The Sacremental Teaching of the Lord's Prayer (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. THE HOLY EUCHARIST. "Give us this day our daily Bread." The application of the fourth petition to the Sacrament of the Altar is too evident to need any explanation. It has from the beginning been used by devout souls, with this primary reference to that Heavenly Food, "the Bread which cometh down from Heaven," and S. Jerome's Latin version even gives us as the translation of the words we render "daily bread," panem super substantia lem, or, as we would sa, "supernatural" Bread. Let us notice th place which this petition occupies, midway in the prayer. It is the central petition as the Holy Eucharist is the centre of the sacramental system, "the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God." Every other mystery in the Kingdom of grace has its place with reference to this chief Sacrament. Baptism and Confirmation prepare us for It and look to Its reception; the highest privilege and the crowning glory of the Priesthood is Its consecration; Penance and Unction cleanse the soul that it may worthily approach It, while Marriage is the mystery of that union of Christ and His Church, which the Holy Eucharist consummates. The pre-eminence of the Holy Eucharist over all other Sacraments is seen in this, that whereas other Sacraments confer upon us some particular grace as applying the merits of Christ, this gives us Christ Himself, in Whose Person all the treasures of grace are stored. Compare the Holy Eucharist with the other great Sacrament, as they are both denned in the Catechism, and the pre-eminence will appear. First, a Sacrament is defined as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace;" then this definition is applied to Holy Baptism and to the Holy Eucharist in turn. As applied to Holy Baptism only two questions...