How that, the first year since the promulgation of Our Apostolic Constitution, Provida Mater Ecclesia (cf. A.A.S., XXXIX, n.4, p.114) has happily passed, since I We have before Our eyes so great a number of souls (hidden ‘with Christ in God’ (Col. o, 3) who aspire to perfection in the world and gladly ‘with generous heart and willing mind’ (2 Mac, 1, 3) consecrate their whole life to God in the new Secular Institutes, We cannot refrain from giving thanks to the Divine Goodness for this new militia which has increased the army of those professing the evangelical counsels in the world; and in this way the Catholic apostolate is providentially strengthened in these our times—times of trouble and sorrow —by a strong force.

What is a priest? He is a mediator between God and man (Summa III, 22, 1), that is, he stands halfway between God the Creator and man the created, giving the sacred things of God to the people and offering the prayers of the people to God. Says St Paul, ‘Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices’ (Heb: v. 1). A priest then has duties to God and man, and these duties are duties of love.

First let us look at his duties of love to God. And here I would speak not of the whole of a priest's duty to God. I would put aside for the moment his daily divine office, his prayers and meditations and benedictions, his officiating in the sacraments of baptism, penance and the rest. I wish to limit myself to one single act with which the priesthood is infinitely bound up. I mean of course the Mass. What is the Mass? It is Calvary.

To our Venerable Brethren Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other local Ordinaries enjoying peace and communion with the Apostolic See, Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

Although we have on many occasions ordained special prayers to be offered up throughout the world, and have often ordered the Catholic cause to be commended to God with greater insistency, no one will be surprised that in these present times we have once more seen tit to bring the I duty of special prayer home to souls.

In times of difficulty and hardship, more especially when the Powers of darkness seem to be given free rein to dare all within their power for the disgrace of the Christian cause, the Church has always been wont to implore God's help with greater fervour and perseverance, knowing that he is her author and defender. She has at the same time had recourse to the intercession of the saints in heaven, above all to that of the august Virgin the Mother of God, the support of whose patronage is surely the most powerful help in difficulty. Sooner or later the fruit of such pious supplication and of confidence in the divine goodness becomes apparent.

The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the sacrament to which all the others are ordered. The reception of all the others should be followed by it. It is the crown and consummation of the sacramental system. The sacrament of the Eucharist is not merely the consecrated species of bread and wine, which really and substantially contain the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ and which we receive in Holy Communion: it is also the words of transubstantiation uttered by the priest, which are the vehicle of Christ's substantiative action and make physically present to its his priestly act of self-oblation. The sacrament of the Eucharist in so far as it does this thing, makes present in a sacrament, but really, the priestly action of Christ, is called the Mass. The Mass is thus the supreme sacrament in its active part, as Holy Communion is the supreme sacrament in its passive Part.

Just two years ago His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, issued the Apostolic Constitution which established canonically those groups of laity who had banded themselves together for the same purposes as those in religious Orders but without the external structure of religious life. This recognition of Lay or, as they are more commonly known, Secular Institutes is of considerable importance both for these groups of laity themselves and for the whole Church in keeping her contemporary, abreast of the times and adapting her apostolic mission to the changing conditions of modern life. Eeaders of LIFE OF THE SPIRIT have shown great interest in this document on this account and have Hi particular wanted to know the principles upon which this new form °f dedicated life rests. Many have evidently hoped that these principles would enable the whole gamut of religious life, both contemplative and active, to be reproduced under essentially lay conditions.

If it be true that the rhythm of parish life should be accepted as the Church's normal means of bringing her members to their vocation of holiness, the danger of a false mystique must yet be faced and avoided. It is easy enough to envisage an idyllic order in which social circumstances and personal integrity alike encourage the growth of the Mystical Body as manifest in a local congregation of the faithful. But the facts are often painfully otherwise, and an appeal to a high achievement may trickle away into the lowest common denominator of what is customary.

The immediate difficulty springs from the fragmentation of parochial life, reflecting as it does the broken unity of social life everywhere. The crowded congregations at Mass may deceive; they must certainly be related to the crowds who have fallen away. And even the faithful, so often pitifully unaware of the deep resources of the faith they cling to, have largely ceased to be conscious of the God-given bond that brings them together. There can be no substitute for what is essential in any organism, and the Church is animated by the Holy Ghost himself.

Past issues of THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT have contained several articles on the possibility of living a contemplative life while remaining in the lay state. In particular the Pope's encouragement of ‘Secular Institutes’ in his Provida Mater Ecclesia was considered in relation to the contemplative ideal; for although the papal document is intended for lay organisations directly concerned with the active life and active apostolate it does also set the seal of approval on the general idea of living a specially dedicated form of life while remaining in the world. Beneath the surface of ordinary catholic life today there is such a turmoil of enthusiasm for some sort of religious life in the world that the Provida Mater Ecclesia marks the beginning of a new era in the religious life of the Church.

In an old number of ‘Punch', in those days a very anti- Catholic paper, there was a picture of a small child about five: ‘Gran'ma', she says, ‘please I want to be a nun'. ‘Good gracious, child, whatever has put such a dreadful idea into your head?’ ‘Well, you see, Gran'ma, I've found the world is very hollow; even my doll is stuffed with sawdust— so please, I should like to be a nun.’

This early Victorian idea of a nun has unfortunately not yet died out. To many, even now, she appears as a disappointed, not too happy creature, who has somehow lost her way in the world. Many, even good Catholics who are ready to admire the active Orders who teach and nurse (God bless them!) regard the life of an enclosed contemplative religious as ‘pure waste of life', and do not hesitate to say so. This attitude, we hope, is the result of ignorance rather than of malice. They do not know anything about it, still less do they understand. They do not understand the distinction between a career and a vocation.

We use the word ‘perfect’ in so many contexts that it is easy to lose sight of its etymological meaning (‘per’, thoroughly, ‘facere', to make). We need to look to its roots in order to understand St Thomas's use of the term. He speaks of ‘first perfection’ and ‘second perfection’ (I. 73. 1). ‘First perfection’ is God's gift to every man as he enters upon this life; he has a nature which is perfect, ‘thoroughly-made’, in that it lacks none of the finely-adapted faculties proper to a rational being. Activity is the very raison d'etre of these faculties and in bestowing them on a nature God imparts to it the ability to act, to operate. He who ‘created heaven and earth’ has been prodigal even of his power, since he willed to create a world which should mirror his omnipotence as well as his goodness.

There is a verse from the New Testament which begins with that same word. Unless: ‘Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth great fruit’. We have been stricken in recent times with especially grave losses, the deaths of those who in a special sense could be called the builders of the English Dominican Province of today: Fr Bede Jarrett through his years of provincialate, Fr Vincent McNabb through the leadership and inspiration of his teaching and his personality, Fr Hugh Pope through his work for the studies of the Province. Grains of wheat. They died in God as they had lived in God; and so from their deaths as from their lives new life is given to us. And now another builder is taken from us, and taken at a time when his wisdom and strength and prudence were most urgently needed, so that those of us who lived with him and depended upon him feel very lost; and yet his building too is not in vain but will go on, because Christ lived in him, and when he built the house it was the Lord that built it.

I have been asked to speak to you about your spiritual responsibilities. Better than anyone you know the weight of them, and very specially at a time when the religious life is suSering from some disrepute, from reproaches, attacks, even from a recruiting crisis. The misunderstandings, the calumnies even, which circulate among people of the world, whether practising or not, are hardly worth considering. On the other hand, what does deserve attention is the opinion of those Christians, priasts or layfolk, who seem to be the active elements of what His Eminence Cardinal Suhard calls ‘the springtime of the Church'.

Increasingly nowadays priests, and holy priests of good judgment and experience, hesitate to recommend the religious life to their penitents. On their side, many young girls, apparently called to evangelical perfection, seek something other than the religious state, in so ‘far at least as they are able to know it.

Grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy body and blood, that we may ever taste within us the fruit of thy Redemption.

Fructus Redemptionis—the fruit of redemption is grace which Christ merited for us on the Cross—hence the metaphor. We already received grace in Baptism and the other sacraments. But the Eucharist is the Sacrament par excellence of grace. It contains the Author of grace in Person—not so the other sacraments which contain but a participation of the power of Christ. The Eucharist is the very store-house of grace, the very Orchard of the fruit of Redemption, the very fountain-head of the divine life, the very wine-press of the blood.

Whether Christ, should have lived alone or in company with others. It would seem that he should not have liyed with others but should have adopted a solitary life.

1. (i) For it behoved Christ by his manner of life to declare himself not merely true man but also true God. It does not behove God to associate with men, as witness Daniel 2, 11: ‘For the thing that thou askest, 0 King, is difficult; nor can anyone be found that can show it before the King, except the gods who live apart from men'. Aristotle, too, states (I Polit. 2): ‘Who lives alone is either a beast’ that is to say, he is ostracised on account of his savage character, ‘or he is a god', that is, if he seeks solitude as being most conducive to contemplating the truth. Therefore does it seem unfitting for Christ to have associated with his fellow men.

For hundreds of years, it would seem, God left the revelation as it was at the time of the great Patriarchs. Even in the time of Moses there is no explicit reference to the Messias until we come to the most mysterious ‘ of all the scenes connected with prophecy: the oracles of Balaam (Numbers 24, 14-19). Bala King of Moat), asked his local prophet to curse the Israelites who were threatening his borders. Instead of cursing, Balaam blessed them. The fourth blessing runs as follows:

‘I see it (the people of the Israelites), but not as present. I contemplate it, but not as immediate. A star proceeds from Jacob, ft sceptre rises out of Israel. It shatters the temples of Moab. It exterminates all the sons of tumult. Edom is its possession; Seir, its enemy, is its possession. Israel does exploits’ (Num. 25, 17-8). This could be referred to David or to any conquering king of Israel. That was done; but generally, by Jews as well as Christians later, it was seen to refer truly and completely only to a spiritual Messias.

The opening words of the Catholic Catechism give a very simple answer to the enquiry concerning the origin and purpose of man. ‘Who made you? God made me. Here we are immediately confronted with the problem of our own origin, since as soon as our minds awaken from the slumbers of unconsciousness, we become supremely aware that we are alive, and seek for an explanation. The question then arises, ‘Why are you alive?’ And the correct answer must be, ‘Because God loves me'. God's love is creative and the cause of things. But it may be asked, ‘Why does God love you?’ The answer to this query is found in the fact that God is what he is. He is infinite goodness, and wills to communicate himself to others. St Thomas has said, ‘to love anything is nothing else than to will good to that thing'. (I, 20, 2.) It was by an act of love that ‘God made me out of nothing by his word'. Moreover not only does God create, but he preserves in being whatsoever he has made; ‘In him we live, and move, and are', says St Paul (Acts. 17, 28).

Life today is puzzling for many men and women. The problems and the answers to them are far from clear-cut; nor are they confined to those living entirely worldly lives; there are many seeking the things of the spirit who are having a time of difficulty and perplexity. The lay contemplative comes in for his or her fair share of these difficulties. It seems to these men and women that they have been given a very clear mandate by God. They are to live in the world and yet give him whole time service; thev are to follow as closely as they can yhe way of life that our Lord and his blessed Mother trod. They are increasingly aware of our Lord's words that some devils are only cast out by prayer and penance. It becomes more and more clear that most of our devils today are of this category and that God is leading these souls by a way of prayer and penance which is literally demanding whole-time service.

Quite normal people sometimes experience strange communications from a realm beyond their ordinary comprehension. Perhaps once or twice in their lives they will have a very vivid dream or a waking vision in which they see Christ himself, or angels or saints. These experiences are often inexplicable at the time, but they bring with them a certain assurance of having a real meaning, particularly when they are so unusual and unexpected. Such would seem to have been the experience of Mother Julian in her Revelations. But it is always necessary to examine such experiences critically and no one should readily accept them as of heavenly origin without a diligent testing of their nature and origin. St John of the Cross's writings make all this quite clear.

Let us now scrutinise more closely the happenings on that celebrated eighth of May. Were these shewings historical facts of divine origin or merely the dreams of a sick woman? This raises the question of the natural basis of mystical experience.