Chapter LV. How we ought to Prepare ourselves for Communion in order to excite within us Love

IN order to stir up within you the love of God, by means of this most Heavenly Sacrament, let your meditation on the preceding evening be upon His Love for you.

You should consider how that Great and Almighty Lord, not content with having made you after His own image and likeness, and with having sent His Only-begotten Son on earth to suffer during three and thirty years for your sins, and to endure the most bitter sorrows and the painful death of the Cross for your redemption, was, besides all this, pleased to leave Him with you for your food and support in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Weigh well, beloved, the singular greatness of this Love, which, viewed on every side, is most perfect and matchless:—

First, if we regard its duration, our God has loved us unceasingly and from all eternity; as by His Divinity He is Eternal, so His Love is Eternal, whereby, before all worlds, He decreed in His Heart to give us His Son in this wonderful manner.

Rejoicing at this thought, say to yourself with inward joy, "In those depths of eternity, my insignificant being was then so loved and esteemed by the Most High God, that He thought of me, and designed in His unspeakable Love to give me His Own Son for my food."

Secondly, all other love, however great it may be, has a bound which it cannot pass, but the Love of our Lord is alone without measure.

Desiring, therefore, to fully satisfy it, He has given His Dear Son, co-equal to Himself in Majesty and Infinity, of One and the Same Substance and Nature. Thus the Love is equal to the Gift, and the Gift to the Love; and both are so great, that nothing greater can be conceived by the human mind.

Thirdly, God was not drawn to love us through any necessity or constraint, but His Own Intrinsic and Natural Goodness alone moved Him to love us with so great and so incomprehensible an affection.

Fourthly, no work of ours or merit could have preceded this love, so as to induce this mighty Lord to show such amazing love towards our baseness; but it must be owing to His free Bounty alone that He has given Himself wholly and entirely to us, His most unworthy creatures.

Fifthly, if you direct your thoughts to the purity of this love, you will see that it is not, like the world's love, mixed with any self-interest. For the Lord has no need of our goods, being, without us, in Himself Alone most Blessed and most Glorious; and He sheds forth His unspeakable Love and Beneficence upon us simply for our benefit, and not for His.

Consider well this truth, and you will say in your heart, "How is it that a God so Great sets His Heart on so vile a creature? What could be Thy design, O King of Glory? What dost Thou look for from me, who am but a little dust? I see well, O my God, by the light of Thy burning Charity, that Thou hast but one design, which reveals to me most plainly the disinterestedness of Thy love for me; for Thou dost give me Thy Whole Self to be my Food, for no other purpose than that I should be wholly changed into Thee. And this Thou doest, not that Thou hast any need of me, but that, Thou living in me and I in Thee, I may by a loving union be changed into Thee, and my earthly heart be made with Thee a heart only Divine."

Then, filled with wonder and joy at the thought of God's high esteem and love for you, and knowing that He, by His Almighty Love, seeks and desires only to draw your whole heart to Himself, detach yourself from all creatures, and from yourself also as one of them, and offer yourself without reserve as a whole burnt-offering to your Lord, that His Love and His Divine pleasure may henceforth guide your understanding, your will, and your memory, and may regulate all your senses.

Then, perceiving that nothing is so calculated to work in you these Divine effects, as a worthy reception of the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, open your heart for this purpose with the following ejaculations and loving aspirations:—

"O most Heavenly Food, when will the hour come when I shall wholly sacrifice myself to Thee in the fire of Thy Love? When, when? O Love uncreated!

"O living Bread, when shall I live by Thee alone, for Thee alone, and to Thee alone? Oh! when, my Life? Blessed Life, Beautiful and Eternal?

"O Heavenly Manna! When shall I loathe all other earthly food, and crave for Thee alone—feed on Thee alone? When shall this be, O my Sweetness, when, my only Good? O my Loving and Almighty Lord, deliver now my wretched heart from every attachment, and from every evil passion; adorn it with Thy holy virtues, and with a pure intention of doing all things solely to please Thee; that so I may open my heart to Thee, invite Thee, and with a sweet violence constrain Thee to come in, that Thou, O Lord, mayest then work in me, without resistance, all that Thou hast ever desired to effect."

With such loving affections, you should exercise yourself in the evening and morning before Communion. Then, as the time of Communion draws near, consider what you are about to take; no less than the Son of God, of Majesty Incomprehensible, before Whom the Heavens and all the powers therein do tremble—the Holy of Holies, the Spotless Mirror, and the incomprehensible Purity, in comparison with Whom no creature is clean; the One Who, as a worm and an outcast of the people, willed for love of you to be rejected, trampled upon, mocked, spit upon, and crucified, by the malice and wickedness of the world. You are about to receive God, in Whose Hands are the life and death of the whole universe.

Then, on the other hand, regard yourself; think how you are nothing, and that by your sins and wickedness you have made yourself lower than the vilest and foulest of the irrational creatures, and that you have rendered yourself worthy to be the sport and mockery of all the devils in hell; how, instead of being grateful for such great and numberless benefits, you have in your capriciousness and wilfulness despised this so Mighty and so Loving a Lord, and trampled under foot His Precious Blood.

Yet, notwithstanding all this, His Love abides, His Goodness is unchanged, He still invites you. to His Divine Banquet; nay, He even constrains you to come to it, threatening you with death if you refuse His invitation. He shuts not the door of His Mercy, nor turns His back upon you, though by nature you have become leprous, lame, dropsical, blind, possessed by devils, and have 'gone after many lovers.'

He asks this of you and no more:

First, to mourn for your offences against Him.

Second, to hate above all things sin, both great and small.

Thirdly, to offer and give yourself wholly to do His Will and Bidding, ever with affection, and with action, when opportunity presents.

Fourthly, to have faith and firm hope that He will forgive you, and cleanse you from your sins, and defend you from all your enemies.

Fortified by this unspeakable Love of the Lord, you will draw near to communicate, with a holy and loving fear, saying: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee, because I have so many, many times grievously offended Thee, nor have I yet mourned as much as I should, over the offences which I have committed against Thee."

"Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee, because I am not yet entirely free from affection to venial sins."

"Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee, for I have not yet wholly yielded myself up to Thy Love, Thy Will, and Thy Bidding."

"O my Almighty Lord, infinitely Good, for the sake of Thy Goodness and Thy Word, make me worthy, O my Love, with this faith to receive Thee."

When you have communicated, shut yourself up immediately in the secret recess of your heart, and setting aside all created things, hold converse with your Lord in some such form as the following:—"O Most High King of Heaven, what has brought Thee to me, who am miserable, poor, blind, and naked?" And He will answer you—"Love."

And you will reply to Him, "O uncreated Love, sweet Love, what wilt Thou that I should give Thee?"

And He will answer "only Love." "I will that no other fire should burn upon the altar of your heart, and in your sacrifices, and in all your works, but the fire of My Love, which, consuming all other love, and all self-will, will rise to Me as the sweetest odour.

"This is what I have continually sought from you, and still seek, because I desire to be wholly thine, and that you should be wholly Mine; but such an union cannot be, till, having surrendered yourself entirely, which it is My great delight that you should do, you are delivered from all love of self, all love of your own opinion, all love of your own will and reputation.

"I seek from you hatred of yourself, and I will give you in exchange My Love; I ask for your heart, that it may be united to Mine, for to this end was Mine pierced upon the Cross; I ask you to give Me yourself without reserve, that I may be wholly yours.

"You see that I am of infinite value; yet of My Goodness I estimate myself at your value. Buy Me then now, beloved, by giving yourself for Me.

"I desire this of you, beloved, that you should have no other will than Mine, that all your thoughts, your aims, your desires, should be of Me and according to My Will, that I may will, think, intend, and see all that you will, think, intend, and see; so that your nothingness may be swallowed up in the depth of My infinity, and transformed into it. Thus will you be fully blest and happy in Me, and I completely contented in you."

In conclusion, offer to the Father His only Son, first, for a thank-offering; then for your own needs, and those of all the Holy Church, and for all who belong to you, and to whom you are in any way bound, and for the souls who are being cleansed from the remaining stains of sins; and make this offering in commemoration of, and in union with, that which He made of Himself, when He offered Himself to the Father, hanging upon the Cross, and covered with blood.

And you may likewise unite your offering with all the sacrifices offered on that day in the Holy Catholic Church.