 Welcome to The Commentaries, a podcast series from Tan in which you'll learn how to read and understand history's greatest Catholic works from today's greatest Catholic scholars. In every series of The Commentaries, your expert host will be your personal guide to not just read the book, but to live the book, shining the light of its eternal truths into our modern darkness. Visit tancommentaries.com to get your copy of the book and to subscribe for access to all the great reading plans, new episodes, bonus content, and exclusive deals for listeners of The Commentaries. Hello and welcome back. I'm Father Robert Nixon, a monk of the Order of St. Benedict and director of the Institute for Benedictine Studies at the Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity in New Norse or Western Australia. This is the commentary series on The Imitation of Christ, one of the most beloved spiritual books of all time, written by the great Thomas the Campus. Today is Day 16 and we're going to be examining Book 4, chapters 8 through 14 of this wonderful work. But before we get started upon looking at those chapters in detail, let us pray to God. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. O Christ, in bread and wine disguise, hidden from our earthly eyes, but present now in mystery, from death and sin, please set us free. Let us pure and true devotion rule our senses, thoughts, emotions. Let thy blood refresh our soul. Let thy body make us whole. As I mentioned last week, Book 4 of the four books which together comprise The Imitation of Christ deals with the Blessed Sacrament and it does this in a very wonderful way. In chapters 8 to 14 of this book, we're continuing with our exploration of the wonderful mysteries of this Blessed Sacrament and chapter 8 begins with the idea of the oblation of Christ on the cross and of our own resignation. Now this word, oblation, which is a translation of the Latin word, oblazio, means something like gift. It's a word which appears in our current English translation of the Roman canon. So the oblation of Christ on the cross, the gift, the offering of Christ upon the cross and of our own resignation. The theme of this chapter is the kind of unification of self-resignation with the self-offering of Christ on the cross to realize that in sacrificing something of ourselves, in residing something of ourselves, we're uniting ourselves to that wonderful sacrifice of Christ which took place on the hill of Calvary all those years ago. And it begins with Christ speaking, as I willingly offered myself to God my Father for your sins with my hands stretched out upon the cross and my body naked so that nothing remained in me which was not turned into a sacrifice to appease the divine wrath. Even so must you willingly offer yourself to me daily in the mass for a pure and holy oblation together with all your powers and affections as heartily as you are able. What do I require more of you than that you endeavor to resign yourself entirely to me? Whatsoever you give me beside yourself I regard not, for I seek not thy gift, but thy self. And so this is a wonderful imploration Christ is inviting us to participate with him in his sacrifice of the cross to offer our own souls on the altar. And I think a very important part of the mass is what's called the preparation of the gifts. And this involves the kind of offering of what we have of who we are upon the altar in sacrifice to God. And this is not only the priest who's offering himself but every member of the congregation there present. And it's a wonderful exchange. What we offer to Christ is then transformed by the words of consecration into the essence of the divinity itself. So this is part of the mystical union with Christ which takes place in every celebration of the mass. In chapter nine we move on to that we must offer ourselves and all that is ours to God and pray for all. And this is following the same thing in the previous chapter. So this is the disciple now responding to the Lord. And he says, Lord, all things are yours in heaven and earth. I desire to offer myself to you as a voluntary oblation and to remain forever yours. Lord, in the sincerity of my heart I offer myself to you this day to be your servant evermore, to serve you and to become a sacrifice of perpetual praise to you. So as we are present at the celebration of the Eucharist, as we prepare ourselves to receive the body and blood of Christ, we should offer ourselves upon that altar. Say to God, everything I am, everything I have, everything I do, I offer to you. Take it, Lord, purify it, accept it with all its faults and shortcomings and transform it by your holy grace. Chapter 10 tells us that holy communion is not likely to be omitted. And this is very important. It's Christ speaking to us. And it tells us that often a person is hindered by too great a solicitude for obtaining devotion and a certain anxiety about making his confession. Follow herein the counsel of the wise and put away all anxiety and scruple, for it hinders the grace of God and destroys devotion. Leave not the holy communion for every small trouble and vexation, but go quickly to confession and willingly forgive others their offenses against you. And if you have offended anyone, humbly crave pardon and God will readily forgive you. What does this avail you to delay confession for a long time or to put off holy communion? Purge thyself with speed, spit out the venom presently, and make haste to take this remedy. And you shall find it better for you than if you had deferred for a long time. If you defer today for this cause, perhaps tomorrow a greater one will occur. And so you may be hindered for a long time from communion and become all the more unfit. What he's talking about here is scruples in receiving communion. And this was perhaps a greater issue in his own time for many people than it was now. Because of course in receiving communion we're receiving the body and blood, but as we read anyone who receives it unworthily, meaning without the proper disposition or without being in the proper state, is receiving condemnation. This has to be moderated by the realization that none of us are ever truly or properly worthy to receive this wonderful gift. So he's urging us to strike a balance between what are called scruples, which are kind of unhelpful or exaggerated hesitations about participating. And he's not saying that these things don't matter, but rather he's saying if we're conscious of any sin, then we should hasten to confession, to prepare ourselves. And once we have made confession and received absolution, to believe in the efficacy. I mean, in my own experience as a priest I often, you know, it's not common to encounter situations in which people don't seem to believe fully in the efficacy of the sacrament of reconciliation. But once a sin has been confessed and absolved, then trusting in the sacrament of the church, we are truly freed from that sin, and so ready to receive the sacrament of holy communion. That doesn't mean on the other hand that we should, you know, just disregard our own disposition and state of grace. So there needs to be a proper balance. And he talks about that when he is lawfully hindered. So in other words, there are circumstances when a person shouldn't receive communion. He must always have a good will and a pious intention to communicate. And so he shall not lose the fruit of the sacrament. And he says also if a person abstains out of humility, all by reason of some lawful impediment, he is to be commended for his reverence. Continuing then with chapter 11, that the body of Christ and the holy scriptures are most necessary to a faithful soul. So in the celebration of the Mass, we're nourished both by the word and the sacrament of the ignorance. The word in its way is a sacrament as well. So we're receiving God in a number of forms. Firstly, in the species of bread and wine, the true body and blood of Christ. We're also receiving the divine word through the scripture reading and through the other elements in the Mass. Of course, we need to remember that these two are not equal elements, that the body and blood of Christ is infinitely greater than the holy scriptures as important as they are. And I like to compare this between a letter received from a person and the person themselves. Now, are we going to take more notice of the presence of the person themselves and give that person more honor than this letter which we happened to receive from them a couple of weeks ago or whatever? And sometimes in our church today, there can be a tendency towards a type of idolatry of the scriptures, of almost giving them primacy. And I don't know if this came about as an idea that it might be a nice ecumenical thing to do, that it might make the Protestants happy or whatever. But the body and blood is what makes a Mass a Mass. But we should prepare ourselves by being open to the words of holy scripture and in particular also open to the other parts of the Mass, the beautiful prayers which we find in our missile. Chapter 12, that he who is to communicate ought to prepare himself for Christ with great diligence. And this is so important. We need to prepare for Mass each time. We need to pray beforehand to pray and reflect during the Mass. And hopefully during the Mass, there will be sufficient periods of silence for this preparation and prayer to take place. And we read Christ speaking to the disciple, I am the lover of purity and the giver of all holiness. I seek a pure heart and there is the place of my rest. Make ready for me a large upper room furnished. And I shall eat the Passover with you together with my disciples. If you will have me come to you and remain with you, purge out the old leaven and make clean the habitation of your heart. Shut out the whole world and all the tumult of vices. Sit like a sparrow solitary on the hell-stop and think in your excess and in the bitterness of your soul. For every lover prepares the best and fairest room for his dearly beloved. And hereby is known the affection of him that entertains his beloved. So this preparing our hearts and our souls to receive Christ in the Holy Sacrament is so important. We need to try to put things in order. If we can imagine if we had a guest coming to our house, we would take care of things. And the example he gives of someone receiving a beloved. And you can imagine, you know, in the early stages of a romance and hopefully in married life, hopefully people take care that they're making a fitting dwelling place for the person who they love so much. And Christ, of course, we love above all other things. So can we beautify? Can we put into order? Can we clean up the chambers of our heart and soul so that we're ready to receive this most beloved of guests? In Chapter 13, that a devout soul ought to desire with her whole heart to be united to Christ in this sacrament. And users there the possessive adjective her whole heart enlighten the soul. Anima is a feminine word. And for that reason it's referred to as her. So this, of course, applies to men as well as women. So it's talking about nourishing the desire for union with Christ before we receive the Blessed Sacrament. So this is written in the person of the disciple. And he prays, Who will give me, O Lord, that I may find you alone, that I may open my whole heart to you and enjoy you as my soul desires, and that no man may despise me, nor anything created move me or regard me, but that you alone speak to me and I to you, as the beloved is accustomed to speak to his beloved, and a friend to entertain himself with his friend. This I pray for, this I desire, that I may be wholly united to you, and may withdraw my heart from all created things. And by the holy communion, and often celebrating, may more and more learn to relish heavenly and eternal things. And this is absolutely a beautiful reflection of the ardent desire with which we should receive communion. We should stir up within ourselves a true hunger for this union with our beloved. And this union, of course, leads us to eternal glory. And then we continue in the next chapter with this same theme of the ardent desire of some devout persons to receive the body of Christ. And it speaks about people who have been blessed with this great and ardent desire. It says, many devout persons have been who out of a vehement desire for communion and a sensible love in their hearts could not contain themselves from weeping, but with their whole souls eagerly thirsting to approach, both with the mouth of their heart and their body, to thee, O God, the living fountain, being in no way able to moderate or satisfy their hunger, but by receiving thy body with all joy and spiritual eagerness. O true ardent faith of such persons, being an argument of thy sacred presence. So giving us the example of this multitude of saints who've had experience of this ardent desire to receive holy communion. And as he says, this is a probable argument of thy sacred presence. Now, probable in this case has a slightly different meaning to its usual contemporary meaning. It means as a proven argument of his true presence that people wouldn't have felt this ardent desire if Christ wasn't truly present in the Eucharist. And I think that is something worth reflecting upon and praying also for the grace to burn with this same ardent desire for the Eucharist, which will then impart itself in the form of reverence and awe and guard ourselves against doing anything which might render us unworthy for this wonderful blessing. Well, that brings us to the end of day 16 in our study of the imitation of Christ. Thank you so much for listening and for joining me on this wonderful journey. Next time we'll be discussing book 4, chapters 15 to 18. And until then, may you walk closely with Christ. Amen. This has been an episode of The Commentaries, a podcast brought to you by Tan. To follow the show, study more of the greatest Catholic classics and to support the commentaries and other great free content from Tan. 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