are placed by the direction of His holy
Church.

Besides being our daily sacrifice, then, under the appearance of bread and
wine, besides ever prolonging in our midst that wondrous act of Calvary by
which at once He liberated our race and reopened to us the gates of
Heaven, the bounteous Shepherd of our souls enters into the tabernacles of
our churches, and there in silent patient waiting He craves the love of
our hearts and longs for our intimate friendship. He is not content alone
to plead for us with God, His Father; He is not content continually to
renew in our presence the tragic mystery by which at the end of His
earthly labors, He procured us every blessing--no, over and above these
sovereign acts of kindest benediction, He wishes to remain among us, and
to converse with us, each and all, as a friend would converse with his
friend. This is what He meant when He said by the mouth of His inspired
writer, "my delights are to be with the children of men."(16) As a
Shepherd, His chiefest pleasure, as well as His supremest care, is to be
with the flock He has purchased and loves. Yet it is a lonely life for our
Shepherd-King, this abode in the silent tabernacle; but it is all for love
of us. He wishes to be there where we can find Him, where we can come to
Him at any hour and speak to Him, to praise and thank Him for all His dear
and endless gifts, to tell Him our needs and our sorrows, to open our
breaking hearts to Him and reveal the secrets of our souls. This it is
that He desires from us--the outpouring of our hearts and souls in His
presence. This it is which renders unto Him that homage of faith and love
and devotion that He came into the world to inspire. It will not do to say
that, being God, He is acquainted with all our thoughts and aware of all
our wants, for it is intimacy and confidence that He desires, the intimacy
and confidence which alone can create a true and noble friendship. "I will
call you no longer servants," He said to His disciples, "but I have called
you friends; the servant knoweth not what his Master doth, but a friend is
admitted to confidence."(17) Christ in the tabernacle is our friend; He
has loved us unto the end, and He yearns for our love in return. Why is
this? Why are we so precious in His eyes? What are we that the great
Creator should at all be mindful of us?(18) We must remember and ever bear
in mind the lofty purpose which the Creator had in view when first He
called us into bein