very same thing that Melchisedech had THIRD NOCTURN. August. Of the Holy Gospel according to S. offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, And for the months of July and righteousness. For the scripture be blessed. Ry. JESUS took the cup. p. viii. Lesson VI. THAT therefore the benediction A Homily of S. Augustine. Tr. 26 on S. John. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. Wherefore did they believed only what they saw, and did eat, and are dead? Because they not understand what they did not see. They are called your fathers for this reason: because you are like them. For, my brethren, so far as belongeth to visible and corporal death, do not we also die who eat the Bread which cometh down from heaven? So they also died as we shall also die, as far as belongs to the visible and carnal death of this body. Ry. He that. p. ix. Lesson VIII. fulfilled the truth of the prefigured BUT so far as belongs to that death, furnished her table. She hath sent unto him, Come, eat of my bread, and Ry. I am the Bread of life. p. viii. manna, and Phineas ate of the manna. Many ate of it then who pleased the LORD, and are not dead. Why? Because they spiritually understood the visible food; they spiritually hungered for it: they tasted spiritually that they might be spiritually filled. We too, to-day, receive spiritual food: for the sacrament is one thing; the virtue of the sacrament is another. Ry. As the living Father. p. ix. put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only. poison to Judas? and when he received | Israel, saying, If ye do return unto it, the enemy entered into him; not the LORD with all your hearts, then because he had received an evil thing, but because he, being evil, had evilly received a good thing. Take heed therefore, brethren; spiritually eat the Bread of heaven; bring innocence to the altar. As to your sins, though they be venial or perhaps not mortal, before you approach the altar, see that ye say, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. If thou forgivest, it shall Ry. Ye shall eat. p. vii. Lesson III. be forgiven thee. Draw near confi- AND Samuel said, Gather all Israel dently: it is bread, not poison. ANI Te Deum. p. 15. WEDNESDAY. In the Octave. FIRST NOCTURN. to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh. And when the Philistines heard that the gether to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our GOD for us, that he will save us out of the hands of the Philistines. Of the 1st Book of Samuel. Lesson I. Chaps. vi. and vii. ND he smote the men of Beth-children of Israel were gathered toshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD GOD? and to whom shall he go up from us? And they sent mossengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again And for the months of September the ark of the LORD; come ye down, Ry. And Elijah. p. vii. SECOND NOCTURN. and October. and fetch it up to you. And the men of the Book of S. Ambrose on the of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the Sacraments. Lesson IV. Book 4. hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to WHO is the author of the Sacra keep the ark of the LORD. Ry. And the whole. vi. p. Lesson II. AND it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. And Samuel spake unto all the house of ments, save the LORD JESUS? Those Sacraments came down from heaven. For every counsel is from heaven. It is in truth, a great and divine miracle, that God rained down manna from heaven on the people; and the people toiled not, and did eat. Therefore thou perhaps sayest: My bread is common bread. But this bread of thine is bread before the Sacra mental words; when consecration | heaven. But consider, whether is takes place, it becomes instead of bread the Body of CHRIST. Let us then establish this. How can that which is bread become the Body of CHRIST? By consecration. Whose words then, and whose discourse is the consecration? Those of the LORD JESUS. For all the other words which are spoken, offer praise to GOD, prayer is made in them first for the people, for sovereigns, and for others: but when it comes to the hallowing of the august Sacrifice, the Priest no longer uses his own words, but the words of CHRIST. Ry. As they were. p. vii. Lesson V. greater, manna from heaven, or the THIRD NOCTURN. THEREFORE the word of CHRIST And for the months of September and makes this Sacrament. What October. word of CHRIST? Doubtless that, Lesson of the Holy Gospel according whereby all things were made. The LORD commanded, and the heaven was made the LORD commanded, and the earth was made: the LORD Lesson VI. NOW come back with me to my statement. It was, no doubt, a great and marvellous thing, that He rained manna on the Jews from to S. John. Lesson VII. Chap. vi. AT that time: JESUS said unto the multitude of the Jews: My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. And that which follows. A Homily of S. Hilary the Bishop. Book 8 on the Trinity. or We must not speak, in matters belonging to GoD, in a human worldly sense. Let us read what is written, let us understand what we have read, and then let us fulfil the duty of perfect faith. For, whatever we speak concerning the truth of CHRIST, by virtue of our natural faculties, we speak foolishly and impiously, unless we learn of Him. For He saith, My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. There is no room left for doubting concerning the truth of His Body and Blood. Ry. He that. p. ix. Lesson VIII. FOR now, both according to the plain statement of the LORD Himself, and to our faith, it is truly Flesh and truly Blood. And the taking and For drinking of these effects this: that make your faith touching divine we should be in CHRIST, and CHRIST | mysteries sure of which when you in us. Is not this the truth? No have been made worthy, you become, doubt it may happen not to be the so to speak, of the same Body and truth to those who deny that CHRIST the same Blood with CHRIST. JESUS is very GOD. He is therefore in us by His Flesh, and we are in Him, inasmuch as this nature of ours is with Him in GOD. But that we are in Him through the sacrament of His communicated Flesh and Blood, He Himself beareth witness, saying: And now the world seeth Me not, but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also because I'am in My FATHER, and ye in Me, and I in you. Rz. As the living FATHER. p. ix. Lesson IX. S. Paul has just been proclaiming BUT that this unity of nature is in or say that it is not His Blood? us, He Himself thus beareth witness: Whoso eateth My Flesh, Te Deum, p. 15. THURSDAY. Octave of Corpus Christi. The Lessons of the First Nocturn are read from the Epistle to the Corinthians, as on the Festival, p. vi. SECOND NOCTURN. And for the months of November and A Sermon of S. Cyril, Bishop of Lesson IV. Catech. myst. THE teaching of blessed Paul seems of itself to be amply sufficient to Lesson V. HRIST at Cana of Galilee once CE changed water into wine; which has a certain affinity to blood. And shall we think Him not worthy of our belief, that He could change wine into blood? Called to that marriage at which bodies are joined together, He wrought this miracle contrary to the expectation of all; and shall we not much more firmly be persuaded that He hath so given us His Body and Blood, for our enjoyment, that we should receive them with full certainty, as His Body and Blood? For he gives us His Body under the form of bread, and gives us His Blood under the form of wine, so that, when you receive, you may take the Body and Blood of CHRIST, and be made a partaker of that same Body and Blood. For SO we become CHRIST-bearers, that is, bearing CHRIST in our bodies, into our members. Thus, according to when we receive His Body and Blood blessed Peter, we are made partakers of the Divine Nature. Ry. JESUS. p. viii. Lesson VI. CHRIST, once, conversing with the Flesh, and drink My Blood, ye have | no life in you. But as they did not spiritually receive what was spoken, they were offended, and went away backward, for they thought that He was urging them to the eating of flesh. Under the Old Testament, there was shewbread, but it (seeing it belonged to the Old Testament), had now come to an end; but in the New Testament, there is the Bread of Heaven, and the Cup of Salvation, which hallow both the soul and body. Wherefore, I would not that ye should look on them as though they were bare and simple bread, bare and simple wine; for they are the Body and Blood of CHRIST: since even if thy senses deny it to thee, yet let faith stablish thee. Judge not the thing by its taste, but let faith make thee certain, because, beyond all doubt, thou hast been made worthy to become a partaker of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. Rz. I am. p. viii. THIRD NOCTURN. heaven, saith He, is like to leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal. As a little leaven, according to Paul's saying, leaveneth the whole lump, so a little blessing draws the whole man into itself, and fills him with its grace, and in this wise, CHRIST abides in us, and we in CHRIST. Ry. He that. p. ix. Lesson VIII. ET us then, if we desire to obtain eternal life, if we wish to have the Giver of immortality within us, eagerly haste to receive the blessing; and let us take heed, lest the devil should lay a dangerous scruple as a snare before us. You say well, quoth he nevertheless we are not unac quainted with the Scripture, that he that eateth of that bread, and drinketh of that cup unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. I therefore prove myself, and find myself unworthy. When, pray, whoever thou art that sayest And for the months of November and this, wilt thou be worthy? December. Lesson VII. Chap. vi. multitude of the Jews: My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. And that which follows. A Homily of S. Cyril, Bishop of Book 4 on S. John, Chap. 16. When wilt thou offer thyself to CHRIST? For if thou art unworthy through sin, and dost not cease sinning (for who, as the Psalmist saith, understandeth his secret faults?) thou wilt have no share whatsoever in this quickening sanctification. Ry. As the living Father. p. ix. Lesson IX. WHEREFORE I pray you, take with you devout thoughts, live zealously and godly, and you will partake of the blessing; which, believe me, drives away, not death only, but all diseases too. For when CHRIST abides in us, He calms the fierce law of our members, He strengthens our devotion, quenches the troubles of the mind, heals the sick, makes whole the broken: and, as being the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for the sheep, lifts us up from every fall. Te Deum. p. 15. |