Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/555



Behold what  the  church  is  continually  repeating  to  us  during this holy  time,  in  order  to  prepare  us  for  the  birth  of  Jesus Christ: Prepare,  says  she  to  all  her  children,  prepare  the  way  of the  Lord,  who  descends  from  heaven  to  visit  and  redeem  his  people; make  his  paths  straight;  let  the  hollows  be  filled  up,  and  the mountains levelled;  let  the  crooked  ways  become  straight,  and  the rugged even. Or, to  express  the  same  meaning  without  metaphor, Prepare yourselves,  says  she  to  us,  to  gather  the  fruit  of  that  grand mystery which  we  are  going  to  celebrate,  by  humiliation  of  heart, meekness, and  charity,  rectitude  of  intention,  uniformity  of  living, renunciation of  your  own  wisdom  and  your  own  righteousness; mortifying the  flesh  and  humbling  the  spirit.

Allow me  to  hold  the  same  language  to  you,  Christians,  my  brethren, who,  on  this  solemn  occasion,  come  to  purify  yourselves  in the  penitential  tribunals,  in  order  to  give  a  new  birth  to  Jesus Christ in  your  hearts,  on  receiving  him  at  the  sacred  table, — prepare the  way  of  the  Lord. The deed  you  are  going  to  perform  is the  most  holy  act  of  religion,  and  the  source  of  the  most  special favours: undertake  it  not,  therefore,  without  all  the  cares  and  all the precautions  which  it  requires:  do  not  expose  yourselves,  through your own  fault,  to  lose  the  inestimable  advantages  which  ought  to accrue  to  you  from  it.

The communion  ought  to  give  birth  to  Jesus  Christ  in  our hearts: but  where  would  be  the  difference  between  the  righteous man and  the  sinner,  between  the  soul  who  discerns  the  body  of  the Lord, and  him  who  treats  it  as  common  food,  were  he  equally  to have  birth  in  the  heart  of  all  who  receive  him? Deceive not  yourselves, then,  my  brethren;  there  is  a  way  of  receiving  Jesus Christ, by  which  his  presence  is  rendered  useless  to  us;  and  would to God,  that,  in  thus  receiving  him,  we  deprived  ourselves  only  of those  favours  which  follow  a  holy  communion! Ah! my brethren, unless the  communion  gives  birth  to  Jesus  Christ  in  our  hearts, it brings  death  to  him  there;  if  it  does  not  render  us  participators of his  Spirit  and  of  his  grace,  it  is  the  sentence  of  our  condemnation: if  it  be  not  a  fruit  of  life  to  our  soul,  it  is  a  fruit  of  death. Terrible alternative,  which  ought  to  excite  our  fears,  but  which ought not  entirely  to  keep  us  away  from  the  sacred  table. The bread which  is  there  distributed  is  the  true  nourishment  of  our souls, the  strength  of  the  strong,  the  support  of  the  weak,  the  consolation of  the  afflicted,  the  pledge  of  a  blessed  immortality. How dangerous would  it  then  be  to  abstain  from  it? — but infinitely  more