1

hearts! that thou art behind our wall, looking at us through the lattices; and this is enough to make us adore thee. Verily, the sweetest test to which thou couldst put our love, was that we should have faith in this mystery of the adorable Sacrament!

O precious Blood, thou price of our ransom, shed profusely on this earth, but now again within the Sacred veins of Jesus! thou art now, as during his years here below, diffusing thy life-giving qualities to his divine members, under the action of that sacred Heart, which we are so solemnly to honour to-morrow! Most holy soul of Jesus, present in the Sacrament as form substantial of that most perfect Body, which, through thee, is the ever-living Body of the Man-God,-thou possessest within thee all the treasures of eternal Wisdom! 3 thou hadst the office intrusted to thee, of putting into a varied and sensible language, the ineffable beauty of that Wisdom of the Father, who was taken with love for the children of men, and desired, by a manifestation which they could understand, to secure their love to himself! Every word, every step, of Jesus, every mystery of his public or hidden life, was a gradual revelation, to us men, of that divine brightness. Truly, as we have it in the Gospel, this Wisdom, like the grace that was within him, advanced in his manifestation to the creatures, whose love he had come down from heaven to win. When, at length, he had achieved all his work,-given us his teachings, and examples, and mysteries, those marvellous manifestations of his own infinite perfections,he gave them perpetuity, that so all ages to come might possess them and benefit by them; he fixed them, so to say, in the Sacrament of love, that abiding source of grace and light to men, that living Memorial, wherein divine love is ever ready to bestow upon us

1 Cant. ii. 9.

2 Concil. Vienn.

3 Coloss. ii. 3.
St. Luke, ii. 52.

the graces of the wonderful works he has wrought by his Incarnation. "The Flesh, the Blood of Christ, "is the Word made manifest," says St. Basil; "it is "Wisdom made visible by the Incarnation and by all "that mystery of his life in the flesh, whereby he un"folds to us, all moral perfection, and all the beautiful, "both natural and divine. It is that which is the "food of our soul, and which is preparing her, even in "this world, for the contemplation of the divine "realities."

The solemn Exposition, during which the Blessed Sacrament has been receiving our most fervent homage of adoration and love, is concluded, as it began, with a Procession. As soon as the Vespers are over, (and they are the same as those of the Feast, page 294), the Deacon takes the Monstrance from the throne, and gives it to the Priest. The sacred Host is, once more, carried outside the Church, with the same holy ceremonies, and chants, and joyous worship of the Faithful. Again, It has all nature doing homage to its Creator; It sanctifies every place through which It is carried, drives away the hostile power which, as the Apostle tells us, seeks to infest this air, 2 blesses our streets and our country lanes, and imparts to our fields a pledge of rich harvest. It is then brought back to the Church, not to leave the hallowed precincts again, save for the sake of the dying, to strengthen them for their last long journey, or for the sick, that it may be administered to them, since they are not able to go to their Lord. The Benediction is then given to the adoring assembly, and the Sacred Host is replaced in the Tabernacle.

Whilst these sentiments of faith and love are so

1 Epist. viii.

2 Eph. ii. 2; vi. 12.

active within us, let us give them expression, by the beautiful hymn, Adoro te devote: it was composed by the Angelical Doctor, St. Thomas of Aquin; and it is hard to say which of the two predominates in these verses, the theological science of the Saint, or his humble and glowing love.

But, when the Tabernacle-door closes upon our Jesus in his holy Sacrament, our hearts will still continue with him. This octave always brings with it such an increase of light regarding the great Mystery? It has been so, this year. More than ever, for the future, will we reverence and love the Banquet which is, and produces, all that we have been considering during these days: we know so much better now, than formerly, the perfections of eternal Wisdom, who has given himself to us in the Eucharist; we will let him guide us into all grace and truth.

RHYTHMUS S. THOME.

I devoutly adore thee, O hidden Deity, who truly liest concealed under these forms: to thee my whole heart subjects itself, because it finds itself quite lost in contemplating thee.

Sight, feeling, taste, tell us not of thy presence; but the hearing alone may be safely believed. I believe whatsoever the Son of God has spoken; nothing is more true, than this word of truth:

Upon the Cross the divinity alone was concealed; but here the humanity also lies hid : but I believe and confess them both, and ask for what the penitent thief asked.

VOL. X.

Adoro te devote, latens
Deitas,

Quæ sub his figuris vere la-
titas:

Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,

Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,

Sed auditu solo tuto cre-
ditur.

Credo quidquid dixit Dei
Filius,

Nil hoc verbo veritatis
verius:

In cruce latebat sola

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor, Deum tamen meum te confiteor.

Fac me tibi semper magis credere,

In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini, Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini : Præsta meæ menti de te vivere,

Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie Pelicane Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda tuo sanguine,

Cujus una stilla salvum
facere
Totum mundum quit ab
omni scelere.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc
aspicio,

Oro fiat illud quod tam

sitio :

Ut te revelata cernens facie
Visu sim beatus tuæ gloriæ.

Amen.

I see not the wounds, as Thomas did; yet do I confess thee to be my God. Oh! grant that I may ever believe in thee, more and more, and put my hope in thee, and love thee.

O memorial of my Lord's death! O living Bread, that givest life to man! Grant, that my soul may ever live on thee, and may ever relish thy sweetness.

O loving Pelican; Jesu Lord! cleanse me, an unclean sinner, with thy Blood, one drop whereof could save the whole world from all its guilt.

O Jesus, whom I now see beneath a veil! I beseech thee, let that be done, for which I do so thirst: that I may see thine unveiled face, and be happy in the vision of thy glory.

Amen.

The devout Ratpert, monk of St. Gall, friend of Notker, and, like him, a writer of liturgical compositions, shall provide us with an appropriate conclusion to this our Octave of Corpus Christi, in the following devout hymn, which he composed for the Faithful of his own times,-the 9th Century.

AD EUCHARISTIAM SUMENDAM.

Laudes, Omnipotens, ferimus tibi, dona colentes Corporis immensi, Sanguinis atque tui. Tangimus ecce tuam, Rec

We offer thee our praises, O Almighty Lord, honouring the gifts bestowed upon us of the adorable Body and Blood.

Lo! we are approaching thy