O Man! O child of Adam, that wast formed of earthy slime,' what art thou, that thou shouldst be remembered in the court of heaven ?2 Thou desired one of the everlasting hills,3-(for we may apply this name even to thee,)-what hast thou done, that thou shouldst thus be glorified ?4 Yet, doubt it not, thou hast had all these favours. "Let not my few weak "words stagger thee," cries out St. Cyril, the brave defender at Ephesus, of the sacred nuptials, of which the Eucharist is, what the Fathers call, the glorious extension,-"heed not my unworthiness, but listen to "the voice, respect the authority of them that have gone before us, and have preached these truths. They were not men of the common sort, they were "not men undeserving of notice, who went about, like "hired criers, to proclaim these things on the high"roads; no, they were such men as the great Solo"mon, who was sent as the herald of the King of kings; he sat on his high throne, and proclaimed the "mysteries of the Most High; he was clad in scarlet 66 robes, and wore a diadem on his brow, and he was "the one to publish the mandate of the God who makes "and unmakes kings." 6 66 Christians! ye people of kings!" who are to have crowns and thrones yonder in heaven,-it is to you this Solomon speaks. Your dignity is great. Listen to this herald of God; learn whence comes your greatness, and live up to it. Hearken, ye kings, and understand! Give ear, ye kings! To you are these my words. If ye love your thrones and your sceptres, love Wisdom, that ye may reign for ever. I preferred this Wisdom before kingdoms and thrones; I loved him above all treasures, and health, and beauty, and chose 1 Gen. ii. 7. 2 Ps. viii. 5. • Job, vii. 17. 6 Hom. div. x. in Myst. cœn. 7 St. Matth. xxv. 34. 8 Apoc. v. 9, 10. 9 Wisd. vi. 2, 3, 10, 22. to have him instead of light. What this Wisdom is, and what his origin, I will declare, and I will not hide from you the mysteries of God; but will seek Wisdom out from the beginning of his birth, and bring the knowledge of him to light, and will not pass over the truth.2 I have learned him without guile, and I communicate him to you without envy.3 Receive, therefore, instruction by my words, and it shall be profitable unto you. 9 4 Would to God, that we had been able to tell the wonderful mystery we have been celebrating! 5 Divine Wisdom himself has been pressing us, during all these days, to study the excellencies of that sacred Bread, which yields delight to the kings, his guests! 6 The Church has kept close to the throne of her Jesus, that cloud in which he dwells out of love for us." She is full of love for him; he has given her unity by the Sacrament of union; and she, like a strong compact city, summons her tribes of Israel, the holy nation, the people of the redeemed, the chosen race of the priests and kings, to come together again on this octave-day, that they may testify their faith, and sing their love, and be grateful for the peace which, by the holy Eucharist, is secured to them, and for the abundance of grace and blessing it gives to us her children.10 These days of universal joy and festivity around the holy Host were revealed, by the Holy Ghost, to the son of Sirach; and the vision made him exclaim: Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people, and shall open her mouth in the churches of the Most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power. And in the midst of her own people, she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly. And in the 1 Wisd. vii. 8-10. 2 Ibid. vi. 24; vii. 15. 6 Gen. xlix. 20. Cf. Ant. 3 am Laud in die Festi. 7 Ecclus. xxiv. 7. 8 Ps. cxxi. 3, 4. 91 St. Pet. ii. 9. 10 Ps. cxxi. 4-8. multitude of the elect, she shall have praise, and among the blessed (of the Father) she shall be blessed.' 2 Blessed the man, continues the inspired writer, still speaking in the future, that shall dwell in Wisdom! Blessed the man that considereth her ways in his heart, and hath understanding in her secrets, who goeth after her as one that traceth, and prepareth for her snares of love; who looketh in at her windows, and hearkeneth at her door! Blessed is he that lodgeth near her house, and, fastening a pin in her walls, shall set up his tent nigh unto her, where good things shall rest in his lodging for ever. He shall set his children under her shelter, and shall lodge under her branches. He shall be protected, under her covering, from the heat, and shall rest in her glory.3 8 O House of God, House of the feasting of kings 4 filled with the fragrance of sweetest incense! 5 better is one day in thy precincts, than a thousand elsewhere. It is a joy to my soul to think of days spent there! The poor bird that once was lonely, and sat moaning on a roof that could never give her rest,' here, in the House of God, finds all she wants. The turtle-dove, having found, at the Altar of her Lord, a nest for her young ones, has no further solicitude. In the secret of that little cloud, far from the conflicts and disturbances of the world, and where there is no contradiction of tongues,-there, from early dawn, eternal Wisdom is pouring out upon souls the multitude of his light and sweetness; there, each of the Church's hours, choirs will be singing psalms and canticles of praise and joy, around the tabernacle, 10 wherein resides the Lamb who, though slain, is ever living, beautiful on his throne of love, the God of gods in our Sion.12 1 Ecclus. xxiv. 1-4. Juxta græc. 3 Ecclus. xiv. 22-27. 5 Ecclus. xxiv. 20, 21. Ps. lxxxiii. 2, 11. 9 7 Ps. ci. 8. 11 Apoc. v. 6. O ye children of men, Sons of the Most High, the Psalmist may well give you the name of gods,1 for you are so closely united with God; you receive Him into such intimacy with your own selves; you feast upon the Lamb, and divine Wisdom is within you by that communion. It is by the same Lamb, that he abides among you! Truly, he abides among us; our earth has received the mystery of the Marriage-Feast, of the divine Espousals with human nature, and she ever possesses the Lord her God, dwelling with her in the Eucharist. O thou gladness of morning! O heavenly wine that bringeth forth virgins! 3 the happy moments wherein the beauty of that Jesus of ours, whose full vision is the joy of the Angels, gives Itself, under the sacramental veil, to our souls,-O happy moments! you leave behind you something more than a joyous recollection. The Altar of Sacrifice, and the House of the great Banquet, they both continue as the throne ever occupied by our King; they are the earthly abode of that Wisdom, who, though he is seated at the right hand of the Father, in the brightness of the Saints, and is loved by the Lord of all things, yet has he not changed towards us poor children of men; he still delights to be with us, and keep up his loved union with us; and, as he tells us he did at the beginning, so he does still, he loves this world of ours, and, to use his own word, he still plays with it. On the throne of his tabernacle, he, beautiful Wisdom, receives the adorations of them that rule this world, for it is from him they have their crowns and sceptres; and, when they have wisdom, it is from Him they have it, and they asked him for it, on bended knees. On that same throne, he hears and grants the prayer of those little ones, little by 1 Ps. lxxxi. 8. 3 Zach. ix. 17. Wisd., viii. 3; Ps. cix. 3. 5 Prov. viii. 31. 6 Ibid. xiv. 16. humility and simplicity of heart, whom he so sweetly presses to go to him; they are attracted to him by his divine loveliness and riches; 2 and they go to him, that he may teach them how to love him, and fill their treasures to the brim.3 5 Glory be to the Lamb, whose Sacrifice has given us this wondrous Presence in the Blessed Sacrament! To him be power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction, for ever and ever! By his lovely light, let us, as a close to this day and the Octave, respectfully contemplate what this ineffable permanence is, which thus secures to us, and in its fulness, and to the end of time, the great Mystery of Faith. How different is the divine Lamb of the true Passover, from that ancient one of the Jewish people, which we now so well understand! In prescribing the rites to be observed in the sacrifice of the figurative Paschal Lamb, and which was to be eaten but once a year, Moses laid down this strict injunction: "Neither shall there remain anything of it until "morning," nothing was to be left, all was to be consumed! Let us listen, now, to an Apostle of the New Law: it is Andrew, brother to Peter; he is speaking to a Roman Proconsul, and, through him, to all the Gentiles: "Every day, I offer up to the "almighty God, who is one and true, not the flesh of oxen, nor the blood of goats, but the spotless Lamb, "upon the Altar; of whose Flesh the whole multi"tude of the people eat; and the Lamb that is sacrificed, remains whole and living.' "How can that be ?" asks the Proconsul. "Be"come a disciple of mine, and thou shalt learn," replies Andrew. But, that could not be the representative |