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White Semidouble THE GLADSOME OCTAVE of the Precursor has a still further increase of light in store for us. Let us imitate the Church, who once again concentrates her thoughts on the Friend of the Bridegroom; she knows well that hereby the Spouse himself will be the better understood. “For, according to the word of the best authorized princes of Christian doctrine, the bonds which link together Jesus Christ and John the Baptist are so close, that the one cannot be known without the other; and if life eternal consists in knowing Jesus Christ, so also a part of...

White Greater Double (Privileged Octave Day) Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. THE BRIGHT OCTAVE, consecrated to the glory of the Blessed Sacrament, closes today; and, although we began the subject three days before the Feast itself, we have been able to do little more than slightly touch upon the sublime subject proposed for our consideration and love by the Church. The Memorial left us by our Lord of all his wondrous mercies far...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. MY DAYS ARE VANISHED LIKE SMOKE, and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire: I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread. Thus sadly speaks the hundred and first Psalm, whose title is: Prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord. And who is this...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. WISDOM PROSECUTES THE FULFILLMENT of the divine plan framed before all ages. His union, or, to use the scriptural expression, his marriage, with human nature, in the womb of his Virgin Mother, has shown his love; and Jesus, that Son of Man who never had any personality but the Word Himself, immolated on the Cross, in a daily renewed Sacrifice, offers an infinite glory to the...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. THE LORD HATH SWORN, and he will not repent him of his oath: he hath sworn: “Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech!” Thus did the sons of Levi sing, to the expected Messias, in one of the loveliest of their Psalms. This noble and privileged family, this corona fratrum, standing, in all its glory, around the altar, whence there daily...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS, the Angel of the testament whom Israel longs for, has come down from heaven. Wisdom is come among us. Who, asks the Prophet, shall go up into heaven to take Wisdom and bring him down from the clouds? Who shall pass over the sea, and bring him from distant lands, him, the treasure more precious than the purest gold? Israel has...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. MAN HAS BEEN CAST FORTH from Eden, and is gone into the dreary land of his exile. He has nothing left him of the Tree of Life, but the recollection that it was once his. It remains in the happy land where it was first planted; how could it go after the sinner man, now that he is banished into the vale of tears? No! it...

White Semidouble Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem. Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him. GOD HAS SATISFIED the intense desires of man’s heart. The house of the marriage feast, built by divine Wisdom on the top of mountains, has had flowing unto it all the nations of earth! Yesterday, the whole Catholic world was animated with sentiments of love towards the adorable Sacrament; and the people said to each other in a holy transport of gratitude: Come! let us go...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. THE OCTAVE IS OVER; the mystery of the glorious Ascension is completed; and our Jesus is never again to be seen upon this earth until he come to judge the living and the dead. We are to see him...

White Greater Double O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN how the Ascension of our Emmanuel won him the empire over our understanding:—it was the triumph of Faith. The same mystery gave him a second victory—the victory of Love, which makes him...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. LET US NOW LOOK upon the earth, for our eyes have hitherto been riveted upon the heaven into which our Jesus has entered. Let us see what effects the mystery of the Ascension has produced on this land of...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. THE LORD OF GLORY has ascended into heaven and, as the Apostle says, he has gone thither as our forerunner; but how are we to follow him to this abode of holiness, we whose path is beset with sin—we...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. THE KINGSHIP OVER MEN is not the only diadem given to our Emmanuel at his Ascension. The Apostle expressly tells us that he is, moreover, the Head of all Principality and Power. Noble indeed is man; but nobler far...

White Semidouble O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. JESUS HAS ASCENDED into heaven. His Divinity had never been absent; but by the Ascension, his Humanity was also enthroned there, and crowned with the brightest diadem of glory. This is another phase of the Mystery we...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. JESUS, then—the Man who dwelt on the earth and was perfect in all holiness—has ascended into heaven. This earth, accursed of God as it was, has produced the fairest Fruit of heaven; and heaven, with its gates shut against...

O rex gloriæ, Domine virtutum, qui triumphator hodie super omnes cœlos ascendisti, ne derelinquas nos orphanos; sed mitte promissum Patris in nos Spiritum veritatis, alleluia. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who didst this day ascend in triumph above all the heavens! leave us not orphans, but send upon us the Spirit of truth, promised by the Father, alleluia. THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION shows us the work of God in its completion. Hence it is that the Church, in her daily offering of the holy Sacrifice, thus addresses the Eternal Father: the words occur immediately after the...

White Greater Double (Privilege of the First Class) OUR NEOPHYTES CLOSED THE OCTAVE of the Resurrection yesterday. They were before us in receiving the admirable mystery; their solemnity would finish earlier than ours. This, then, is the eighth day for us who kept the Pasch on the Sunday, and did not anticipate it on the vigil. It reminds us of all the glory and joy of that Feast of feasts, which united the whole of Christendom in one common feeling of triumph. It is the day of light, which takes the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Henceforth, the first...

White Greater Double (privileged Octave Day) THE THOUGHTS of the Church today are fixed on the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, which is the second of the three Mysteries of the Epiphany. The Emmanuel manifested himself to the Magi after having shown himself to the Shepherds; but this manifestation was made within the narrow space of a stable at Bethlehem, and the world knew nothing of it. In the Mystery of the Jordan, Christ manifested himself with greater publicity. His coming is proclaimed by the Precursor; the crowd that is flocking to the river for Baptism is...

HAVING LAID their offerings at the feet of Jesus as a sign of the alliance they had, in the name of all mankind, contracted with him, and laden with his graces and blessings, the Magi take their leave of the Divine Babe; for such was his will. They take their departure from Bethlehem, and the rest of the world seems a wilderness to them. Oh! if they might be permitted to fix their abode near the newborn King and his incomparable Mother!—but no; God’s plan for the salvation of the world requires that everything savoring of human pomp and...

THE MAGI were not satisfied with paying their adorations to the great King whom Mary presented to them. After the example of the Queen of Saba, who paid her homage to the Prince of Peace in the person of King Solomon, these three Eastern Kings opened their treasures and presented their offerings to Jesus. Our Emmanuel graciously accepted those mystic gifts and suffered them not to leave him until he had loaded them with gifts infinitely more precious than those he had vouchsafed to receive. The Magi had given him of the riches which this earth produced; Jesus repays...