The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-06-27

lHO hhO"s yOuB WV 0deSAA
know when you shall receive 1t at the
altar of God. This also is daily Bread,
necessary for this life. ;.
So, then, the Eucharist is our daily
Bread, but let us in such a manner
receive it that we may be not re-
freshed in our bodies only, but in our
souls" Again he writes: This is
a very good sense of give us this
day our daily Bread Thy Eucharist,
our daily food"
With st. Augustine and st. Thomas
nearly all the Fathers of the Church
explain these words of the Our Father
"our daily bread" as referring not so
much to the material bread which
supports the body as to the Eucharis-
tic Bread which ought to be our daily
food.
Now the same divine Saviour who
given us the Holy Eucharist and in
His own very words We can see His
wish that we receive His sacred body
and blood frequently.
Our Lord in the sixth chapter of
st. Johns Gospel says: ''This is the
bread that cometh down from heaven
not as your fathers did eat mamma and
are dead: he that eateth this bread
shall live for ever" Commenting on
and explaining this passage, the
Sacred Congregation says: From
this comparison of the food of angels
xxy;fI viii tho If
was easily to be understood by His
(Christ's) disciples that, as the body
is daily nourished with bread, and as
the Hebrews were daily nourished
with mamma in the desert, so the
Christian soul might daily partake of
this heavenly bread, and be refreshed
thereby.
"This desire on the part of God was
so we'll understood by the first Chris
tians that they daily f1ocked to the
holy table as to source of life and
strength. They were persevering in
the doctrine of the Apostles, and in
the communication of the breaking of
bread" (Acts II, 42).
This then is the answer to the
earnest Catholic who thinks that daily
Communion is new practice in the
Church. The Sacred Congregation of
the Council only echoes the teaching
of Trent, of st. Thomas, of st. Angus
tine of the Apostles, and so We turn
again to the teachings of that Congre-
cation to learn the reasons for fire.
quent Communion.
The desire of Jesus Christ and Of
the Church, it says, that the faith
full should daily approach the sacred
banquet is directed chiefly to this
end, that the faithful, being united
to God by means of the Sacrament,
may thence derive strength to resist
their sensual passions, to cleanse them
selves from the stains of daily faults
and to avoid those graver sins to
which human fraility is liable; so
that it's primary purpose is not that
the honour and reverence due to our
| Lord may be safeguarded, or that the
Sacrament may serve as a reward of
virtue bestowed on the recipients est.
Augustine, Serm. 81 in st. Matthew,
De Orat DOM, N. y. Hence the holy
Council of Trent calls the Eucharist
the antidote whereby we are deliv-
cred from daily faults and preserved
from deadly sins" (Sess. XIII, Cap.
! ID.
But now if each of us asks himself:
How am | to know whether | should
go daily to Communion, what is the
answer? Once more we turn to the
rules for daily Communion laid down
by the Congregation of the Council in
it's Solemn session of December 16,
1905. There are nine of these rules,
but the following five concern the laity
and will help to settle all their diff
culties in this matter.
/. Frequent and daily Communion,
as thing most earnestly desired by
Christ our Lord and by the Catholic
| Church, should be open to all the faith
| full, of whatever rank and condition of
| life; so that no one who is in the
state of grace, and who approaches
the holy table with right and devout
disposition, can lawfully be hindered
therefrom.
2. A right disposition consists in
this: that he who approaches the holy
table should do so, not out of routine,
or vain-glory, or human respect, but
| for the purpose of pleasing God, of
| being more closely united with Him
by charity, and of seeking this Divine
remedy for his weakness and defects.
8. Although it is most expedient
that those who communicate frequent
ly or daily should be free from venial
sins, at least from such as are fully
deliberate, and from any affection
| thereto, nevertheless, it is sufficient
that they be free from mortal sin,
with the purpose of never SHINING in
the future; and if they have this sim
cere purpose, it is impossible but that
daily communicates should gradually
emancipate themselves even from We
NAL sins, and from all affection there
| to.
4. But whereas the Sacramento of
the New Law, though they take effect
ex opere operate, nevertheless produce
greater effect in proportion as the
dispositions of the recipient are bet
ter, therefore care is to be taken that
Holy Communion be preceded by care
full preparation, and followed by a
suitable thanksgiving, according to
each ones strength, circumstances and