Tuesday in the Octave of Corpus Christi

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will to-morrow consider the Eucharist: 1st, as the strength of the Christian; 2d, as his consolation and joy. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to have recourse to the Blessed Sacrament in our temptations, our troubles, and our discouragements; 2d, to cherish, as being the happiest and the best-employed instants of our life, the moments which we are able to spend in presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Psalmist: “How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. lxxxiii. 2).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us come back to the holy tabernacle; let us prostrate ourselves, filled with sentiments of reverence and love, before our God, who Himself burns with charity for us (Ps. xciv. 6). Praise, love, and benediction be to the Lamb who is immolated for us!

FIRST POINT

The Eucharist is the Strength of the Christian

Experience proves this truth to us; it was the Eucharist which gave martyrs courage to brave torments and death; it is the Eucharist which gives the Christian virgin devotedness to enable her to succor all kinds of human woes in hospitals, on fields of battle, amidst pestilence and a thousand other perils; the soul which sees a God give Himself wholly to it feels that it is but just that it should give itself wholly to Him; it conceives not only a desire to do so, but also a firm resolution, a holy passion, which makes it find happiness in sacrifices, and renders it stronger than all obstacles. “He that eateth this bread,” says Jesus Christ, “shall live forever” (John vi. 59); he will derive from Me strength to gain eternal life (Ibid. 55). And whilst the Eucharist renders the Christian stronger by raising him above himself, sometimes as high as the most sublime virtues, it renders the enemy of our salvation weaker; for, as the councils and the fathers of the Church say, it moderates the fire of the passions and calms the ardor of concupiscence. These are facts proved by experience: as long as we frequent the sacraments, we are sustained in the practice of good; as soon as we abandon them, we become relaxed and tepid, and we fall. The soul deprived of the nourishment which gives it strength and life falls away and dies.

SECOND POINT

The Eucharist is the Consolation of the Christian

How sad life would be without the Eucharist! Our churches would no longer have anything in them which would speak to the heart, nothing to which the heart could speak. The whole world would then be nothing but a place of exile, for it would not possess any memorial of our country, which is heaven. All the troubles of life would be left without a consoler, darkness would be devoid of light, doubts would seek in vain for counsel. But with the Eucharist, all is changed into joy and happiness. Our churches become a Paradise in which the soul can enjoy in advance the delights of heaven, and exclaim with the Psalmist: “Oh, how lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. lxxxiii. 2). It is there that we find a foretaste of our country. When we possess Thee, O my God, we have all things, and the contented heart has nothing more to desire (Ps. lxxii. 25). We read in the Old Testament that Anne, the mother of Samuel, found no consolation in anything except in going and letting her afflicted heart overflow before the ark of the Lord; how much more, then, when we are in trouble or in some pressing need, shall we find true consolation at the foot of our divine Ark, which is Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! Never do we have recourse to Him there without bringing back with us solace for our heart (Heb. x. 22). Men are only “troublesome comforters,” Job said (Job xvi. 2). But Thou, O God of our tabernacles, Thou art the true Consoler; Thou dost raise up the heart which is cast down, Thou dost bring back serenity to the afflicted soul, and Thou makest repose and peace to follow troubles. Oh, how well did it become Thee to say: “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you” (Matt. xi. 28.) The soul which recounts its sorrows to Thee in simplicity, as a friend speaks to a friend, or as a child to its father, always returns from Thee consoled; and those deprive themselves of the sweetest joys of their life who do not know how to come and pour out their afflictions before Thy tabernacles.

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.