THE Ecclesiastical Review A MONTHLY PUBLICATION FOR THE CLERGY Cww Sujwwrum Vol. c JANUARY—JUNE. 1939 ■· Li Eccletia at un if'0”t>cn to the science <>r tben.ogy :n ~ and t e Mwtical Bodv under the heading:· m '··'· -'•ms delineating the fuirez of rhe bte of m- · · br:;r?.mb ■ml m the memce.·-? i'adwr Cierivac ’-y ; ,b t>;r . s · ,♦ »1- z.T V—J»»·4- *···· '-'i‘ essentially sir.'crnr.tv.r.^ Amer.con theologia:· ■ ime m.u'.e t-.-'yt l·' s·.. .-.·.·.,> of tens, both in the splendid books of λ ons.&n which those Father Garden? and in well written arttcles, a ^n. Indeed, : ··:„'.··.-·. '.k-crymgj't Jj . ■_ Λ- ·.- cm " nr.’ T. ” n ,C.-.ch a ·.. -c.····. b. ecu t·'‘‘I·a/. ■ . ■ ■ ■ ·.■-. :.c·? i ·'“. this aepar-’·1—·........... .ι->!ζ .. .·. .... ,‘-οti·..’ =-··ο-*-..■ ■·;·■ ;·.-■ .. ·. -..■.■·: re rta^c, Pr' “!C: ’.■ ■•-•-ce to the life and the activity of t prob. ..·..·._ .·.. ..., .-,e f:?.j ·-£ r^ire.i. - -, ■ -,a,, .1Ay.,l£l .... — theology m —· s> 1«·. cf visualizing other departments ot tnt 5, Ac ·-.. - ·Α1./.Ι -em mat ........ ' . . ■·.■ ..Λ.· wl: ch -1' H^i^· ■ββ^ΒΙΙ^^^· 39« ■■■ ■ I·· MMli ■■ THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. According to this brilliant theologian, the Mystical Body ot Christ is something which can be understood in functio o: four real causes—material, formal, efficient, and final. The material cause is definitely the principle, not of unity but ci multiplicity. The material cause of the Mystical Body is tLe Head and the members, those who go to make up the fulness J Christ. The other three causes are principles of unity, and ώ; Mystical Body is one by reason of these. The formal cause is either exemplary’· or intrinsic. The Mystical Body is one h' reason of exemplary causality because there is one, and only orc Model to which its members must be conformed. That one ulti­ mate exemplar is the Incarnate Word. The internal formal cause is either substantial or accidenti!· The Church can have no properly substantial cause because it is something made up of individual persons. But the Holy Ghost, to whom the activities of love on the part of the Blessed Trinity are attributed, is the quasi-substantial cause of the Mys­ tical Body. Obviously It does not enter into composition with the members to form a whole of which It would be a part. It fulfills the functions of a substantial cause by constituting the Mystical Body as a supernatural organism, binding the member' together in their corporate unitv. The accidental and secondary formal cause of the Mystical Body is twofold. First there is the moral and judicial subjectio to the glorious yoke of Christ the King within the Church. Then there is rhe perfecting bond of charity. The efficient cause that binds and holds the Church tcgrrLr is principal and instrumental. The principal cause is the Blessed Trinity, and by appropriation the Holy Ghost. The instrumenta cause is either conjoined or separate. The instrumental cause which makes the Church one is the humanity Ri ,bTpostatically united to the Second Person of me Se nnity. The 5eparate and secondary instrument·, ar; of Z 'ttn H‘m- Tfle rin-‘· I the MySr;csl Λκ:ν ; , ‘ ·,!Π^ Ct Chriit? ’ -'-^L * . ■ ·■ ί^^Μ^ΗΜ®βΙΙ3®ΙΙ·β·Ι··Ι1Ιθ0Μ®1 THE ACT O? THE MYSTICAL BODY. $99 As Father S.monin. has pointed out very well,10 there is bound he a certain incompleteness in any schema which attempts to ..a-.s.fy a supernatural reality in function of natural standards. T.ie work of Father Mura is exact, and in its own manner quite complete. Yet the very classification of which he made use precluded a very sharp insistence upon one principle of unity, aspect of the Mystical Body. We are one with Christ not ο-:·,- for reasons which can be resumed under the heading of tour causes, but because we are deputized and empowered in . pcctai way to make the act and the proper operation of Christ own. The Mystical Body is one with Christ because it is t:% crganization whose chief and central business is the eternal ccr -ce of the Redeemer. His act, that for which He came -io the world, is in a special way ours, in the sense that the • c.nbcrs of Christ are constituted as a kingly priesthood by a sharing in the priesthood of Christ. The unity of the ’•’.■.tical Body is essentially something dynamic. That which x r>:e proper act of the Head is the proper act of the members who are conjoined with Him. There is one act which is fundamentally and primarily the pr- per operation of Jesus Christ. The act of Redemption itself ' tr.e motive of the Incarnation, in such a way that, in the rrevnt order of divine providence, the Second Person of the Messed Trinity would not have assumed b.iniai: nature had idem, the father of the human race, not sinned.1- The purpose t the Incarnation was accomplished in the passion and death of '.'..rist. m an act which was at once satisfactory, sacrificial, -edempi.se. and thus efficaciously the cause of our salvation.5■■ ;::m the very moment of His conception Christ had merited il sahatic-n fur us in every act He performed, and in every ' u-dshm He endured. But, in the merciful decrees of divine pre, Jm,e. it bad been established that all these other mer Avdlrm·· Jamury. 1S57. V«tt. De ; THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. 400 The life of Christ in this world actually centered about the passion. Our Lord could and did look to His exaltation upoa the cross as the crowning achievement of His life on earth. The sacrifice of Calvary was the act toward which every other work of His hie was ordered, and to which He looked forward with eager anticipation. " I have a baptism wherewith I to be baptized: and how am I straightened until it be accom­ plished? ” 14 The sacrifice of Calvary is the proper act and per­ fection of Christ in such a way that the Apostle of the Gen:h’= could speak of his evangelizing work in the terms, " Te preach Christ crucified And, standing amidst the eternal glories of heaven, Saint John describes Him as " a Lamb, as it were The .Mystical Body of Christ is the organization of those to whom God has accorded the signal favor of being united to Christ in such a way that His act becomes their own. T-e operation of a thing constitutes its proper perfection, and, n the final analysis, a thing is one in so far as it operates as oseThe proper act of the Mystical Body is not different from me proper act °f Christ Himself. The act of the head :s -C of the body. Our union with Christ is not merely an affaire* ρί“· t;·. .n. It is not ouiAccnr but dynamic. The Mystical Body as an organi/arion. has a central affair, an essential busingwhich constitutes the proper basic concern of all its me.r.bersGiat operation is none other than the great sacrificial act c: Christ. un <.i.ur.-n has given us a very definite teaching :·■’ manner m which the passion of Christ and its effects are cofflρ*η·:η. wî?oai God E‘s "ncd into the unit}' or die Mystical Body. In the first place it is of faith that ώ justice o. Christ is not merely imputed to us. That was t® posumo., ο,, uutner. justly condemned in the Council or Ί .-;·■-·· eu er does that justice become ours merely by a sort of m conjunution. according t.) which the member ot ί WO aid be . n_. > , . . .... ,. ■’ Lu LJ«nz. J2C. THE ACT OF THE MYSTICAL BODY- 401 Ttc member of Christ is sacramentally a participant θ' «.fce of Christ. ; Unless they be born again m never be justified, since the grace by y i :ώϊ is given to them in that rebirth through t e men Parson.” *s The men to whom the merit of His ~ ~ t-c the orcs who receive the benefit o<. ; .· cf the Church receive the ocnc ns or ,n ’ .h'.;a ■ t Cbri-t. m-t as separated individuals, but as p .... ι„η.Ί .Wdur.-J .« Ift» i» «ί» ’»«*· “ Β-·'η^ the gemment of faith. . . ' : : Γ.· -rias its -h m us a clear and agence :n ;r.vdv of our dynam.sC union with Cnri't. -·’■ -..j cipate H:s activity. The nean ,‘,_ t‘ . ctr-.rw mi the Viv-ticai Body m >a,nc “Π red ' ■ ’ ’ ·■' - -uo-tion on the sacramental Cyjracte^, '-’π ’.^n. 1 i’^ context, rhe treatise on t .c sacr-*··*1* , :·· a :■. ;■-η'.οο'.’.Γ. and in its rr'Ter. ^.''^7*lV) the . ·. -.■ <\.:.cc as a wh b. 1‘T1'ï:\7 ^*Jiv dvramic ; ·.. -..ii C.i.’.r.icrer ammT u- the ba·-' tor a ^r. p- r · - ■ ■ .Xhîth.ù Body. The ep.tomc ’-■.I ~-c r the '.icr.irner.tal Jr.aractcr, ?:lu ^.J.v r-v a■ ' - ·’ Ày-st Ci! B--.’v i- f-'nnd .n unt ■*; :--J· .. .. j U..C aruCie staring that the character if > a 1 aua|ltv.i i-:. rUuc: m -mde- the r· .· '■ J · " -■ ■ ■ ·. ur.d.r ti-.c prcr.xt·- po /■- ·'. " ■ ·. .η. -md r.tempted me apparc'..·· '· ·· t·.:---c ή-e fir't ■ h.ib t md ‘••T''·;;;· ‘ ? . ...., \ r-d rip .n-nce. -'C·^ ot 'J; -2 Cath.dfC tO' , la^e’v t„ t le«en<.d appreciation of the doctrine o - ■■ < I-r - n f.w V? t.e-d Bui-., .......... ... : rtcicb f*;;-nrTf--ma-' ntiw - ~ .. ' ; i ■··,.·· »-> — -w ». ···,. ; ■ r? i · * 'ai. . '· * ' 1 ' · T* in as : 4(p THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. This sacrament signifies at the same time the cause of ow salvation, the passion of Christ. Thus it is rememorative of j past event. It signifies the form of our sanctifcation, habitual grace and the supernatural virtues. In this way it is demon­ strative of a present effect produced within us by the passion of Christ. Finally the sacrament is the sign of the ultimate effect of our sanctification, eternal life. Thus it is prognosis of future glory. In this way the passion of Christ itself, the cause of our salvation, is communicated to us in a certain manner in the sacraments.22 The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. We become members of the Church when we receive the sacrament si Baptism. The enduring quality which constitutes us as mem­ bers of the Church is the character of Baptism. Baptism imi is a conformation to the passion of Christ, an effective sign whereby we make the passion of Christ our act. Through tits sacrament we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death. For we are buried together with Him in baptism into death, that, as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. you also reckon that you are dead to sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2' We can appreciate the sacramental economy only in the measure that we realize that the passion and death of Christ not only constituted an act of redemption, by which we were lib­ erated from our sins, but was also the supreme act of religion2_ sacrifice, in which all who are to be saved in Christ must par­ ticipate. The sacraments of the new law, which have thest power from the passion of Christ, have also this double orienta­ tion. The tneology of Saint Thomas gives adequate expression to this twofold function of the sacraments, freeing men ftoio S S dTckX”?“? "tiK ww*of “«*«10 -t Jte or the Christian religion. « Sacramental grace (in general} takin tO -ke especially toward two things; that is, in acfk*3? f e e&ects Past sins, in so far as these are finished .“ act bot yet remain y me xrf m those thm« . ’ ΰ 6 n î P^1^^ g ch portam to the worship of God according “ W, in. 60, art. J. 4 anif '-Rom. £ THE ACT OF THE MYSTICAL BODY. 405 s the religion of the Christian life. It Is es id.nt from i has been said above that Christ has freed us, from our sin , only sufficiently and meritoriously, but also by way o sa non, especially through His passion. Likewise, a so t ir0°» . passion He initiated the rite of the Christian religion, c, & Himself as an oblation and a victim to Goa. , The sacrament of Baptism, by which we are maa,. m "i Christ, has this twofold effect. It takes aw*y vie .mu it gives the sacramental grace o± regene ^-αο^οι^ This sacramental grace is habitual grace itself, cariX^f ”n \;t,e sn exigency for those actual graces that are rare is conduct of chat life begun by Baptism.^ JTne habitua g.,fMatwhithwmiA»®·”β: ... .^,«4^, wmcn we recetve m W merely to know the concept of habitual grave Essss®w^iss=Sss:Haijituakgraee?is«««»**®»M' IS . ,,-.«β.Λΰη»»Λί® perfection of the next, constituti an activity in which God is gi' ■»ss®»wwss«»'·. . .. «ri«. inÎpt^T'XÎ X"rf çïri«; living members ot the X ..S ... gr-xce of the Church come to «s thr ist- but the life of which it is the tdtim »»* ttr*. - * 5 W»«W®MSS»®WeM»® sseïsaiii· "TXT cr -.s 404 THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. lost in the sin of Adam. All true religion among men is summed up and expressed in sacrifice. The life of which habitual grace is the intrinsic source constitutes a religion. I: is the special and unique glory of the grace of the Church. A the Mystical Body that its life is summed up and expressed ia the effably perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Baptism introduces us into the life of the Mystical Body, it is not the ultimate manifestation and expression of that life. Because that life is a service of God, or a religion, God in His mercy has constituted that Sacrament of Baptism so as to make it confer upon the person who receives it a special character, empowering and designating him for this service, by comig-irh; him to the priesthood of Christ Himself. The same qiwkv "which is a conhgurative sign of our partaking in rhe priesthood of Christ is the distinctive sign by which the member of Chr;st « differentiated from all men who have not been really united to Christ sacramentally. Li tms light we Λ| ca-« * one very definite «t, s ?■-" ,ct’ io one »5acrarncn^' character emp- - ' a ■ •'’•nhve. τη, îc-r>· ‘’f bother, as £J1 instrument <1 : ‘ - -n posses thc ciursu.itff ss a meinb.r ... tc. THE ACT OF THE MYSTICAL BODY. 405 Church is rhe instrument. The Eucharistic sacrifice, the true tucrnce of the Mass, in which the Catholic participates accord­ ing to his rank in the Mystical Body is the proper activity of tne Church as an instrument, and the proper operation of the Catholic as such. The worship of God, in the Mystical Body, iS summed up and expressed in one definite act, the Eucharistic ; ; y yiOlfiîce,q π : i i i s y lhe principal cause and tire instrument have one act, and produce one effect. The act of the principal cause is the act oi the instrument. In the eucharistie sacrifice the Mystical Body arts as the instrument of the passion of Christ, and in this sacri­ ficial operation it makes the passion of Christ the act of the Cdurch. The sacrifice of the Mass is then, in a special and metaphysical sense, the act of the Mystical Body, the tremendous instrumental function in which the baptized person is empow­ ered to participate. To define it by iu proper and immediate tuncrion, the Catholic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is ίΰ,κ organization which exists to offer the sacrifice of the Mass. Tie Christian or baptized person is marked as distinct from other men in that he is empowered to participate in the essenr ally corporate activity of the eucharistie sacrifice. The Church does not act as an amorphous unit in the per­ formance of the eucharistie sacrifice. The Church is constituted as an ordered, hierarchical s Since the act of a r: r·; «proportioned to what i: i--. :he pr.»pc;· ict the C.r.c-1. Church, the sacrifice of the Ma-·, i' m i.rd.-ed iverarc.-. cu :-t. In this proper operation cf t’-.c M’ s'kal B· -b ••f C rti’- n are some constituted as emp.-.-ete.l co fulfi'l an · · with reference to their icllow member-. a-c t.-w rwn signed with the character of H dy Order’. Th ·< wh ■ l·. r.e ;h. fulness of the priestly character are eni.-k j ··■ .c ’.-J . r t isacament of the Holy Euchi-.K, end :i.u< turn 1 f.e i- -dotai office of sacrifice. T.ne otrer- st-’ emo···’-;■·j t · pa-- .. · i . in that corporate function Jetnch·, i-'c-.rc..cc r.· of their order. _, These who posse >s a relative.} p.tsov.· t .r. thus are recipients rathe·.· than agents in th·: puf··’ '· * -icy -r ;·1’Church are the pc-w-on of the baptBinu c.. ws :r·.· thus enabled to re-rb.c the -»cher sacraments. This pc»xr i·- - -vf prinripafiy th- Holy Eucharist, "in whic.x *b* THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. 406 ■■11 worship of Go consists principally, in so far as it is the sacrifc of the Church.” ~h The worship or cultus of God is “a certain protestation of faith through exterior signs ”. And, because this protestation of faith is destined to be carried on until the end of time in the face of opposition coming from the inevitable enemies of th? cross of Christ, there is a sacramental character officially empow­ ering and designating the members of the Church for the spiritual conflict against the enemies of the faith.-' This is the character of Confirmation, which thus resolves itself airs an official empowering designation for the conduct of the Euch­ aristie sacrifice against the attacks made against it, Vincent Contenson.-* in commenting upon this phase of the sacrament’: economy, shows the close analogy between the sacramental char­ acter and the military designation in natural affairs, tf’nib: any citizen can actually hght the enemies of his country, only the soldier is officially designated and empowered for this work. So the confirmed Christian is the officially designated defender of the eucharistie sacrifice. Finally, all the teaching on the Holy Eucharist itself bring’ out the fact that it is the immediate operation, the proper act and perfection of the Mystical Body. It is rightly called a sacri­ fice in so far as it is rememorative of the Lord's passion That the Mass is " a true and proper sacrifice " is a dogma ci Catholic faith."'3 Furthermore, it is a sacrifice that belongs in a special way to the Mystical Body of Christ as an organization, ven those Masses in which the priest alone communicates sacranen tally must be considered common to the Church .v a !-‘ and partly because they are celebrated by a PUJ^‘C the Church, not for himself alone but for ad ta e at belong to the body of Christ.” X1 Saint Thomas bongs :arru* new***· ■ < jvho . Λ z&lbid., fit, -lu- S5, art- & st Ibid., BI, sju. 72, art. Î. 28 1 M(nti ei C/fdij {Lyons lit :'· $ϊ*Η··ηί Tb.oîoji.’j. 1Π. a" Λ· wTrent, Session 22, canon Denz. ?+<■ ■' ibid., chapter ?, Dera. 944. I the act of the mystical body. 407 sufficient to have one minister who takes the rôle of the Catholic people.” E" _ ( . Church The Holy Eucharist is the perfective sacrament o charity. in that it signifies and causes our union in J Since At the same time it is the sacrifice of the peop e ° θ , < the proper operation of the Mystical Body is the sacrifice o Mass, a social rather than a merely indmdua .“Tty gaint members of the Church as a whole could oe ca - ^sej Peter " a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a P , ζ. people.” And because sacrifice is the supreme act o summing up and expressing the acts ot ,the he God and testifying in a unique way to tneu^^· special •••■"d c.i-JmjJ rj\peik of them as constituted m ~ . < .u -uy deciare Th' v:rti:c'..n m· ■-■· :a •'■ut cr darkness into His marvellous light ....... acticu the une w'-d··1' ....... this ac tJ5'iSce is said ‘ i- ■ . hn\r H find t name is great 1 ■ Bod <’t reK.>: C 408 THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW. tian life. The acts of all the virtues enter into the background of prayer, and the eucharistie sacrifice, offered by the m·: r the name and the person of Christ, for the members of H-s Mystical Body, demands the sincerity of prayer and devotior, among those for whom it is offered. Thus the life of the Mystical Body, so brilliantly resumed in the work of Father Mura, finds its bond in its comm. n sion in the eucharistie sacrifice, the act of the Mystical Body. Joseph C. Fenton W7ashington, D. C. OUE LADY ÏÏT THE MODERN AGE. /''RÏTICAL TIMES such as those through which we are passing serve to bring out all the resources of the Church. In the spiritual warfare we are waging there are reserve battalions —truths the full value of which has not been previously realized —that are thrown into the conflict. Thus, for instance, the dynamic character of our epoch has resuscitated the Pauline conception of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. Only such a conception would be adequate in order that we might be in a position to contend successfully with the exaggerated nationalism which threatens the Faith. Since the political sociicies from which the threat comes have adopted a mystical philosnphy and speak of themselves in biological terms, Divine Provi­ dence has brought to the mind of this generation a conception of the Church which may be said to correspond, on the supernatural plane, to this new, vitalistic sociology. In the same way, it will be found that the special circumstances of the present age have given a new emphasis to Our Lady as the Mother of tht f.-idifj. At first sigh·. tretc would seem to be little w.irr’.rt in Serq ture or tradif'o ■ for aligning tôlier t?..· r lc m the creauui. ι·» the Mystical Body vhkh the nivdcrr. the t’> c an is dkc.’.-.er i In the story of Kr.t.c ,l n rd-tted in the Arts ι·; f/». she occupied In.·: ·, ’.••.;-r..'L· p ^itivn in the b.icigr .criC· Λ ■ ■ a· we know from the·.·.; score.·:· \ Cur. wh.n the LWy Ghost v·.'t-nued . ·. r’··!·. ?. d ,c.ple< cf die r sen t.l··.'»··· "·.'·' present. * The fie; ta <.n'.y c,-.su,.;'.y —mTn-d as it « particular «p.-.t-.i.e. But this >·, ccn i-n'1- ··'.?·. '■■.·· » : · ■. : y . ·-.··:Ji, as <·'.·. Vt’e SJRgW^· ‘ wu . : iilt.;.r md ^ru . c — It is, for the mm ■' ;rt, a rcc.»'.l « t -y? gives prominence to what ruy be i a-i-’i*. i-’ξ “ ’ "'.T ' But thh cannot be the w.ick· st > y. . . . He them ” is is tnn. sj ir tu;>lq , .