TRINITY xxiv
THE Church celebrates the sacrifice of Christ with joy
and not with sorrow. It would be an outrage ever to regret that God had
achieved his purpose, and if there is one thing God has certainly desired,
it is that he should be sacrificed for our salvation. His sacrifice
is a joyful feast, a wedding, a drinking of wine. We make merry with a
bridegroom because he has obtained what he desired, and we rejoice with
the Divine Son, because he has his desire also. He desired to unite his
Church with him by an irreversible act, and in dying he has accomplished
it. It is the overflowing of the bridegroom’s pleasure that enlivens the
guests, and the Church rejoices in the overflowing of the joy of God. We
cannot be as glad at what Christ has done for us, as he is glad to have
done it.
