Sunday Afternoon Readings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 11, 25 March 1925, Page 51

Sunday Afternoon Readings

(By Right Rev. Mgr. Power for the N.Z. Tablet.)

Xybo great a thing is the human heart that nothing less than God can give it peace and happiness. Man labors for bread, hut only to discover that there are greater miseries than hunger, and that he who hopes to remedy his heart aches in material food and drink, will have to say with the Psalmist that his tears have been his bread both day night. Man seeks happiness in earthly pleasures, but bitterness and remorse are the only legacies which these leave their votaries; a merry evening makes a sad morning. Man seeks happiness in the higher fields of natural science; in its pursuit he is stayed by no obstacle, he shrinks from no danger; but all the natural knowledge he discovers here leaves his heart still hungry, for it can be satisfied with nothing that is not greater than itself. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. St. Augustine, the ripest scholar of his age, went. along every earthly avenue, seeking happiness without'finding it; but when he reached the knowledge of God, his agony ceased, for the secret of happiness had unfolded itself to him: "0 God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day. For Thee my soul hath thirsted." ■ It is natural for man to long after God, for, whether he knows it or no, it is in God he lives and moves and has his being; and so, in every age and amongst every race, civilised and uncivilised, we find man putting forth his utmost efforts to lay hold on God. The result has not always been according to wisdom, but the effort to reach God was always there and was the expression of a fundamental need. And now, God encourages this effort and satisfies it in His dealings with His creatures, especially in the great mysteries of the,lncarnation and the Blessed Eucharist. Christianity is nothing else than God's great scheme of union with His creatures; it is His answer to the cry that had been going up to Him from the human heart: "Show us Thy face, 0 Lord, and we shall be saved!" Man had seen signs and symbols of Him— pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud—but he wanted an Emmanuel, a. God living with him; he had been promised this; let God come then, and come quickly to fill his poor hungry heart! "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above; let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth open and bud forth a Saviour!" And the dew of Heaven at length came down to sweeten the earth that had been so bitter, and the Just One came to bring the grace of home to a land of exile, and the Orient Splendor of Eternal Light came gleaming from the rosy hills to dissipate the long night of darkness, and Jesus, the Saviour, was born to fill with rapture the lonely hearts of men. But the more God gives, the more man asks. Word runs quickly round the earth that the gift of creation has been surpassed, that, not content with uniting humanity to His own likeness, God has now united His own self with human nature in the person of Christ His Son. The earth is made to witness a new transformation: the Holy

XX— SACRAMENT OF UNION.

Name of Jesus is on all lips: childhood lisps it, the fiery affections of youth express it,. manhood breathes upon it and adds fuel to the fire of youth, and old age grows young and fresh while it speaks the Holy Name. Voices from every quarter of the globe blend in harmonious concert and break upon the ears of the Saviour: ( "'Jesus, Jesus, come to me! It is not enough to unite Thyself with human nature; I want more than this; come to me, to my own self and make with me Thy dwelling place." 0! you poor hungry man, you know not what you are asking; but Jesus knows, and He will hear your cry, He will satisfy your longing, -He will come to you and take up His home within your breast. Come down by the sacred Lake of Galilee and hear the promise of the Supernatural Food by which Jesus would live in us. 'Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of Man will give you. . . . He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him." 0 happy Apostles, whose faith in the Divinity of Jesus took up these words and kept ' them like a treasure in their hearts. They cheered them as they left the beloved lake and trod the rough road to Jerusalem, and as they hid in the caves of the Cedron and in the temple arches from wicked men; they sweetened every sorrow and crowned every hope, until the Holy Thursday night when Jesus, to fulfil His promise,' took bread and said to them: "Take and eat ye all of this, for this is My Body." ■• .. And now, because the Apostles were not the only ones to receive this holy gift, He made them priests that they might do what He had done, and communicate Him to His people unto the end of time: "Do ye this in commemoration of Me." Faithful to His command, the Apostles and their successors went through the whole world, and wherever they went they raised altars to the Most High, repeated in His name the greatest of all miracles, and brought Jesus into the midst of His people. Turning round upon the altar they would raise the Host and say: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sins of the world," and all would make a simultaneous movement to the altar-rails, and there would be realised the greatest of all mysteries, there the heart of Christ would meet and be united with the heart of the Christian. Let me sum it up: At the creation flesh and blood were united to the image of the Godhead; at the Incarnation God Himself was united to human nature; but in the Holy Communion God is united, not with human nature merely, but with every individual soul that comes to Him. : ; i ! Thus the Holy Communion is a crowning gift to us from our merciful and gracious * God, the realisation of the most intimate union that we can conceive between two

beings. It is a union through which we may secure that more abundant life which Christ. came to impart. It is at once the Mystery. of Faith and the Mystery: of Life. Through it Christ abides in us and we abide in Him, forming between us a perfect union. On.' account of this union our intellects acceptjf in simple faith all that He tells us, we know that He knows all, for He sees all the Divine secrets, and can impart them in what measure is best for. us. In the Holy Communion we submit our will to Him, abiding in His:' love as in a safe enclosure, and keeping His commandments. Under the stimulus of His Eucharistic grace we become active in His service', His cause becomes our cause, and His good pleasure the mainspring of our inner activity. All this is not merely intermittent, but continuous, for the action of His Spirit is continuous since the abiding is mutual. The abiding is not merely on cur part, He abides in us also. He is in the soul, and is not idle there, He becomes the principle Himself of our inner activity with such transforming power that we are daily carried on from perfection to perfection until we really live His life: "I live now, not any longer I, but Christ Jesus liveth in me." This is the sacramental grace of Holy Com- . munion. If you keep this well in mind you will understand what will be said in the chapter "On Preparation for Communion." __<*> : : fr

THE VISION OF ST. AGNES. % (In Prison before Martyrdom.) '^ Hear, Spouse of souls redeemed; come from Thy home, - That I may in the light, of Thy meek eyes Rejoice: Eyes fairer than the stainless foam, Upon whose heaving breast a radiance ties. What time the mountain streamlet fitful gleams . Beneath the silver of the pure moonbeams. My prayer is heard!—full softly breaks the light! How clear and restful to my soul its glow! Ha! 'tis my Lord! 0 Love all fair and bright, '•=- In adoration meet I bow me low. And hail Thee Master, Saviour, Bridegroom dear, For Thee nor sword nor blazing stake I fear. Divine Redeemer, speak and deign to say When Thou wilt send to me Thine Angel, Death: ;; For Thy poor child is sick with long delay, And thirsts and pines—Lord, take, oh, take my breath! "Fear not, My little one, nor weep nor sigh; j|j The Shepherd soon will bear His lamb -on high." Gone, gone!—my night falls black and chill once more. ''•; How keenly thrilled my being when He spoke! And is it true that soon for me Heaven's door • -Uu | Will open stand? Oh, for the headsman's stroke,- life That I may speed, outstripping lightning's pace, ' j|j To join my Love and see Him face to faceY —M. J. Watson, S.J., in Pearls from Holy Scripture for Little Ones. //|V.-.