The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-03-29
Institution Of
Blessed Sacrament
Sermon Delivered by Rev. W. F. Nor
rissey, at st. Mary's, on Night
of Holy Thursday.

come, that he should pass out OF TN
world to the Father: having loved nj
own who We're in the world. he love
them unto the end (John xiii, y.
The shadow of death is upon the so
of God, the icy thrill of the traitor
KISS causes his spirit to groan within
him, the forebodings of tomqIToWs or
deals and sufferings cause his huma'
nature to shrink from the DEGREES O
the divine. Yet-"not my will, Blu
thine, 0 Father, be done"-he forget
himself. Seated at the supper table
and surrounded by his faithful disci
pies, he forgets himself. and is full o
| solicitude only for them and for hi
| loved ones in the world What of to
! morrow's sufferings! 1 can bear them
! But what Will smooth over for m!
! loved ones the tide of sorrow too grea
| for man to bear? What legacy shall
| l leave rich enough, potent enough u
console them in such bereavement? HI
| remembers his promise of year ago
and, OH what a proof of love is tbs
tuldilment of this promise-a time ano
ge-abiding proof. Not content
with Bethlehem'S proof of lofe; moi
content with stripping himself, as II
were, of the spleudors of his glory, by
clothing himself with our human ma
ture, and taking upon himself our sins
and intirnlittes: not content with SUBJ
jecting himself, for our sake, to the
contempt, insults and prosecutions OF
his own creatures; not content with
suffering the most cruel and ignomini-
Gus death of the cross, shedding there
on the last drop of his most sacred
blood not content with all this, he
would go so far-would manifest the
excess of his love for us to such de-
gree, as to institute a sacrament
wherein he would leave us, not only
his grace, his virtue, his blessings, but
himself, his own flesh and blood to be
perpetually the food and nourishment
of our souls! And, behold, how he
has loved his own who were in the
world, and loved them unto the end"
This, then, brethren, is the legacy
which he left to his sorrowing disciples
and faithful followers for all time-his
own flesh and blood; speaking of which
st. Augustine saws: "All-powerful that
he was, he could give nothing more;
all-wise that h was, he knew nothing
better to give: alI-rich that he was, he
had nothing to give more precious"
Christ himself said: Greater love
than this no man hath; that a man lay
down his life for his friends He lays
down his life, not only for his friends.
but for his enemies; and before doing
so. he bequeaths a legacy. whose boun-
ty is incomprehensible, whose generos-
ity we may admire. but can never fully
comprehend or appreciate; whose I'M
immensely would be too
great for human faith, had not the
word of an omripotant God placed its
reality beyond the shadow of doubt.
Seated there at the supper table, sur
by his beloved apostles, look
ing down the vista Of time on myriads
Of faithful followers and in the awful
presence of grim death. across whose
portals ambiguity or equivocation must
never cast it's shadow. the eternal tes-
tator took into his hands piece of
brs ad, blessed, broke and gave it to his
apostles, his beneficiaries and execu-
-ors. saying: Take We and eat; this is
ny body And then taking q cup of
vine, he blessed and gave it to them,
saying: Drink We al of this, for this
S my blood which shall be shed for
many unto the remission Of sins"
There is no protest from the apostles;
here is no expression of doubt as to
he meaning of his words: there is no
evidence of wavering faith in their
they are impressed with
he solemnity of the occasion, their
whole demeanor proclaims their i'm
,licit faith in the omnipotence of the
estator and the sincerity of his words !
from the supper room to the throne of
leaven ascends a hymn of praise and |
thanksgiving for the bounteOus legacy. |
from the garden Of olives, from the
pper chamber at Jerusalem, from the |
atacombs of ancient Rome. from the |
rypts and misty caves of bcnighted |
ands from the naVes and aisles of |
nightly cathedrals in every known land !
nd cline, from forest solitude and |
esert waste, from humble hut and |
lately mansion, from million hearts
I one accord for fifteen centuries arose !
he same hymn of praise and thanks
living: This is my body; this is my |
locd," says Christ, and his real true, |
ubstantial, living body and blood his
pcstles understood it to be; his real,
rue, substantial, living body fifteen
of Christianity after them I'M
erstood and believed it to be. The con-
essor proclaimed it, the Virgin loved
!, the martyr died for it. During all
lese centuries there was found but
ne man bold enough to deny it as real
nd true but all christendom rose up
protest against him, he retracted his
'ror and died in pennance. 1t re-
lained, therefore for the reformers of /
lie sixteenth century to proclaim
denial Of the reality of the
dying bequest; it remained
,r. them to rob Christianity of its in
eritance; it remained for them to de-
roy reality and set up in it's place
sign, a figure. an empty symbol Ev
" century from the apostolic days
Il that hour cried out in protest; but
vain. In vain ST Paul declares:
rhe chaliee of benediction which we
ess. is it not the communion of the
God of Christ? And the bread which
e break, is it not the partalSing of
,dy and blood of the Lord?" q. Cor.
16). In vain did he say: HE that
teth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
Id drinketh judgment to himself, not
seeming the body of the Lord"
bid). In vain would their own ances-
rs come forth from the grave, scrape !
e moss from their tombs, display the
,ure of g, host, cstensorium, or chal-
?, on their breasts, bearing silent but
1quent testimony, and exclaim: Such {
the faith which we lived and died
:, which we received from our fore
Tiers, our forefathers from the apos- {
IS. and the apostles from Christ.
# his dying legacy were to be only {
ure, symbol of his body and blood, S
d not of the reality. why did Christ
sist upon its reality when teaching
5 disciples and a multitude of the +
WIS in the temple at Capharnaum
out year before his passion, as re- q
-ded in the sixth chapter of ST. Johns s
spell? He says: II am the living Y
Fad which came down from heaven f
any man eat of this bread he shall t
e forever; and the bread which I !,
II give is my flesh for the life of the =
rid" The Jews understood him in y
eral sense-that he would give his q
Il flesh to be eaten. They revolted at =
: idea of eating human flesh:
and complained, saying: =
.ow can this man give us his flesh to ',
:" Our Lord saw their confusion and I
ew its cause. Now if they were "
ong in understanding his word in a {
raj sense would no NOT bo1ra o