Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/361

 hunger has  been  thereby  abundantly  appeased,  its bounty is  still  as  exhaustless  as  that  of  the  loaves  and fishes which  Christ  blessed  and  brake  and  gave  to  the multitude. In the  richness  of  its  delicacies  it  infinitely surpasses  all  other  banquets,  for  it  is  He  Himself who  is  the  living  Bread  that  came  down  from heaven, having  in  Himself  all  sweetness.

Brethren, how  any  one  at  all  conversant  with  the New Testament  can  in  good  faith  deny  Christ's  real presence in  the  Eucharist  is  wholly  unintelligible. In their  account  of  the  Last  Supper,  the  evangelists, Matthew, Mark,  and  Luke,  record  Christ's  words when He  handed  the  bread  to  His  Apostles:  "Take ye;  this  is  My  body." These are  plain  words,  and  to understand  or  explain  them  in  a  metaphorical  sense is to  do  violence  to  all  the  known  rules  of  interpretation. For the  wording  of  a  law  or  decree  should not be  ambiguous,  but  so  simple  and  direct  that  all may easily  understand  and  obey. Now, Our  Lord, when He  instituted  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  decreed also that  His  disciples  should  perpetuate  that miracle. " Do  this,"  He  says,  "  in  commemoration of  Me." Either, therefore,  we  must  conclude that  Christ  the  Lord  God  was  the  most inexpert of  lawgivers,  or  else  that  His  words  must be taken  in  their  absolutely  literal  sense. Why, see at  what  pains  lawyers  are,  when  drawing  up  a will,  to  express  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  the testator's wishes,  and  thus  to  avert  possible  contention among  the  legatees. And was  Christ,  in  making His  last  will  and  testament,  less  solicitous  for  His