Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-03-09
LENTEN DISCOURSES.
Bishop Donahue'S Sermon on 'The
Myriad Bethlehem and NaZarethS"

At the Cathedral Last Night-The
Third Of a Series of Serm )ns on
the Eucharist Heard by a Large
Congregation - The Rev. N. B.
johnson Discussed the Saloon and
It's Relation to Our Civil Liberties.
st. Joseph's Cathedral was crowded
again last night, and many persons were
unable to obtain seats. The Rt. Rev.
Bishop Donahue preached the third OF
his series of Lenten sermons on the
Eucharist. His theme was THE
Myriad Bethlehems and Nazareths."
The preacher said, in part:
Many an analogy exists between the
mystery Of the incarnation and that OF
the Blessed Sacrament Neither you
nor l. my friends, may partake OF the
fullness and sweetness Of this feast;
your intellects may be sufficiently Keen
your wills ready. but it requires many
a year in the school of saints and study
of the ways of God TO man before we
can even partially sound these depths
OF tenderness and mercy. And that we
may dare to hope is, LaZarus-like, 10
wait for some little crumbs from the
table of the king, some little broken
CLEAN of light from Him who Is the
Light of the world.
MY subject, then. is, The Myriad
Bethlehems and Nazareths,' even now
in this world. Let US endeavor to de-
velOp this idea.
The Stupendous mystery OF the IN
carnation, inaugurated at Nazareth,
found its completion in Bethlehem. In
Bethlehem the word made flesh first
dwelt among us so as to be seen OF
human eyes. There Nary and Joseph,
the shepherds of the Magi, first saw mis-
glory-the glory of the only begotten
Son of the Father, full of grace and
truth. Now. Bethlehem, in the He
brew. signifies the house OF bread. "
Its old name, Ephrata, signifies full Of
fruit. To this day the wandering
Arabs call it the house of food.
Next let us mark that the church has
an instinct most true as to the cOnnec-
ton between the Incarnation and the
Blessed Sacrament No two seasons
could be more unlike than the SHOWS
and piercing cold of Christmas tide and
the glorious days of June when she
gives herself up TO the raptures Of Cor
pus Christi. Yet look at her liturgy
and YOU find the one the counterpart Of
the other An through the hymns OF
both great festivals We encounter sur
prising similarity of sentiment but the
preface of the mass-that sublime eX-
preston of the spirit of each feast is
Identical in each. In the drear Deem
Der and i'm leafv June the church sol
EMMY intones. TT is truly meet and just,
fitting and saUtary, that we should al
ways and in all places give thanks to
thee. O Holy Lord Father Almighty,
Eternal God: fOrasmuch as by the mys-
terry of Incarnation. a neW ray of thy
glory has flashed upon the eyes Of our
soul: so that while we behold God Wis
IDLY we may by him be upward borne
TO the love of things unseen. Indeed,
this idea has sunk so deeply yet con-
scientiously into the heart of Catholic
France that her people call Corpus
Christi the midsummer Christmas.
"Once more: in all the apparitions
with which holy souls have been favor
ed while PROSTATE before the Holy Sac
rament. the little white circle OF the
host has gradually lost It's outline and
to the ravished gaze there appeared
first the sweet infantine limbs, then
the baby hands stretched forth, then
the lovely eyes cleaning and the rosy
lips curving and breaking into radiant
smile. No one can read the lives of
the saints of God like a Gertrude, a
Teresa. a St Anthony of Padua, a
Blessed Mary AlacOgne, without being
struck with this fact. And yet how
easy Of solution are all these by the aid
of even an elementary knowledge OF
Catholic Theology. Two thousand
years ago there was a birth in Bethle-
hem. the house of bread There was
a crib and a poor handful Of worship
pers The Eternal Word. hanging on
the word of loWly maiden, became in
carnate i'm Nazareth and in Bethlehem,
the house of bread. He was born.
Mary was a creature and only a crea-
ture. but at her asserting words the
Divine nature was instantly united to
the human nature and the word-the
Eternal WOrd-Was born in time. This
altar too is a crib, house Of bread. for
at the word of a creature-a trembling,
unworthy Christ is here born.
There the babe was wrapped in swad-
ding clothes. here i'm poor linens Of the
altar. There. at the instant of that
W0ndroUs birth. the creature mother
adored her child. here the trembling
priests first act after uttering the
dread words of conservation is also to
adore. There scOrned of men and turn
ed away by the great number of his
own. for he came unto his own and hia
own received him not He yet found
leeioDs of angels to fiji the pulsating
heavens divinest with melody, and the
humblest of the animal and human
creation to do Him homage here. while
the poor. foolish. short-sighted world
rejects Him and laughs u His claims
to ScOrn the poor and lowly and the
s0rrowful draw near and own Him for
their God.
If we beheld him now in his glori-
fed humanity he would appall us with
his splendOr and his glory. Hence in
Difference to our weakness and our un-
worthiness. he draws close about him
the folds of the pavilion of his dread
majesty. so that there may be room
for approach. room for faith. and above
an room for alteration and love. There
when he was born he remained to ac-
cept the homage of the shepherds and
the kings. here he remains day and
nights to receive the homage of all his
,r.9or,.ros Mary fOudIed and l-irend