ELZÉAR-ALEXANDRE TASCHEREAU

By the grace of God and of the Apostolic See, Archbishop of Quebec,

To the Clerey, Secular and Regular, to the Keligious Communities and to ll the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Quebec, Greeting and Benediction tn Our

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The devotion to, and confidence in Our Saviour Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, which prevail amongst you, Our Dearly Beloved Brethren,

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give us reason to believe that you will accept with joy the good and happy tidings which we willingly announce to you to-day.

We read in the sacred scriptures that Our divine Saviour went through the cities and villages of‘Judea,

. preaching every where the gospel, and confirming his

teachings by miracles without number. Blessed the eyes which have beheld the Redeen nised and expected since the beginning of the ‘lessed the ears which have heard the words o1 ken by the lips of the Divine Word made flesh ! bivssed, a thousand times blessed, the people in whose midst God was seen upon earth, conversing with men (Baruch, 3. 38.).

That happiness, O. D. B. B., you are about to enjoy : Our Lord is in your midst in the Holy Eucharist, and he is about to show Himself to you successively in all the parishes of this diocese, during the beautiful and salutary devotion of the Forrv Hours for the perpetual adoration, which we establish by this our present pastoral letter.

Amid the calamities which affict the earth, “our “ consolation and our hope should be, as Pope Clement “ VIII expresses it, in prayer which obtains for us all “ kinds of blessings, penetrates the heavens, appeases “ God's wrath, averts plagues, and gives us a share in “ the abundance of His mercy.” (Bull of the 25tk Nov. 1592 for lhe establishine of the 40 k. in Rome.)

It is true, this Divine Saviour will not be seen by the eyes of your body, but the infaillible light of faith shall show Him to you really present beneath the eucharistic veil. His divine word will not resound in your ears in a sensible manner, but He shall speak to you a language

which, coming forth from His adorable heart, will go strait to your heart to console it, to nourish, to fortify, to ehlighten it. That you may the better hear His divine voice, a profound, a solemn silence should reign in the church where He is exposed.

According to the catholic dogma, the Eucharist contains truly, really and substantially, under the appearance of bread and wine, the body, the blood, the soul and the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has Himself instituted it to be the food of our souls. The substance of the bread and of the wine is changed into the body and into the blood of Jesus Christ, so that after consecration, there remain of the one and of the other but the kinds, or appearances, which strike our senses as before the celebration of the holy mysteries.

This adorable sacrament is in the catholic church like the centre and the heart from which springs forth the grace that animates this mystical body. By an admirable disposition of the divine wisdom, all the other sacraments are related to this one ; some prepare us to receive it, . the others help us to preserve and to increase its grace. From the Holy Eucharist spring the blessings of the supernatural order, which prepare us to a glorious resurrection and to, the vision of God face to face, as Æe is (I. John, 3. 2) and in His light (Ps. 35. 10.).

It is also a true sacrifice, that is, an offering made to God as a sign of our dependance and of our submission. From this sacrifice the sacrifices of the old law derived all their virtue : they have all disappeared to make room

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for this c/ean o$lation which, as a prôphet foretold it, was to 6: offered from the risins of the sun even to the going down of the same, to show every where how great is the name of the Lord (Malachias, 1. 11.). In effect, nothing shows so clearly his power, his goodness, his charity, his infinite wisdom. It is as {4e aéridoement of all the wonderful operations by which the redemption of the human race has been consummated.

‘“ What bread and wine effect in our body, the Eucharist produces, in an infinitely more perfect manner, for the good and salvation of our soul. It is not the sacrament which is changed into our own substance, as bread and wine are changed into the substance of our body, it is ourselves, on the contrary, who are changed into the nature of the sacrament.” (Cafechism of the Council of Trent.)

Such is, O. D. B. B., the catholic dogma on this divine mystery. Prefigured by the sacrifices of the old law, foretold by the prophets, promised and afterwards instituted by Jesus Christ, the Holy Eucharist has been handed down by the teaching of the Apostles and of the Fathers, and perpetuated by the general and constant belief of the Universal Church. Æ/caven and earth shall pass away (Mat. 24, 35.), but this belief shall not pass away, for it is grounded upon the clear and infallible word of the Almighty.

Listen to St, Cyril : “ Since Christ Himself declares “ of the bread : ‘“ This is my body,” who shall dare to “ doubt it ; since He declares, “ This is my blood,” who “ shall presume to doubt its being really His blood ? ”

Let heresy enjoy the said privilege to ask after the unbelieving Jews (St. John, 6, 53.) : Æoiw can this man

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give us his flesh to'eat ? Fourteen hundred years ago St. : Ambrose gave this unanswerable reply : “ In God, to H “ will, to speak and to act are one and the same thing,

“one and the same infinite power. The sacrament 4 “ which you receive is called forth by God’'s own words. à “ You have read of the words of creation : 7e spoke, | “and it was done. He commanded and the whole world “immediately existed. Now the words of Chris: which F ‘“ made of nothing that which was not, are they unable : “ to transform that which already z5, into that which 74 jé “ vas not ! Itis no less a work of omnipotence to call 8" ‘ new things into existence than to change the substance pi “ a of those already existing.” :

As for us, O. D. B. B. we shall say with the well. beloved apostle : We have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us (I. John, 4, 16.) ; with the prince of the apostles : Zord, thon hast the words of eternal life, we have believed and we have known that hou art the Christ, the son of God (St. Jhn, 6, 69, 70.) ; with the royal prophet (Ps: 91, 6.) : O Lord, How great are thy works ! thy thoughts are exceeding deep !