The Eucharist

All our good works united would not equal one Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the work of man, while the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison to the Mass, martyrdom being the sacrifice which man makes of his life to God, and the Mass the sacrifice which God makes of His own Body and Blood to man.

When before the Blessed Sacrament, instead of looking around us, let us close our eyes and open our heart ; it is then the good God will open His. We will go to Him, He will come to us ; to ask and to receive will be as a breath from one to the other.

Our Lord has said, “Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” Never should we have thought of asking God for His own Son. But what man could never imagine, God has done ; what man could never express nor conceive, and what he had never presumed to desire, God, in His love, has expressed, conceived

\ and executed. Could we ever have dared tell God to put His Son to death for us, to give us His Son’s flesh to eat and His Blood to drink ? Were it otherwise, man would then have been able to imagine things that God could not do ; he would have outstripped God in the inventions of love ! Ah ! no, this were impossible.

All created beings have need of nourishment in order to live ; this is why the good God has made the vegetable world with its trees and plants ; it is an abundantly served table where all the animals come to obtain nourishment, each taking that which is best suited to it. But the soul must be fed as well as the body. When God wished to provide food for the soul to sustain its strength in the pilgrimage of life, casting His eye over creation, He perceived nothing worthy of this soul. Then looking in upon Himself He resolved to give us Himself for our food. . . . O my soul ! how grand thou art, when only God can satisfy thee ! . . . .

The good God wishing to give Himself to us in the Sacrament of His love, has implanted in us a desire, grand and vast that He alone can satisfy.

. . . Beside this beautiful Sacrament, we are like a person dying of thirst on the river shore : he needs but bend his head to quench his thirst ! or like one who remains poor while a treasure is within reach which he has only to stretch forth his hand and take !

What does our Lord in the Sacrament of His love ? He there holds captive His tender Heart to love us. From this Heart there flows a stream of tenderness and mercy to wash away the sins of the world.

Without the Divine Eucharist there would be no happiness in this world ; life would be insupportable. When we receive Holy Communion we receive our happiness, our joy.

When we communicate, we experience something extraordinary within us, a glow of satisfaction that goes all through our body, and extends even to the extremities. What is this ? It is the thrill imparted to every part of our body by the presence of our Lord. We are forced to say with St. John, “ It is the Lord ! ” They who feel nothing of this are greatly to be pitied.

When we come from the altar, were some one to say to us, “ What do you bear away with you ? ” you could answer truthfully, “ I bear Heaven within me.”

In leaving the Holy Table, we are as happy as the Magi would have been, could they have taken the Infant Jesus with them.

In communicating, the soul revels in the balm of love as the bee amid the flowers.

One knows when a soul has received worthily the Sacrament of the Eucharist. She is so immersed in love, so penetrated therewith and so changed that no one recognizes her as the same, in her actions and words. . . . She is humble, meek, mortified, charitable and modest; she lives in peace with everyone, and is capable of the greatest sacrifices.

At the Day of Judgment, one will see our Lord’s flesh shine through the glorified bodies of those who received Him worthily on earth, even as one sees gold shine amid brass, or silver amid lead.

Go to Holy Communion, go to Jesus with love and confidence ! Go to live upon Him, in order to live for Him !

Do not say that you have too much to do. Did not the Divine Saviour say, “ Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you ? ” Can you resist an invitation so full of affection and tenderness ?

Do not say that you are not worthy. It is true that you are not worthy, but you have great need of Holy Communion. If our Lord had had in view your worthiness, He would never have instituted His beautiful Sacrament of love, for no created being is worthy of communicating, neither saints, nor angels, nor archangels, nor even the Blessed Virgin . . . but He had in view our needs, and we all have great need of it.

Do not say that you are a sinner, too full of faults, and therefore dare not approach. This were equivalent to saying when in bodily ill health that you are too sick to call in a physician or to take medicine.

If you love not the Heart of Jesus, what then will you love ? This Heart is all love. How can you fail to love what is so lovable ?

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