The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-05-12

THE SOCIAL VALUE OF THE
EUCHARIST.

In browsing through Ruskin, | recent
ly came across a passage which seem
ed to me to be very simple and very
rational explanation for the indifferF
ence Of the average Catholic to the
social values of his religion,
AS far as'1 can Judge of the ways
of men," he says, 1t seems to me that
the simplest and most necessary truths
are always the last believed; and |
suppose that wellmeaning' people in
general would rather regulate their
conduct and creed by almost any
other portion of Scripture whatsoever,
than by that Sermon on the Mount
which contains the things that Christ
thought it first necessary for all men
to understand"
How many Of us have ever thought
of the tremendous social forces that
have been and are daily active in the
sacraments and sacramentals and in
the ceremonies of our Catholic ritual?
And still there lies right at our very
command a force which in itself
would almost suffice to restore all
things in Christ.
The great heart of our religion, the
keystone of its unity and strength, the
immortal principle of it's divine vital
ity, has been from it's very origin the
Sacrament of the Altar, the Eucharist
in the Mass, in Holy Communion, in
the abiding Presence. Can we not
,,:n 80
with which as children we heard of
the Agape or love-feasts of the early
Christians? How they gathered, pa
trician and plebeian, master and slave,
around the unbloody altar-stone to
witness with far-kenning eyes of faith
the renewal of Calvary. Surely here
if ever, was a leveler of class barriers,
an inspiration irresistible of charity
and brotherhood, a call to the practice
of the social virtues so supremely and
divinely practiced by the divine Vic
tim of the Sacrifice; self-sacrifce, for
giveness, compassion, love supreme.
Here was the trimming fountain
where the martyrs drank their SUBJ
lime fearlessness in the face of the
rack, the wheel, the lion and leopard,
and the worst brutes of seduction.
What stronger charter of equality and
liberty and fraternity could be given
to our race than that sealed by the
| blood of Christ, the price universal of
! our childship of God and our common
| human brotherhood?
And so throughout the ages, in the
splendor of gilded basilica and amid
ster, in the balm-thatched lean-to of
| the tropics and in the wind-swept
| shack of the silent north, to prince
and to pauper, scholar and churl, sin
ner and saint, to Ce1t and Teuton,
| Goth and Magyar and, Malay and
Negro and Indian the SAME eternal
Beauty, ever old and ever new, has
| been appealing. He the fairest of
children of men, whose delight it is
to be in their midst, to be to them
Saviour and Father and Brother and
Food and Drink.
What a social marvel is the daily
consummated worldwide multiplied
ton of the sacred loaves of Christ's
eucharistic body in Holy Communion.
What a factor making for. personal
purity, charity, honesty, and sobriety
in every community is the daily ban
/ quet spread at Gods board. Like a
magnet drawing even infinitesimal
particles OF iron dust, we gather from
| even casual contact with our fellows
some OF the diamond dust of their
goodness and excellence, or coarser
dust of their vices and faults. Surely
the spiritual magnetsof our souls will
gather something Of the infinite ex-
cellence OF Christ when we commune
with Him in the closest and most