CAPUT XVI. De observatione diei Dominici, et perceptione corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi.
The Reverence Due to the Lord's Day
The king is urged to honor the Lord's Day by setting aside worldly cares and teaching his people by example.
For in this matter too we urgently beg that you give the care that is due to keeping the Lord's Day—the day on which God created the light of the world, on which the Author of life rose from the dead, and on which he also sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, from heaven to the apostles—just as we once begged while admonishing your father, and that you pay so great a day the honor it is owed; namely, that on that day itself, as far as you can, you strip yourselves of worldly cares and anxieties, and that you yourselves do what the reverence of so great a day requires, and by your example train your people to do the same and teach them to practice it.
The Life-Giving Sacrament
The king is counselled to receive the Eucharist with proper preparation, citing Jesus's promises from John 6, and to lead his people by example.
And as for receiving the sacred Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we likewise counsel you that, as is fitting for the Christian religion, you prepare yourselves at the proper times for your soul's good, taking to heart that Gospel word: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."1 My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him (John 6:55).2 So that, as you carry this out, by your example you may instruct those who serve you to do the same.
Read the original Latin
Nam et in hoc obnixe deprecamur ut in observatione diei Dominici, quo Deus lucem mundi condidit, et quo auctor vitae a mortuis resurrexit, quo etiam Spiritum sanctum paracletum de coelis apostolis misit, sicuti dudum genitorem vestrum admonendo deprecati sumus, debitam adhibeatis curam, et tanto diei debitum impendatis honorem; scilicet ut ipsa die, quantum potestis, a curis et sollicitudinibus mundanis vos exuatis, et quod tanti diei venerationem competit, et vos faciatis, et vestros exemplo vestro ad id faciendum erudiatis et agere doceatis. Ad perceptionem vero sacri corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, nihilominus monemus, ut sicut Christianae religioni expedit, congruis temporibus salubriter [vos] praeparetis, attendentes illud evangelicum: Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam, et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. Caro mea vere est cibus, et sanguis meus vere est potus. Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in illo (Joan. VI, 55) . Quatenus id exsequentes, vestro exemplo vobis famulantes ut hoc faciant instruatis.
Notes
On the Institution of a King (De institutione regia) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit