being our belief, is it not reasonable to
light candles as a sign of spiritual joy, and thus to show our faith in
Him who is the light of the world? He gave us all that we have. He gave
us the beautiful world we dwell upon with its variety of scenery--with
its snow-capped mountains, its green-carpeted hills, and its blooming
valleys. He has no need of our gifts; for the earth is His "and the
fulness thereof." Yet as He was pleased to receive the gifts of the Magi
and the precious ointment of Mary, so, too, is He pleased to receive our
offerings. And is anything too good, too beautiful, too precious, for
Him? Can the altar on which He dwells be too richly adorned? Are the
pure candles we light, the sweet incense we burn, the choice flowers and
costly ornaments with which we decorate the altar, too much to use in
honor of Our Lord and our God? Yes, the Catholic practice or rite of
Benediction is dictated by right reason. Everything connected with
Benediction is reasonable, beautiful, and suggestive of the _noblest
sentiments of the heart of man_.

II. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

"And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and
broke, and gave to His disciples, and said: take ye and eat. This is My
body" (_Matt_. xxvi. 26).

PERHAPS no mystery of revelation has been so universally attacked as the
Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

By the Real Presence is meant that Jesus Christ is really and truly,
body and blood, soul and divinity, present in the Blessed Sacrament,
under the form and appearance of bread and wine.

This teaching of the Church is in perfect agreement with Scripture,
tradition, and reason.

If the reader will take up his Bible and read carefully the 6th chapter
of the Gospel according to St. John; the 26th chapter, 26th, 27th, and
28th verses of St. Matthew; the 14th chapter, 22d verse of St. Mark; the
First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 10th chapter, 16th verse,
as well as other portions of the New Testament, he will certainly see
that the Catholic teaching and practice concerning the Real Presence of
Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament are founded on Scripture. In this
6th chapter of St. John, we learn that before instituting the Blessed
Sacrament Our Saviour wished to announce or promise it to His disciples
in order to prepare them for it. He first gave them a figure of the
Blessed Sacrament in the multiplication of the fi