Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/537



THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST. 531

finds its daily fulfilment: Come to Me, all ye that labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you}

In a word this Sacrament is, as it were, the very soul of the Church; and to it the grace of the priesthood is ordered and directed in all its fulness and in each of its successive grades. From the same source the Church draws and has all her strength, all her glory, her every supernatural endowTnent and adornment, every good thing that is hers; wherefore she makes it the chief est of all her cares to prepare the hearts of the faithful for an intimate union with Christ through the Sacrament of His body and blood, and to draw them thereto. And to this end she strives to promote the veneration of this august mystery by surrounding it with holy ceremonies. To this ceaseless and ever watchful care of the Church our mother, our attention is drawn by that exhortation which was uttered by the holy Council of Trent, and which is so much to the purpose that for the benefit of the Christian people We here reproduce it in its entirety. "The Holy Synod admonishes, exhorts, asks and implores by the tender mercy of Our God, that all and each of those who bear the name of Christian should at last unite and find peace in this sign of unity, in this bond of charity, in this symbol of concord; and that, mindful of the great majesty and singular love of Jesus Christ our Lord, who gave His precious life as the price of our salvation, and His flesh for our food, they should beheve and revere these sacred mysteries of His body and blood with such constancy of unwavering faith, with such interior devotion and worshipful piety, that they may be in condition to receive frequently that supersubstantial bread, and that it may be to them the life of their souls and keep their mind in soundness of faith; so that strengthened with its strength they may be enabled after the journey of this sorrowful pilgrimage to reach the heavenly country, there to see

Â» Matt. xi. 28.