June 10, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
After having considered what the Eucharist is in regard to us, we will meditate to-morrow on what we ought to be in regard to it. In the first rank of these obligations reverence must be placed. We shall then see: 1st, how profound ought to be our reverence for the Eucharist; 2d, what great blessings we shall obtain by means of this profound reverence. We will then make the resolution: 1st, always to maintain in church a profound reverence, a respectful demeanor, and restraint of the eyes; 2d, to observe strict silence, and not to speak to any one save God alone, excepting in case of necessity. Our spiritual nosegay shall be these words of Holy Writ: “How terrible is this place” (Gen. xxviii. 17); “Reverence My sanctuary” (Lev. xxvi. 2).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore in spirit Jesus Christ present in the tabernacles, let us abase ourselves with reverence in presence of His diminished greatness. Let us praise, let us bless the great God, who, through love for us, descends from so great a height to such profound humiliation. Whatever we may do, we shall never exalt Him sufficiently (Hymn Lauda Sion).
FIRST POINT
How Profound ought to be our Reverence for the Eucharist
The more Jesus Christ abases His greatness in this sacrament, the more we ought to venerate Him, and the measure of His humiliations ought to be the measure of our homage. It is the rule which the heavenly Father has given to the world by His example: He beholds His divine Son humiliated in the cradle; at that moment He sends His angels to proclaim His glory to the neighboring inhabitants and to form a guard around the cradle of a Prince so great and so forsaken. He beholds Him on the banks of the Jordan mingling with sinners; immediately He opens heaven, and glorifies Him by means of the most splendid testimony. He sees Him upon Calvary, covered with opprobrium; immediately, in order to do Him honor, He raises the dead, makes the sun withdraw its light, rends the rocks, and shakes the earth. Now, if Our Lord ought to be honored in proportion to His abasement, shall we ever be able to conceive how great ought to be our reverence in presence of the holy Eucharist? For where did Jesus Christ ever abase Himself more profoundly? At least He had the form of an infant in the crib, and shepherds and kings came to adore Him; at least He preserved upon the cross some of the characteristics of a man, the masterpiece of the creation; but in the Eucharist, what do I see? Nothing which announces a man to me, still less anything which announces a God. O Eternal Wisdom, Thou didst hide Thyself beneath flesh, and behold, the flesh hides itself beneath the material appearance of bread! These weak species, which offer to my eyes nothing but the appearance of the commonest of aliments, veil the splendor of those same grandeurs of which a ray dazzled Moses upon Sinai and the disciples upon Thabor. The little particle fallen upon the sacred paten encloses the immense God, whom the vast extent of the heavens cannot contain, the King of heaven, the God of glory. O excess of humiliation! which has seemed so great to the Eternal Father that, in compensation for it, He has not deemed it too much to have legions of angels around the tabernacles, who prostrate themselves there in continual adoration. I have seen them myself, says St. John Chrysostom, these adoring angels; they were there, like guards around their king, in an attitude of the most profound reverence, with their heads lowered, and their eyes cast down, like the four and twenty elders whom the beloved apostle saw before the throne of God (Apoc. v. 14). Let us hence conclude how great ought to be our reverence before the Eucharist, for where all heaven trembles and adores, it would ill become us to dare to indulge in a familiar attitude, to take our ease, to allow our spirit to be inattentive and our heart to be careless. And what are we then in presence of the Eternal Son of God, who has descended from the splendors of the saints? We are humble servants in the presence of the King of glory, said St. Thomas, drawing near to the tabernacles, overwhelmed with reverence. We are guilty sinners in presence of their Judge. Whence comes, St. Martin was asked, the trembling which has been remarked in you when you enter a church? How could I help trembling? answered the miracle-worker of the Gauls; I am in the presence of my Judge! We are poor, miserable creatures in presence of the infinite majesty of their God, and what ought the creature to do when he is brought face to face with his Creator, if not to abase himself, to cast himself down in reverence, to confess that He is his Lord (I. Kings iii. 18), that he himself is nothing but dust and ashes (Gen. xviii. 27), to repeat a thousand times the cry: Who art Thou, Lord, and who am I? or rather to recall to himself the words of St. Teresa to her nuns: “My sisters, we ought to conduct ourselves in presence of the holy Eucharist as all the blessed conduct themselves in heaven in presence of the Divine Essence.” Do we think seriously of this when we are in the sacred edifice? Are we always overwhelmed with reverence and adoration?
SECOND POINT
What Great Blessings we Derive through Reverence towards the Eucharist
The first blessing which we shall derive will be a notable increase in piety. Experience teaches us that when we have the courage to maintain, in presence of the tabernacle, a reverential attitude and a perfect recollection of the senses, we pray much better; on the one hand, because we cut off the cause of many distractions; and, on the other hand, grace, in recompense for the good will which we testify by so religious a deportment, infuses into the soul a superabundance of piety and fervor. If, on the contrary, there is but little reverence in the demeanor, exterior dissipation will induce interior dissipation. Never did behavior marked by too much freedom and want of restraint hide a reverential interior. The second blessing which reverence for the Eucharist produces is the edification of our neighbor. The good example given by a Christian who is perfectly recollected in presence of the tabernacle is a sermon to all who witness it; as, on the other hand, an exterior which is wanting in recollection, a familiar manner characterized by no restraint, eyes which wander everywhere, a word said to a neighbor, tends to dissipate others, who dare not be more respectful than we are; it cools charity, lessens the religious sentiment, and often makes faith to totter. Have we not often inflicted blame on ourselves and on others by a demeanor wanting in reverence?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.