Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/523

 THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST.

Encyclical Letter Mirce Caritatis, May 28, 1902.

To examine into the nature and to promote the effects of those manifestations of His wondrous love which, Hke rays of light, stream forth from Jesus Christ â€” this, as befits Our sacred ofRce, has ever been, and this, with His help to the last breath of Our life, will ever be Our earnest aim and endeavor. For, whereas Our lot has been cast in an age that is bitterly hostile to justice and truth, We have not failed, as you have been reminded by the apos- tolic letter which We recently addressed to you, to do what in Us lay, by Our instructions and admonitions, and by such practical measures as seemed best suited for their purpose, to dissipate the contagion of error in its many shapes, and to strengthen the sinews of the Chris- tian life. Among these efforts of Ours there are two in particular, of recent memor^'^, closely related to each other, from the recollection whereof We gather some fruit of com- fort, the more seasonable by reason of the many causes of sorrow that weigh Us down. One of these is the occasion on which We directed, as a thing most desirable, that the entire human race should be consecrated by a special act to the Sacred Heart of Christ our Redeemer; the other that on which We so urgently exhorted all those who bear the name Christian to cling loyally to Him who, by divine ordinance, is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," not for individuals alone but for every rightly constituted society. And now that same apostolic charity, ever watchful over the vicissitudes of the Church, moves and

517