Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Eighteenth Chapter: Man Should Not Scrutinize This Sacrament in Curiosity, But Humbly Imitate Christ and Submit Reason to Holy Faith

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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
The Eighteenth Chapter: Man Should Not Scrutinize This Sacrament in Curiosity, But Humbly Imitate Christ and Submit Reason to Holy Faith

The Voice of Christ

BEWARE of curious and vain examination of this most profound Sacrament, if you do not wish to be plunged into the depths of doubt. He who scrutinizes its majesty too closely will be overwhelmed by its glory.

God can do more than man can understand. A pious and humble search for truth He will allow, a search that is ever ready to learn and that seeks to walk in the reasonable doctrine of the fathers. Continue reading →

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER XVIII.

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Challoner’s Reflection on The Imitation of Christ1
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
CHAPTER XVIII.: Man Should Not Scrutinize This Sacrament in Curiosity, But Humbly Imitate Christ and Submit Reason to Holy Faith

The impious man desires knowledge, and in it is his destruction. He demands salvation from knowledge, he demands it from pride, he demands it from himself- and from the depths of his darkened intelligence, from his powerless and degraded nature, comes an answer of death. Christians, never forget that the just man lives by faith. Live then by faith–by living on the adorable Eucharist, which is the strongest and the sweetest proof of it. He who is the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has spoken; He has said: This is my body–this is my blood. Do you then believe Him? Yes, Lord! I believe and confess that what were bread and wine, are truly thy body and blood. My mind submits itself and imposes silence on my rebellious senses. Through love for the world God delivered up his Son, and in order to render the gift complete, that Divine Son gives Himself daily to man at the holy altar. The infinite love of God explains all and renders everything clear. The ways of God being impenetrable, how can we understand everything. Our happiness consists in believing without comprehending. Let proud reason, ever ready with arguments, be therefore silent; let it cease opposing its weakness to thy omnipotence. To its doubts and questions, we will give but one answer: God so loved the world! (John, 3:16.) That answer suffices, and no other is sufficient without it: you are astonished that God conceals Himself under the mean appearance of earthly bread: that the Saviour of men makes Himself your food. You hesitate, your faith wavers; it is because you do not love. But do ye, faithful souls, go to the altar with joy and confidence; go to Jesus; go to the mysterious banquet of his love. Pay no attention to the so-called philosophers and wise men of the world. If they try to keep you from following Jesus, turn away from them, and say to Him as St. Peter did: If we do not go to Thee, O Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life (John, 6:69).

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  1. Right Rev. R. Challoner, D.D., V.A., Imitation of Christ, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1873 ↩

The Seventeenth Chapter: The Burning Love and Strong Desire to Receive Christ

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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
The Seventeenth Chapter: The Burning Love and Strong Desire to Receive Christ

The Disciple

WITH greatest devotion and ardent love, with all affection and fervor of heart I wish to receive You, O Lord, as many saints and devout persons, most pleasing to You in their holiness of life and most fervent in devotion, desired You in Holy Communion.

O my God, everlasting love, my final good, my happiness unending, I long to receive You with as strong a desire and as worthy a reverence as any of the saints ever had or could have felt, and though I am not worthy to have all these sentiments of devotion, still I offer You the full affection of my heart as if I alone had all those most pleasing and ardent desires. Continue reading →

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER XVII.

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Challoner’s Reflection on The Imitation of Christ1
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
CHAPTER XVII.: The Burning Love and Strong Desire to Receive Christ

Jesus Christ teaches and inspires us with patience by his practice of it in the holy Eucharist, in which He is an object of contempt to some, of neglect to others, and of indifference to many, who are but little devoted to God, much to the world, and wholly to themselves; in which He beholds Himself exposed to the unworthy or fruitless communions of so many, whose lives are either decidedly criminal, from being spent in the habit and occasion of mortal sin, or at least are of no avail to salvation. Nevertheless, He suffers all these outrages with invincible patience, and He suffers them thus, in order to teach and to induce us to suffer contradictions and injuries in like manner.

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  1. Right Rev. R. Challoner, D.D., V.A., Imitation of Christ, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1873 ↩

The Sixteenth Chapter: We Should Show Our Needs to Christ and Ask His Grace

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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
The Sixteenth Chapter: We Should Show Our Needs to Christ and Ask His Grace

The Disciple

O MOST kind, most loving Lord, Whom I now desire to receive with devotion, You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled.

To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief. I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me. Continue reading →

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER XVI.

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Challoner’s Reflection on The Imitation of Christ1
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
CHAPTER XVI.: We Should Show Our Needs to Christ and Ask His Grace

It is not by forcing ourselves to raise our minds to sublime thoughts, that we shall gather the fruit of the holy communion; but by adoring, full of love, Jesus Christ in us, by opening to him our hearts with great confidence and with great simplicity, as a man is wont to speak to his friend (Exodus. 33:11). We have wants; it is necessary to make them known to Him We are covered with wounds; we must show them to Him, in order that he may wash them with his divine blood. We are weak; it is necessary to beseech Him to strengthen us. We are naked, hungry and thirsty; we must say to Him: Have pity on this poor beggar. From him flow all graces; listen to his words: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me although he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever (John 11:25, 26Open Link in New Window).

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  1. Right Rev. R. Challoner, D.D., V.A., Imitation of Christ, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1873 ↩

The Fifteenth Chapter: The Grace of Devotion is Acquired Through Humility and Self-Denial

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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
The Fifteenth Chapter: The Grace of Devotion is Acquired Through Humility and Self-Denial

The Voice of Christ

YOU must seek earnestly the grace of devotion, ask for it fervently, await it patiently and hopefully, receive it gratefully, guard it humbly, cooperate with it carefully and leave to God, when it comes, the length and manner of the heavenly visitation.

When you feel little or no inward devotion, you should especially humiliate yourself, but do not become too dejected or unreasonably sad. In one short moment God often gives what He has long denied. At times He grants at the end what He has denied from the beginning of prayer. If grace were always given at once, or were present at our beck and call, it would not be well taken by weak humankind. Therefore, with good hope and humble patience await the grace of devotion. Continue reading →

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER XV.

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Challoner’s Reflection on The Imitation of Christ1
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
CHAPTER XV.: The Grace of Devotion is Acquired Through Humility and Self-Denial

Although we should love God for Himself, we are permitted to desire his gifts, provided that we remain fully submitted to his holy will. The most precious graces are not always the most perceptible, those which, so to speak, inundate the soul with light and with joy. Such may, if we are not on our guard, excite vain self-complaisance. Often it is more sure to walk, in this life, in the obscurities of pure faith; to be proved by sadness, by sufferings, by bitterness, and to bear the Cross interiorly like Jesus, when He cried out: My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34Open Link in New Window.) Then all pride is humbled: we find nothing but weakness in us: we humiliate ourselves beneath the hand which strikes, but which strikes in order to heal, and this holy exercise of self-denial, more meritorious for the faithful soul and more agreeable to God than a perceptible fervour, melts the Heavenly Bridegroom and leads him back near unto the Bride, who, deprived of her well-beloved, was watching in her grief, as a sparrow all alone on the house top (Psalms ci. 8). He discovers Himself to her in the Divine Eucharist; He consoles her, dries up her tears, lavishes on her his chaste caresses, inflames her with his love, like the Disciples of Emmaus, when they said: Was not our heart turning within us, whilst he spoke in the way, and opened to us the Scripture? (Luke 24:32Open Link in New Window.)

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  1. Right Rev. R. Challoner, D.D., V.A., Imitation of Christ, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1873 ↩

The Fourteenth Chapter: The Ardent Longing of Devout Men for the Body of Christ

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The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
The Fourteenth Chapter: The Ardent Longing of Devout Men for the Body of Christ

The Disciple

HOW great is the abundance of Your kindness, O Lord, which You have hidden from those who fear You!

When I think how some devout persons come to Your Sacrament with the greatest devotion and love, I am frequently ashamed and confused that I approach Your altar and the table of Holy Communion so coldly and indifferently; that I remain so dry and devoid of heartfelt affection; that I am not completely inflamed in Your presence, O my God, nor so strongly drawn and attracted as many devout persons who, in their great desire for Communion and intense heart love, could not restrain their tears but longed from the depths of their souls and bodies to embrace You, the Fountain of Life. These were able to appease and allay their hunger in no other way than by receiving Your Body with all joy and spiritual eagerness. The faith of these men was true and ardent–convincing proof of Your sacred presence. They whose hearts burn so ardently within them when Jesus lives with them truly know their Lord in the breaking of bread. Continue reading →

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER XIV.

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Challoner’s Reflection on The Imitation of Christ1
BOOK FOUR: AN INVITATION TO HOLY COMMUNION
CHAPTER XIV.: The Ardent Longing of Devout Men for the Body of Christ

How to make a good spiritual Communion. Spiritual communion, which the Council of Trent approves of and so strongly advises and commends as a substitute for the sacramental and corporal reception of Jesus Christ, may be made at all times and in all places, whether we are in the presence of the blessed sacrament are not. We may make it every hour, or after a Hail Mary, said in honour of the Blessed Virgin, mother of God, uniting ourselves to those holy dispositions with which she conceived Jesus Christ in her chaste womb. We should bring our minds to a respectful remembrance of Jesus Christ in the most holy sacrament; we should there adore him, and direct our hearts towards him, as Daniel did towards the temple; we should give all to him, and ardently desire to receive him sacramentally.

But the most proper time for making a good spiritual communion is when we assist at Mass, at the time of the priest’s communion. Then a Christian, animated with a lively and actual faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament, and with an ardent desire of being intimately united to him, should evince such dispositions, by humbling himself profoundly in his presence, and esteeming himself unworthy of really receiving him, implore him to come and dwell in his mind by faith, and in his heart by love and gratitude for his goodness, that so he may say with the apostle, I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.

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  1. Right Rev. R. Challoner, D.D., V.A., Imitation of Christ, Dublin: McGlashan and Gill, 1873 ↩