Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/610

 He will  be  with  us  still. May we  not  give  this  meaning to the  warning  of  the  white-robed  angels:  Hic  Jesus  qui assumptus  est  veniet?  He  will  come:  He  will  Himself  be the  greatest  of  the  gifts  that  He  gave  to  men  when  ascending on  high. Dedit dona  hominibus.

A holy  man,  whose  writings  are  marked  by  great  sobriety of thought  and  the  absence  of  all  extravagance,  has  written: "The  presence  of  Our  Lord  in  the  tabernacle  may  be  said  to be  the  very  chief  of  all  the  mercies  of  God  to  us  in  our  present state;  more  precious  than  the  guardianship  of  the angels  of  which  we  think  so  little,  or  the  practical  benefits which  flow  from  our  membership  of  the  Church,  or  from the  prayers  and  protection  of  the  saints,  or  even  from  the mightiness  and  power  and  vigilant  tenderness  of  the  motherly care  of  Mary  herself "

St. Paul's argument  about  the  Incarnation  applies  with  overwhelming force  to  this  special  phase  or  development  of  the Incarnation,  in  which  the  Word  that  was  made  flesh  in  order to  dwell  amongst  us  visibly  has  disguised  that  vesture  of flesh  under  another  form  in  order  to  dwell  amongst  us  still, corporally  and  yet  invisibly. St. Paul asks:  "He  that  spared not  even  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  how hath  He  not  also  with  Him  given  us  all  things?" (Rom. viii., 32). And now  we  too  may  ask:  since  Jesus  Christ,  the eternal Son  of  God,  has  deigned  to  give  Himself  to  us  in  so close  a  union,  and  to  dwell  night  and  day  in  our  midst  that He  may  come  often  into  our  hearts,  what  greater  proof  of His  love  can  there  be  left  for  Him  to  give? And ought  not our  gratitude  and  our  love  to  be  as  unceasing  and,  in  our poor  finite  measure,  as  intense  as  His  infinite  love  and bounty? (Father Russell's "Communion  Day.")

HE Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pius  VII.,  on  Feb.  14,  1815,  and April 6,  1816,  granted :  a  plenary  indulgence  to  all  those who shall  perform  for  one  hour,  in  public  or  in  private,  on Holy  Thursday,  any  devout  exercise  in  honor  of  the  institution of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  provided  that  they  be truly  penitent,  and  approach  the  sacraments  of  confession and  communion  on  that  day,  or  on  any  day  during,  the following week.

A plenary  indulgence,  on  the  same  conditions,  on  the