XIX — REMAINING IN CHRIST

Presence of God. — O Jesus, teach me not only to live with You, but to live in You, to remain in You.

Meditation

1 — On the evening of the Last Supper Jesus said: “Remain in me and I will remain in you” (Jn. 15:4), and shortly afterward instituted the Eucharist, the sacrament whose specific purpose is to nourish our life of union with Him. Coming into us sacramented, Jesus does not depart without leaving in our soul “the imprint of grace as the seal does when set upon warm wax... and, lifting the seal, its imprint remains there. So the virtue of this sacrament remains in the soul, that is, the warmth of divine charity remains there” (St. Catherine of Siena). Jesus said: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and what do I desire but that it be kindled?” (Lk. 12:49). And where will He kindle the fire of his love more than in the soul of the communicant who has the great lot of hosting Him within? Each time you approach the Eucharistic Table Jesus, by virtue of the sacrament, rekindles in you the fire of his love, leaves in you the imprint of his grace; and through this love and this grace you remain spiritually united to Him. This happens even if you do not think of it, and is already in itself something most precious. Yet Jesus desires that you be conscious of it in order to live your union with Him consciously. Observe that, when He speaks of our union with Him, He always puts our part before his: “He who eats my flesh... remains in me and I in him,” and “remain in me and I will remain in you” (Jn. 6:57; 15:4). This is not because our part is in itself the more important - for, rather, it is always Jesus who goes before us with his grace, without which no union with Him would be possible - but to make us understand that in reality we shall live united to Him in proportion to our correspondence to grace. Every Communion of itself brings you a new grace of union with Jesus and therefore offers you the possibility of a more intimate union with Him; but in fact you will live this union according to your good will and your interior dispositions.

2 — After nourishing yourself with Jesus in Holy Communion, in order to “remain” in Him throughout the whole day, you must first of all keep your heart in an atmosphere of recollection. If, as soon as you leave church, you immediately forget that you have received the Lord and - as St. Teresa of Avila says - “immerse yourself in affairs, occupations, and the entanglements of the world” (cf. Cam. 34, 13), you will truly not be able to keep yourself united to Jesus; rather, the Saint would tell you that, by acting so, it almost seems that you “do your best to induce the Lord to clear out of your house quickly” (ibid.). True, the state of grace is enough for you to remain spiritually united to Christ, but how much more fruitful this union will be for you if you seek to live it actually! Therefore, even during the day, even amid occupations, strive to remain under the influence of the Communion made in the morning, that is, under the influence of Jesus, of his love, of his unceasing action in your soul. At least in spirit, try often to return to the foot of the tabernacle, to keep yourself in contact with the Eucharist. If your duties bring you outside the house, let every church you meet along your way, or see in passing, be for you a sweet reminder of the Communion already made or of that which you must make the next day; let it be an occasion for a fleeting but fervent impulse of the heart toward Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, or for a quick return into the inner sanctuary of your soul to renew interior contact with the Lord. Try to make each day a visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament, but make it so that it is a true heart-to-heart with Jesus. If you are truly hungry for Him, you must feel a living need to keep yourself under the influence of the Eucharist; you must use every possible means to profit as much as you can from the grace of union with Christ offered to you in morning Communion. In this way your sacramental Communion will be prolonged throughout the day by a continual spiritual communion with Jesus. Then you will truly live by Him, according to his word: “He who eats me will live by me” (Jn. 6:58).

Colloquy

“O Jesus, I unite my heart to yours, that You may consume in it all that displeases You; I unite all that I am to all that You are, that You may supply what is lacking in me. I unite my prayer and my praises to those You raise to your Father in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar, so that your prayer may make reparation for the deficiencies of mine.

“To conform myself to You, who on the altar render obedience to every priest, whether good or evil, I will be prompt in obedience and, like a host of immolation, I will place myself in the hands of my superiors so that, dying to all my wills, inclinations, passions, and aversions, they may dispose of me as they wish, without my showing any repugnance. And since your life in the Sacrament of the altar is wholly hidden from the eyes of creatures, who see nothing but the poor appearances of bread, so I will strive, for love of You, to live so hidden as to remain always concealed under the ashes of humility, loving contempt and rejoicing to appear the poorest and most abject of all.

“To conform myself to You, who are always solitary in the Most Blessed Sacrament, I will love solitude, seeking to converse with You as much as possible. Grant that my intellect may have no curiosity except to know You, that my heart may have no ardor or desires except to love You. When I must take some relief, I will seek that it be such as to gladden your Heart. In conversations, I will consecrate to You, divine Word, all my words, that You may not permit me to utter any that is not for your glory... When I am thirsty, I will suffer it in honor of the thirst You suffered for the salvation of souls... When I have committed some fault, after humbling myself for it, I will come to take in your Heart the contrary virtue in order to offer it in expiation to the Eternal Father. All this I intend to do, O Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in order to unite myself to You in sanctification of the day” (cf. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).