January 24

Fourth Week in Advent.—Tuesday

Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. S. Matthew 28:20.

THE Holy Communion is one especial way in which our Lord fulfils His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," and thus gives His Church the benefit of His perpetual Presence; not confined, as in the Jewish Church, to a single spot, to which one man alone had the right of entrance, but shown forth in every land and age upon all the countless altars of the Catholic Church to millions of worshippers. For in the Holy Eucharist, the Shechinah or Presence of God in the cloud of glory and the Passover are blended, and therefore as the Passover might be celebrated everywhere in the world where there are Jews, so everywhere in the world where there are Christian priests, of whatever nation or family, there we may have the Presence of Christ in His own Feast. For, as S. Augustine says, "no man eats this Flesh except he first adores, for the wise men and barbarians did worship this Body in the manger with very much fear and reverence. Let us, therefore, who are citizens of heaven, at least not fall short of the barbarians, for thou seest Him not in the manger, but on the altar, and thou beholdest Him not in the Virgin's arms, but represented by the priest, and brought to thee in sacrifice by the Holy Spirit of God."

Sweet, awful hour! the only sound One gentle footstep gliding round, Offering by turns on Jesus' part The Cross to every hand and heart.

Refresh us, Lord, to hold it fast; And when Thy veil is drawn at last, Let us depart where shadows cease, With words of blessing and of peace.