ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
To Our Venerable Brethren, the
Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries,
having
Peace and Communion with the Holy See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic
Benediction.
To examine into the nature and to promote
the effects of those manifestations of His wondrous love which, like rays of
light, stream forth from Jesus Christ - this, as befits Our sacred office, has
ever been, and this, with His help, to the last breath of Our life will ever
be Our earnest aim and endeavour. For, whereas Our lot has been cast in an age
that is bitterly hostile to justice and truth, we have not failed, as you have
been reminded by the Apostolic letter which we recently addressed to you, to
do what in us lay, by Our instructions and admonitions, and by such practical
measures as seemed best suited for their purpose, to dissipate the contagion
of error in its many shapes, and to strengthen the sinews of the Christian
life. Among these efforts of Ours there are two in particular, of recent
memory, closely related to each other, from the recollection whereof we gather
some fruit of comfort, the more seasonable by reason of the many causes of
sorrow that weigh us down. One of these is the occasion
on which We directed, as a thing most desirable, that the entire human race
should be consecrated by a special act to the Sacred Heart of Christ our
Redeemer; the other that on which We so urgently exhorted all those who bear
the name Christian to cling loyally to Him Who, by divine ordinance, is
"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," not for individuals alone bur
for every rightly constituted society. And now that same apostolic charity,
ever watchful over the vicissitudes of the Church, moves and in a manner
compels Us to add one thing more, in order to fill up the measure of what We
have already conceived and carried out. This is, to commend to all Christians,
more earnestly than heretofore, the all - holy Eucharist, forasmuch as it is a
divine gift proceeding from the very Heart of the Redeemer, Who "with
desire desireth" this singular mode of union with men, a gift most
admirably adapted to be the means whereby the salutary fruits of His
redemption may be distributed. Indeed We have not failed in the past, more
than once, to use Our authority and to exercise Our zeal in this behalf. It
gives Us much pleasure to recall to mind that We have officially approved, and
enriched with canonical privileges, not a few institutions and confraternities
having for their object the perpetual adoration of the Sacred
Host; that We have encouraged the holding of Eucharistic Congresses, the
results of which have been as profitable as the attendance at them has been
numerous and distinguished; that We have designated as the heavenly patron of
these and similar undertakings St. Paschal Baylon, whose devotion to the
mystery of the Eucharist was so extraordinary.
2. Accordingly, Venerable Brethren, it has
seemed good to Us to address you on certain points connected with this same
mystery, for the defence and honour of which the solicitude of the Church has
been so constantly engaged, for which Martyrs have given their lives, which
has afforded to men of the highest genius a theme to be illustrated by their
learning, their eloquence, their skill in all the arts; and this We will do in
order to render more clearly evident and more widely known those special
characteristics by virtue of which it is so singularly adapted to the needs of
these our times. It was towards the close of His mortal life that Christ our
Lord left this memorial of His measureless love for men, this powerful means
of support "for the life of the world" (St. John vi., 52). And
precisely for this reason, We, being so soon to depart from this life, can
wish for nothing better than that it may be granted to us to stir up and
foster in the hearts of all men the dispositions of mindful gratitude and due
devotion towards this wondrous Sacrament, wherein most especially lie, as We
hold, the hope and the efficient cause of salvation and of that peace which
all men so anxiously seek.
3. Some there are, no doubt, who will
express their surprise that for the manifold troubles and grievous afflictions
by which our age is harassed We should have determined to seek for remedies
and redress in this quarter rather than elsewhere, and in some, perchance, Our
words will excite a certain peevish disgust. But this is only the natural
result of pride; for when this vice has taken possession of the heart, it is
inevitable that Christian faith, which demands a most willing docility, should
languish, and that a murky darkness in regard of divine truths should close in
upon the mind; so that in the case of many these words should be made good:
"Whatever things they know not, they blaspheme" (St. Jude, 10). We,
however, so far from being hereby turned aside from the design which We have
taken in hand, are on the contrary determined all the more zealously and
diligently to hold up the light for the guidance of the well
disposed, and, with the help of the united prayers of the faithful, earnestly
to implore forgiveness for those who speak evil of holy things.
The Source of Life
4. To know with an entire faith what is the
excellence of the Most Holy Eucharist is in truth to know what that work is
which, in the might of His mercy, God, made man, carried out on behalf of the
human race. For as a right faith teaches us to acknowledge and to worship
Christ as the sovereign cause of our salvation, since He by His wisdom, His
laws, His ordinances, His example, and by the shedding of His blood, made all
things new; so the same faith likewise teaches us to acknowledge Him and to
worship Him as really present in the Eucharist, as verily abiding through all
time in the midst of men, in order that as their Master, their Good Shepherd,
their most acceptable Advocate with the Father, He may impart to them of His
own inexhaustible abundance the benefits of that redemption which He has
accomplished. Now if any one will seriously consider the benefits which flow
from the Eucharist he will understand that conspicuous and chief among them
all is that in which the rest, without exception, are included; in a word it
is for men the source of life, of that life which best deserves the name.
"The bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world"
(St. John vi., 52). In more than one way, as We have elsewhere declared, is
Christ "the life." He Himself declared that the reason of His advent
among men was this, that He might bring them the assured fulness of a more
than merely human life. "I am come that they may have life, and may have
it more abundantly" (St. John x., 10). Everyone is aware that no sooner
had "the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared" (Tit.
iii., 4), than there at once burst forth a certain creative force which
issued in a new order of things and pused through all the veins of society,
civil and domestic. Hence arose new relations between man and man; new rights
and new duties, public and private; henceforth a new direction was given to
government, to education, to the arts; and most important of all, man's
thoughts and energies were turned towards religious truth and the pursuit of
holiness. Thus was life communicated to man, a life truly heavenly and divine.
And thus we are to account for those expressions which so often occur in Holy
Writ, "the tree of life," "the word of life," "the
book of life," "the crown of life," and particularly "the
bread of life."
5. But now, since this life of which We are
speaking bears a definite resemblance to the natural life of man, as the one
draws its nourishment and strength from food, so also the other must have its
own food whereby it may be sustained and augmented. And here it will be
opportune to recall to mind on what occasion and in what manner Christ moved
and prepared the hearts of men for the worthy and due reception of the living
bread which He was about to give them. No sooner had the rumour spread of the
miracle which He had wrought on the shores of the lake of Tiberias, when with
the multiplied loaves He fed the multitude, than many forthwith flocked to Him
in the hope that they, too, perchance, might be the recipients of like favour.
And, just as He had taken occasion from the water which she had drawn from the
well to stir up in the Samaritan woman a thirst for that "water which
springeth up unto life everlasting" (St. John iv., 14), so now Jesus
availed Himself of this opportunity to excite in the minds of the multitude a
keen hunger for the bread "which endureth unto life everlasting"
(St. John vi., 27). Or, as He was careful to explain to them, was the bread
which He promised the same as that heavenly manna which had been given to
their fathers during their wanderings in the desert, or again the same as that
which, to their amazement, they had recently received from Him; but He was
Himself that bread: "I," said He, "am the bread of life"
(St. John vi., 48). And He urges this still further upon them all both by
invitation and by precept: "if any man shall eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of
the world" (St. John vi., 52). And in these other words He brings home to
them the gravity of the precept: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless you
shall eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have
life in you" (St. John vi., 54). Away then with the widespread but most
mischievous error of those who give it as their opinion that the reception of
the Eucharist is in a manner reserved for those narrow-minded persons (as they
are deemed) who rid themselves of the cares of the world in order to find rest
in some kind of professedly religious life. For this gift, than which nothing
can be more excellent or more conducive to salvation, is offered to all those,
whatever their office or dignity may be, who wish - as every one ought to
wish - to foster in themselves that life of divine grace whose goal is the
attainment of the life of blessedness with God.
6. Indeed it is greatly to be desired that
those men would rightly esteem and would make due provision for life
everlasting, whose industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to
shape the course of human events. But alas! we see with sorrow that such men
too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred upon this world
as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity, inasmuch as by their own
energetic action they are urging it on to the race for wealth, to a struggle
for the possession of commodities which minister to the love of comfort and
display. And yet, whithersoever we turn, we see that human society, if it be
estranged from God, instead of enjoying that peace in its possessions for
which it had sought, is shaken and tossed like one who is in the agony and
heat of fever; for while it anxiously strives for prosperity, and trusts to it
alone, it is pursuing an object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that
ever eludes the grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their
being from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus
Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and
proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable
Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that life the desire whereof
demands our most strenuous efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that
dignity of man of which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more
honourable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as far as
possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now this is precisely
what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, wherein, after having raised man by
the operation of His grace to a supernatural state, he yet more closely
associates and unites him with Himself. For there is this difference between
the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed
into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that St. Augustine
makes Christ Himself say: "You shall not change Me into yourself as you
do the food of your body, but you shall be changed into Me" (confessions
1. vii., c. x.).
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The Mystery of Faith
7. Moreover, in this most admirable
Sacrament, which is the chief means whereby men are engrafted on the divine
nature, men also find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind
of virtue. And first of all in faith. In all ages faith has been attacked; for
although it elevates the human mind by bestowing on it the knowledge of the
highest truths, yet because, while it makes known the existence of divine
mysteries, it yet leaves in obscurity the mode of their being, it is therefore
thought to degrade the intellect. But whereas in past times particular
articles of faith have been made by turns the object of attack; the seat of
war has since been enlarged and extended, until it has come to this, that men
deny altogether that there is anything above and beyond nature. Now nothing
can be better adapted to promote a renewal of the strength and fervour of
faith in the human mind than the mystery of the Eucharist, the "mystery
of faith," as it has been most appropriately called. For in this one
mystery the entire supernatural order, with all its wealth and variety of
wonders, is in a manner summed up and contained: "He hath made a
remembrance of His wonderful works, a merciful and gracious Lord; He bath
given food to them that fear Him" (Psalm cx, 4-5). For whereas God has
subordinated the whole supernatural order to the Incarnation of His Word, in
virtue whereof salvation has been restored to the human race, according to
those words of the Apostle; "He bath purposed...to re-establish all
things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in Him" (Eph. i.,
9-10), the Eucharist, according to the testimony of the holy Fathers, should
be regarded as in a manner a continuation and extension of the Incarnation.
For in and by it the substance of the incarnate Word is united with individual
men, and the supreme Sacrifice offered on Calvary is in a wondrous manner
renewed, as was signified beforehand by Malachy in the words: "In every
place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a pure
oblation" (Mal. i., II). And this miracle, itself the very greatest of
its kind, is accompanied by innumerable other miracles; for here all the laws
of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed
into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread and wine are sustained by
the divine power without the support of any underlying
substance; the Body of Christ is present in many places at the same time, that
is to say, wherever the Sacrament is consecrated. And in order that human
reason may the more willingly pay its homage to this great mystery, there have
not been wanting, as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honour,
both in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there
exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain that by this
Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its nourishment, the objections
of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is thrown on the
supernatural order.
8. But that decay of faith in divine things
of which We have spoken is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral
corruption. For if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of
man's intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims of pagan
philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the
keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more, in the
region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the light of faith,
or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these
pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all
classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet even for so
terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in the divine Eucharist. For
in the first place it puts a check on lust by increasing charity, according to
the words of St. Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, "As it grows,
lust diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more" (De diversis quaestionibus, lxxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste flesh of
Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria
taught, "For Christ abiding in us lulls to sleep the law of the flesh
which rages in our members" (Lib. iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then
too the special and most pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is
signified in the words of the prophet: "What is the good thing of
Him," that is, of Christ, "and what is His beautiful thing, but the
corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins" (Zach. ix., 17),
producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a strong and constant
purpose of virginity which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily
multiplied and spread abroad in the Catholic Church,
with those advantages to religion and to human society, wherever it is found,
which are plain to see.
9. To this it must be added that by this
same Sacrament our hope of everlasting blessedness, based on our trust in the
divine assistance, is wonderfully strengthened. For the edge of that longing
for happiness which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all men from their
birth is whetted even more and more by the experience of the deceitfulness of
earthly goods, by the unjust violence of wicked men, and by all those other
afflictions to which mind and body are subject. Now the venerable Sacrament of
the Eucharist is both the source and the pledge of blessedness and of glory,
and this, not for the soul alone, but for the body also. For it enriches the
soul with an abundance of heavenly blessings, and fills it with a sweet joy
which far surpasses man's hope and expectations; it sustains him in adversity,
strengthens him in the spiritual combat, preserves him for life everlasting,
and as a special provision for the journey accompanies him thither. And in the
frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the immortal Body of
Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one
day must germinate. That to this source man's soul and body will be indebted
for both these boons has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has
dutifully reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: "He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood bath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the
last day" (St. John vi., 55).
10. In connection with this matter it is of
importance to consider that in the Eucharist, seeing that it was instituted by
Christ as "a perpetual memorial of His Passion" (Opusc. lvii.
Offic.
de festo Corporis Christi), is proclaimed to the Christian the necessity of a
salutary self-chastisement. For Jesus said to those first priests of His:
"Do this in memory of Me" (Luke xxii, 18); that is to say, do this
for the commemoration of My pains, My sorrows, My grievous afflictions, My
death upon the Cross. Wherefore this Sacrament is at the same time a
Sacrifice, seasonable throughout the entire period of our penance; and it is
likewise a standing exhortation to all manner of toil, and a solemn and severe
rebuke to those carnal pleasures which some are not ashamed so highly to
praise and extol: "As often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink this
chalice, ye shall announce the death of the Lord, until He come" (1 Cor.
xi., 26).
The Bond of Charity
11. Furthermore, if anyone will diligently
examine into the causes of the evils of our day, he will find that they arise
from this, that as charity towards God has grown cold, the mutual charity of
men among themselves has likewise cooled. Men have forgotten that they are
children of God and brethren in Jesus Christ; they care for nothing except
their own individual interests; the interests and the rights of others they
not only make light of, but often attack and invade. Hence frequent
disturbances and strifes between class and class: arrogance, oppression, fraud
on the part of the more powerful: misery, envy, and turbulence among the poor.
These are evils for which it is in vain to seek a remedy in legislation, in
threats of penalties to be incurred, or in any other device of merely human
prudence. Our chief care and endeavour ought to be, according to the
admonitions which We have more than once given at considerable length, to
secure the union of classes in a mutual interchange of dutiful services, a
union which, having its origin in God, shall issue in deeds that reflect the
true spirit of Jesus Christ and a genuine charity. This charity Christ brought
into the world, with it He would have all hearts on fire. For it alone is
capable of affording to soul and body alike, even in this life, a foretaste of
blessedness; since it restrains man's inordinate self-love, and puts a check
on avarice, which "is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. vi., 10).
And
whereas it is right to uphold all the claims of justice as between the various
classes of society, nevertheless it is only with the efficacious aid of
charity, which tempers justice, that the "equality" which St. Paul
commended (2 Cor. viii., 14), and which is so salutary for human society, can
be established and maintained. This then is what Christ intended when he
instituted this Venerable Sacrament, namely, by awakening charity towards God
to promote mutual charity among men. For the latter, as is plain, is by its
very nature rooted in the former, and springs from it by a kind of spontaneous
growth. Nor is it possible that there should be any lack of charity among men,
or rather it must needs be enkindled and flourish, if men would but ponder
well the charity which Christ has shown in this Sacrament. For
in it He has not only given a splendid manifestation of His power and wisdom,
but "has in a manner poured out the riches of His divine love towards
men" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIIL, De Euch. c. ii.).
Having before our eyes
this noble example set us by Christ, Who bestows on us all that He has
assuredly we ought to love and help one another to the utmost, being daily
more closely united by the strong bond of brotherhood. Add to this that the
outward and visible elements of this Sacrament supply a singularly appropriate
stimulus to union. On this topic St. Cyprian writes: "In a word the
Lord's sacrifice symbolises the oneness of heart, guaranteed by a persevering
and inviolable charity, which should prevail among Christians. For when our
Lord calls His Body bread, a substance which is kneaded together out of many
grains, He indicates that we His people, whom He sustains, are bound together
in close union; and when He speaks of His Blood as wine, in which the juice
pressed from many clusters of grapes is mingled in one fluid, He likewise
indicates that we His flock are by the commingling of a multitude of persons
made one" (Ep. 96 ad Magnum n. 5 (a1.6)). In like manner the angelic
Doctor, adopting the sentiments of St. Augustine (Tract. xxxvi., in Joan. nn.
13, 17), writes: "Our Lord has bequeathed to us His Body and Blood under
the form of substances in which a multitude of things have been reduced to
unity, for one of them, namely bread, consisting as it does of many grains is
yet one, and the other, that is to say wine, has its unity of being from the
confluent juice of many grapes; and therefore St. Augustine elsewhere says: 'O
Sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of charity!' " (Summ. Theol.
P. IIL, q. lxxix., a.l.). All of which is confirmed by the declaration of the
Council of Trent that Christ left the Eucharist in His Church "as a
symbol of that unity and charity whereby He would have all Christians mutually
joined and united. . . a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the
head, and to which He would have us, as members attached by the closest bonds
of faith, hope, and charity" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIIL, De Euchar., c.
ii.).
The same idea had been expressed by St. Paul when he wrote: "For
we, being many, are one bread, one body, all we who partake of the one
bread" (I Cor. x., 17). Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of
Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all
conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned
and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly
banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is deservedly reckoned to the
special credit of its first ages that "the multitude of the believers had
but one heart and one soul" (Acts iv., 32), there can be no shadow of
doubt that this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the
Divine table; for we find it recorded of them: "They were persevering in
the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communion of the breaking of
bread" (Acts ii., 42).
12. Besides all this, the grace of mutual
charity among the living, which derives from the Sacrament of the Eucharist so
great an increase of strength, is further extended by virtue of the Sacrifice
to all those who are numbered in the Communion of Saints. For the Communion of
Saints, as everyone knows, is nothing but the mutual communication of help,
expiation, prayers, blessings, among all the faithful, who, whether they have
already attained to the heavenly country, or are detained in the purgatorial
fire, or are yet exiles here on earth, all enjoy the common franchise of that
city whereof Christ is the head, and the constitution is charity. For faith
teaches us, that although the venerable Sacrifice may be lawfully offered to
God alone, yet it may be celebrated in honour of the saints reigning in heaven
with God Who has crowned them, in order that we may gain for ourselves their
patronage. And it may also be offered - in accordance with an apostolic
tradition - for the purpose of expiating the sins of those of the brethren who,
having died in the Lord, have not yet fully paid the penalty of their
transgressions.
13. That genuine charity, therefore, which
knows how to do and to suffer all things for the salvation and the benefit of
all, leaps forth with all the heat and energy of a flame from that most holy
Eucharist in which Christ Himself is present and lives, in which He indulges
to the utmost. His love towards us, and under the impulse of that divine love
ceaselessly renews His Sacrifice. And thus it is not difficult to see whence
the arduous labours of apostolic men, and whence those innumerable designs of
every kind for the welfare of the human race which have been set on foot among
Catholics, derive their origin, their strength, their permanence, their
success.
Continued...
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