130 DISCOURSES OP FATHER HYACINTHE. 



the liabitmil communion of the heart and life with the 

 "Word made flesli ? — the tears shed, like the ^lagdalene's, 

 upon his feet ? — tlie licad bowed, like John's, npon his 

 breast? — all that Avhich the '^Imitation of Jesus Clirisf* 

 calls so well '"the familiar friendship of Jesus?" Where, 

 to express it in a single word, is that Real Presence 

 which flows from the sacrament as from a hidden 

 spring, like a river of peace, upon the true Catholic, all 

 the day long, gladdening and fertilizing all his life ? 



This Immanuel — God with us — awaited you in our 

 church, and in that sacrament w^hich so powerfully 

 attracted you, even wiien you but half believed it. In 

 your own worship, as in the ancient synagogue, you 

 found naught but t^-^^es and shadows; they spoke to 

 you of reality, but did not contain it ; they awakened 

 your thirst, but did not quench it: weak and empty 

 rudiments, which have no longer the right to exist, 

 since the veil of the temi3le has been rent asunder, and 

 eternal realities been revealed. " Old things are passed 

 away; behold, all things are become new."* Ah! 

 blessed art thou, to have been led to the nuptial cham- 

 ber of the Lamb ! 



And 5'et, my daughter, if Christ has enticed your 

 heart (it is the prophet's own w^ord, "0 Lord, thou 

 enticed me and I was enticed ; thou art stronger than I, 

 and hast prevailed"!), he has respected all the rights of 

 your reason and free will. You have weighed long in 

 the balance of your judgment what you luive resolved, 

 what you are about to accomplish. I must do you the 

 justice to say that you have been scrupulous in reflec- 

 tion, and maturely deliberate in the fulfilment of your 



* 2 ('orinthiuiiH, v. 17. 



t .Icremiah, xx. 7. The expression of the common Eii^'lish version Is 

 Lindly jusfillfd by the Uebrew test— Tk. 



