Unique opportunity today because tomorrow is the feast of the Malta in the Sunday of St. Lawrence. And it may be good to take a new look at the custom of the church to celebrate the birthday of the martyr, a feast, this anniversary of the martyr, a feast in our world Christian language, as you know, always has certain elements connected with it.

[01:05]

One is that a feast is always a community affair. Feast is fullness. A feast cannot be celebrated by one man by himself born alone. If somebody would try to do that, you know, on his birthday... retire, you know, and then they're celebrated by himself, perhaps with the bottle as his only companion, it's not really a feast. A feast is life which spreads. A feast always needs a festive gathering. Therefore, in the Greek language of the New Testament, the word heopte, feast, really is synonymous with the festive crowd.

[02:06]

Now that's one very significant feature. I can see there that the feast is there celebrated in its deepest and fullest idea where we have the best, the deepest, the most universal and eternal valid community, and that is the church, that is the mystical body of Christ. Another thing is essential for the feast, and that is that it is sharing in life. A feast means an intensification, means an exaltation. No feast can be separated from the reality of joy and peace people rejoice the joy is always the fruit of a wholesome flourishing life the flower of life rejoices so that is another aspect of the peace peace and life belong together exalted love

[03:26]

glorious life. And if peace, life radiates. And the radiation of life, that is what we call joy. And then the beast also has this, is characteristic, that it certainly is celebrated still here on earth by earthly people. But then at the same time also, at the feast, as it were, heavens is all are open, and heaven and earth, as it were, meet. That means those who celebrate here on earth are not alone. Some way they are a part of a greater community, a festival assembly, Those who celebrate a feast in some way anticipate eternity.

[04:29]

Those who celebrate a feast in some way celebrate an ecstasy out of their mere earthly existence. Therefore, a feast cannot be separated from dancing. And dancing is just that, that exaltation, that lifting up of the heart and the body. The heart and the body. At a feast, these two cannot be separated. So a feast is really the anticipation of the resurrection. So therefore, you see, that is the reason now why we celebrate the birthday of a martyr in a feast. That is a feast. Why is it a feast? Because in this birthday of a martyr, The martyr himself is taken out of this world through the spirit of the resurrection and his place passes into eternal glory.

[05:42]

Passes into eternal glory. And therefore this event, this event is the source so to speak, out of which the feast flourishes. Through the feast, we celebrate it, we drink, as it were, from this source of glory, which is the Passion of the Martyr, the glorious, blessed Passion of the Martyr. The power of the Passion of the Martyr becomes accessible to us. And we enter in the feast celebrating the birthday of the martyr, we enter into that mysterium of his martyrdom that means the transitus, the Pascha, from his earthly life through his glorious death into the glory of the resurrection.

[06:44]

Now this feast then of the martyr, this birthday of the martyr, is celebrated by us now. It's always celebrated not only by us sitting together and, let us say, somebody reading the acts of this martyr and then the others listening and thinking about it and then having pious thoughts about it and then thinking or praying that they may follow this example. That is not, again, not a feast. Because that is something which is limited to the internet. That is not something which takes a hold of the entire man. That is not really a power. Never can a feast, a real feast, originate, let's say, simply by thinking about somebody who at this day passed out of his mouth.

[07:50]

Something like or by remembering what this or that man has thought, or which books he has written. See, therefore, we usually do not celebrate feasts over a philosopher. But a martyr, that's a completely different thing. A feast is, in that way, vitality. Therefore, holiness. And so, now, the martyrs and resurrection is, of course, celebrated, as I say, not by reading about it, but by offering the Eucharistic sacrifice. We offer the Eucharistic sacrifice. And there, of course, when we have, by the way, we have to think about that again. Let's wonder why the Church does that. Let us not take These things for granted in that lazy numbness that the weight of tradition imposes upon us.

[08:59]

But let us grasp that idea again frankly because it is something beautiful and something unheard of. It's something absolutely unique to the church. Do not find this kind of thing in any other religion. Now, why is it celebrated then the Passion of the Martyr by the offering of the Holy Eucharist? Because the Holy Eucharist is that mystery action, is that we present that original transitus, a transition from death into life that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on. on Good Friday and on Easter passing from this life through the night of death into the glory of the resurrection as the Son of God made man and therefore as the second Adam therefore as the head of new mankind therefore not for himself alone but for all of us

[10:16]

So this is, passing through death into life, is something universal, valid for everybody. Filled, as it were, with the power to flood the entire earth, to reform and transform the whole of mankind. In the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, death as such has been caught. The darkness of night has been transformed into light. Death has been conquered. The victory of life, of eternal life, is there. So therefore, the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord has not only the meaning of an example, but it is the Course, it is the Source, transforming power which transforms the death of every man who believes, has that inner contact in the spirit with Christ, and transforms his death into life.

[11:27]

So this life of the resurrection, which the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose first, has then poured out over the church in all fullness, this spirit of the resurrection, in a special way, takes concrete form in the martyr. The martyr is a witness. A witness to what? A witness to the victory of Christ. A witness to the power of Christ's resurrection. He is part of the death of Christ and part of the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the partial martyrs is contained in the and the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the Holy Eucharist contains, as it were, not only the death and the resurrection of Christ, but also the death and the resurrection of the martyr.

[12:29]

But of course, what is necessary for that is the fact which we as Christians understand completely that the passion and the resurrection of the martyr is not something independent of the death and the resurrection of Christ. But that is Christ's power that conquers in the martyr. It is Christ's victory which is won in the martyr. And therefore, he is part. And therefore, we celebrate the glory of the martyr by the offering of the Holy Eucharist. What do we do by that? If you think about that only for a moment, you are immediately on a completely different plane from, let us say, what we call today modern devotion to a certain saint. This modern devotion to a certain saint nearly always and nearly exclusively moves on the plane of imitation of virtue, but that's fine, that's already a higher plane, over getting hit from somebody whom one has

[13:43]

a special revelation. Therefore, it's immediately in some way a self-related thing. As soon as you look as the martyr and the feast of the martyrs, the church celebrates the feast of the martyrs, right away you see that on the plane really of the Spirit of Christ. You see the martyrdom celebrated as what? As glorification of the Father through the passion, the resurrection of Christ. So therefore, immediately in the martyrdom of this, say of St. Lawrence, what is celebrated? The Son of God made man. Where does it lead us then? Into the sanctuary, to the Father, our Father, who art in heaven. There we enter. Therefore, when the church celebrates a martyrdom by offering holy parents, and for that matter, you may add the feast of any saint, I don't think that that is really a part of the living devotion of the people today.

[14:59]

They don't think why the church celebrates every saint the offering of the Holy Sacre. So that his, not only his martyrdom, as the case of the martyr, but his, don't be sure, his death is separate, you know, as a passing into the Father's glory. As a participation, therefore, in the death and the resurrection of Christ. That's, for example, also the way why the deceived. How is a death? A death, even for by the is really celebrated. Celebrate. Today that too is so destroyed by the fact that we celebrate every breakbeam in black business. That really destroys completely. That sets the breakbeam off against whatever we celebrate in white business.

[16:02]

That means the peace of the saints. But in reality, the death of the Christian is really a feast. And therefore, the death of the Christian, that way also the anniversary, is celebrated by Holy Mass. However, there is a difference in this way that at the feast of the martyr, Holy Mass is celebrated. And what do we think there when we celebrate this? We think of, certainly, out of the glory of the martyr, We praise the Son, who through his death is the cause of this glorious suffering, and we reach adore the Father, because with the martyr, we enter into the Father's glory, as it were. So we celebrate the Feast of the Martyr, we celebrate it in offering the Holy Sacrifice.

[17:04]

Why? Because this Holy Sacrifice is the source of the glory of the martyr. Therefore, the feast of a martyr, too, is celebrated by the Church to glorify not only Christ, but also the martyr. While in the death of a Christian, we celebrate this death of a Christian, that through our celebration of this victory of Christ, also the deceased may pass into glory. May pass into glory. So, therefore, the passion and the martyr, the resurrection of a martyr in that way, are part of the passion and the resurrection of Christ, and be celebrated by the offering of the Holy Sacrifice, because through the offering of the sacrifice of Christ,

[18:05]

we enter through Christ into living vital contact with the death and victory of the world. That also has this input. You see there are three things that we should see also in their connection. One is the death and the resurrection of Christ. That is the source. That here in the death and the resurrection of Christ, our Lord, as the high priest, through the new way of his flesh, entered into the Holy of Christ. Eterna redemptione inventa. Always living by our intercession. That is the source. That is the archetype. But then this archetype, becomes concrete and is applied again and again to the church as the church wanders to the days and to the months and to the years through the Holy Eucharist.

[19:20]

The Holy Eucharist is for the church, as it were, the bridge, the new way. One really should read the epistle of the Hebrews also at one time under this aspect, how the letter to until the Hebrews reflects, really, the celebration of the Mass. We speak there, you know, of the assembly that we have come to, the new sign, the assembly that joins the choir of the thousands of angels, that also enters into the Church of the Firstborn with all the Blessed Spirit, that also listens to the volleys of Christ and to the Mediator, and to the blood that speaks better than that of Abel. And when you read this description in the 12th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is as if we would assist at Mass. It really seems as if the outlines of the Eucharistic celebration are right there in those verses.

[20:25]

There's the Psalms, which we unite with the angels. There is the memorial of the patriarchs and of all the two sites and of the deceased and blessed spirits. Mentioned there is the mediator and there is the blood that speaks better than that of Abel. So it seems as if really the mystery is hilarious. And the mass really is the living a new way through which we, the church here and here, enter into the passage that Christ has opened through the veil of his flesh into the inner sanctuary. So that after the canon, we say, our Father who art in heaven, reach as it were the throne of mercy, up his safety to our heavenly Father, and then with him under his eye, take part in the heavenly banquet in holy covenant.

[21:28]

So there, now, there's also then a reason, you see, why. And you read several of the orations also here in our Missal, for example, at the Feast of St. Felicitas or at the Feast of Cosmos and Damien. You will see there that the Holy Eucharist is considered as the source of the glory of the martyrs. So as for us, the Holy Eucharist is, as it were, the great between the sacrifice of Christ and our own personal life. So it is also for the martyrs. The martyrs will seek the power to enter into their martyrdom through the Holy Eucharist. And it's so beautiful if you, and Father Bouygues in his liturgical piety has really beautifully described that. You see that, for example, in St. Ignatius, in his Epistle 2, The Romans, the same in nation, says, I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may end as the pure bread of Christ, where that relation between his own personal subjective, let us say, martyrdom, and the celebration of the Eucharist is so evident.

[22:50]

For alive as I am at this moment of writing, my longing is for death. worldly arose within me, has been nailed to the cross, and no flame of material longing is left. Only the living water speaks within me, saying, hasten to the Father. That's Baptist. I have no taste for the food that perishes, nor for the pleasures of this life. And then, of course, the Eucharist, I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ. And for drink I desire his blood, which is the agape, the selfless love that cannot be destroyed. And therefore he says, it is good for me to sit, leaving the world for God, and so to rise in him. That really is the spirit of the martyr. And you can see its form is molded through the Eucharist.

[23:53]

Even one can say, the martyrdom is serious. is the way in which the martyr is completely identified with the Eucharist example. Completely, perfectly identified. So that, as you know, there were times in the Church where somebody who had been exposed to martyrdom and had, in some way, absolutely accepting it, escaped it, was thought to offer the Holy Sac. But I say that only in order to indicate the trend of thought. The Eucharist is the sacramental presentation for us of the death and the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, through the Eucharist, the death and the resurrection of Christ comes into us and to the martyr, it is the source of that complete identification.

[24:57]

The martyr is... And that is what these texts of Saint Ignatius indicate so clearly. The martyr is the perfect Eucharistia. And then also is evident in the martyrdom of Saint Polycar. Saint Polycar becomes a martyr by offering the Eucharistic prayer, saying, I bless thee, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, because I may have a thought, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of thy Christ unto resurrection in eternity. Resurrection both of soul and body in the improbability of the Holy Spirit. May I be received today as a rich and acceptable sacrifice among those who are in thy presence. And then the report goes on and reads, The fire took the shape of an arch,

[25:58]

like a ship's sail filled with wind, and stood round the body of the martyr, and he was there in the midst, not like flesh burning, but like bread being baked. So we see there, that is the idea. The martyr is, in that way, the perfect human. In him, the sacramentum, and the exemplum, become one in the same. Any, let us say, distinction that we always make between the objective reality of Christ's sacrifice and the subjective reality of his own soul are completely overcome. And there is, to my mind, a special reason why we celebrate the martyrdom of the members of Christ's body. This martyrdom of the members of Christ's body is in some way the fulfillment of the sufferings of Christ.

[27:02]

That means fulfillment that way that through the martyrs the sufferings of Christ in a very special way flow away to the members of the mystical body. The martyrs are in that way also in Christ mediators, as it were, bridges between the objective sacrifice of Christ, the author, and us. As the Eucharist, as it were, is the sacramental quick, so the latter is, as it were, the living human quick. And that seems to me is the reason why every Eucharist is celebrated today on the secular of a month. One can say in some way the Church today doesn't celebrate any Eucharist, any holy mass, without the presence of a month. Because the martyr is, in that way, indicator is the bridge between Christ the head, present sacramentally, in the sacramental action, in what we call the mysterium, and the individual Christian.

[28:16]

Therefore, through the intercession of the martyr, the grace of martyrdom flows, as it were, from the head into the neck. We can see that now very beautifully in the texts of the Mass of St. Lot, which I now just shortly want to allude to. And one thing that I was eager to share with you is today's, in today's Mass, of course, that beautiful offertory. Because in this offertory you have, and it's also so beautiful that there is a show before us as let us say, the Arch-Martyr. And in which with the voice the words of Jojo, the Martyr, at the Alpha-Turby. Sing is there. And sing is a song which, and that is what I would like you to understand, which is complete identification, complete identification between the Martyr and the Death and the Resurrection of Christ.

[29:24]

He says, My prayer is pure. One can say this, you know, that. What in our days, in our modern days, and for our modern devotional literature, and for our modern piety, are the writings of the mystics, like centuries of argument, centuries of wisdom. Therefore the old church were the martyrdom of the martyrs. What do we seek in the writings of the mystic? But the perfect identification between man and the demon. And in that way, perfect union between man and father. So that is accomplished, and that is a reality in the martyrdom of the martyrs. The martyrs are the mystics of the old church. And that is so beautifully right here. My prayer is pure. And of course, with that, you have a wonderful example of what that means in the prayer, the Eucharistic prayer of St.

[30:35]

Polychauch, which I just read. And therefore, I ask that a place may be given to my voice in heaven, for there is my church, and he knows my Let my prayer ascend to that. See, the martyrdom is an act, you see, which is characteristic and possible in the new age that Christ has brought to us. Only in the fullness of the spirit of heaven. Only in the fullness of the resurrection. But the martyrdom, the act of martyrdom, is a witness that the power of this resurrection as really present here and now in this member of Christ's mystical body. Therefore, that the new age is there in the martyr. He reaches out. He breaks the chains of this earthly existence in the power of the divine agony which seeketh not her own.

[31:46]

and therefore enters into that complete liberty. And this prayer and this offertory here that we sang today, out as it were of the heart of St. Lawrence, that is one of the most beautiful expressions of what we call the Parisia, the fiducia, that boldness in which only the Christian and the fullness of the Holy Spirit can stand before his Christ. And then comes in our feast, feast tomorrow. We have there that beautiful intro. Praise and beauty are before him. Holiness and majesty in his sanctuary. Now that is the aspect of martyrdom as a glorious, perfect reality. I just read to you a preface. old preface on the piece of St.

[32:47]

Lawrence that we find in the Leoniano. It says, I read it in Latin first, Gloriosi laventi martiris pia certamana precuendo was a preface that was sung at the vigil of St. Lawrence. Curios honorabilis andua recursione solendi past. et Perpetua Semper et Novas, through the yearly return of his feast, this Christo Limiti, Perpetua Semper et Novas, is at the same time eternal and always new. See, the pastio of the martyr has passed as a historical event. but the gloria of it lives eternally in before God.

[33:51]

Therefore is always there present. As it says here in this purpose, Because before the eyes of your majesty there lives forever the debt, the precious debt of your justice, of your whole. And at the same time, are given to us, or is given to us, grow in joy. When we celebrate, the beginnings of this eternal happiness. So we celebrate the beginnings of this eternal happiness.

[34:53]

That means we celebrate the birthday of the martyr. Through this, the church celebrates the birthday of the martyr. That means as a historical date, as a historical event. Therefore, on a definite day, which forms still part of our earthly life, or as we may say best, better perhaps, part of our earthly eternity. Because every year it comes again, the 10th of August, coming again, and that constant recurrence is a picture, an earthly picture, of eternity. But still, to us, we celebrate on this fixed date what do we celebrate? The beginning of the martyr's glory. His parcel from this earth into death, into glory. The Paschal Gloriosa.

[35:54]

But by celebrating this Paschal Gloriosa, year after year, whenever this day comes back, the Church celebrates it. And in that way, the Church celebrates or not, as it were, and in some way one can even say establishes the eternal glory of the world. So that by this constant recurrence, which is an earthly image of the perpetual presence of the precious death of the mountain before the eyes of the Divine Majesty, We, by celebrating this date, this beginning of his glory, we grow in joy. That means we grow in the subjective participation of the glory, of the victory of the martyr.

[36:59]

And so it is here, too. This joy leads us, first way, to the end, to the sanctuary. That means before the Father. There we stand with the martyr before our heavenly Father in the sanctuary. Therefore we say praise and beauty are before him holiness and majesty in his sanctuary. And then comes the epistle. He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly. You see, that is the Arabs. Sowing sparingly and reaping sparingly. That's this earth. That is what we call the merchant spirit. And you know very well that the prophet Zachary, who is the one prophet who describes in a most complete way, one can say the glories of the messianic age, takes as the last characteristic in the 7th, 14th chapter, one of the last verses of his prophecy, a characteristic note of the messianic age that the merchant spirit

[38:05]

shall be no more. He who sow sparingly shall also reap sparing. See, that's the errors. And then comes the martyr spirit. Then comes the plenitudo. And he who sows a blessing shall also reap of blessings. And of course, what is blessing? Ologia. What is Ologia? radically the same as the Eucharist here. So, therefore, this Eucharistic allusion is quite a very clear here. Evidently, you know, this epistle takes, that is part, of course, of the whole, one can say, the mystery of St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence was a deacon, and as a deacon, he ministered to the priest. He ministered the great priest, the Eucharistic element, else he gave to the poor.

[39:09]

These two things are never, can never be said. Who offers at the altar, see, the Eucharistic bread, also offers to the poor. So therefore he, St. Lawrence, the deacon, sold in blessings, especially as the deacon, because in him, what he does to the poor, really takes as its source in what it does at the altar, at the eulogia, the blessing, where the divine blessing is celebrated. So he who sows in blessings shall also reap of blessings. Everyone as he has determined in his heart, everyone as he has determined in his heart, the martyrdom is essentially the identification of the objective and of the subjective. In that way, it's missing. Not with sadness or impelled by necessity.

[40:11]

For God loveth a cheerful giver. The complete identity between man and the will of God is the joyful giving. The joyful giving. Because the joyful giving contains the resurrection. The joyful giving is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The joyful giving means the resurrection of body and soul. The joyful giving means abundance. The joyful giving means eternal joy. The joyful giving is the essence of peace. So, and God is able to make all praise abound in you. You must hear in the tone which is there. This is a proclamation of the fullness of the messianic age, that he, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, given all he has given to the poor, and his justice therefore remaineth forever.

[41:22]

That abundance is eternity. And he that ministers see to the sower will both give you bread to eat And we've multiplied your seed and increased the growth of the fruits of your justice. Martyrdom reaches out, as you see, out of the sphere of art. I give you little that you may give me some. As what I said before is so characteristic for the example of the cults of the saints in our days. Divorcials to the saints. But martyrdom is part of the new age. fullness of the spirit therefore abundance everywhere and that that is then so beautifully as we saw that yesterday too in the in preparing the melody of of this graduate that if if anybody I mean listens to that there is the identification of the soul and the passion and resurrection of

[42:25]

And these are the words thou hast proved by heart, O Lord, and visited it by night. You see, we are reminded there right away of St. John, of course, but his St. Lawrence here. Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity has not been found in me. See, that is that wise thing. My prayer is absolutely sincere. That's what it means. So here too, thou hast tried me by fire. Fire is the thing that breaks down the barrier between the objective and the subject. And iniquity has not been found in me. And then comes the gospel, also the beautiful Jesus said to his disciples, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it still remains alone. You see, that is the spirit of this world.

[43:26]

That's the merchant spirit. That's the whose souls, you know, sparingly, he sparingly will also live. But if he die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal. And then this beautiful addition, if any man minister to me, let him follow. And where I am, there also shall my minister be. And if any man minister to me, him will my father honor. That's the essence of the martyrdom, and especially again of the deacon, because St. Lord is the deacon of the bishop. Bishop represents the father, the deacon represents the son. Where my minister is, there I am with me, Christ says to his apostles. and ear to his deacon.

[44:27]

That means in the resurrection. And if any man minister to me, him will my Father honor. How do we minister to Christ? By offering ourselves as living sacrifices. He will my Father honor. So that that is the answer of glory to the passion of the Lord. Therefore, praise and beauty are before him, holiness and majesty are in his sanctuary, so that there the glory of the Passion at the Orbitory, as it were, takes possession of all those who are there, because they all through the Orbitory enter into that same Spirit that carries in itself the resurrection, that goes out of this age and of this earthly life, and reaches up into eternity. And that in communion, that is, who if any man minister to me, let him follow me.

[45:32]

Where I am, there also shall my minister be. And that is fully realized in Holy Communion, where we enter into that heavenly banquet with the risen Savior. So that in Holy Communion, really also our death, our wars, is changed into victory.

[45:54]

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