the Church, 79 ; the Church inseparable from
the mystery of Christ, 86. Two-fold manner of considering the
Church ; as a visible society, 86 ; and as an invisible society of souls
forming Christ’s mystical body, 86.
406 CONTENTS
1. — The Church founded upon St Peter, 87 ; how thé Church
continues Christ’s mission here below, 87-88; a) depositary of
Christ’s doctrine and jurisdiction, 88 ; capital difference upon this
point between a Catholic and a Protestant, 88-89; b) the Church dis-
penses the Sacraments ordained by Jesus, 89-090; c) continues Christ’s
work of religion, 90 ; we only go to Christ through the Church, 91.
II. — Importance of the character of the Church’s visibility, 91 ;
since the Incarnation, God, in His dealings with us, acts through
men, 91-92 ; reason of this supernatural economy : God wills to
glorify the Holy Humanity of His Son, 92; God wills to exercise our
faith, 92; the love, confidence and obedience that we ought to testify
towards the Church, 93.
III. — The Church, mystical body of Christ, 91-95; far-reaching
consequences of the union existing between Christ and His mystical
body, 95; Christ and the Church are one in the Divine thoughts, 95 ;
words of St Augustine : ” We are become not only Christians, but
Christ ”, 906; practical consequence of this doctrine: to remain united
to Christ and to one another by charity : Ut unum sint, 96-97; final
glory of the mystical body, 97-08.
Vi. — The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. . . . 99-124
The doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit completes the exposition

of the economy of the Divine designs, 100 ; capital importance of
this subject according to the words of St Paul, 100-101 ; what Jesus
Christ, at the Last Supper, tells us of the Holy Spirit, ror.
I. — What the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity ; we only know what
Revelation tells us about Him, 102 ; the Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and the Son by way of love, 102; He is holy and He
makes holy ; why works of sanctification are especially attributed to
Him, 103-104 ; doctrine of ” appropriation”, 105.
II. — Operations of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus, 106 ; Christ
" conceived by the Holy Ghost”, 106; sanctifying grace poured forth
in the soul of Christ by the Holy Spirit, 107 ; text of the prophet
Isaias commented on by Jesus Himself, 108 ; all Christ’s human
activity directed by the Holy Spirit, 109-110.
III. — Operations of the Holy Spirit in the Church, 110-111 :
Credo in Spiritum Sanctum vivificantem, 112.
IV. — Operation of the Holy Spirit in souls, 113 ; He makes us
temples of God, 113-114 ; He bears us testimony that we are the
children of God, 115 ; the gifts of the Holy Spirit ; their nature,
115-116,
V. — Explanation of each of the seven gifts : gift of wisdom,
117 ; of understanding, 118 ; of counsel, 118-119 ; of fortitude, IIQ ;
of knowledge, 120 ; of piety, 120 ; of fear, 121.
CONTENTS 407
Vi. — Devotion to the Holy Spirit, 122; not to " grieve”
Him,
123 ; to ” extinguish not the Spirit”, 123-124 ; to yield
ourselves to
His operations so that He may form Jesus within us,
125.
II. FOUNDATION AND DOUBLE ASPECT

OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
I. — Faith in Jesus Christ the Foundation of
Christian Life. ah € Fan . 129-151
It is by faith that we receive Christ, 130; faith constitutes the
first attitude of the soul in face of the revelation of the Divine
Plan, 131-132; capital importance of this subject: faith the founda-
tion of all Christian life, 132.
i. — Christ, while living upon earth, required, first of all, faith
from those who came to Him, 133-135 ; He still makes it the first
condition of those who wish to become His disciples, 136.
Il. — Nature of this faith, 136-137; testimony of God proclaiming
that Jesus is His Son, 137-138.
Ill. — The Divinity of Jesus is the object of our faith, 130-140 ;
Christianity is the acceptation of this Divinity in all its consequences,
140-141 ; how by faith we share in the very life of God, 141-142.
IV. — Necessity and utility of frequently making acts of faith in
.Christ’s Divinity, 142-143; these acts strengthen the foundation of
our supernatural life, 143-144 ; how the just live by faith, 145-146.
V. — Faith in the infinite value of the merits of Christ, the Man-
God, 146-147 ; to exercise this faith in prayer and in the reception
of the Sacraments, 147-148 ; wonderful faith of the man born blind
who was cured by Jesus and is the image of our soul, 149; why
faith is the source of joy, 150-151.
I. — Baptism, the Sacrament of Adoption and

| |nitiation: Death and Life. . . . . . 152-168
Baptism, first of all the Sacraments, 153.

I. — Sacrament of Divine adoption, 153 ; Christ’s words to Ni-
codemus : "born again of water and the Holy Ghost”, 154;
prayers at the blessing of the baptismal waters, the fount of spiri-
tual regeneration, 155-156 ; Baptism opens the door to all subsequent
graces, 156. :
Il. — Baptism, Sacrament of Christian initiation, 157 ; ancient
rites for the administration of Baptism on the night preceding the
dawn of Easter day, 157-158 ; symbolism of these rites and effects of
Baptism explained by St Paul, 158 sq.
III. — How the life of Christ contains the double aspect of
408 CONTENTS
"death” and ” life” which Baptism reproduces within us, 160-161 ;

representation of Christ’s Death and Risen Life, 162-163.
IV. — All Christian life is but the development of this double
initial grace given at Baptism : ” to die to sin, to live for God”, 163-
166; to thank God for baptismal grace, 167; joy brought by Baptism,
167 ; in our relations with God, to place our confidence in the
adoption that Baptism obtains for us in Christ : Christum induistis,
167.
A. DEATH TO SIN.
Mi. — Delicta quis intelligit? . . . . . . . 169-186
Death to sin, first aspect of baptismal grace, 169; how to maintain

it throughout our life, 170.
I. — Sin (mortal), practical contempt of God’s rights, 170 ; sin,
cause of Christ’s sufferings, 171 sq.
If. — Mortal sin destroys the divine life in the soul, 174-175.
III. — Chastisements by which Divine justice punishes sin, 177
sq. ; hell consists above all of the deprivation of God, 178 ; utility
of the fear of God, 180.
IV. — Danger of venial sins, 181; necessary distinction to be made
between faults of surprise and deliberate or habitual faults, 181-182.
V. — Temptation, a necessary trial, 183 ; to overcome it by watch-
fulness and prayer, 184 ; victory assured to the Christian who relies
upon Christ, 185-186.
IV. The Sacrament and Virtue of Penance. . . 187-211
The Sacrament of Penance the means of recovering grace lost

after baptism, 186.
I. — God places His glory in showing mercy for the sake of
Christ’s merits, 188-189.
II. — Essential elements of the Sacrament of Penance: contrition,
190 ; its nature, qualities and effects, 191 ; its special efficacy in the
Sacrament of Penance, 192 ; to ask for contrition when assisting at
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 193. Confession to a priest who
holds the place of Christ, 193-194 ; homage that the penitent thus
renders to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, 195 ; qualities of con-
fession, 195 ; its enemies : routine and scruples, 195; fulness of
forgiveness granted by God to a repentant sinner, 196. Satisfaction,
the third element of the Sacrament, 197 ; beautiful text from the
Council of Trent, 197.
III. — Necessity of the virtue of penance for maintaining within
us the fruits of the sacrament, 108 ; nature of this virtue, 199 ; how
certain souls feel repugnance for the law of self-renunciation, 200 ;
CONTENTS 409
IV. — The virtue of penance is only a means of re-establishing
the order destroyed by sin, 201 ; general principle of its exercise,
202 ; various applications, 203.
V. — Penance makes us share in Christ’s sufferings, 203-204;
union with Christ in suffering is a source of consolation, 205-206 ;
example of St Paul, 206-207 ; our acts of penance derive all their
value from being united with Christ’s Passion, 207.
VI. — Following the Church’s counsel, to unite, by an explicit
intention, the acts of the virtue of penance to the Sacrament, 208 ;
singular efficacy of this practice : for the remission of sins, 208;
for the increase of the Divine life within us, 209 ; for the increase
of our future recompense, 210 ; words of Christ on this subject :
” Your joy no man shall take from you”, 211.
B. LIFE FOR GOD.
V. Lhe Tenth: in’ Claritys |. 2 2 4G 2 8 92122297

Christianity, religion of life, 212 ; like all life, the supernatural
life has laws governing its activity, 212-213 ; necessity of examining,
first of all, the fundamental principle on which rests the value of
Christian life, 213.
I, — The words of St Paul which establish this fundamental law :
” Doing the truth in charity”, 213 ; necesssity of works, 213 ; first
character of our works : truth, 214 ; our works must be true, that
is to say, conformable to our human nature as reasonable beings,
214 ; necessity, in the first place, of observing the natural law, 215 ;
illusion and want of logic in certain souls, 215-216 ; Gladstone’s
words on this subject, 216; grace does not destroy nature, 216;
true works, that is to say, conformable to our individuality, 217 ;
to our special vocation, 218.
II. — Our works must, moreover, be done in a state of grace, and
referred to God by a motive of charity. In caritate, 218-219 ; com-
parison of the vine, given by Christ in order to show the necessity
of grace, 220 ; nullity, as to supernatural merit, of works done with-
out sanctifying grace, 221 ; actual grace, 222.
III. — Variety of effects due to the marvellous workings of grace,
223 ; various characteristics of the saints, 224 ; this grace, however,
is one and is derived from the plenitude given to Christ, 225;
exhortation to safeguard jealously within us the life of grace, 226.
Vi. — Our Supernatural Growth in Christ. . . . 228-256
The supernatural life has to grow and progress, 228-229 ; im-

portance of this subject, 229 ; Our Lord’s desire is that we should.
bear much fruit, 229.
410 CONTENTS
I — According to the Council of Trent, we advance in the life of
grace by the doing of good works and the practice of the virtues,
230-231 ; acquired virtues, 232 ; infused virtues, 232-233.
II. — The theological virtues, 233-234 ; how they are specific of
the state of the child of God, 234 ; how to maintain them within
us, 235.
III. — Eminence of charity, 236-237 ; Christ Jesus is our Model
in this, 237 ; how important it is to have in view the perfection of
charity, 238-239.
IV. — Necessity of the moral virtues in order to safeguard the
existence of charity, 239-240 ; nature and function of acquired and
infused moral virtues, 240-242.
V. — Service that the moral virtues render to charity, 242-243 ;
how charity, in its turn, governs and enhances the moral virtues,
243 ; affective and effective love, 244.
VI. — How to arrive at perfect love, 244-245 ; purity of intention:
love, the motive power of our acts, 245 ; to renew this intention
frequently, 246 ; what devotion is, 246.
VII. — Our intention should extend to all our actions, Per omnia
247-248 ; sublimity and simplicity of the Christian life, 248-240.
VIII. — Result of perfect charity: to make us grow up in Christ,
250 ; Christ, the Head of the mystical body, has sanctified all our
actions, 250-251 : He acts within us, by His Spirit, in order to make.
us grow supernaturally, 252.
TX. — Necessity of continual progress, 252 ; example of St Paul,
253 ; neither temptation, nor trials, nor weaknesses are obstacles to
the growth of grace, 254; death, alone, is the term of the ascen-
sions of the heart, 255 ; may we then have ” come to the perfect age
of Christ”, 255.
Vil. — The Eucharistic Sacrifice. . . . . . . 257-278
God, infinite Goodness and Wisdom, has established incomparable

means whereby we may live the life of grace, 258; notably prayer
and the Eucharist, 258 ; the Eucharist considered, first of all, as
sacrifice, 259 ; an admissable truth only for one who believes in the
love of God, 259.
J. — ‘The Eucharist, a veritable sacrifice, renews that of the Cross,
260 ; sacrifice supposes a priesthood, 260 ; transcendency of Jesus
Christ’s Priesthood, 261.
II. — Sacrifice belongs to the essence of religion, 262 ; sacrifices
that were offered before the Incarnation, 262 ; were only figures,
263 ; the reality only found at Golgotha, 264 ; infinite value of this
sacrifice as regards the High Priest who offers it and the Victim im-
molated, 264; the world’s redemption, the fruit of this sacrifice, 265.
CONTENTS 4II
III. — The Sacrifice of the Mass

renews that of the Cross,
265 sq.
IV. — Effects of the Sacrifice of the altar,
267-268 ; the Mass,
perfect homage of adoration, 268 ; sacrifice
of full Propitiation, 260 ;
the only thanksgiving worthy of God, 270
; sacrifice of impetration,
271-272,
V. — Intimate Participation in the Sacrifice
of the Mass ; to
identify ourselves with Christ, the High Priest,
273-274 ; this par-
ticipation is not exclusively for priests, but
also extends to the
faithful, 274-275; to identify ourselves with Christ,
the Victim,
275 ; how the Greek and Latin rites both lay stress
on this parti-
cipation, though in different ways, 276; how this
participation
renders our offerings Pleasing to God, 277; excelle
nt manner of
assisting at Holy Mass, 278.
Viti. Pane Vitae, a4, Gobe eile SMe yn Alb . 279-304

Eucharistic Communion, means of maintaining the divine life
within us, 279-280.
I. — Communion is the banquet wherein Christ gives Himself to
us as the Bread of Life, 280-281-282.
II. — In giving Himself to us as food, Christ wishes to "abide
”
in us, and make us ” abide” in Him, 283-284.
Ill. — Difference between the food which sustains our corporal
life and the Eucharistic Bread, 285 ; how Christ transforms us into
Himself, 286-288.
IV. — Necessity of preparation in order to assimilate the fruits
of the Eucharistic Communion, 288-201.
V. — General remote disposition : the complete gift of oneself to
Christ, and to the members of His mystical body, 291-294 ; actual
remote disposition : to direct all one’s actions towards Communion,
294-295.
VI. — Immediate dispositions, 295 ; faith, 295-2097; confidence,
297-298 ; how Communion forms the fullest participation in the
Divine Sonship of Jesus, 299-300 ; variety of formulae for the im-
mediate preparation, 300.
VII. — Thanksgiving after Communion : Mea omnia iua sunt et
tua mea, 391-393 ; " If you receive well the Body of Christ, you are
what you receive”, 303.
IX. Wox Spousaey 3 ek. - 805-3824
The Divine Office is intimately linked to the Eucharistic Sacrifice,

305-300.
I. — Christ has left to the Church the mission of continuing His
work of redemption, 206; the homage of Divine Praise enters
412 CONTENTS
essentially in this mission, 307 ; the Word, the brightness of His
Father’s glory, 307; humanity, united to the Word by the Incarna-
tion, is drawn into the work of glorification accomplished by the
Word, 307 ; the human canticle of Christ, 307 ; Christ associates,
by right and in principle, all humanity in this canticle, 308.
II. — The Church charged to organise this praise, 308; the
” Divine Office”, its divers elements, 309; the psalms exalt the
perfections of God, 309-310 ; express the sentiments and needs of
our souls, 310-311 ; speak to us of Christ, 311-312.
lil. — The power of intercession of this praise on the lips of
the Church, the Bride of Christ, 313-314 ; example of Moses, 314-315.
TV. — Fruits of sanctification that the prayer of the Church
contains for us, 315 ; the liturgy, source of light, 316 ; how it makes
us penetrate into Christ’s innermost dispositions, 316-318.
V. — How it makes us share in each of the mysteries lived for
us by Christ, 318 ; examples : the Birth of Jesus, 319 ; His Passion
and Death, 319-320 ; the Paschal mystery, 320 ; the triumph of the
Ascension, 320 ; the liturgy, a sure and infallible way of making us
one with Christ, 321.
VI. — Why the Church celebrates the feasts of the Saints, 322 ;
how she honours them, 322-323 ; All-Saints, 323.
X. Prayer: 2:0 FEE Oo Ae eee

Capital importance of this subject, 325-327.
I. — Nature of prayer : ” the intercourse of a child of God with
his Heavenly Father,” 327-328 ; the Spirit of adoption prays within
us, 328; Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman: ” the true adorers ”
of the Father, 329 ; how Christ teaches His apostles to pray, 329-
330 ; prayer, the outcome of our divine filiation in Christ Jesus 331 ;
blossoming of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 331-332.
II. Double element that must determine the subject of the com-
muning of the soul with God, 333. First element : the measure of
the gifts of grace, 333. Great discretion of the Saints and of the
masters of the spiritual life on this subject, 333 ; teaching of St Be-
nedict, 333 ; words of St Ignatius of Loyola, 334 ; of St Teresa, 334;
of St Francis of Sales, 334-335 ; one exclusive method cannot be
indifferently imposed on every soul alike, 335 ; the essence of
mental prayer not to be confounded with the methods that are used
in mental prayer, 335-336.
TIT. — Second element : the state of the soul, 336. How to try
to acquire the habit of mental prayer, 337 ; at the outset, the neces-
sity of the labour of reflexion, 338 ; prayer is in the heart, 337.
IV. — How, in the same measure as the soul advances, the
discursive labour is lessened, 335 ; exceptions to this rule, 339;
Verbum Christi habitet abundanter in cordibus vestris, 339 ; how
CONTENTS 413
important it is to contemplate Our Lord, 339-340 ; the Holy

Spirit
“brings to mind” the words of Christ, 341 ; the state of prayer,
342.
V. — The prayer of faith, 342-343 ; extraordinary prayer, 343-344.
VI. — Dispositions requisite to render prayer fruitful : purity of
heart, 345 ; recollection of mind, 345 ; the yielding of ourselves
to
God’s Will, 345 ; humility and reverence, 346.
VII. — Our Lord has sanctified our prayers by His example,
348 ; in the Pater He has given us a wonderful formula of which all
our prayers ought to be only the commentary, 348 ; Christ takes us
with Him even into the Holy of holies, 349 ; words of St Augustine;
” Christ prays for us as our High Priest. He prays in us as our
Head”, 350 ; joy that the life of prayer brings to the soul, 350.
XI. — ”Love one another”, . . . . . . . . 351-367

Our love of Christ ought to radiate upon all mankind, Bish
1. — The ” new commandment ”, 351-352 ; mutual charity, distinc-
tive and infallible sign of Christianity, 353 ; norm of the Last Judg-
ment, 353 ; why we cannot truly love our neighbour without loving
God, 354 ; fraternal charity the sign of our love of God, 355; words
of St Augustine, 355 ; of St Teresa, 355 ; to love God fotaliter et .
totum, 356; Christ identified with all His disciples, 357 ; example
of St Paul, 357 ; of St Martin, 357 ; of St Elizabeth, 357-358 ; of
St Catherine of Siena, 358 ; our neighbour is Christ, 358.
Il. — The Divine economy such as it is presented to us since the
Incarnation, 359 ; God’s dealings with us regulated on our dealings
with our neighbour, 359 ; intensity of Divine life that a true and
constant love requires, 360 ; we cannot remain united to Christ if we
do not remain united to the members of His mystical body, 361 ;
intimate reason of this truth, 362.
Ill. — Practical consequences which arise from the foregoing
principles, 362 ; different forms of the exercise of charity, 363 ; to
make oneself, ” all things to all men”, 364 ; how Christ Jesus is our
Model in this, 364 ; manifold examples of His charity towards men,
364-365 ; our charity ought to imitate that of Christ : Sicut dilexi
vos, 305 ; charity of St Paul, 366 ; the Apostle’s hymn to the glory
of charity, 366. Final exhortation : Ut sint consummati in unum,
367.
XI. The Mother of the Incarnate Word. . . . 368-387

All our holiness consists in being conformed to Jesus Christ, 368 ;
in Jesus Christ some things are accidental and others essential, 368-
369 ; among the latter is the title of ” Son of Man”, 369 ; Our Lord
ever associates it with His Divine Sonship, notably in His Passion,
360 ; He is the Son of Man through Mary, 370 ; necessity, for the
Ald CONTENTS
disciple of Christ, of reproducing within himself this quality of Je-

sus : Son of Mary, 370; capital importance of devotion towards Ma-
ry; when the Mother is left out, the Son is no longer understood, 371.
I. — What has Mary given to Jesus ? 371 ; Annunciation and In-
carnation, 371 ; greatness of the Virgin’s Fiat, 372; Mary is the
Mother of Jesus, 373 ; enters into the vital mystery of Christianity,
373:
Ii. — This Divine Motherhood, source of all Mary’s privileges,
373 ; predestination of the Virgin, 373-374 ; her Immaculate Con-
ception, 374; her virginity, her fulness of grace, her Assumption,
374-375 ; Christ loved His Mother, 375 ; it was for her, above all,
that He offered His Passion, 376 ; He obeyed His Mother, 376 ; He
associated her, in a special manner, in His mysteries, 376 ; above all,
in that of the Redemption, 377-378 ; the Blessed Virgin’s words to
St Gertrude : ” Jesus, Firstborn ”, 378-370.
Ill. — The homage that we owe to the Mother-of God, 379 ; to
exalt her privileges, 379 ; example of the Church, especially in her
liturgy, 380-381.
IV. — Devotion to Mary profitable for the soul; the Virgin Mary
inseparable from Jesus in the Divine Plan and consequently in the
distribution of grace, 382 ; the Virgin’s all-powerful influence with
her Son, 382 ; the grace of spiritual maternity which she received
from Jesus, 384 ; associated with Jesus as the new Eve with the new
Adam, 384; Mary’s confidence in the Heart of her Son, 385; example
of the marriage feast at Cana, 385 ; to ask the Blessed Virgin to
form Jesus within us, 386 ; to this end, to do whatsoever her Son,
in whom she is well pleased, shall say to us, 387.
Xi. — Coheredes Christi. . .. . Saclay 388-402
The glory of Heaven, the final term of our predestination, 388-

389 ; the supernatural life is only perfect in Heaven, 389 ; why the
Church calls the death of the saints naialitia, 380-300 ; St Paul’s .
insistence in making known to us the riches of the heavenly inhe-
ritance, 390.
I. — In what future glory consists, 391 ; the beatific vision, 302 ;
we shall love God, 393 ; we shall enjoy God, 393 ; God Himself will
be our reward, 303-304 ; eternity of this perfect joy, 305.
II. — The bodies of the just are to share, after the resurrection,
in this celestial glory, 395 ; Christ Jesus has already in principle,
realised this resurrection, 396; glory of the mystical body, 306;
Christ” will deliver up the Kingdom to God”. His Father, 396-307.
III. — The degree of our heavenly beatitude fixed at death by the
degree of grace we have then attained, 3908 ; how St Paul urges the
faithful to progress in charity throughout life, 399 ; the Apostle’s
own example, 390-400 ; final exhortation, 400-402.
ANALYTICAL INDEX
Adam, his sin, consequences for his effective love, 244; — intention,
race, 47 sq.; — Christ, the new the eye of the soul, 245 ; — love,
Adam, 57; — He associates with source of progress, 246; — super-
Himself the Virgin Mary as the natural transformation produced
new Eve, 384. by the Eucharist, 285; — disposi-
Ambrose (S*). Union with God is tions for receiving divine Life,298;
brought about by our imitation — fruits of Holy Communion,
of Christ, 43 ; — our faults ought 303 ; — Christ recited the psalms
not to discourage us, 182 n; — upon the Cross, 317 ; — Christ’s
Christ is our Model in prayer,348. mysteries are the model of the
Appropriation, its nature, its func- Christian life, 319; — how to
tion, 103. celebrate the saints, 323; —
Asceticism (Christian) ought only prayer lies in the desires of the
to be with the view of making us heart, 338 ;— the cleaving of the
profit more abundantly by the soul to God in the prayer of faith,
grace of the Sacraments, 70, 76- 343; — all our prayers ought to be
77; — is derived entirely from based upon the petitions con-
baptismal grace, 164. See Spir- tained in the Lord’s Prayer,348.—
itual Life. Christ prays in us and for us, 350;
Augustine (St). Jesus at Jacob’s —love towards our neighbour sign
well, 36; — the Incarnate Word, of our love towards God, 355 ; —
the Exemplar of the supernatural the ” whole Christ”, 362 ; — the
life, 37, n.; — without Christ, we Virgin Mary, spiritual mother of
can do nothing, 58-59 ; — Christ the mystical body, 385; — the
the principal efficient cause of sac- Virgin Mary’s faith in the In-
ramental grace, 73-74; — the sac- carnation, 386; — God gives Him-
raments come forth from the self in the glory of Heaven, 394;
Heart of Christ pierced upon the — eternal beatitude, perfect par-
Cross, 77 ; — it is by faith that ticipation in unchanging good,
we touch Christ, 80 ; — Christ is 394-
the Vine, as Man, and the Vine-
dresser, as God, 82 ; — union of Baptism, first sacrament, 152;— sac-
the Church with Christ, 86; — rament of divine adoption, 153;—
Christ, the Head of the Church, to be ” born again of water and the
96 ; — the Holy Spirit, the soul of Holy Gost”, 154 ; — blessing of
the Church, 125 n.; — faith, first the baptismal waters, 155; —
attitude of the soul in its relations effects of Baptism, 156; — sacra-
with God, 132; — we are born sin- ment of Christian initiation, 156
ners in Adam, 153; — Christ, our sq.; — how it was administered in
Model,163; — necessity of sharing the primitive Church, 229;— sym-
in the sufferings of Christ, our bolism and grace of baptism ex-
Head, 204; — Christ reserved for plained by S* Paul, 158 sq.; —
himse!tf the dregs of the chalice ‘how the grace of baptism ought
of suffering, 205 ; — theological to be developed throughout all our
virtues, 234 ; — affective love and ‘life, 163 sq. ; — practical conse-
416 ANALYTICAL INDEX.
quences of baptismal grace in our zabeth:of Hungary, of S* Cathe-

relations with God, 167 ; — fruits rine of Siena, 357 sq. ; — God
of baptism, 169; — the strength acts towards us as we act to-
that baptism gives us to resist the wards our neighbour, 359; —
temptations of the devil, 185; — why love towards our neighbour
sin fully forgiven in baptism, 190. is sometimes more meritorious,
Beatitude. See Heaven. 360; — we form only one mys-
Beatific Vision. See Heaven. tical body, 361; — exercise of
Bede (Ven.). The intention, eye charity, 361; — Christ the model
of the soul, 245. of charity towards mankind,362;
Benedict (S*). What he says about example of St Paul, 366.
prayer, 333-334- Christian, alter Christus, 45; —
Bernard (S*). Name of Jesus, 50; how the first Christians under-
— liberty, the condition of merit, stood St Paul’s doctrine, 28. —
54s Se. aan supernatural current of See Divine Adoption.
exchange between the saints and Christianity is nothing else than
ourselves, 323; — the human race the acceptation of the Incar-
awaits the consent of the Virgin nation in all its consequences,137;
Mary to the mystery of the Incar- — is only the development of the
nation, 372. initial grace of baptism, 164 ; —
Bossuet. What baptism was for mystery of life, 201, 214. — See
the Jews, 154, n.5; — necessity of Church.
observing the natural law, 216 n.; Church, visible society founded by
—participation of the faithful in Christ in order to continue His
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, mission, 86; — founded upon St
275;— the Eucharist, the Bread of Peter, 87; — guards the doc-
Life, 281-282 ; — grace comes to trine of Christ, 87; — dispenses
us from Christ through Mary, the Sacraments, 89 ; — continues
292, 1.035 the work of religion of Jesus, 90;
— is like an extension of the
Charity, theological virtue, 234; Incarnation, 91; — double ele-
its eminence, 236; — _ special ment, human and divine, 92 ; —
source of supernatural growth, obedience that we owe to the
236; — perfection of charity,239; Church, 93 ; — Christ’s mystical
— safeguarded by the moral vir- body, 94; — union of Christ and
tues, 242; — how to attain the the Church, 95 sq. ; — union of
perfection of charity, 244 sq. ; — her members with one another,
augmented by the Eucharist, 286. 96 sq. ; — the action of the Holy
— See Love of God. Spirit in the Church, 110 sq.;
Charity towards our neighbour, — united to Christ in order to
” new commandment” given by praise the Eternal Father, 308;
Jesus, 352 ; — distinctive sign of — the Bride of Christ adorned
Christ’s disciples,353;— will serve with His merits, 313 sq. — See
as the criterion at the Last Judg- Mystical Body, Incarnation.
ment, 353-354 ; — why the love of Communion. — See Eucharist.
the neighbour is the mark of the Communion of Saints, 96-97.
love of God in a soul,354;—words Council of Trent. Christ’s grace
of St John, 355; — of St Augus- outpoured on all the members of
tine, 355 ; — of St Teresa, 355;— His mystical body, 83 ; — faith,
Christ identified with all His dis- foundation and root of all justi-
ciples: intimate reason of His fication, 132; — explanation of
commandment,357; — example of the words of Jesus Christ to Ni-
St Paul, of St Martin, of St Eli- codemus on the subject of bap-
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
417
tism, 154; — gratitude due to Co-operation, (our) proceeds from
God for baptismal grace, 187; our baptism, 164; — ought to
— we cannot avoid all sin, 188; continue all our life, 164 sq.; —
— difference between baptism and by penance, 198, sq. — See As-
the sacrament of penance, 190; ceticism, Defects, Fidelity, Mor-
— Necessity of penance for sins tification, Works.
committed after baptism, 190; — Cornelius a Lapide. Danger of the
what contrition is, 191 ;— the state of tepidity, 183 n.
acts of the penitent are like the
matter of the sacrament of pen- Discouragement consequent on
ance, 193; — contrition, fruit lack of faith in the riches of
of the Sacrifice of the Mass,193; Jesus Christ, 58, 60, 65 ; — our
— the sacrament of penance infirmities and weaknesses ought
brings peace to the soul, 195-196; not to be a source of discourage-
— the sacrament of penance ap- ment, 254. — See Infirmities.
plies the fruits of Christ’s Pas- Defects to be combatted, 42, 123,
sion to the soul, 196; — satis- 203, 242, 291.
faction to be accomplished for Devotion, what it is, 246; — requi-
the integrity of the sacrament of site in order to receive fully
penance, 197-198; — our suffer- the fruits of the Sacrifice of the
ings accepted by God as expia- Mass, 272.
tion for our sins, 208; — the Divine Adoption, its nature, 14
exercise of the virtues, source of sq. ; — conferred on Adam, 17;
Spiritual progress, 230; — only — given in the sacrament of bap-
to glory in God, 255; — the tism, 153; — the right that it
Mass, true Sacrifice, 260, 267 ;— gives us to present ourselves be-
value of this Sacrifice, 268; — fore the Eternal Father in the
Christ perpetuates His Sacrifice name of His Son, 167 ;— source
through the intermediary of of all the graces that God gives
priests, 274; — signification of to us, 224, 225; — determines the
the mingling of the water and nature and character of our prayer,
wine at the offertory of the Mass, 328 sq., 347 ; — has its final term
276; — dispositions for assist- in heavenly glory, 392. — See
ing at the Sacrifice of the Mass, Grace.
278; — Christ’s intention in in- Divine Filiation, Eucharistic Com-
stituting the Eucharist, 280; — munion is the highest act of par-
the Eucharist, symbol of union ticipation in the Divine Filiation
between the members of the mys- of Jesus, 299 sq. — See Divine
tical body, 292. Adoption.
Confession, See Penance (Sacra- Divine Office, the Word, canticle
ment). of the Father, 307 ;— the human
Confidence in the merits of Jesus canticle of Christ, 307-308 ; —
Christ, 58; — consequence of Christ associates all humanity in
baptismal grace, 164; — confi- this work of praise, 308 ; — ele-
dence in Jesus Christ received in ments of the Divine Office, 309;
the Eucharist, 297-298. — See — the psalms, 309; — the psalms
Faith in the merits of Jesus exalt all the perfections of God,
Christ. 309 sq. ; — express the needs of
Contrition, what it is, 191 ; — its our souls, 310-311 ; — speak to
characteristics, 191 ; — value that us of Christ, 311-312 ; — how the
the sacrament of penance gives to Church finds her support in Christ
it, 192. — See Penance (sacra- in order to praise the Father, 313
ment), sq. ; — intercessory value of this
prayer, 314; — value of sanctifi- tismal vows, 164, 167 ; — to the
cation, 315 sq.; — makes us law of self-renunciation, 200; —
enter into Christ’s sentiments, to the duties of state, 218; — in
316 sq.; — the mysteries of the exercise of the theological
Christ living in the liturgy, 319 virtues, 235; — of the moral
sq. ; — why and how the Church virtues, 240; — necessary in order
celebrates the saints, 322 sq. to profit abundantly from the
Divine Plan, 5 sq., 129-130. fruits of the Eucharistic Sacrifice,
Divinity of Jesus Christ. See 277; — from the fruits of Com-
Faith and Jesus Christ. munion, 291 sq., 303 ;— fidelity
to the exercise of prayer, 341 sq.;
Eucharist, the faith that we ought — to the law of charity, 360 sq.;
to have in the merits of Jesus — necessary for increasing in per-
Christ when receiving Him in fction, 399 sq. — See Co-op-
Communion, 148; — Sacrament eration.
of supernatural union, 258; — Faith, its utility in order to keep
why it is thus called, 271; — us united to Jesus Christ, 44-45;
Communion affords the most cer- — in the satisfactions and merits
tain means of union,280; — food of Jesus Christ, 60 sq. and 147
of the soul, 280 sq. ; — sacrament sq. ; — source of grace, 79 sq.; —
of union, 283 sq. ; — difference in the divinity of the Church, 92;
between the food that sustains our — makes us share in the Divine
corporal life and the Eucharistic Sonship of Jesus Christ, 131 ; —
Bread, 285 sq. ; — fruits proper first attitude of the soul in its re-
to this sacrament, 286 sq.; — lations with God, 132; — its
disposition for receiving it, 288 importance for the spiritual life,
sq.; — the Eucharist, mystery 132, 145; — required by Jesus
of faith, 295 sq. ; — Communion, Christ during His public life, 133
the highest participation in the sq. ; — claimed by Him from all
Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ, who wish to become His disciples,
299; — immediate preparation 135, 136; — nature of faith, 136-
before Communion, 300; — 137; — testimony of God which
thanksgiving after Communion, we receive through faith, 137 sq.;
301 sq. ; — See Mass. — the divinity of Jesus Christ
Examination of Conscience, its object of faith for the Jews of
necessity, 195, 203. His time, 139 sq. ;— makes us
share in the very life of God, 141
Fear of God, gift of the Holy Spi- sq. ; — its exercise, 142 sq. ; —
rit, 121; — its utility in the spi- "the just man lives by faith,” 145;
ritual life, 179-180. — how it is the source of life,145;
Fidelity in adapting ourselves to —faith of the man born blind,149;
the Divine Plan, 5, 130-131 ; — — source of joy, 150 ; — faith in
necessary in order to bear much the merits of Jesus Christ when
fruit,65; — in order to be worthy receiving the Sacrament of Pen-
members of the mystical body of ance, 148, 192, 196; — in the
Christ, 96; — it is aided by the moment of temptation, 184; —
gift of fortitude, 119 ; — neces- ought to be manifested by works,
sary in order to act perfectly as 213; — theological virtue, 233;
children of God, 121 ; — fidelity — to regard the Mass with eyes
to the inspirations of the Holy of faith, 259, 266, 267 ; — faith in
Spirit, 123 sq., 226; — fidelity in the merits of Jesus Christ in or-
the exercise of the virtue of faith, der to gather all the fruits of the
142-143,145,150-151;— to our bap- Mass, 272; — means of ” abiding”
ANALYTICAL INDEX. 419
in Jesus Christ, 283-284 ; — dis- 107. — See Hypostatic Union.
position for receiving the Eu- Gregory of Nazianzen(S*). Resist-
charist with good effect, 295 sq., ance with which those who are
299 sq.; — faith in Jesus Christ baptised ought to oppose Satan,
at the time of prayer, 347. 185, n. 4.
Francis of Sales (St). The will Gregory the Great (S*). The pro-
of God is the norm of our holiness, blem of Redemption wonderfully
4; — eminence of charity, 237; solved by the Incarnation of a
— how charity governs the other God, 49; — general principle of
virtues, 244 ; — renewal of purity the exercise and of the virtue of
of intention, 246 ;— preparation penance, 202 ; — the intention,
for Mass,294; — nature of prayer eye of the soul, 245, n. 2.
and the liberty of the soul in the
way of prayer, 334. Heaven, final glory of the mystical
body, 98, 388 ; — beatitude of
Gertrude (S‘). Christ " Firstborn heaven acquired by our sufferings,
of the Virgin”, 278-279. 210 ; — inheritance which Christ
Gifts of the Holy Spirit. See Holy has merited for us, 589; — bea-
Spirit. tific vision, 391 sq. ; — we shall
Gladstone. What he says about love God, 393 ;— we shall enjoy
observing the natural law, 216. God, 393-394 ; — eternity of this
Glory of God, primordial end of joy, 395; — resurrection of the
our adoption, 24 sq. body, 395 sq.; — Christ associates
Grace, participation in the divine us with Him in glory, 396; —
nature, 14-15 ; — makes us chil- the degree of our eternal beati-
dren of God, 14-15 ;— why it is tude fixed at death by the degree
called sanctifying, 15; — prin- of grace we then possess, 398 sq.
ciple of the supernatural life, 16; Hell, 177 sq.
— given in its fulness to Jesus Hedley (Bishop), O. S. B. His
Christ, 19 ; — we receive it from doctrine upon union with Christ's
Christ, 20; — fruit of the Passion humanity through faith, 80, n. 5 ;
of Jesus Christ, 5-7 ; — the grace — sanctifying grace and charity,
of Christ gives us the victory in 2IO vets ae
the struggle against concupiscence, Holiness, mystery of divine life, 7;
59-60 ;— its power, 60; — con- — God wills us to be holy, 9; —
ferred by the sacraments, 70 sq. ; what holiness is in God, 9-10 ; —
— grace in Christ, 106 sq. ; — what it is in us, 12 ; — its super-
shed abroad in our hearts by the natural character, 16 ; — paztici-
Holy Spirit, 113; — given at pation in the divine Sonship of
Baptism, 154 sq. ; — is not dimi- Christ, 19 ;— effected by union
nished by venial sin, 182 ; — does with Jesus Christ, 42 ; — to yield
not destroy nature, 217 sq. ; — ourselves completely to the divine
necessary for the merit of our action, 43 ; — the source of holi-
actions, 218 sq. ; — actual grace, ness only to be found in Jesus
222; — forms the most precious Christ, 65, 130 ; — fruition of the
jewel of the soul, 225 ; — state of initial grace of baptism, 113, 164;
grace and infused virtues, 231 ; — — attributed to the Holy Spirit,
blossoms in glory, 390; — the 114 sq. ; — function of the gifts
degree of grace at the moment of of the Holy Spirit in the work of
death fixes the degree of eternal our holiness,114 sq.; — necessity,
beatitude, 398 sq. in order to attain it, of not re-
Gratia capitisin Christ, 53-54,96-97. sisting the inspirations of the
Gratia unionis in Christ, 37, n. 2, Holy Spirit, 123; — must safe-
guard the personality of each extension of the Incarnation, 91-

soul, 43, 217; — how the liturgy 92 ; — since the Incarnation,God
helps us to realise the form of guides us by men, 91, 194, 359;
our holiness, 318, 321 ; — See — the work of the Incarnation
Divine Adoption, Spiritual Life. attributed to the Holy Spirit, 106;
Holy Spirit, necessity of faith in — in principle, Christ has asso-
the Holy Spirit in order to un- ciated all humanity with Himself,
derstand the Divine Plan, 100; — 273-308 ;— consequences of the
what He is, 102; — why works Incarnation in point of view of
of sanctification are attributed to love towards our neighbour, 358;
Him, 103; — operations of the — Christ is pleased to associate
Holy Spirit in Christ, 106 sq.; — His quality of "Son of Man” with
action of the Holy Spirit in the the privileges of His Divinity,
Church, 110 sq. ; — in souls, 113 369 sq.—See Hypostatic Union.
sq. ; — gifts of the Holy Spirit, Infirmities, our infirmities do no
115 sq.; — the nature of the gifts, prevent divine union, 42 ; — are
their number and character, 115 not an obstacle to perfection, 61 ;
sq. ;— devotion towards the Ho- — compatible with the action of
ly Spirit, 122 sq.; — the Holy the Holy Spirit within us, 124 ; —
Spirit, soul of the Church, 125; — do not form an obstacle to our
the Holy Spirit invoked in the supernatural growth, 254; — do
blessing of the baptismal font, not prevent the fruit of Eucha-
155 ; — the Holy Spirit prays in ristic Communion, 291.
us, 328; — our prayer, the blos- Intention, purity of intention re-
soming of the gifts of the Holy quisite in order to advance in the
Spirit, 331 sq.; — the Holy Spir- spiritual life, 245 ;— eye of the
it " brings to mind” the words of soul, 245; — if it is necessary
Christ, 341. to renew it frequently, 246.
Hope, theological virtue, 234; —
See Confidence. Jesus Christ, constituted Head of
Hypostatic Union, value of the the supernatural kingdom, 17 ;—
human actions of Christ conse- how, in a general manner, He is
quent upon it, 51; — how Christ’s the life of the soul, 30 ; — Christ,
humanity serves as instrument for revelation of the Father, 32 ; —
the Word, 66; — the work of the our Model, 33 sq.; — perfect
hypostatic union attributed to the God, 33 ;— perfect Man, 34; —
Holy Spirit, 106 sq.;—Gratia unio- His virtues, 38 sq. ; — Christ’s
nis, 37, nN. 2; — safeguards the love for His Father, 39 sq. ; —
distinction of the two natures, Christ, the well beloved Son of
217; — basis of Christ’s Priest- the Father, 41 ; — His Sacrifice,
hood, 260 ; — how in consequence meritorious cause of our salva-
of the hypostatic union all hu- tion, 48 sq.; — signification of
manity praises the Eternal Father, His name, 50; — value of His
308 ; — See Incarnation. human actions consequent on the
hypostatic union, 51 ; — His sac-
Ignatius of Loyola (S*). God rifice, 52 ; — how He merits for
shows each soul the best manner us, 52 sq. ; — Christ’s liberty in
of speaking with Him in prayer, His sacrifice, 54; — Christ’s pow-
334: er of intercession with His Fa-
Incarnation, re-establishes God’s ther, 59 sq. ; — why He has will-
Plan, 17 sq. ; — renders God vi- ed to feel our infirmities, 60 ; —
sible, 31 sq.; — in the ” fulness Christ is all our spiritual life, 64
of time”, 49-50; —.-the Church, sq. ; — what ought to be our imi-
tation of Christ, 65; — His Hu- how He abides in us by Com-

manity is the instrument of the munion,283 sq.; — His mysteries
Word for the giving of grace, 66; are mysteries of faith, 295; —
— why the Father has_ estab- how Christ praised His Father
lished Him dispenser of all grace, upon earth, 307 ; — how He as-
69 ;— institutes the sacraments sociates all humanity in this can-
as sources of grace, 70 sq.; — ticle of praise, 307-308 ; — the
acts within us by the contact of psalms speak to us of Christ,
faith,78 sq.; — founds the Church 310, 311-312; — how the liturgy
in order to continue His work makes us penetrate into the sen-
amongst us, 87 ; — the Church is timents of the Heart of Christ,
His mystical body, 94 sq. ; — He 316 sq. ; — His mysteries, repre-
is the Head of it, 94 ; — grace of sented by the Church in the litur-
union and habitual grace in gy, are sources of life, 318 ;—
Christ, 107 sq. ; — how the acti- how Christ associates His mys-
vity of Christ is directed by the tical body in His Resurrection
Holy Spirit, 109 ; — Christ solus and His Ascension, 320; — teach-
sanctus, 110; — requires faith es us to pray, 329; — _ mneces-
before working miracles, 133 ; — sary to know Christ in order to
His divinity, object of faith for pray well, 339; — in prayer,
the Jews of His time, 139; — Christ unites us to His Father,
His Passion and His glorious life 347; — has sanctified our pray-
are represented and their fruits ers by His example, 348 ;— has
applied in Baptism, 159-160 ; — given us the best formula of
Christ full of grace, 171-172; — prayer, 348; — His precept of
Christ in His Passion, 172 sq.; fraternal charity, 352 ; — we find
— how He has overcome the de- Christ in our neighbour, 357 sq.-;
vil, 184; — the glory that the — Christ’s charity towards men,
Father wills to give to Christ in 534 ; — Christ loves to give Him-
the Sacrament of Penance, 194 self the title of "Son of man’,
sq. ; — how the fruits of His 369 ;— has Mary for His Mo-
Passion are applied in the sacra- ther, 372 ; — obeyed Mary, 376;
ment of penance, 196 ; — neces- —associated her in His mysteries
sity of sharing in His sufferings in a special manner, 376, 384; —
in order to become His disciples, Christ, principle of all grace, 383;
197; — has sanctified our sorrows, — associates us with Him in
205 ; — is our consolation in suf- glory, 388 ; — Christ’s glorious
fering, 206; — His hypostatic kingdom in Heaven after the
union’ leaves the distinction of Resurrection of the just, 397 sq.
natures intact, 217; — is the Vine John Chrysostom (S*). Sacra-
to which we must remain united, ments, sensible signs of grace,70.
218; — all grace comes to us Joy of the soul that understands the
from Christ, 225; — why His mystery of Christ, 29, 96 ; — the
actions were pleasing to His Fa- joy produced by faith, 150 ; — the
ther, 237; — His mystical body joy that arises from baptismal
must come to its perfection, 250 grace, 167; — prayer, 350.
sq. ; — Christ acts within us so
as to make us grow in Him, 251; Leo (St). Greatness of the gift of
— how Christ is consecrated divine adoption, 22 ; — superna-
High Priest, 260; — His sacrifice tural transformation produced by
on Calvary, 264 sq. ; — value of the Eucharist, 285.
this sacrifice, 265 ; — food of the Leo XIII. Encyclical upon the Ho-
soul in the Eucharist, 280-282 ; — ly Spirit, 101, n. 2; — what he
says of appropriation, 105, n. 1; by His example, 348; — has given
grace comes from Christ through us the best form of prayer, 348 ;
Mary, 382, n. 3. — supports our prayer with
Liturgy. The Church instituted God, 348 sq. — See Prayer.
in order to continue Christ’s work Merit. See Supernatural Growth.
of religion, 90 sq. ; — how the Merits of Jesus Christ, their fun-
Church organises her liturgy, 308 damental reason, 53 sq. — See
sq-; — value of intercession of Satisfactions of Jesus Christ.
the liturgy, 314 sq.; — value of Mass, faith that we ought to have
sanctification, 315 sq.; — help in the merits of Jesus Christ
in prayer that the liturgy affords when assisting at it, 148 ; — in-
to the soul, 341 ; — devotion to effable subject, 259 ; — true sacri-
the Virgin Mary in the liturgy, fice, 260 ; — identical with that
380, 381. — See Divine Office. of the Cross, 260 ; — how Christ
Lord’s Prayer (The), pre-eminent- is consecrated Priest and Victim,
ly the prayer of the child of God, 260-261; — Sacrifice of the Cross,
26, 348. 264 sq.; — its value, 265; —
Love of God for us shown in the the Mass reproduces and renews
mystery of adpotion, 22 sq. ; — the immolation of Calvary, 266-
our love of God ought to be prov- 267 ; — perfect homage of adora-
ed by works, 213; — affective tion, 268 ; — sacrifice of expia-
and effective love, 244; — is tion, 269 sq.; — oblation of
manifested by love towards our thanksgiving,270-271;, — sacrifice
neighbour, 353 sq. ; — to love of impetration, 271 sq. ; — dispo-
God totaliter and totum, 356; — sitions whereby to gather the
what it will be in Heaven, 393. fruits of Mass, 272; — how to
— See Charity. participate in this sacrifice, 273
sq.; — to unite ourselves to
Mary, Mother of God. See Virgin Christ, the High Priest, 274; —
Mary. to Christ, the Victim, 275 ; — ex-
Mechtilde (S*). Christ exhorts cellent manner of assisting at
her to praise Him as the source Mass, 278.
of the glory of the saints, 322. Miseries, draws down God’s mer-
Mental Prayer, its importance, 326- cy, 188-189. — See Infirmities.
327 ; — its nature, 327 sq.;— in Moses, by prayer obtains victory
what Jesus Christ makes it to for his people, 314-315.
consist, 329 sq.; — its elements, Mortification, necessary so as to
332 sq.; — method, 335 ; — the assure to our souls the indwelling
method not to be confounded with of the Holy Spirit, 123 ; — con-
the essence of prayer, 335-336 ; sequent on baptismal initiation,
practical consequences,for prayer, 164 sq.;—must continue through-
of the diversity of stages in the out our whole life, 166; — ne-
spiritual life, 336 sq.; — great cessary in order to assure the
utility of the knowledge of Christ’s fruits of Communion, 292 ; — to
mysteries, 339 sq-; — of the li- render prayer fruitful, 345.— See
turgy, 340 ; — action of the Holy Defects, Penance (virtue).
Spirit, 341-342; — state of prayer, Mysteries of Christ, are mysteries
342 ; — prayer of faith, 342; — of faith, 295; — are living mys-
extraordinary prayer, 343-344 5; — teries, 318 ; — their representation
dispositions necessary in order to in the liturgy, source of sancti-
pray well, 345 sq. ; — union with fication, 318; — type of the
Christ in prayer, 347 sq.; — Christian life, 319.
Christ has sanctified our prayers Mystical Body of Christ, 94; —
must tend to perfection, 247 sq. ; 399; — how he is an excellent
— united to Christ’s sacrifice, example in this, 399-400.
273 Sq-; — united to Christ in Penance (Sacrament), instituted
order to praise the Father, 308 ;. by Jesus Christ to remit sin, 187
.— how Christ associates the sq. ; — its essential elements:
mystical body in His mysteries, contrition of heart, 190 sq:; —
319 ;— doctrine of the mystical confession of the lips, 193 sq. ; —
body, the reason of the praises how confession is a homage to
that the Church gives to the Christ’s Humanity, 193 sq.; —
saints, 322 sq.; — the doctrine qualities of confession, 195; —
of the mystical body, principle of how to avoid routine, 195, 208;
fraternal charity, 292, 357; — — scruple, 195 ; — pardon grant-
grace of maternity that the Virgin ed to the sinner, 196 ; — satis-
Mary received in regard to the faction, 197; — to attach the
mystical body, 384 sq. ; — glory acts of the virtue of penance to
of the mystical body in Heaven, the Sacrament, 208.
397- — See Charity towards our Penance (virtue), what it is, 198 ;
neighbour. — means of perseverance, 199 ; —
is not an end but a means, 200 ;
Natural Religion its insufficiency, — its necessity, 200 ;.— general
16; — its necessity, 211 sq. principle of its exercise, 202 ; —
its different applications, 202-203;
Origin. Christ ought to be the — renders us disciples of Jesus
Master of our whole life, 43, Christ,204; — unction of Christ's
n.i, grace in the sufferings accepted
in union with Him, 205 sq. ; —
Passion of Jesus Christ caused by to attach to the Sacrament the
sin, 171 sq. ; — its fruits applied acts of the virtue of penance, 208;
to the soul in the sacrament of — by our sufferings and self-
penance, 196 ;— how the Virgin renunciation, we expiate our
Mary was associated in the Pas- faults, 208 ; — we grow in grace,
sion of Jesus Christ, 377, 384. — 209; — prepares us for our fu-
See Sacrifice. ture reward, 210. — See Morti-
Pater (The). See Lord’s Prayer. fication.
Paul (St), herald of the mystery of Perfection of the soul. See Spir-
Christ, 3, 17, 24-25, 27; — Christ itual Growth, Fidelity, Spir-
in His Passion, 50; — Christ, itual Life.
Mediator, 57-60 ;— the fruits of Piety, gift of the Holy Spirit, 120.
the Passion of Jesus Christ, 57 Predestination in Jesus Christ, 20;
sq.;—St Paul’s insistance in show- — its intrinsic infallibility, 5, 28
ing us that Christ prays for us, Prayer, faith that we ought to
59-60;— his confidence in Christ’s have in the merits of Jesus Christ
merits, 60 sq.; — explains the at the time of prayer, 147, 150,
- symbolism and grace of baptism, 271 sq. ; — prayer in temptation,
158 sq.; — picture of his suffer- 183 sq. ; — prayer of impetra-
ings, 206 ; — the consolation that tion, source of grace, 326. — See
he finds in Christ, 207 ; — model Mental Prayer.
in seeking for perfection, 253 ; — Priesthood of Jesus Christ, how
reason that he gives for fraternal Christ is consecrated Priest and
charity, 362; — his charity to- Pontiff, 260; — Priest according
wards men, 366; — Christ asso- to the order of Melchisedech,261;
ciates us in His glory, 390; —- — sacrifice that Jesus Christ can
exhortation to tend to perfection, offer, 262 sq. — See Sacrifice.
Psalms in the Divine Office exalt inaugurated at baptism, ought to

the perfections of God, 309-310; be realised during all our life,
— express the needs of our souls, 164 sq.; — necessity of destroy-
310-311 ; — speak to us of Christ, ing sin in order to live the divine
311 sq. — See Divine Office. life, 169; — is the enemy of God,
170 ;— cause of the sufferings of
Redemption. See Passion, Sacri- Jesus Christ, 171; — kills the
fice. divine life in the soul, 175; —
consists of a choice, 175; — Ste-
Sacraments, authentic sources of rility of the soul in a state of
grace, 70; — their nature, 70; mortal sin, 176 ; — eternal chas-
— their general effect, 71 ; — tisement of mortal sin, 177 sq-;
act ex opere operato, 71; — dis- — venial sin, 181 sq. ; sins of fra-
positions for receiving them, 72 ; gility, 181 ; — deliberate and ha-
— instrumental cause of grace, bitual sin, 181 ; — danger of this
73; — their number, 74 sq. ; — last, 182; — frequency of sin,
their particular effects, 75; — 188 ; — how it is blotted out by
come forth from Christ’s Heart contrition, 191; — by the Sac-
pierced upon the Cross, 77 ; — rament of penance, 195; — mortal
faith that we ought to have in sin destroys charity, 240 ; — con-
the merits of Jesus Christ when trition obtained by participation
we approach the Sacraments, 148; in the Sacrifice of the Mass, 269;
— See Baptism, Penance. — obstacle to the reception of
Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, its value, the Eucharist, 289.
49; — liberty of Jesus Christ in Spiritual Life, illusion of certain
His Sacrifice, 54 sq. ; — bound- souls regarding spiritual life, 4;
less confidence that we ought to — importance of having a clear
have in the merits acquired by idea of it, 4 ; — what it is in its
this sacrifice, 5 ; — supposes a essence, 7, 10, 13-14, 15 ; — what
priesthood, 260 ; — ancient sacri- it is to live, 15 ; — its simpli-
fices, figures of that of Christ, city, 28-29, 248; — how, in a
262 sq.; sacrifice of the Cross, general manner, Christ is the life
264 sq. ; — its value, 265 ; — re- of the soul, 30; — the real ob-
newed and reproduced by the Sac- stacles to its development,42,124,
rifice of the Mass, 265 sq. 181, 241, 292 ; — that it is very
Saints, variety of characteristics in important to have a great confi-
the Saints, 224 ; — why and how dence in the satisfactions and me-
the Church honours them,322 sq.; rits of Christ, 58 ; — Christ, all
— object of our love, 363. our spiritual life, 64; — fruit-
Sanctification, attributed to the fulness of the spiritual life in the
Holy Spirit, 104 sq., 113 ; — See souls who adapt themselves with
Holiness. simplicity to the divine plan, 65;
Satan overcome by Christ and by — spiritual life consists of repro-
all who have faith in the merits ducing in us the traits of the divine
of Christ, 185-186. filiation and the virtues of Christ,
Satisfaction. See Penance (Sacra- 65-66; — extraordinary means
ment). are not the normal condition of
Satisfactions of Jesus Christ, their its fruitfulness, 70, 76; — why,
value, 51-52, 147 sq.; — their since the Incarnation, God wills
fruits, 57, 195, 270. to direct us by men, 91-92, 194 ;
Saudreau (abbé). Meditation and — importance of devotion to the
prayer, 338, n. 3. Holy Spirit in our spiritual life,
Sin, its gravity, 47 ; — death to sin 100 sq. ; — part played by the
gifts of the Holy Spirit in our spir- have understood the mystery of
itual life,115 sq.; founded upon Christ, 65; — necessity of the
faith, 132,139 sq.,142,145;— deve- virtue of penance in order to as-
loped by faith, 142 sq. ; — prin- sure it, 199. — See Supernatural
ciple of the supernatural life, 150- Growth, Fidelity.
151; — how baptism marks it Sufferings, why they are necessary,
with the double character of 200; — we find consolation in
" death to sin” and "life for God’, Jesus Christ, 205 sq. ; — serve to
162 sq.; — cannot be founded expiate our faults, 208 ; — to in-
upon servile fear, 179 sq.; — crease grace, 209 ; — to prepare
danger of deliberate venial faults, our future glory, 210; — part
181 sq., 243; — danger of state played by suffering in the spiritual
of tepidity, 182-183; — part life, 361. — See Penance(virtue).
played by temptation in the spir- Supernatural. The supernatural
itual life, 183, 254; — place held character of our holiness, 15, 65,
in it by mortification, 198 sq., 116, 209 ; — the supernatural is
209, 241; — general and funda- first of all met with in Jesus
mental law of its activity, 213 Christ, 129. — See Divine Adop-
sq.; — want of logic of some tion.
pious souls who do not observe Supernatural Growth, how suffer-
certain precepts of the natural ing is a source of supernatural
law, 216; — necessity of our co- growth, 209 ; — the supernatural
operation with grace, 228 sq: ; — life is subject to a law of growth
its cultivation by the exercise of 228 ;— why we ought to grow
virtues, 231; — above all, of supernaturally, 229 ; — the sac-
charity, 236; — necessity of the raments, source of growth, 230;
moral virtues in order to main- — above all, the exercise of char-
tain the spiritual life, 240; — ity,235; — necessity of the moral
utility of renewing our intention virtues in order to safeguard this
so as to advance surely, 245 ;— growth, 239 sq.; — danger to
its sublimity and simplicity, 249; which deliberate venial sins ex-
— its substance is hidden, 249; — pose it, 242 ; — every good action
has nothing in it of inquietude, may serve to increase it, 247 sq.;
nor agitation, 249, 254; — nei- —end of our supernatural growth:
ther temptation,nor trials,nor our to perfect Christ’s mystical body,
miseries are obstacles to its ad- 250 sq.; — how Christ acts with-
vancement, 254 ; — help that the in us so as to make us grow
liturgy affords to it, 310 sq. ; — supernaturally, 251; — neither
the part of prayer in the spiritual temptation, mor trials, nor our
life, 326-327; — different stages miseries are obstacles to this
of the spiritual life, 326 ; — great growth, 254 sq.; — ends only at
importance of fraternal charity, death, 255; — God the first
351, 354 sq. ; — place that devo- author of our spiritual growth,
tion to the Blessed Virgin Mary 255s
ought to hold in it, 370, 371 ; — Supernatural Order, general idea,
why this devotion is a source of 5-8; — its divers elements viewed
‘fruitfulness for the spiritual life, as a whole, 256.
381 sq. — See Divine Adoption,
Asceticisism, Cooperation, Su- Temptation, its part in the super-
pernatural Growth, Defects, De- natural life, 183 ; — how to over-
yotion, Fidelity, Grace, Inifir- come it, 185; — is not an obstacle
mities, Holiness, Virtues. to our spiritual progress, 254.
Spiritual Progress, in souls that Teresa (St). Union with the Sa-
cred Humaniy of Jesus, source of living waters, 122, n. 4; — the
grace, 82; — influence of the Holy Spirit gives us the spirit of
Eucharist upon the body, 287; — adoption, 125; — faith, the first
that the time of thanksgiving attitude of the soul in its rela-
after Holy Communion is pre- tions with God, 132 ; — nature of
cious, 302 ;— prayer, source of faith, 137; — symbolism of bap-
grace, 331; — its nature, 331;— tism, 159, n. 3 ; — nature of sin,
liberty of the soul in its manner 175; — mercy of God, 188; —
of communing with God, 334 ; — grace surpasses all other goods,
the Holy Humanity of Jesus, an 225; — each meritorious act is a
infallible way of arriving at con- source of supernatural progress,
templation, 340; — to pray in 231; — why certain virtues are
the name of Jesus, 350; — love called theological, 233, n. 1; —
of our neighbour sign of our love the virtues ought not to remain
of God, 355-356. inactive, 235; — charity crowns
Thanksgiving of St Paul for the the other virtues, 236; — what
gift of divine adoption in Jesus devotion is, 247, n. 1 ; — effects
Christ, 25 ; — the Mass, perfect of the Eucharist, 282, 285; —
sacrifice of thanksgiving, 271 ; — love towards God and towards
thanksgiving after Communion, our neighbour have but one and
31 sq. the same motive, 354, 359; —
Thomas of Aquinas (S*). Why the reason of the love of God and of
Spirit is called holy, 12, n.; — fraternal charity, 360, 364; —
nature of grace, 15, 37; — sanc- sacrilegious Communion is a lie,
tifying causality of Christ, 30; — 362 ; — to love is to wish good
the gravity of sin, 48 ; — satisfac- to another, 364 ; — Mary repre-
tion due for sin, 49; — the gra- sented humanity on the day of the
tia capitis in Christ, 53, n., 46- Annunciation, 372; — Christ,
47 ; — how, by His death, Christ principle of all grace, 383-384;—
satisfied fully, 56; — the satis- fulness of grace in Mary, 383;
factions of Christ are ours, 59, —adoption,similitude with Christ,
95, n. 5; — Christ’s Humanity, 392 ; — beatitude consists in an
instrument of the Word wherewith act of intelligence, 393, n. I.
to communicate grace, 68; — Trinity (Holy), 6, 11-12, 102 sq.
Christ, dispenser of all grace, 69 ; Truth "to do the truth", 213 ; —
— the Sacraments, instrumental what truth is in our works, 214 ;
cause of grace, 73, n. 1; — anal- — conformity with our human
ogy between the natural and the nature as reasonable beings sub-
supernatural life, 74; — Christ ject to God, 215 ; — conformity
acts within us by faith, 84, n. ; with our individuality, 217; —
— grace of Christ as Head of the with the state of life in which
Church, 94; — God predestines God places us, 218.
us with Jesus Christ by one and
the same act, 96 ; — union of the Union with Jesus Christ through
members of the mystical body, faith, 83; — with Jesus Christ
97, n. 2; — why the work of the as Victim in the Holy Sacrifice
Incarnation is attributed to the of the Mass, 275 sq. — See
Holy Spirit, 106 ;— sanctifying Eucharist.
grace in Christ, 107 ;— the re-
mission of sins attributed to the Venial (sin). See Sin,
Holy Spirit, 111, n. 7; — nature Virtues, in Jesus Christ, 38 sq. ;—
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit,115; our virtues,source of supernatural
— the Holy Spirit, source of progress, 231 sq.; — their nature,
231 ; — acquired natural virtues, Christ, her Firstborn, 379; —

232; — infused virtues, 232-233; practice of devotion towards
— theological virtues, 233 sq. ; — Mary, 379 sq. ; — example of the
eminence of charity, 236 sq. ; — Church, 380 sq. ; — fruitfulness
moral virtues, their nature, 240 ; of this devotion, 381 sq.; —
—their necessity, 241 ; — relation Mary inseparable from Jesus in
between charity and the moral the divine plan, 382, 384 ; — full
virtues, 242 sq.; — theological of grace, 383 ; — associated with
virtues in Heaven, 391. — See Jesus as the new Eve with the
Love of God, Charity towards new Adam, 384; — knows the
our neighbour. ‘Heart of her Son, 385; — what
Virgin Mary, necessity of devotion we ought to ask of her : to form
towards the Virgin Mary,370-371; her Son within us, 386.
— Mary, Mother of Jesus, 371
sq- ; — Annunciation, 372; — pri- Works, their necessity, 145, 213,
vileges of Mary, 373 sq. ; — how 244; — this necessity proceeds
Christ loved her, 375 ;— obeyed from our baptismal initiation,
her, 376 ; — associated her in His 164. — See Co-operation, De-
mysteries, 376, 384; — Mary at fects, Fidelity, Mortification.
the foot of the Cross, 377 sq. ; —
That in all things God may be glorified.
RULE oF S. BENEDICT.
THEOLOGY LIBRARY
CLARE" CALIF
A 932.9
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Printed by Desclée, De Brouwer & Co. — Bruges. (BELGIUM)
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BE, Marmion, Columba, Abbot, 1858-1923.
2183 Christ the life of the soul; spiritual
M2913 conferences. Preface by H.E. Card Merci
& by H.E. Card. Bourne. London, Sands;
Louis, Herder, 1922.
xix, 42Tp. 22cm.
Includes index.
1. Meditations. I. Title.
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TRLITIIRITRI LEE itiet ii iii

School of Theology at Claremont

WEST FOOTHILL AT COLLEGE AVENUE

_ eet AS: ABI a. \ :

Le Christ dans ses Mystéres. Spiritual conferences. 1 vol. 8% edi-

LIFE OF THE SOUL

Tue Ricut Rev. D. COLUMBA MARMION

WORK HONOURED WITH A LETTER Of APPROBATION

SANDS & COMPANY

Brugis, 6 Januarii 1922

Theol ogu Library

Dilecto Filio Columbae Marmion, O. S. B.

BENEDICTUS PP. XV.

Dilecte Fili, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.

BENEDICTUS PP. XV.

BENEDICT XV. Pope.

Beloved Son, health and the Apostolic Benediction.

Given at Rome, near St. Peter’s, October 10th. 19109, the

BENEDICT XV. Pope.

efficient Cause of our holiness, for, always following the

predestination, the consummation of our adoption in Christ

municative accents they heard whilst listening to the solid

To the Clergy both in the world and in the cloister, to the

FRANCIS CARDINAL BOURNE

Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel

September 29th 1921.

THE DIVINE ECONOMY

. The Divine plan of our adoptive predestination in Jesus

ONE, Christ, the efficient Cause of all grace. Causa effictens. 64

FOUNDATION AND DOUBLE ASPECT

. Faithra in Jesus Christ, the foundation of Christian Life 129

Ill. Delitia quisxintelligit 2) > Se ae

B. LIFE FOR GOD

V. Truth in Charity . 2 2n2

IT IS WITH CHRIST THAT WE JOURNEY, AND

(ST. CYPRIAN. De idolorum vanitate, C. 15.)

Christ, the life of the soul.

oa oD chose us in Christ ” before the foundation of the

Because God, Who is the Author of our salvation, and the

possesses. That is why God’s plan is so wise that it cannot

It can be demonstrated by human reason that there exists

Father, and received by the Son. This Son, like in all

It is true to say of this Man Who is called Jesus, the Christ,

Hence all holiness is to consist in this: to receive the

souls will surround the throne of God, to draw an endless

When, in prayer, we consider this liberality and these

‘Letus now resume our exposition in detail, being guided

are easily wearied in the analysis or meditation of funda-

God wills us to be saints : that is His eternal Will 3 its

In God, all is simple ; His perfections are, in Him, really

and that, remaining in the rank of creature, it should only

moment consider the greatness of the gift He makes us.

It is this life which God wills to communicate to us ; it is

love is divine, the gift of it makes us so likewise. God loves

How does God fulfil this magnificent design by which

Here is a marvel of the Divine Wisdom, power, and

The consequence of this Divine decree of our adoption, of

O Heavenly Father, grant that I may preserve within my

How is this realised ?

es tu, ego hodie genwi te?. And because He is His Son,