ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST[1]
Born in 1632, died in 1704; Member of the Jesuit order; Professor of rhetoric and theology; Court Preacher in 1670; acquired fame aa a Pulpit Orator unrivaled in his time.
The Passion of Christ, however sorrowful and ignominious it may appear to us, must nevertheless have been to Christ Himself an object of delight, since this God-man, by the wonderful secret of His wisdom and love, has willed that the mystery of it shall be continued and solemnly renewed in His Church until the final consummation of the world. For what is the Eucharist but a perpetual repetition of the Savior's Passion, and what has the Savior supposed in instituting it, but that whatever passed at Calvary is not only represented but consummated on our altars? That is to say, that He is still performing the functions of the victim anew, and is every moment virtually sacrificed, as tho it were not sufficient that He should have suffered once. At least that His love, as powerful as it is free, has given to His adorable suf-
- ↑ Probably one of the Lenten sermons preached before the court of Louis XIV., to which on ten occasions Bourdaloue was summoned. Abridged. The king once remarked that he "loved better to hear the repetitions of Bourdaloue than the novelties of anyone else." As first collected, Bourdaloue's works comprised sixteen volumes. Other editions are in eighteen volumes.
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