Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/535



THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST. 529

Eucharist in His Church "as a symbol of that unity and charity whereby He would have all Christians mutually joined and united ... a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the head, and to which He would have us, as members, attached by the closest bonds of faith, hope, and charity."^ The same idea had been expressed by St. Paul when he wrote: For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all we who partake of the one bi^ead} Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing ahke in this heavenly banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is deservedly reckoned to the special credit of its first ages that the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul,^ there can be no shadow of doubt that this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the divine table; for we find it recorded of them: They were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread}

Besides all this, the grace of mutual charity among the hving, which derives from the Sacrament of the Eucharist so great an increase of strength, is further extended by virtue of the sacrifice to all those who are numbered in the communion of saints. For the communion of saints, as every one knows, is nothing but the mutual communica- tion of help, expiation, prayers, blessings, among all the faithful, who, whether they have already attained to the heavenly country, or are detained in the purgatorial fire, or are yet exiles here on earth, all enjoy the common fran- chise of that city whereof Christ is the head, and the consti-

Â» Cone. Trid., Sess. XIII., De Euchar., c. iL M Cor. X. 17. 5 Acts iv. 32.
 * Acts ii, 42.