Sacraments : Natural and Supernatural

Extract

Few more saddening confessions of religious change have ever been made than those of Renan, in his Souvenirs d’Enfance et de feunesse. The emotional appeal of his forsaken Faith was never silenced, although he came to regard its foundations as unsound. He felt cut off from those social acts of worship which mean so much to most of us.

“Quellien,” says he, speaking of a young friend— “Quellien a tres bien compris ce qui fera toujours defaut a mon Eglise, c’est I’enfant de choeur. Ma vie est comme une messe sur laquelle pèse un sort, un éternel Introibo ad altare Dei, et personne pour répondre : Ad Deum quil aetificat juventutem meam. Ma messe n’aura pas de servant. Faute de mieux, je me la repondrai a moi-même; mais ce n’est pas la même chose.”

It can never be the same thing to a nature naturally religious, exiling itself from a Community with worldwide activities, and sustaining its life by practices in force during centuries. Leaving the great Family of Faith he paid the penalty entailed.

He goes to the Eucharist to find an illustration of his companionlessness. He cries—but catches no response. He intones the prayer ; but that prayer has been emptied of the meaning which alone can call forth the swift reply of an answering love.