I have this opportunity today because tomorrow is the feast of the Mount of Nostrandae, St. 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 Christian language, as you know, always has certain elements connected with it.

[01:05]

One hears that a feast is always a community affair. Feast is fullness. A feast cannot be celebrated by one man by himself all alone. If somebody would try to do that, you know, on his birthday, retire, you know, and then celebrate 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, the language of the New Testament, the word Eopte, feast, really is synonymous with the festive crowd. Now that's one very significant feature one can see there.

[02:13]

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 that 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 a feast people rejoice. The joy is always the fruit of a wholesome, flourishing life. The flower of life rejoices.

[03:15]

So that is another aspect of the feast. Peace and life belong together. Exalted love, glorious love. And a feast, life radiates. And the radiation of life, that is what we call joy. And then the feast also has this. is characteristic, then 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 are open and heaven and earth as it were meet. That means those who celebrate here on earth are not alone. Somewhere there are a part of a greater community, a festival assembly.

[04:23]

Those who celebrate a feast in some way anticipate eternity. 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. And here's a feast. Why is it a feast? Because this, in this birthday of a martyr, the martyr himself, out of, is taken out of this world through the spirit of the resurrection.

[05:35]

and its place passes into eternal glory. And therefore this event is the source, so to speak, out of which the feast flourishes. Through the feast we celebrate and 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.

[06:41]

Now this feast then of the martyr, this birthday of the martyr is celebrated by us how? 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 intent. 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, say simply, by thinking about somebody who at this day passed out of his life, or something like that.

[07:51]

Or by remembering what this or that man has thought, or which books he has read. Therefore, we usually do not celebrate feasts over a philosopher. That's a completely different thing. A feast is in that way vitality, therefore holiness. And so now the martyrs' passion and resurrection is of course celebrated, as I say, not by reading about it, but by offering the Eucharistic sacraments. We offer the Eucharistic sacraments. And there, of course, 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.

[08:58]

Now let us grasp that idea again, frankly, because it is something beautiful and something unheard of. It's something absolutely unique to the Church. You will 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 who represents that original transitus, a transition from death into life, that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered on Good Friday and on Easter, passing from this life through the light of death into the glory of the resurrection.

[09:59]

as the Son of God made man, and therefore as the second Adam, therefore as they did of new mankind, therefore not for himself alone, but for all of us. So this, his 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 conquered. 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 cause, 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.

[11:25]

So this life of the Resurrection, which the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose for us, 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 martyrdom is contained in the resurrection of Christ. contains, as it were, not only the death and the resurrection of Christ, but also the death and the resurrection of the martyr.

[12:28]

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 upon us in the martyr. It is Christ's victory which is won in the martyr. And therefore he is martyr. 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, or that's fine, that's already a higher plane, or getting ill.

[13:39]

from somebody whom one has a special veneration. Therefore it's immediately in some way a self-related thing. Fine, as soon as he looked as the martyr and the feast of the martyr, as the church celebrates the feast of the martyr, 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 of the resurrection of Christ. So therefore, immediately in the martyrdom of this day 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.

[14:40]

Therefore, when the Church celebrates a martyrdom by offering Holy Mass, 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. They don't think why the Church, and then the Church celebrates every saint the offering of the Holy Sacrament. So that his, not only his martyrdom, as in the case of the martyr, but his, don't be sure, his death, his power is set by, 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 deceased How is it death? A death, for by the Church, is really celebrated. Today that too is so destroyed by the fact that we celebrate every requiem in Black Vespers.

[15:50]

That really destroys God in that it sets the requiem up against whatever we celebrate in White Vespers. That means the Feast 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 offering the Mass. However, there is a difference in this way, that at the feast of the Mount of 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 each adore the Father, because with the martyr we enter into the Father's glory, as it were.

[16:55]

So we celebrate the Feast of the Martyr, we celebrate it through offering the Holy Sacrifice. Why? Because this Holy Sacrifice is the source of the glory of the martyr. Therefore, the Feast of the 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. Therefore, the Passion and the Resurrection of the Master in that way are part of the Passion and the Resurrection of Christ, and we celebrate it by the offering of the Holy Sacrifice, because through the offering of the Sacrifice of Christ, we enter, through Christ, into living, vital contact with the

[18:14]

death and the victory of the world. That also has this, you see there are three things, and 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 Holies. Eterna redemptione inventa, always living for 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 through the days and through the months and through the years, through the Holy Eucharist.

[19:18]

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 the Hebrews reflects really the celebration of the Mass. We speak there, you know, of the assembly that we have come to, the new Zion, 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 voice of Christ and to the mediator and to the blood that speaks better than that of Abel. And when we read this scripture in the 11th and 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.

[20:24]

There's the Sanctus, which we come with the, you know, unite with the angels. There's the Mimoria of the Patriarchs and of all the two sides of the disease, the Blessed Spirit mentioned there. There's the Mediator. And there is the blood that is better to speak of, better than that of evil. So it seems as if really the mystery is salvation. And the Mass really is the living a new way through which we, the Church here on earth, enter into the passage that Christ has opened through the veil of his flesh into the inner center. so that after the canon we say, our Father who art in heaven, reach as it were the throne of mercy, utterly sacred to our heavenly Father, and then with him under his eye take part in the heavenly banquet in holy communion.

[21:28]

So that's also then a reason, you see, why, when you read several of the orations also here in our Missal, for example, at the Feast of St. Felicity or at the Feast of Cosmas 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 bridge between the sacrifice of Christ and our own personal life. So it is also for the martyrs. The martyrs receive the power to enter into their martyrdom through the Holy Eucharist. And it's so beautiful if you, if Father Bouygues in his liturgical piety has really beautifully described that. You see that for example in Saint Ignatius, in his epistle to the Romans.

[22:30]

Saint Ignatius 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 martyrdom and the celebration of the Eucharist is so evident. For alive as I am at this moment of writing, my longing is for death. Worldly arrows within me have been nailed to the cross, and no flame of material longing is left. Only the living water speaks within me, sacred, hastened to the Father. That's baptism. I have no taste for the food that perishes, nor for the pleasures of this life. And then comes the Eucharist. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ. And for a drink, I desire his blood, which is the agape, the selfless love that cannot be destroyed.

[23:34]

And therefore he says, it is good for me to sit, leaving the word 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. Even one can say the martyrdom itself is the way in which the martyr is completely identified with the Eucharistic sacrament. completely, perfectly identical. So that as you know, there were times in the Church where somebody who had been exposed to martyrdom and had some way of absolutely accepting and escaping, was thought free to offer the Holy Sacrifice. But I say that only in order to indicate the trend of thought, which is stable. The Eucharist is the sacrament representation for us of the death and the resurrection of Christ.

[24:42]

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. The martyr is, and that is what these texts of sending nations indicate so clearly, the martyr is the perfect Eucharistian. And that also is evident in the martyrdom of St. Polycarp. St. Polycarp 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 part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of thy Christ unto resurrection in eternal life, resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received today as a rich and acceptable sacrifice among those who are in thy presence.

[25:51]

And then the report goes on and reads, The fire took the shape of an arch, 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 word, the perfect Eucharist. In him, the sacramentum, one can say, and the exemplum become one in the spirit. And the, 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 that gives, to my mind, a special reason why we celebrate the martyrdom of the members of Christ.

[26:53]

This martyrdom of the members of Christ's body is in some way the fulfillment of the sufferings of Christ. That means fulfilling in that way that through the martyrs the sufferings of Christ in a very special way flow over into 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, he offered, and us. As the Eucharist, as it were, is the sacramental bridge, so the martyr is, as it were, the living human bridge. And that seems to me is the reason why every Eucharist is celebrated today on the sepulchre 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.

[27:58]

Because the martyr is, in that way, indicates or is the bridge between Christ and Him, present sacramentally, in a sacramental action, in what we call the Mysterium, and the individual Christian. Therefore, through the intercession of the martyr, the grace of martyrdom flows as it were from the head into the nervous. We can see that now very beautifully in the texts of the maps of St. Lawrence, which are not just in a short way, want to allude to. And one thing that I was eager to share with you is today's, in today's lands, of course, they're beautifully offered. Because there, in this obituary you have, and it's also so beautiful that there is Job, you know, before us as, let us say, the arch-martyr. and in which with the voice the words of Jo, the martyr at the altar, sings there.

[29:06]

And sings 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. He says, my prayer is pure, or rath sumeah, who writeth. 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 writing, are the writings of the mystics, like St. Teresa of Argonaut, St. Teresa of Lisieux, and so on. 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 Redeemer, and in that way perfect union between man and the Father. So that is accomplished and that is a reality in the martyrdom of the martyrs.

[30:14]

The martyrs are the mystics of the Old Church. And that is so beautifully right here, my prayer is pure, oratio mea pura. And of course with that oratio you have a wonderful example of what that means in the Eucharistic prayer of St. Polycarp which I just read. And therefore I ask that a place may be given to my voice in heaven, for there is my joy, and he knows my calling. Let my prayer ascend to that Lord. See, the martyrdom is an act which is characteristic and possible in the New Age that Christ has wrought to us, only in the fullness of the spirit of eminence, only in the fullness of the resurrection. But the martyrdom, the act of martyrdom, is a witness

[31:15]

that the power of this resurrection is 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 agape which seeketh not her own. and therefore enters into that complete liberty. And this prayer, 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 parasia, the fiducia, that boldness in which only the Christian in the fullness of the Holy Spirit can stand before his Creator. and then comes in our feast tomorrow, we have there that beautiful introit, praise and beauty are before him, holiness and majesty in this sanctuary.

[32:30]

Now that is the aspect of martyrdom as a glorious perfect reality. I just read to you a A preface, an old preface from the Feast of St. Lawrence that we find in the Leoniani. It says, I'll read it in Latin first, Gloriosi laurenti materis, pia certamina precumendo, a preface that was sung at the vigil of St. Lawrence. cuius honorabilis andua recursione solemnitas et perpequa semper et nova est. Through the healing return of his feast, this his solemnity perpequa semper et nova est, is at the same time eternal and always new.

[33:35]

See, the passio of the martyr has passed as a historically event, but the gloria of it lives eternally in before God. Therefore, it is always there present. As it says here in this preface, quia et in conspectu tuae majestatis permanet mortuorum pretiosa justorum. because before the eyes of your majesty there lives forever the death, the precious death of your just ones, of your holy ones. Et restaurantio incrementa laetitiae cum felicitatis aeternae recullunto ex ordia. and at the same time are given to us, or is given to us, growth in joy when we celebrate the beginnings of this eternal happiness.

[34:47]

So we celebrate the beginnings of this eternal happiness, that means we celebrate the birthday of the mountain. 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 falls still part of our earthly life, or as we may say, 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 day, what do we celebrate? The beginning of the martyr's glory, his passing from this earth into death.

[35:49]

into glory, the Pastoral Gloriosa. But by celebrating this Pastoral Gloriosa, year after year, whenever this day comes back, the Church celebrates it. And in that way, the Church honors, as it were, and in some way one can even say establishes, the eternal glory of the Father. so that by this constant recurrence, which is an earthly image of the perpetual presence of the precious death of the mortal 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.

[36:57]

And so it is here too. This in Freud leads us first to the end, to the sanction. That means before the Father. There where we stand with the martyr before our Heavenly Father. In the sanction. 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 spirigly and reaping spirigly. 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 714th chapter, one of the last verses of his prophecy, the characteristic note of the Messianic age, that the merchants shall be no more.

[38:07]

He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly. See, that's the alms. And then comes the multitude, and he who stops in blessings shall also reap of blessings. And of course, what is blessing? Eulogia. What is eulogia? It is radically the same as the Eucharist. So therefore, this Eucharistic allusion is right away clear here. Often and 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 gave, ministered the bread, the Eucharistic elements, and he gave to the poor. These two things can never be separated.

[39:13]

Who offers at the altar, the Eucharistic bread, also offers to the poor. So therefore he, St. Lawrence the deacon, sows in blessings, especially as the deacon, because in him what he does to the poor really takes as its source in what he does at the altar. at the eulogia, the blessing, where the divine blessing is celebrated. So he who sows him blessings shall also reap of blessings. Everyone as he has determined in his heart, everyone as he has determined in his heart, the multitude is essentially the identification of the objective and of the subjective. In that way it's mystical. not with sadness or impaled by necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver, the concrete identity between man and the will of God is the joyful giving.

[40:25]

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 the flesh. And God is able to make all grace abound in you. You must hear 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 the broad, given all he hath given to the poor, and his justice therefore remaineth forever. That abundance is eternity. And he that ministers seed to the sower may both give you bread to eat, and may multiply you to seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice.

[41:35]

Martyrdom reaches out, as you see, out of the sphere of art. I give you a little, that you may give me some." That's what I said before is so characteristic for the example of the cults of the saints in our times. Devotional saints. But martyrdom is part of the new age, fullness of the Spirit, therefore abundance everywhere. And that is then so beautifully, as we saw that yesterday too, in preparing the melody of this gradual, that if anybody listens to that, there is the identification of the soul and the passion and resurrection of Christ. And these are the words Thou hast proved by art, O Lord, and visited it by night. We are reminded there right away of St. John, of course, but it's St.

[42:37]

Lawrence here. Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity has not been found in me. See, that is that wise saying, Orazio mea justa est. My prayer is absolutely sincere. That's what it means. So here, too, has tried me by fire. Fire is the thing that breaks down the barrier between the objective and the subjective. And iniquity has not been found in me. And then comes the Gospel, also the beautiful. Jesus said to his disciples, Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remains alone. You see, there is the spirit of this world, that's the merchant spirit. That's the, whose souls, you know, sparingly, he sparingly will also rule. But if he dies, he brings forth much fruit.

[43:40]

He that loveth this life shall lose it. He that hateth this 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 unto me, him will my father honour." That's the whole essence of the martyrdom, and especially again of the deacon, because the Lord is the deacon of the bishop. The bishop represents the father, the deacon represents the son. Where my minister is, there I am with him, Christ says to his apostles and here to his deacon. 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.

[44:41]

Him will my father honor, so that that is the answer of glory. to the Passion of the Martyr. For praise and beauty are before him, and holiness and majesty are in his sanctuary. So that there the glory of the Passion and the Orphatory may, as it were, take possession of all those who are there, because they all through the Orphatory enter into that same Spirit that carries in itself the Resurrection. that goes out of this age and out of this earthly life and reaches up into eternity. And then in communion, that is fully realized in Holy Communion, where we enter into that heavenly a 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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