XXIII. Preparation for Christmas Communion-i. S. JOHN I, II. 'He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.' Š. Luke ii. 7. 'There was no room for them in the inn.' The Advent Collect, which Sunday by Sunday, and day by day, is used before all the other Collects at this season, speaks to us of our dear Lord's Coming in { Humility and in Power our Saviour } to be {and our Judge. But between His first Coming and His last Advent there are many ways in which even now He is constantly coming to us: thus He comes, i. In Holy Scripture-for the Holy Scriptures are, as it were, the swaddling clothes in which Christ is wrapped up' (Chrys.); ii. In the persons of His Ministers, who are His ambassadors sent to represent Him; iii. In troubles and trials, wherein He disguises Himself, and appears, as to the disciples going to Emmaus, 'in another form' (S. Mark xvi. 12); iv. In the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, wherein He veils His Brightness under the lowly veils of Bread and Wine. He comes, that He may pardon, help, cheer, and enable us to meet Him with joy at His Last Great Coming (S. Matt. xxiv. 30; Rev. i. 7). And now, behold! already the Lord is at hand! But... days and lo! thy King cometh unto thee: yea, on Christmas Day the Bridegroom cometh, therefore now go ye out to meet Him. On Christmas Day our dear Redeemer, Lord, and God comes to us in a twofold way i. In our mind: ii. In the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood. 1. Yes! JESUS our King comes to us on Christmas Day in our mind. He is born into our hearts on that glad day, by love and faith and devotion. For Christmas should be not a mere Festival of mirth, and jollity, and merrymaking, but we should remember why we rejoice before the Lord on that great day, and Who and what have rendered the day so bright and joyous! It is the Coming of the King, the Birth of our Lord and Saviour JESUS Christ, which have brought light to this dull, dark world. Try to realize the Nativity of the Lord-not merely as a thing you have heard tell of, or have read in books, which happened a long, long time ago, but as a great reality which happens, as it were, afresh every year. Thus the Lord, the Holy Child JESUS, will be born into your heart and mind by an act of Faith. 2. But more than this, JESUS our Lord, our King, is coming to us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The Bread and Wine are the swaddling clothes in which is wrapped up the Babe of Bethlehem, the veils which conceal at once His Godhead and His Humanity. Devoutly we adore Thee, Deity unseen, Who Thy glory hidest 'neath these shadows mean; On the Cross lay hidden but Thy Deity, Here is also hidden Thy Humanity.' -Allar Hymnal, 139, vers. I, 3. Yet but.... days and He Who cometh will come in the Holy Eucharist, blessed are all they that wait for Him! 3. But what, when He does come? How will He find us? Shall it be said of any of us then-He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; there was no room for Him in the inn? He came unto His own-His own creatures whom He had made, His own brethren according to the Flesh, members of His Body, soldiers of His Army-He came in the Holy Eucharist. The Feast was prepared, the Altar decked, the tapers lit, the Priest vested, all things ready-But His own received Him not; the Feast was prepared, but the guests made excuse and did not come, the worshippers were few, few drew nigh unto the Altar to receive him in the Holy Eucharist, the many turned their backs upon their God and King, and came not forth to meet Him; they loathed His Holy Food, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, one to the care of his household and children, another to his own feasting and merrymaking? 4 As now JESUS looks down into our hearts what does He see? That there is earnest and hearty preparation to meet and greet the King of kings at His own appointed trysting place, the Altars of His Church, on His own Birthday? Does He Who trieth the reins and the hearts perceive that we are making earnest and hearty preparation to receive and welcome so Great and Blessed a Guest as the King of kings? Does He see the heart swept out with brave self-examination, and hearty and true confession, the dust laid even with tears of true contrition, the lamp of love burning bright within, and giving light to all who enter in, the inner guest-chamber and the whole house perfumed with praise, fragrant with the incense of constant prayer, adorned and beautified with all holy and godly virtues, and everything in order? Or does He see that there is no room for Him in the inn of our heart? that it is in very deed an inn, radoxsov, a receptacle for anything and everything pertaining to the world, that there is room for every one and everything else-for business, cares, amusements, pleasures, know ledge, relations, friends; but none for Him, to Whom body and soul, heart and mind and strength should all belong? 5. T 2. Is He even now saying of any of us-'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head'? And is it so? Have the foxes-those little foxes which spoil the grapes, even those little sins,' as men call them, which spoil the fruits of the Spirit-nests in our hearts, whilst there is no room for JESUS? Is there room for the birds of the air, even winged thoughts of ourselves, of others, of the past, of the future, of pleasure, of care, of vanity, of sin, and yet no room for JESUS? Is there such a noise, confusion, Babel of sounds within, that the Voice of JESUS, when He comes and stands and knocks, cannot be heard? Remember what He hath said, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My Voice, and open the door, I will come in, and will sup with him, and he with Me' (Rev. iii. 20); and again, ‘If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him' (S. John xiv. 23). Let us now arise and fall low on our knees before our God, and sweep diligently the house of our soul, that so when JESUS our Lord comes on Christmas Day there may be room in our hearts, even a guest-chamber furnished and prepared to receive Him! [For the Form of Service to be here used, see p. 10 ante.] XXIV. Preparation for Christmas S. MATT. xxi. 5. 'Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.' The King of kings, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Holy Child JESUS, is coming to us on Christmas Day. Yes! in the sweet and Blessed Sacrament of His Love, He comes to us that He- —our own God, because our Brother Man according to the Flesh-may give us His Blessing. Shall the Holy Angels, as they sing their carols at His Birth, look down and see us cold, unmoved, and careless, turning our backs upon the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and refusing to receive, to welcome, and to entertain the Word made Flesh as our own dear Guest? Shall they be compelled to say in grief and sadness, 'He,' the Lord of Life and Glory, 'caine unto His own' Christian people, to those whom He had purchased with His own Blood, but His own received Him not,' in His own appointed way, the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist? What shall it be said 'There was no room for Him in the inn of men's hearts'? Is there room for daily duties, for work, for cares, for anxieties, for sorrows, for pleasures? room for our families, our relations, our friends, our acquaintances, but no room at all for the Holy Babe of Bethlehem, Emmanuel, God with us? 6 Brethren! I am persuaded better things of you. I verily believe that ye do desire to receive the Lord of Life and Glory into the tabernacles of your souls and bodies that so, when ye put off the earthly house of this your tabernacle, He may receive you into ever. lasting habitations, even as He hath promised, Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My Flesh is Meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. As the Living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me' (S. John vi. 54, 55, 57). Are you looking on to Christmas that you may behold by Faith the Holy Child lying in the manger at Bethlehem? Yea, that you may yourself receive and enjoy your God on that day, veiled under the elements of Bread and Wine? Then must you prepare a lodging worthy of so Great, so Holy, so Blessed a Guest, so condescending, so loving, so compassionating a King. Thou must make thy heart a soft, warm, clean cradle to receive the Holy Child JESUS in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. 'O come then, JESU, dearest, Into this breast of mine; Let it be pure and clearest And fitting couch of Thine. With holiness endue it, That I may be Thy shrine.' -N. and L. But how clean ought those hands to be, how meek those eyes, how true those lips, how pure that mouth, how holy and chaste that body, how unspotted that heart, how lifted up to Heaven that soul, how entirely dedicated unto God that whole self' (founded on S. Thos. à Kempis), which is permitted to receive and handle the Word of Life, and to receive the King of kings under the Sacramental veils of Bread and Wine ! Still in Eucharistic Feast, Thou, thro' Thine ordainèd Priest, Art Thyself bestowing; |