Leon 13 Escritos Algunos
Leon 13 Escritos Algunos
Leon 13 Escritos Algunos
MIRAE CARITATIS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
John iv., 14), so now Jesus availed Himself of this opportunity to excite
in the minds of the multitude a keen hunger for the bread "which
endureth unto life everlasting" (St. John vi., 27). Or, as He was careful
to explain to them, was the bread which He promised the same as
that heavenly manna which had been given to their fathers during
their wanderings in the desert, or again the same as that which, to
their amazement, they had recently received from Him; but He was
Himself that bread: "I," said He, "am the bread of life" (St. John vi.,
48). And He urges this still further upon them all both by invitation
and by precept: "if any man shall eat of this bread, he shall live for
ever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the
world" (St. John vi., 52). And in these other words He brings home to
them the gravity of the precept: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless
you shall eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall
not have life in you" (St. John vi., 54). Away then with the widespread
but most mischievous error of those who give it as their opinion that
the reception of the Eucharist is in a manner reserved for those
narrow-minded persons (as they are deemed) who rid themselves of
the cares of the world in order to find rest in some kind of professedly
religious life. For this gift, than which nothing can be more excellent
or more conducive to salvation, is offered to all those, whatever their
office or dignity may be, who wish - as every one ought to wish - to
foster in themselves that life of divine grace whose goal is the
attainment of the life of blessedness with God.
6. Indeed it is greatly to be desired that those men would rightly
esteem and would make due provision for life everlasting, whose
industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to shape the
course of human events. But alas! we see with sorrow that such men
too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred upon
this world as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity, inasmuch as
by their own energetic action they are urging it on to the race for
wealth, to a struggle for the possession of commodities which
minister to the love of comfort and display. And yet, whithersoever we
turn, we see that human society, if it be estranged from God, instead
of enjoying that peace in its possessions for which it had sought, is
shaken and tossed like one who is in the agony and heat of fever; for
while it anxiously strives for prosperity, and trusts to it alone, it is
pursuing an object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that ever
eludes the grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their
being from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through
Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever
proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is
the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that
life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous efforts, but also
enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of which in these days
laws of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and
wine are changed into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread
and wine are sustained by the divine power without the support of
any underlying substance; the Body of Christ is present in many
places at the same time, that is to say, wherever the Sacrament is
consecrated. And in order that human reason may the more willingly
pay its homage to this great mystery, there have not been wanting,
as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honour, both in
ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there
exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain that by this
Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its nourishment, the
objections of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is
thrown on the supernatural order.
8. But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken is
the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For if it is
true that a strict morality improves the quickness of man's intellectual
powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims of pagan philosophy
and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the
keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more,
in the region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the
light of faith, or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish
it. For these pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages,
infecting all classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender
years. Yet even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand
in the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on lust by
increasing charity, according to the words of St. Augustine, who says,
speaking of charity, "As it grows, lust diminishes; when it reaches
perfection, lust is no more" (De diversis quaestionibus, lxxxiii., q. 36).
Moreover the most chaste flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of
our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria taught, "For Christ abiding in us
lulls to sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members" (Lib.
iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most pleasant fruit
of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the words of the prophet:
"What is the good thing of Him," that is, of Christ, "and what is His
beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect and the wine that
engendereth virgins" (Zach. ix., 17), producing, in other words, that
flower and fruitage of a strong and constant purpose of virginity
which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and
spread abroad in the Catholic Church, with those advantages to
religion and to human society, wherever it is found, which are plain to
see.
9. To this it must be added that by this same Sacrament our hope of
everlasting blessedness, based on our trust in the divine assistance, is
wonderfully strengthened. For the edge of that longing for happiness
which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all men from their birth is
whetted even more and more by the experience of the deceitfulness
of earthly goods, by the unjust violence of wicked men, and by all
those other afflictions to which mind and body are subject. Now the
venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist is both the source and the
pledge of blessedness and of glory, and this, not for the soul alone,
but for the body also. For it enriches the soul with an abundance of
heavenly blessings, and fills it with a sweet joy which far surpasses
man's hope and expectations; it sustains him in adversity,
strengthens him in the spiritual combat, preserves him for life
everlasting, and as a special provision for the journey accompanies
him thither. And in the frail and perishable body that divine Host,
which is the immortal Body of Christ, implants a principle of
resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one day must germinate.
That to this source man's soul and body will be indebted for both
these boons has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has
dutifully reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: "He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood bath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at
the last day" (St. John vi., 55).
10. In connection with this matter it is of importance to consider that
in the Eucharist, seeing that it was instituted by Christ as "a perpetual
memorial of His Passion" (Opusc. lvii. Offic. de festo Corporis Christi),
is proclaimed to the Christian the necessity of a salutary selfchastisement. For Jesus said to those first priests of His: "Do this in
memory of Me" (Luke xxii, 18); that is to say, do this for the
commemoration of My pains, My sorrows, My grievous afflictions, My
death upon the Cross. Wherefore this Sacrament is at the same time a
Sacrifice, seasonable throughout the entire period of our penance;
and it is likewise a standing exhortation to all manner of toil, and a
solemn and severe rebuke to those carnal pleasures which some are
not ashamed so highly to praise and extol: "As often as ye shall eat
this bread, and drink this chalice, ye shall announce the death of the
Lord, until He come" (1 Cor. xi., 26).