ice of the Lord
_unworthily_, shall be guilty of the body _and_ blood of the Lord."

How could a person eating that bread unworthily be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord, unless the body and blood of the Lord were there
under the form of bread?

Since Jesus Christ is whole and entire under the form of bread, as well
as under the form of wine, the practice of the Catholic Church of giving
holy communion under one form is reasonable.

Good Christians frequently receive their Lord and their God in holy
communion. He inspires them with feelings of love, gratitude, and
adoration. He reminds them to think frequently of their Creator--to give
Him their first thoughts in the morning and their last in the evening.
He gives them strength to restrain their guilty passions.

Holy Communion is the seed of immortality. "He that eateth this bread
_shall live forever_."

IV. Confirmation

"Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost"
(_Acts_ viii. 17).

BEFORE the coming of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost, the apostles were weak
and vacillating. One of them betrayed his Master for thirty pieces of
silver; another--the Prince of the Apostles, he whom Christ afterward
made head of His Church--thrice denied his Lord and his God.

After the descent of the Holy Ghost, what a change! What a wonderful
transformation! They who before had been as timid as the lamb, as
changeable as the chameleon's hue, became now as bold as the lion, as
firm as Gibraltar's rock.

In a similar way does Confirmation act on the receiver. Confirmation is
that sacrament in which, by the imposition of the bishop's hands, we
receive the Holy Ghost to make us strong and perfect Christians and
soldiers of Jesus Christ. It is the second in the order of the
sacraments, because the early Christians were accustomed to receive it
immediately after Baptism. In the 8th chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles we find the first recorded instance of the administering of
Confirmation by the apostles. Here we are told that St. Peter and St.
John confirmed the Samaritans who had been baptized by Philip. "They
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. . . . Then they
laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost." In a
similar way does the bishop, the successor of the apostles, administer
Confirmation at the present day. First, he turns toward those to be
confirmed and says: "May the Holy Ghost come down upon you a