Vol 14 Issue 11 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
March 13, 2021 ~ Lenten Feria
1. What is the Holy Eucharist
2. Laetare Sunday
3. Saint Leobinus
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
Abbot Benedict Baur sums up what I have been saying in the previous weeks concerning the natural man:
Natural, unredeemed man is on his own; he depends on himself. He has to rely on his own proud and egoistic interpretation of his experience and of the events of his life. He has to trust to his own covetous self-seeking and his boundless self-centredness and his hatred for everything that contradicts his own will. He is the unfortunate man of whom it is written: “To will is present with me, but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do . . . I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me . . . Unhappy man that I am!” (Rom. 7, 18-22). (Baur, Frequent Confession, 166-67)
And Saint Basil addresses his congregation with these words:
The Spirit of truth, He says, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him, for He dwells with you. John 14:17 For the carnal man, who has never trained his mind to contemplation, but rather keeps it buried deep in lust of the flesh, as in mud, is powerless to look up to the spiritual light of the truth. And so the world, that is life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam. But the Lord, who by His teaching bore witness to purity of life, gives to His disciples the power of now both beholding and contemplating the Spirit. For now, He says, You are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you, John 15:3 wherefore the world cannot receive Him, because it sees Him not,…but you know Him; for he dwells with you. John 14:17 And so says Isaias (cf. 42:5):— He that spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and Spirit to them that trample on it ; for they that trample down earthly things and rise above them are borne witness to as worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost. What then ought to be thought of Him whom the world cannot receive, and Whom saints alone can contemplate through pureness of heart? What kind of honours can be deemed adequate to Him? (De Spiritu Sancto, 22, 53)
The world today, that is those living according the world, have returned to this state of fallen human nature that had been uplifted by the Christianization of society.
Therefore, one should not expect much from those who are not Catholics. But, on the other hand, the Catholic, the redeemed child of God, should find himself or herself living not this natural life, but a supernaturalized life, a life of faith, hope and charity. The Catholic should have the knowledge of the Faith, the Ten Commandments, and the Seven Sacraments. The Catholic should know that the natural impulses, expressed by the Seven Capital Sins of pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth must be continuously opposed by the virtues of humility, mercy, purity, meekness, temperance, charity and good works. This demands self-restraint, self-denial, mortification, and a spirit of penance—not that one can do it of oneself, but because the grace of God is granted to one to perform the acts of virtue by the very fact of possessing the Grace of God given in Baptism, strengthened in Confirmation, nourished in Holy Communion, and returned in Penance if lost. The question one must ask oneself is whether one is cooperating (working together) with the grace that is granted.
As always, enjoy the readings provided for your benefit.—The Editor
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WHAT IS THE HOLY EUCHARIST
By Rev. Courtney Edward Krier
II
The Holy Eucharist is a True Sacrifice
An Explanation of Holy Mass
Part 1
The Mass of the Catechumens
Sign of the Cross
The priest begins Mass by saying, In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritu Sancti. Amen. At the same time he signs himself with the sign of the Cross. Everything the Church does is in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Catholic begins the divine life in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost as the water is poured over the head in Baptism. Catholics begin their prayers in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (cf. Matt. 28:19) Mass will end with the blessing in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It follows from the command of Saint Paul: All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Col. 3:17). The Blessed Trinity is an important doctrine of the Catholic Faith in God and is the first expression given in the worship. The Sign of the Cross also the sign of redemption which continues in Holy Mass. It replaces the Hebrew Schema, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one (cf. Deut. 6:4-9), which began the Synagogue liturgy.
Further, the priest blesses himself to express that all his hope is based on the action of Christ Who died on the Cross and thereby merited for the Church Holy Mass.
Psalm 42
The priest then says with the server alternately the Antiphon Introibo ad altare Dei and Psalm Judica Me.
Antiphon: I will go in to the altar of God: unto God, who giveth joy to my youth.
Psalm 42:
1. Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy, deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
2. For Thou, O God, art my strength: why hast Thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
3. Send forth Thy light and Thy truth: they have conducted me and brought me unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy tabernacles.
4. And I will go in to the altar of God: unto God, who giveth joy to my youth.
5. To thee, O God, my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
At the end of the Psalm the Glory be is said and then the antiphon repeated with the server. This replaces Psalm 136, which was recited in the Synagogue service: Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion: On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments. . . . The change of the Psalm speaks to the priest and faithful various thoughts. During the Babylonian Exile from 597-538 BC the Jewish elders mandated the Jews meet on the Sabbath for prayer and instruction and as, mentioned, the Apostles first went to the Synagogues to teach about Christ, and they did so in the context of the Synagogue liturgy.
It depicts the situation and sentiments of David, who had been driven from Jerusalem by the revolt of Absalom and was grievously harassed by his enemies. The separation from the holy tabernacle distresses him most of all and appears to him as a punishment from God; hence he sorrowfully longs for a return to the sanctuary of the Lord, where he will glorify God by sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. In conclusion he encourages himself to a cheerful confidence in God, to a reliance on prompt assistance. (Gihr, 397)
Confiteor. After Psalm 42, there is the introduction of the Confiteor preceded by Our help + is in the Name of the Lord. It is by God’s grace one comes to true sorrow and that sorrow for sin takes one’s thoughts to the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, whose fall brought sin into the world; and, then to Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane prostrate in agony for the sins of the world which the priest with the faithful now acknowledge their own sins, the weight of which only Christ can bear and so as each says the Confiteor, the priest and then the server in the name of the people, each also remembers Christ’s admonition: If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath any thing against thee; leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift (Matt. 5:23-24) and like the publican, they strike their breast: And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)
The Church is going to Calvary: Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. And as the server asks God to forgive the transgressions of the priest, so the priest implores afterwards that the faithful present be forgiven and absolves them of their faults (not mortal sins!) so both priest and faithful can offer a worthy gift at the altar.
I confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, brethren, that I have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word, and deed, (here he strikes his breast three times, saying) through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and you, brethren, to pray to the Lord our God for me.
The Saints mentioned in the Confiteor are mentioned as intercessors. This includes the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who intercedes with her Divine Son. The Church invokes her in the Litany of Loretto as Virgin most merciful and Refuge of sinners. In the Salve Regina the Church prays:
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
As the New Eve, the Mother of all the living (cf. Gen. 3:20), she is recognized as the throne of grace: Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. (Introit, Immaculate Heart of Mary; cf. Heb. 4:16)
Here she is followed by Saint Michael, the representative of all the angels as the leader who cast out the evil spirits. Of Michael one reads in Daniel:
But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Dan. 12:1)
Saint John’s Apocalypse sets this scene: And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels (Apoc. 12:7) The Angels are man’s witness: See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 18:10)
John the Baptist is next mentioned to intercede, here to remind the priest (and faithful) that as John was the Precursor, preparing the way of the Lord, that preparation was by preaching the baptism of penance (Mark 1:4). As John points to the Lamb of God, Him who taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the Church found it appropriate to call on John the Baptist to prepare the priest and the faithful for the Sacrifice of the Lamb by repentance, he who also sacrificed his life for the sins of the unrepentant (cf. Matt. 14:6-10; Mark 6:16ff). He is the only Saint the Church celebrates just his birth (June 24) and death (August 29).
The holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, are always placed together and here there is significance as one (Peter) has the keys to loose and bind: And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matt. 16:19) He also gives an example of repentance after thrice denying he knew the Christ: And going forth, he wept bitterly. (Matt. 26:75) The other (Saint Paul) is renowned for his conversion from being the archenemy of Christians (Acts 9:1ff) to being the greatest defender of Christianity. Laboring for the conversion of Jew and Gentile to Christianity (cf. 2 Cor, 11:23ff), he was willing to endure more than the other Apostles while finally dying a glorious death for Christ.
All the Saints are then implored because they are before the throne of God and make intercession for those who ask. He then asks those present to also intercede. Saint James instructed the early Christians: Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much. (James 5:16) When Simon the Magician sinned (Simony) and Saint Peter admonished him, Simon replied: Pray you for me to the Lord, that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me. (Acts 8:24)
The joining of the hands indicates recollection of mind and a spirit of devotion, the surrendering of one’s self up to God and a repose in God, the mistrust of one’s own strength and a confident supplication for grace and mercy. The striking of the breast (of the sinful heart) is a natural symbolical sign of a penitential spirit: it includes a sincere acknowledgment of guilt, sorrow, and displeasure for the sins committed, and the will to make satisfaction and to undergo punishment for sins heartily repented of. The striking of the breast means that the heart concealed within is the cause of sin and deserving, therefore, to be punished, bruised, and humbled;43 that the insolent pride of the sinful heart is to be broken and destroyed in order that God may create a new, clean heart within the penitent breast. The striking of the breast three times signifies, in general, the intensity and sincerity of our contrition, in a stricter sense it may be understood as the suitable accompaniment and confirmation of guilt thrice acknowledged, each time with increased fervor (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa); and it may, moreover, be referred to the three kinds of sin (in thought, word, and deed) of which we accuse ourselves. (Gihr, 408-409)
The server answers for the faithful for the request for prayers in the saying of the Misereatur: May almighty God have mercy on thee and having forgiven thee thy sins, bring thee to life everlasting. The priest replies: Amen. The server then, in the name of the faithful, recites the Confiteor asking the priest—te pater—to intercede. He does so, but also asks for absolution for all: May almighty God have mercy on you and having forgiven you your sins, bring you to life everlasting. The server says: Amen. The priest continues by asking all to receive the absolution of their sins while making the sign of the cross over himself: May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, + absolution, and remission of our sins.
The priest accordingly prays that God would deign by virtue of His almighty power (omnipotens) to impart to the faithful the fullness of His mercy (misereatur), forgive all their sins (dismissis peccatis), and thus raise them up from spiritual death to the life of grace and conduct them to the eternal life hereafter (perducat vos ad vitam aeternam).
Then the “almighty” Lord, who “reveals His power most gloriously by sparing the sinner and by exercising mercy,” and the “merciful” Lord, “whose property it is always to show mercy and to spare,” is again implored to grant us all (nobis) His gracious favor and kind forgiveness, the full remission of sin (indulgentiam), that is, absolution of guilt (absolutionem) and remission of due punishment (remissionem). The accompanying sign of the cross indicates Christ’s atoning sacrificial death, from which flows unto us all forgiveness of sin. (Gihr, 410)
(To be continued)
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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers
M. F. Toal
THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY
JOHN vi. 1-15
At that time, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw the miracles which he did on them that were diseased. Jesus therefore went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. Now the pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip: whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to try him; for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him: two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves, and two fishes; but what are these among so many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. The men therefore sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves: and when he had given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down. In like manner also of the fishes, as much as they would.
And when they were filled, he said to his disciples: Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. They gathered up therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten. Now these men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the prophet, that is to come into the world. Jesus therefore, when he knew they would come to take him by force, and make him king, fled again into the mountains himself alone.
I. ORIGEN, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR
A Mystical Exposition of the Gospel2
And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying: this is a desert place, and the hour is now past: send away the multitudes, that going into the towns, they may buy themselves victuals (Matt. xiv. 15).
And observe, Dearly Beloved, that when Our Lord was about to give the bread of benediction to the Disciples, who were to set it before the people, He first heals the sick, so that being restored to health they might become partakers of the bread of blessing; for they who are still infirm cannot receive the bread of the blessing of Jesus. But should anyone, hearing the words: But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice (I Cor. xi. 28), and the rest which follows, does not harken to them, but rashly partakes of the bread of the Lord, and drinks of His Chalice, he will become weak or sick; or, if I may so speak, be stricken by the sleep of death, by reason of the power of that Bread.
And when evening was come His Disciples came to Him, that is, at the end of the world, concerning which it is lawful to say that which we find in the Epistle of John: It is the last hour (I Jn. ii. 18). And they, not yet knowing what the Word is about to do, say to Him: This is a desert place; seeing in many souls an emptiness of God, of the Law, and of the Word. And they add this: And the hour is now past: that is, the special times of the Law and of the Prophets have now ended.
But perhaps they said this referring to the news they had just heard, that because of the beheading of John, both the Law, and the Prophets, who had continued till John, had now come to an end. The hour accordingly, they say, is now past, and there is no food; because the former times are no more, in which those who are in the desert, following Thee, may serve the Law and the Prophets.
The Disciples also say to Him: Send away the multitudes, so that each one, if he cannot reach the cities, may buy food in the villages or less important places. The Disciples said this because of the breaking down of the letter of the Law; and because the Prophets had ceased they were without hope that the multitudes could find some new and wondrous food.
But see what Jesus answers to His Disciples, only not crying it aloud, and openly declaring it: ‘You think that if the multitudes, hungering for food, go away from Me, they will find it in the villages rather than with Me; in the assemblies of men, not of their own fellow-citizens, but of the villages, rather than had they remained with Me? But I declare to you that they are not in need of that which you think they need: they have no need to go away: but of that of which you think they have no need, namely, Myself: as though I could not feed them: of this, contrary to what you are seeking, they have need. Since therefore I have taught you, making you capable of giving the nourishment of the soul to those who are in need of it: give, you that have followed Me, that which they may eat. You have the power, received from Me, to give food to the people; whom, if you have been observant, you will understand that much more have I the power to feed them; and neither ought you to have said: Send away the multitudes that they may buy themselves victuals.’
Jesus therefore, because of that which He gave to His Disciples, the power of nourishing others, said: Give you them to eat. They however, while not denying that they can bestow bread, but thinking that what they have is too little and insufficient to feed those who had followed Jesus, and not reflecting that Jesus, taking a loaf, that is, the word, could extend it as He wished, rendering it sufficient to provide for all whom He wished to give to eat, say: We have not here, but five loaves, and two fishes; obscurely signifying perhaps that the five loaves are the visible words of the Scriptures, and for this reason correspond to the. five senses; and the two fishes the word, either spoken by the mouth, or that conceived in the heart, which are the garnishing as it were of the sensible things stored within the Scriptures; or perhaps the words that have come to them with reference to the Father and the Son. And for this He, after His Resurrection, partook of fish with them; accepting a portion from His Disciples, and approving, as far as they could tell it to Him, the theology of the Father.
We have therefore, as far as we could, tried to explain the significance of what was said concerning the five loaves and the two fishes. It is likely however, that those who are better able than us to reason can provide a better and fuller understanding regarding these five loaves and two fishes. But we must note that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Disciples say that they have five loaves and two fishes; not indicating whether the loaves are wheaten or barley loaves. Only John says they are barley loaves; from which perhaps it may be deduced that the Disciples in the Gospel of John did not say it either, but that with him they said: there is a boy here that hath five barley loaves, and two fishes. And as long as the five barley loaves and the two fishes were not brought to Jesus they do not begin to increase or be multiplied, or have power to feed the multitude.
But when the Saviour had taken them, He first looked up to heaven, drawing down from there as it were, along the rays of His sight, the power that was to be commingled with the loaves and fishes, by which five thousand people would be fed. And then He blessed the five loaves and the fishes by His word, by His blessing increasing them, and multiplying them; then, thirdly, breaking and dividing them in pieces He gave them to His Disciples to set before the people. Then they distributed the bread and fish so that all might eat and be filled; and some of the blessed loaves they could not finish. For there remained so much over from the people; which however remained not to the people, but to the Disciples, so that they were able to gather up what remained of the broken pieces, and put them in baskets; which they filled to the number of the twelve tribes of Egypt.
In the psalms it is written of Joseph: His hands had served in baskets (Ps. lxxx, 7); and of the Disciples of Jesus, that they, the twelve, I believe, gathered up of the remainder of the broken bread twelve baskets: not half-filled; but full. And with the Disciples of Jesus, as the Teachers of the Multitudes, now and until the end of the world, remain the twelve baskets of fragments of the Living Bread, which the multitudes could not eat.
They who ate of the five loaves, which were before the twelve basketfuls remained, have affinity with the quinary number. For they who had eaten of the five loaves had begun to discern things hidden; since they were fed by Him Who had looked up to heaven, and Who had blessed and broke them; and they were not women or children, but men. For, unless I am mistaken, there are degrees in food perceivable by the senses, so that some may be for those who have put away the things of a child (I Cor. xiii. 11), and some for those who are still children, and carnal-minded in Christ.
And we have said these things because of the words: And the number of them that did eat, was five thousand men, besides women and children; which provides a certain ambiguity. For either they who ate were five thousand men, and no one ate who was a child or a woman, or the men only numbered five thousand and the women and children were not counted. So some, as we say, understand the words to mean, that there were no women or children among those who were fed and made full from the five loaves and two fishes.
But someone will say that since many ate, and were made partakers of the loaves of blessing according to their standing and influence, some there were who merited to be in this number, like those from twenty years upwards as recorded in the Book of Numbers (Num. i. 3), and were men in Israel, and others who were not entitled to this standing and enumeration, as the women and children. Explain the children to me, allegorically, according to the saying: And I, Brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal (I Cor. iii. 1); and again the women, according to the words: I desire that I may present you all as a chaste virgin to Christ (II Cor. xi. 2); and the men, according to the words: When I became a man, I put away the things of a child (I Cor. xiii. 11).
Let us not pass over without explanation the passage: And when he had commanded the multitudes to sit down upon the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude: and they did all eat. What does this mean, that He commanded all the people to sit down upon the grass, and what can we understand here that is worthy of Jesus’s command in this place? I believe that He ordered the people to sit down upon the grass because of what is said in Isaias: all flesh is grass (Is. xi. 6); that is, to humble the flesh, to make subject the arrogance of the flesh (Rom. viii. 16); so that each one may become a partaker of the loaves to which Jesus gave His blessing.
Then since various are the groupings of those who need the nourishment of Jesus, since all are not nourished by the same words, it was, I think, because of this Mark has written: And he commanded them that they should make them all sit down by companies upon the green grass, and they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. And Luke: And he said to his disciples: Make them sit down by fifties in a company. For it was necessary for those who were to regain their strength through the food of Jesus, either to belong to the companies of a hundred, which is a sacred number, and consecrated to God through union; or in the order of the fifties, which number contains remission, according to the mystery of the Jubilee, which occurs in each fiftieth year, or to the mystery of the feast of Pentecost, which is the fiftieth day.
I believe that the twelve baskets mean the Apostles, to whom it was said: You shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt. ix. 28; Lk. xxii. 32). And, as anyone may say, there is a mystery in the throne of the one judging the tribe of Ruben, and the throne of the one judging the tribe of Simeon, and again in regard to the tribe of Judah, and so on with the others; and likewise regarding the basket of the tribe of Simeon, of Ruben, of Levi. But it is not the aim of our present discourse to turn so far aside from our purpose, that we may gather up what may be said concerning the twelve tribes, together and singly, and expound who is each tribe of Israel. Amen.
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14 : ST LEOBINUS, OR LUBIN, BISHOP OF CHARTRES (c. A.D. 558)
THE parents of St Lubin were peasants in the country near Poitiers, and from childhood he was set to work in the fields. As a boy he was keen to learn, and his thirst for knowledge increasing with years he went to a monastery—probably Noailles—where he was employed in menial tasks. His work occupied him all day, and he was obliged to do most of his studying at night, screening his lamp as best he could, because the monks complained that the light disturbed their slumbers. By humility and perseverance he advanced in religious knowledge until he had reached an honourable place in the house. In some way, however, he came into contact with St Carilef, and it was probably at his suggestion that Lubin sought out the hermit St Avitus, who recommended him to spend some time longer in a monastery and then to return to him in Le Perche.
After sundry misadventures Lubin settled down for five years in an abbey near Lyons, until in a war between the Franks and the Burgundians the monastery was raided and the monks took to flight, only Lubin and an old man remaining behind. The raiders, who were intent on plunder, tried to discover from the old man where the treasures were concealed, and he referred them to St Lubin. As they could obtain no information from him they had recourse to torture—fastening a cord round his head and tightening it. After this they tied his feet and dipped him, head first, into the river, but failing to make him divulge anything they eventually left him for dead. He recovered, however, and with two companions returned to Le Perche where St Avitus received him into his monastery. After the death of St Avitus, Lubin again lived the life of a hermit. Bishop Aetherius of Chartres nominated him abbot of Brou and raised him to the priesthood. He seems to have found his responsibilities too onerous and longed to lay down office and become a simple monk at Lerins, but St Caesarius, to whom his own bishop sent him for advice, told him to go back to Brou and not to leave his people like sheep without a shepherd. He obeyed, but soon after his return was promoted to succeed Aetherius as bishop of Chartres. He brought about various reforms and continued to be very famous for his miracles. He took part in the Fifth Council of Orleans and in the Second Council of Paris, dying on March 14, about 558, after a long illness.
(Benedict Baur)
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PLAIN TALKS ON MARRIAGE
FULGENCE MEYER , O.F.M.
(1954)
Chapter III
The Purposes and Privileges of Marriage
“O Lord, give me understanding, and I will search Thy law; and I will keep it with my whole heart” (Ps. 118, 33, 34).
MARRIAGE has been instituted by God for three purposes. It is mandatory to attend to these purposes in order to have the right view of matrimony, and to know what it allows and disallows to husband and wife. Before I go any further I want to caution my readers, that my subject will now grow very delicate. I shall have to deal with very personal and intimate sexual matters that are not discussed or even mentioned in public, except in the time of a mission before audiences made up of married people exclusively.
Not a few Catholics dislike very much to hear the priest speak on these topics at all. They pretend to be much shocked at it, and say it ill becomes him and his sacred dignity, and that in a holy place, to make mention of such things. They ask, moreover: “What does he, an unmarried man, know of the intimacies of marriage? where does he get his knowledge? and what business has he, anyway, to meddle with people’s most private affairs? It is an effrontery and imposition, that’s all.” When Catholics speak thus, it is usually due to only one reason: an uneasy conscience. They feel guilty, and they do not want their remorses and self-reproaches to be increased in number and kind and force. Hence their bitter and virulent criticism of the unwelcome and candid monitor.
The Stupid Ostrich
Not infrequently Catholic married people purposely stay away from the special instruction for the married during a mission, in order not to have their false and treacherous calm of conscience, regarding their heinous sins against matrimony, disturbed. Even as the ostrich is said to hide his head in the sand when the hunters are hot on his trail, so these deluded sinners try to blind themselves to the wrath of God that will be sure to overtake them, if they do not repent.
The Physician of the Soul
Conscientious Catholic married men and women are grateful for whatever instruction and information is given them regarding the sacred relations of married life. They want to do only what is right. In order to do it they have to know it. Who is to tell them what is right or wrong in the conduct of marriage if not the priest; their God-given guide and teacher? In whom else could they have confidence in matters of conscience? Where does the priest get this knowledge? It is imparted to him in his long years of study preparatory to his elevation to the priesthood, and it is increased and clarified by his observations and his multiple and varied experiences in the holy ministry. The knowledge which the physician requires to attend to the health of the body, the priest respectively needs to look after the welfare of the soul. Before marriage it is difficult, if not practically impossible, to give the young candidates all the knowledge they ought to have with reference to the ethics of married life; hence young married people are particularly appreciative of solid information in this regard.
“All Things Are Clean to the Clean”
It is furthermore to be observed, that there, is nothing intrinsically bad in nature, notably in the human body, and in the marriage relations of husband and wife. The human body is created by God just as it is with all its parts and organs: consequently it is good altogether, for God can not create anything bad. It is entirely and in everyone of its elements consecrated to God as His temple, and as the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost, through holy baptism. In its completeness it is blessed again and again by the Church, and after the Consecration in the nuptial Mass the bride’s body receives a particular blessing with regard to the sexual life. Our Lord, becoming man, assumed the human body just as it is in its entirety, and He gave it, too, to His ever Blessed Mother. Of itself, then, neither the human body nor any of its parts is bad. It only becomes bad when it is used, or abused and misused for purposes not sanctioned by God. Here apply the words of St. Paul: “All things are clean to the clean: but to them that are defiled … nothing is clean: but both their mind and their conscience are defiled” (Titus, 1, 15).
For the Glory of God
The marital relations have been expressly instituted and ordained by God: hence they, too, are not bad but, as long as they are performed in keeping with God’s ordinance, they are good and holy. St. Paul exhorts the first Christians to keep their “marriage honorable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Hebr., 13, 4), meaning that the lawful use of marriage leaves no moral stain whatever in its wake. And of the married woman the same Apostle says: ‘”She shall be saved by bearing children, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety” (1 Tim., 2, 15). Since a woman can not bear children without submitting to the marriage duty, St. Paul indirectly assures her, that she can even use it, provided she yields to it in keeping with God’s law, as a means of her salvation and sanctification. From all this it is clear that, far from being something vile, filthy and vulgar, the marriage act, properly performed, is holy and pleasing in the eyes of God, and merits an increase of glory in heaven. It falls fully and without any reservation under the classification given by St. Paul in these words: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do; do all things for the glory of God” (1 Cor., 10, 31). This, then, is the genuine Catholic conception of the marriage act. It behoves all Catholic married people to view it in this light always; for nothing will conduce more to keep them “in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety”. Such being the case, it is evident, that we can holily and profitably discuss the intimacies of marriage with all due delicacy and reverence for its high and sacred character.
Three Purposes of Marriage
The three purposes for which God instituted holy marriage are, first, the reproduction or multiplication of the human race. He no sooner joined the first couple in matrimony when He “blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen., l, 28). St. Francis de Sales says that marriage is to fill the earth with good citizens, and people heaven with saints: a most· worthy purpose, to be sure. In the second place matrimony is to foster mutual love and attachment between husband and wife. Finally, it is destined to serve as a sedative to concupiscence, or the sexual passion. In themselves passions are not bad, but good. There would be no motive power in human nature and in human society without them, and nothing good would be achieved. They are bad only when they are perverted to ends prohibited by God. The strongest passion in man is the desire for food and drink. The next strongest is the sexual passion. The one aims at the preservation of the individual, the other at that of the race. Both are very necessary, as is evident; and as good as they are necessary. To give the sexual passion virtuous and honorable satisfaction God instituted holy marriage.
Practical Corollaries
From all that has been said we can deduce certain practical corollaries regarding the intimate life of husband and wife. Above all it is plain that the marriage act so-called, or the sexual intercourse of husband and wife, is not only tolerated but is directly ordained by God; hence lawful, respectable and sacred; for without it the human family can not increase as God declared He wanted it to do. This act is justified by any of the three purposes mentioned above. It frequently happens that the first purpose, the procreation of children, is out of the question, either because the woman is already pregnant, or because she is beyond the child-bearing age, or for some other reason; yet one or the other, or both of the two remaining purposes of marriage warrant the act. Nor is it necessary that married people be actually conscious of, or directly intend the purposes of matrimony when they have knowledge of one another; it is sufficient if they have a mind to perform conscientiously the duties of their state of life.
Enough Is Too Much
How often is the marriage act allowed? This depends upon the will and choice of the parties concerned. The only restriction is that of moderation, which must be observed in all things. Common sense and a healthy self-love together with the law of God counsel moderation. Eating and drinking furnish an illustration here. We are not told how many meals we may eat a day. This is left to our judgment. But if one is intemperate in the consumption of food, and attempts, let us say, to eat six full meals a day, he will soon destroy his very capacity to take food at all, and with it every appetite for food and all enjoyment in its partaking. What was designed to give him pleasure only produces nausea and disgust in him. This is nature’s punishment for intemperance. It is the same, relatively, with regard to immoderation in connubial indulgence. It soon brings its own penalty, not only in the way of corporal weakness and disease, but it also produces a certain estrangement, coldness and disgust between the parties who are guilty of it. In carnal gratifications particularly is verified the saying: Enough is too much. Beware of surfeiting yourself, if you want the capacity for reasonable enjoyment to continue. Greater happiness is achieved, and sweeter thrills are enjoyed by virtuously restraining, than by wildly indulging, the desires of the flesh.
In Moderation ls Happiness
Perhaps this marital intemperance accounts. more than anything else for the sad but frequent observation, that husband and wife easily tire of, and grow apart from each other, when in reality they should still be in the very height of their honeymoon. The reason why they are mutually wearied and bored by one another is often because in their newly married life they have over-emphasized the lure of the flesh, and yielded to it without the wholesome restraint of virtue and good sense. Whilst man is perhaps the guiltier party in this excess as a rule, the woman is frequently as guilty or even more guilty than he by her immoderate craving for sensible caresses and emotional endearments. If, through motives of virtue and discretion, both man and wife moderate their penchant for carnal delights and passionate thrills, they will be richly compensated for this renouncement by a greater tenderness, a sweeter devotion, and a deeper, a more even, and a more lasting attachment to one another. There is not only virtue but also good common sense in following the advice of the Apostle who says: “Everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor: not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles that know not God” (1 Thess., 4, 4, 5).
The Spirit Is Above the Flesh
It is a low level of marital happiness, indeed, which finds its greatest expression in the relations of the flesh; and it is doomed to be as short-lived as it is shallow. Wise and virtuous Christian couples derive their highest joys from the sources of their mutual friendship, esteem and homage, and from the exchange of sentiments of, and stimulations to, virtue, honor and goodness. The woman, particularly, will remember to her profit, that if she is going to hold the sincere respect, the high regard, and the tender reverence of her husband, which to every honorable married woman means so much for her ease and well-being, she must always observe a certain feminine delicacy and modest reserve even in the most intimate familiarities of marriage; for man is by nature so constituted that, even when he permits himself every sexual excess, he still can not respect a woman who shamelessly throws off every restraint, and forfeits all the charming elusiveness and fascinating mystery with which nature has endowed her for her protection from, as well as for her power over man. And every honorable, chivalrous and truly gallant husband tenderly respects and carefully guards his wife’s innate love of purity and instinct of modesty. He avoids everything in his own conduct that might shock or revolt her intimate sensibilities.
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Father Krier will be in Albuquerque (Saint Joseph Cupertino) March 23. He will be in Eureka (Saint Joseph) March 25.
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