The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1872-06-02
Corpus Christi.

This feast recurred last Thursday but IL
celebration is generally postponed throu 81,
out the city until day. Not being
holiday Of obligation in this country, it 1
thought that its celebration can be NOR
splendidly kept on Sunday than on weel
day.
Inc unparalleled popularity of this feas
in all really Catholic countries is somethins
wonderful. Artillery is firing, flags arc fly.
ing, drums rolling, bands playing, the
churches are blazing with lights, the altars
are covered with flowers, throughout the
iand' while the very shipping in the harbora
Is gay with streamers and banners. From
prince to peasant, every soul is fred with
the enthusiasm of the occasion, every one
is decked in his handsomest attire and all,
soldier and civilian, sailor and fisherman
assist at High Mass and Solemn Procession.
We say that this popular enthusiasm is
indeed wonderful when we consider that
this feast celebrates the mystery which,
above all others, is the most difficult of ac-
ceptance to poor human incredulity and the
most fercely attacked by all heretics and
lnhdels. What That wafer a human
body and, above all, the body of Jesus
Christi Absurd! Preposterous It looks
like bread, it tastes like bread, to all
chemical analysis it is bread, and yet You
want to tell us that it is flesh aud blood,
complete, undivided human body. Even
so. He who could raise His own dead bodv
from the grave and restore its life, can do
all this if he choose. He has so chosen.
and incredulous as human nature may be-,
the children of the faith find no difficulty in
believing it. Fruitless as may be their
faith Of good works, it's faint embers al
ways burn up with freshened glow in the
presence ola truth which they kno,o to be
so glorious and SO divine.
Can any one doubt that this is triumph
due to the humanity of Jesus Christ as a
reparation for the humiliation of Calvary
You kneel in the dim aisle of some grand
old Cathedral, and see a vast multitude
kneeliDg like yourself, while long process
sion of prelates and priests and acolytes
starts from the sanctuary, bearing aloft the
God-like Host. Throngs of beautiful chill
dren precede it, scattering sweet flowers
along the route, and, as it approaches you,
cannon firing, grand music thrills
upon the air, the soldiers kneel and salute,
the mighty ones of earth bow their un-
covered heads to the dust, and while the
pure, white Host is growing palmer to your
sight, fancy goes back in astonishment
nearly two thousand years, to an old city
of Palestine called Jerusalem, and to q
Mount called Calvary. You see a man
struggling up the road OF that mountain,
carrying heavy cross on lis shoulder (; a
countless mob surrounds and accompanies
him i; guard of soldiers protect him from
heir fury, while themselves treating him
With every brutality his face and naked
houlders are covered with blood and U
bruises; it is impossible to See the natural
kin any where; his long hair that was so Z
is soaked andstiffened with gore; d
ot one of those who knew him 80 we'll in
he splendor of his glorious manhood
'ould recognize single trait to remind =
hem of him who, the day before, was the
,ost faultless type of human beauty he
tumbles; lie falls the mob laughs in de-
ision it yells in mockery; "This is your :
iod, this is a wonderful God" ::
But the Host has come nearer, and you
re recalled from your revery of q moment. =
s it possible7 Can this be He that was
ructied9 2 has He really risen from the !!
eadf are these the people that bias
hemed Him 2 are these the soldiers who
ialtreated Him7 Yes. Wonderful as
) the miracle of His resurrection, still q .
1ore SO is this conquest of His ene-
lies. this capture of His captors. He has
onquered Death, but He has done some- .'
hing far stranger still in conquering the =.
lalice of sin and the power of Satan. VI
nd now, whereas, He was humiliated in =
ne spot and on one cross, it is fitting that =
lis His triumph should be celebrated in az
ousands and tens of thousands of places u
'er the whole earth. For one day he was "'
ade an opprobium it is right that for all "'
es He should be lifted aloft in glory in W