Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 7.djvu/93

 BOURDALOUE

ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST

Passion of Christ, however sorrowful and ignominious it may appear to us, must nevertheless have been to Christ Himself an object of delight, since this God-man, by the wonderful secret of His wisdom and love, has willed that the mystery of it shall be continued and solemnly renewed in His Church until the final consummation of the world. For what is the Eucharist but a perpetual repetition of the Savior's Passion, and what has the Savior supposed in instituting it, but that whatever passed at Calvary is not only represented but consummated on our altars? That is to say, that He is still performing the functions of the victim anew, and is every moment virtually sacrificed, as tho it were not sufficient that He should have suffered once. At least that His love, as powerful as it is free, has given to His adorable