From a sermon by Saint Gaudentius of Brescia, bishop

 

St. Gaudentius of Brescia, Bishop: Patron of the Blessed Sacrament

Born at Brescia, Italy, about the middle of the 4th century, St. Gaudentius was educated under St. Philastrius, Bishop of Brescia, whom he terms his “father”. After earning a reputation for sanctity, he travel to the East where he gained even more fame. In his absence, he was elected Bishop by the people on the death of St. Philastrius; though he left unworthy to receive such an honor, he was influenced to accept it by the Eastern Bishops, and in 387 he was consecrated by St. Ambrose.

Gaudentius was a powerful preacher and ten of his twenty-one Sermons have survived, offering ample testimony to this fact. He governed his See with prudence and humility, inspiring his flock to imitate the Divine Master constantly.

In 405, the Saint was sent with two others by Pope innocent I and the Emperor Honorius to the East to defend St. John Chrysostom before Arcadius. However, the party was prevented from reaching Arcadius and never formally interceded for John; the tree men were shipped back home on a vessel so unseaworthy that it almost sank and had to be left at Lampsacus. Subsequently, st. John wrote St. Gaudentius a letter of thanks for his efforts even though they had not borne fruit. This saintly man died about 410 and was called by Rufinus: “the glory of the Doctors of the age in which he lives”.

From a sermon by Saint Gaudentius of Brescia, bishop

The heavenly sacrifice, instituted by Christ, is the most gracious legacy of his new covenant. On the night he was delivered up to be crucified he left us this gift as a pledge of his abiding presence.

  

This sacrifice is our sustenance on life’s journey; by it we are nourished and supported along the road of life until we depart from this world and make our way to the Lord. For this reason he addressed these words to us: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you.

  

It was the Lord’s will that his gifts should remain with us, and that we who have been redeemed by his precious blood should constantly be sanctified according to the pattern of his own passion. And so he commanded those faithful disciples of his whom he made the first priests of his Church to enact these mysteries of eternal life continuously. All priests throughout the churches of the world must celebrate these mysteries until Christ comes again from heaven. Therefore let us all, priests and people alike, be faithful to this everlasting memorial of our redemption. Daily it is before our eyes as a representation of the passion of Christ. We hold it in our hands, we receive it in our mouths, and we accept it in our hearts.

  

It is appropriate that we should receive the body of Christ in the form of bread, because, as there are many grains of wheat in the flour from which bread is made by mixing it with water and baking it with fire, so also we know that many members make up the one body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, and since it was fitting that he should fulfil all justice, he entered into the waters of baptism to sanctify them. When he left the Jordan he was filled with the Holy Spirit who had descended upon him in the form of a dove. As the evangelist tells us: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.

  

Similarly, the wine of Christ’s blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that he had planted, is extracted in the wine-press of the cross. When men receive it with believing hearts, like capacious wineskins, it ferments within them by its own power.

  

And so, now that you have escaped from the power of Egypt and of Pharaoh, who is the devil, join with us, all of you, in receiving this sacrifice of the saving Passover with the eagerness of dedicated hearts. Then in our inmost being we shall be wholly sanctified by the very Lord Jesus Christ whom we believe to be present in his sacraments, and whose boundless power abides forever.