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النشر الإلكتروني

66

"the mercy of our God, that all and each of those who "bear the name of Christians, will, at length, be "united to each other in this sign of unity, in this "bond of charity, in this symbol of concord. Let "them be mindful of the infinite majesty, and the "wonderful love, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his beloved life as the price of our salvation, and "his Flesh as our food. Let them believe and vene"rate these sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood "with such constancy and resoluteness, with such "devotion of soul, and love, and worship, as that they "may frequently receive that supersubstantial Bread. "May it be to them their true life, and the perpe"tual health of their soul! And being strengthened

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by its strength, may they go through the journey "of this miserable life, and reach their heavenly "country, where they may eat, unveiled, that same "Bread of the Angels, which they now receive under "the sacred veils" (of the sacramental species).1

The Church of Armenia chants, even to this day, at the time of Communion, an admirable canticle, which is of the same character as the short, but sublime invitation to the sacred Table, which we gave yesterday from the ancient Church of Gaul.

DUM COMMUNICANT QUI DIGNI SUNT.

Chorus modulatur hoc Canticum.

Mater fidei, sacer cœtus
Sponsorum,

Et thalamus sublimis!
Domus Sponsi immortalis
Qui te exornavit in æter-
num!

O Mother of Faith, sacred assembly and sublime nuptial couch of the marriage-feast! O House of the immortal Spouse, adorned by him with everlasting beauty!

1 Sess. xiii. de Euch. c. 8.

Thou art the wonderful second heaven, whose majesty is from glory to glory! Thou, as light produces light, bringest us forth, by the font, which gives us to thee thy children.

Thou art distributing the Bread that purifies; thou art giving us to drink what thou possessest,—the adorable Blood; thou art drawing us to that uncreated supernal order of things divine.

O come, ye children of the new Sion, approach with holiness your Lord! Yea, taste and see, that our Lord, the God of armies, is sweet.

That Sion of old divided the waters of Jordan, thou breakest up the sea of sins; she of old had Josue as her leader; thou, Jesus, consubstantial with the Father.

The lofty altar, too, was an ancient figure of thee: it broke down the gates of adamant; thou those of hell, even to its foundations.

This is the Body of Christ, this the Chalice of the Blood of the New Testament. The hidden Sacrament is shown to us, and herein God is seen by

us.

This is Christ the Word, God, who is sitting at the right hand of the Father: and he is sacrificed in our presence, and takes away the sins of the world.

VOL. X.

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tum. Venite, filii novæ Sion, Accedite ad Dominum nostrum cum sanctitate. Gustate sed et videte Quia suavis est Dominus Deus noster virtutum. Illa divisit Jordanem, Tu mare peccatorum mundi;

Illa magnum ducem habuit Josue,

Tu Jesum Patri consubstantialem.

Antiqua figura tibi etiam similis,

Altare supereminens. Illa confregit portas adamantinas,

corpus

Tu inferni a fundamentis.
Panis hic est
Christi,
Hic calix sanguinis Novi
Testamenti.

Occultum sacramentum no-
bis manifestatur,
Deus in hoc a nobis vide-
tur.

Hic est Christus Verbum
Deus

Qui ad dexteram Patris
sedet,
Et hic sacrificatur inter nos,
Tollit peccata mundi,
2 E

Ille qui benedictus est in

æternum

Una cum Patre et Spiritu,
Nunc et magis in futurum
Et sine fine semper in sæ-
cula.

It is he who is blessed for ever, together with the Father and the Spirit, now and ever more for time to come, and, without end, for everlasting ages.

Let us once more borrow from the Liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions (Book 8th). The following formula of Thanksgiving after Communion will tell us what is the spirit of the Church, and what she would have us do at that precious time. We find what she is intent upon,-she is all taken up with the great interests of Jesus, her Spouse. In this ecstasy of her love, in this moment of her intimate union with her God, she strives to keep her children from having narrow-minded thoughts, and intentions which look to nothing beyond one's self, the result of private devotion, so unseasonable for such grand acts of the Christian life as are the Sacrifice of Mass and Communion in the universal Victim, as we have heard the Fathers expressing it. Scarcely, then, have the sacred species been distributed, than the Deacon cries out: Surgumus Let us rise! Thereupon, all stand up, and unite in this prayer, which is read by the Bishop:

INVOCATIO POST COMMUNIONEM.

Domine Deus omnipotens, Pater Christi tui, benedicti Filii; exauditor eorum qui recte invocant te, cognitor precum etiam eorum qui tacent gratias agimus tibi, quod nos dignos censuisti qui participaremus sancta tua mysteria, quæ præbuisti nobis ad plenam eorum quæ bene cognovimus persuasionem, ad custodiam

O Lord God almighty, Father of thy Christ, thy blessed Son! who graciously hearest them that call upon thee in uprightness, who knowest the prayers of them even who are silent; we thank thee, for that thou hast deemed us worthy to partake of thy sacred mysteries: thou hast given to us, for the fully strengthening us in those

things which we have so well known, for the preservation of piety, and for the forgiveness of our sins; for the name of thy Christ has been invoked upon us, and we have been joined to thee.

O thou that hast separated us from communion with the ungodly, unite us with them that are consecrated to thee; strengthen us in the truth, by the coming of the Holy Ghost; teach us the things we know not; supply our deficiencies; confirm us in the truths we already know.

Preserve thy priests blameless in thy service. Keep kings in peace; magistrates in justice; the air salubrious; the fruits in abundance; the world in thine almighty providence. Pacify nations that are waging war. Convert them that are astray. Sanctify thy people; preserve thy virgins; keep in fidelity them that are in wedlock; strengthen the chaste; lead little ones to mature age; confirm the newly initiated; teach the catechumens, and make them worthy of initiation; and gather us all together into the kingdom of heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord:

With whom, together with thee, and the Holy Spirit, be glory, and honour, and adoration for ever. Amen.

pietatis, ad remissionem delictorum; quoniam nomen Christi tui invocatum est super nos, et tibi adjuncti

sumus.

Qui segregasti nos ab impiorum communione, aduna cum iis qui tibi sunt consecrati, firma nos in veritate per sancti Spiritus adventum, quæ ignoramus revela, quæ deficiunt supple, quæ novimus corrobora.

Sacerdotesinculpatos conserva in cultu tuo. Reges tuere in pace; magistratus in justitia; aerem in temperie; fruges in ubertate; mundum in omnipotente providentia. Gentes bellicosas seda. Errantes converte. Populum tuum sanctifica; virgines conserva; conjuges custodi in fide; castos robora; infantes ad maturam ætatem perduc; nuper initiatos firma ; catechumenos erudi, ac dignos initiatione redde; nosque omnes congrega in regnum cœlorum, in Christo Jesu Domino nostro :

Cum quo tibi gloria, honor, ac veneratio, et sancto Spiritui in sæcula. Amen.

THURSDAY,

THE OCTAVE OF CORPUS CHRISTI.

Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations: who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him.

Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem.

THE bright Octave, consecrated to the glory of the Blessed Sacrament, closes to-day; and, although we began the subject three days before the Feast itself, we have been able to do little more than slightly touch upon the sublime subject proposed for our consideration and love by the Church. The Memorial left us by our Lord of all his wondrous mercies1 far exceeds the measure of our poor thoughts; the extremity of the infinite love, which God bears to his own 2 creatures, is far beyond any possibility of ours to make it a return such as it would deserve, and very far beyond the capabilities of human words to. express.

Eternal Wisdom was, even from his Father's bosom, betrothed to human nature; he came down into this world, which sin had marred, and there he found man, who had become the slave of sin; 3 he assumed this nature; he became man; he was thus able to make a Sacrifice, which gives infinite glory, and full satisfaction, to God; and, by that same, he perfected his union with his creature, by means, that is, of a divine banquet, at which, as food and drink, he himself is served, for he is the divine Victim, immolated on the Cross, and at our Altars.

1 Ps. cx. 4.

2 St. John, xiii, 1.

3 Heb. ii. 14, 15. 4 Prov. ix. 2.

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