June 12, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
As the Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a sacrament, we will consider it separately from these two points of view. Considered as a sacrifice it is, above all things, a sacrifice of latria; that is to say, destined to honor the divine greatness and the supreme dominion of God over all creatures. In order to understand the honor which the holy sacrifice renders to God, we shall consider: 1st, that it is an homage of supreme esteem for the divine greatness; 2d, that this greatness is infinitely worthy of supreme esteem. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice with profound reverence for the greatness of God, so perfectly honored by Jesus Christ; 2d, not to lose sight in the whole of our conduct, down to our most secret feelings, of the supreme esteem due to God above all things. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of Job: “Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge” (Job xxxvi. 26).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the infinite greatness of God, so magnificently glorified in the Holy Sacrifice. Let us abase ourselves, in presence of its excellence, and let us pour forth our hearts in admiration of so great marvels, in love of so much beauty, and in praise of such infinite perfection.
FIRST POINT
How the Holy Sacrifice is an Homage of Supreme Esteem Offered to God
By sacrifice considered in general is meant the destruction of a victim immolated in order to declare in the presence of heaven and of earth that all the excellence or the beauty of creatures is nothing, and ought to be counted as nothing, in comparison with the infinite perfection of God; that no created being is worthy to subsist in His presence; that divine greatness, which cannot ascend any higher, merits to be honored by an abasement which cannot be more profound, that is to say, destruction and nothingness; lastly, that God suffices perfectly to Himself in the infinite plenitude of His excellence. But if such is the signification of the supreme esteem offered to God by sacrifice in general, what is it in regard to the sacrifice of the altar? It surpasses all other sacrifices by as much as God surpasses His creature; for the value of homage increases in proportion to the dignity of him who renders it and the humble manner in which it is rendered. Now here, who can be greater than the Sacrificer who renders homage to God? He is God Himself. What can be more humble than the manner in which it is rendered? God Himself becomes the victim, and immolates Himself upon the altar as really as He did formerly upon Calvary. This is my body, the priest says over the bread; and in virtue of those words, there will be nothing there but the body. This is my blood, the priest says over the wine, and in accordance with the theological principle that the sacramental words produce what they signify and nothing more, there is nothing there but the blood, really separated from the body; and if it do not issue forth in great streams under the blow of the word as beneath the sacrificial knife, it is because it is retained in the veins of Jesus by the decree of the heavenly Father, which announces that Christ being risen from the dead shall die no more. Still the word has none the less virtue as regards the sacrifice; it is the sword which pierces the bosom of the victim, powerless though it be, by means of a miracle, to kill it, but always imprinting upon it the character of death and attesting to heaven as well as to earth the reality of the sacrifice. Could even God Himself conceive a higher idea of its excellence? O Supreme Lord, at whose feet a divine person dies mysteriously in recognition of Thy supreme domain over every creature, how incomprehensible is Thy greatness! O Being of beings, in presence of whom a God makes of Himself a victim, before whom the holy humanity of Jesus Christ, excellent though it be, owns itself to be unworthy to subsist, and hides itself under a particle of a host, how adorable Thou art! Yes, it is therein indeed that consists the most perfect homage which can be offered to God; it is the greatest possible glorification of the Divine Being; and one single Mass gives more glory to God than He could receive from all the homage of angels and saints put together throughout eternity.
SECOND POINT
The Divine Greatness is Eminently Worthy of the Supreme Esteem of which the Holy Sacrifice is the Expression
Reason, in fact, shows to us God on a height which loses itself essentially in the infinite, on an elevation which homages that are in all respects divine, as is the Holy Sacrifice, can alone worthily honor. Whoever reflects attentively upon the greatness of God is profoundly astonished at the infinite perfections of the Divine Being; he discovers, in proportion as he meditates upon Him, always fresh perfections, beauties, and charms, compared with which all created objects are as nothing (III. Imit. xxxi. 2). From this supreme astonishment he passes into an ecstasy of spirit which clearly sees that, not only in this present life, but throughout eternity, the more he may sound these sacred abysses, the greater marvels will he discover; he enters into a ravishment of the heart which loves God because He is God, which loves God alone because God alone appears to him to be everything, which loves Him without reserve because His perfections have no limits, which, lastly, enjoys infinite pleasure on hearing this Supreme Being say of Himself: “I am who am” (Ex. iii. 14), that is to say, I am the Being by essence, the very Source of being; nothing exists except by Me. I am the Immutable Being, for to change would be to cease to be what one was in order to become what one had not been. I am the Eternal Being, for it cannot be said of Me, He has been, as though I existed no longer, nor, He will be, as though I had not yet been, but eternally ought it to be and it will always be said, He is. No one else has being except through Me, and then it is only a borrowed being. I am all by that alone, that I am. It is that which honors God in the sacrifice of the Mass, and, however great this homage may be, the Sovereign Being is infinitely worthy of it. May we always thoroughly understand this truth and always love God more and more for Himself, independently of the blessings we have received from Him; may we love Him above all things, because our greatest happiness is to love Him and our greatest misery would be not to love Him.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.