TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
All the same if our Divine Saviour has established the sacrament of marriage in order to form the Christian family, He willed that, once constituted, it should have recourse to the habitual means of sanctification which are offered to us.
Now amongst the sacraments which sanctify our souls there is one which surpasses all the others and admirably unites in Itself the holiness, the dignity, the happiness of the Christian life. It is the Divine Eucharist. Without It, none is Christian; no family can be Christian without It.
Here is the interior of a family: a father, a mother, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters ! all dwell under the same roof, they sit at the same table, they warm themselves at the same hearth.
This family, is it united? is it peaceful and happy? is it Christian?
When I come into the interior of a house, I care not to know if the family inhabits a palace or a hut; the most sumptuous apartments have often witnessed many tears, and often the most hearty joy is found under the humblest thatch. I inquire not if those who live together have the same characters, the same tastes: sometimes natures very different can, however, sympathise with each other, while natures which are similar grate upon each other in common life. I do not examine if the father keeps his legitimate authority; it might only be tyrannical: if the mother is tender and devoted, this tenderness might be blind, and this devotion without prudence : if the sons and daughters are submissive and respectful; this submission and respect might be limited to externals.
But when I enter a family, I ask if there they love, if there they receive, the Eucharist.
There where this divine sacrament is as a stranger which is ignored I am no longer in security. A reverse of fortune, a change of temper, the least conflict of interests suffice to divide what appeared united, to trouble what appeared calm, to change into bitterness this apparent felicity.
There, on the contrary, where the Eucharist is held in honour by the family, I say! " Peace be to this house and to all who dwell in it."
The Lord is in the midst of them, and He brings happiness with Him. What, then, is the powerful influence exercised by the Eucharist on the interior of the family ? This, 0 Christian soul, is what I would try to tell you to-day.
All the same if our Divine Saviour has established the sacrament of marriage in order to form the Christian family, He willed that, once constituted, it should have recourse to the habitual means of sanctification which are offered to us.
Now amongst the sacraments which sanctify our souls there is one which surpasses all the others and admirably unites in Itself the holiness, the dignity, the happiness of the Christian life. It is the Divine Eucharist. Without It, none is Christian; no family can be Christian without It.
Here is the interior of a family: a father, a mother, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters ! all dwell under the same roof, they sit at the same table, they warm themselves at the same hearth.
This family, is it united? is it peaceful and happy? is it Christian?
When I come into the interior of a house, I care not to know if the family inhabits a palace or a hut; the most sumptuous apartments have often witnessed many tears, and often the most hearty joy is found under the humblest thatch. I inquire not if those who live together have the same characters, the same tastes: sometimes natures very different can, however, sympathise with each other, while natures which are similar grate upon each other in common life. I do not examine if the father keeps his legitimate authority; it might only be tyrannical: if the mother is tender and devoted, this tenderness might be blind, and this devotion without prudence : if the sons and daughters are submissive and respectful; this submission and respect might be limited to externals.
But when I enter a family, I ask if there they love, if there they receive, the Eucharist.
There where this divine sacrament is as a stranger which is ignored I am no longer in security. A reverse of fortune, a change of temper, the least conflict of interests suffice to divide what appeared united, to trouble what appeared calm, to change into bitterness this apparent felicity.
There, on the contrary, where the Eucharist is held in honour by the family, I say! " Peace be to this house and to all who dwell in it."
The Lord is in the midst of them, and He brings happiness with Him. What, then, is the powerful influence exercised by the Eucharist on the interior of the family ? This, 0 Christian soul, is what I would try to tell you to-day.
