THE REAL PRESENCE
Eucharistic Meditations by St. Peter Julian Eymard
THE EUCHARISTIC VEIL
Cur faeiem tuam abscondis?
Why hidest Thou Thy face? (Job xiii 24)
I
WHY is our Lord veiled beneath the Sacred Species in the Most Blessed Sacrament?
It is difficult to get accustomed to this hidden state of our Lord. We must frequently insist upon this truth; for we must believe firmly and practically that although Our Lord Jesus Christ is veiled, He is really and substantially present in the Holy Eucharist.
But why this silent presence, this impenetrable veil? We are often tempted to say:
'Lord, show us Thy face!
Our Lord makes us feel His power; He draws us to Himself; He keeps us respectful; but we do not see Him. And it would be so sweet, so good to hear words from our Lord's lips!
What a consolation for us were He to show
Himself!' What an assurance of being His friend! For He would supposedly
show Himself only to those He loves.
II
WELL, Our Lord is more lovable when hidden than if He were to show Himself. He is more eloquent when silent than if He were to speak. And what we look upon as a punishment is an effect of His love and goodness.
Yes, if He were to show Himself as He is, we
would be unhappy; the contrast of His virtues, of His glory would
humiliate us. We would say: 'What! A Father so good, with children so
miserable! We would not dare approach Him or show ourselves. Now that we
know only His kindness, we come at least without fear.
And everybody comes to Him. Let us suppose
that our Lord were to manifest Himself to the good only,-for since His
Resurrection He cannot reveal Himself to sinners-who would dare rank
himself among the good? Who would not dread coming to church lest Jesus
Christ, on not finding him good enough, would not manifest Himself to
him? People would grow envious of one another. The proud alone would
dare think enough of themselves to come to our Lord.
Whereas under the present order of things everyone has equal rights and can take it for granted that he is loved.
III
BUT perhaps the sight of our Lord's glory would convert us?
No, no! We cannot convert people by dazzling them. The Jews became idolaters at the foot of a flaming Sinai; the Apostles talked nonsense on Mount Thabor.
We would be either frightened or elated by
our Lord's glory, but not converted. The Jewish people were afraid to
come near Moses after his face shone with divine light. 'No, Lord,
please remain hidden; that is better for us. I can thus draw near to
Thee and at least hope that Thou lovest me since Thou drivest me not
away.
But would not the great power of His words convert us?
The Jews heard our Lord for three years; were
they converted? A. mere handful of them. The human words of our Lord,
those that strike the ear, will not convert us; the words of His grace
will. Now, Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament speaks to our heart, and
that ought to be enough for us, for His words are real.
BUT if I could at least experience our Lords
love, some of its ardent flames, I would love Him much more; they would
transform my heart and set it ablaze with love!
We mistake feeling for love.
When we ask our Lord 'to make us love Him, we expect Him to make us feel that we love Him.
Things would come to a sorry pass were He to
listen to us. No! Love means sacrifice, the gift of our will and
submission to that of God.
The virtue
of strength is the fruit of Eucharistic contemplation and of
Communion,- which is perfect union with Jesus. The sweetness of it is
short-lived; strength alone endures. And what are we in need of against
ourselves and the world if not strength? Strength brings us peace.
Do you not feel at peace in the presence of Our Lord? That proves that you love Him. What more do you want?
When two friends get together, they spend
their time looking at each other and in telling their love for each
other. They are wasting their time; for their affection is not thereby
increased. But separate them for a while; they will think of each other
and recall each other's face; they long for each other.
The same is true of our Lord. What did the Apostles do during the three years they lived with Him?
He has hidden Himself in order to have us
ponder over His goodness and His virtues; in order that our love might
become serious, disengaged from the senses, content with the strength
and peace of God.
LET us sum up what we have said. Our Saviour is really present beneath the veils of the Sacrament, but He denies us the view of His body so as to have us abide in His love, in His adorable personality.
If He were to show Himself, or even a single ray of' His glory, one trait of His adorable countenance, we
would forget Him and abide in that manifestation of Himself, But He has
told us His body is not our end; it is hut a step to help us reach
first His soul and then His divinity through His soul. We have His love to guide us thither.
The strength of our love will bring complete
certitude to our faith. The senses having been reduced to silence, our
soul will enter into communion with Jesus Christ; and since Jesus is
happiness, repose, and joy, the more intimately we commune with Him, the
happier we shall be.
THE MYSTERY OF FAITH
Hoc est opus Dei ut credatis in Eum.
This is the work of God, that you believe in Him. (John vi. 29.)
I
OUR Lord wants us to remember all He did for
us on earth, and to honour His presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament by
meditating on all the mysteries of His life.
To make the mystery of the Last Supper more
vividly present to us, He was not content with giving us the Gospel
narrative; He left us a living, personal reminder: His very Self, His
adorable Person.
Although our Lord is in our midst, we cannot
see Him, nor can we picture to ourselves the manner of His presence in
the Eucharist.
Our Eucharistic Lord, however, has frequently
appeared. Why did He not permit pictures of these august apparitions to
be preserved?
Ah! Our Lord is well aware that pictures would
only result in drawing us away from the reality of His actual presence
under the sacred veils of the Eucharist.
But if I could see, would I not have more faith? Do we not love better what we see?
Yes, the senses may confirm my wavering faith. But our risen Lord does not want our perverted senses to reach Him; He demands pure faith.
He has not only a body but a soul as well. He
does not want to be loved as bodies are loved; He wants us to go
straight to His Soul with our minds and our hearts, without using our
senses to discover Him.
For that matter, although our Lord is truly
resent in the Blessed Sacrament in body and in soul, He abides therein
after the manner of spirits. Spirits cannot be analysed or dissected;
neither can they be reached with the senses.
II
BESIDES, why should we complain? Our Lord has
arranged everything harmoniously. The Sacred Species do not touch Him,
nor do they form part of Him. They are however, inseparably united to
the sacramental Christ. They are, as it were, the terms of His presence.
They tell us where He is. They localize Him. Our Lord could have taken a
purely spiritual manner of existence; but then, how could we find Him?
Where could we look for Him?
Let us thank this good Saviour! He is not
hidden, but only veiled. A hidden object practically does not exist for
us; we do not know where it is. But we can possess a veiled object; we
are sure of it even though we do not see it.
Does it not already mean a great deal to us to
know that our friend is at our side, that he is really there? Well, you
can see where our Lord is. Look at the Sacred Host; you are sure He is
there.
III
OUR Lord veils Himself for our good and our
advantage, to force us to study His soul, His intentions, and His
virtues in Himself. If we saw Him, we would be satisfied to admire His
appearance, we would have for Him only sentimental love; our Lord wants
us to love Him with a love of sacrifice. It is hard for our Lord thus to
veil Himself. He would prefer to show His divine countenance which drew
so many hearts to Him in His mortal life; but He veils it for our good.
Our mind is thus forced to study the
Eucharist; our faith is spurred on; we acquire a deeper understanding of
Our Lord. Instead of showing Himself to our eyes, He shows Himself to
our soul.
Through His own light He notifies us of His presence in us. He
is both the light and the object we must contemplate in that light; He
is the object and the means of our faith.
The clearness of one's insight into the
Eucharist is proportioned to one's greater or le sser love and purity of
life. Our Lord said so: 'He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My
Father: and I will love him, and manifest myself to him.
Our Lord gives to souls of prayer a deep understanding of Himself; He never deceives them.
He varies His grace of light. He directs it
now to one point of His life, now to another. And since the Eucharist is
the glorification of all the mysteries, Jesus Christ becomes Himself
the object of our meditation, no matter what its topic may be.
IV
HOW much easier it is, consequently, to meditate before the Blessed Sacrament than at home!
At home we are in the presence of the immensity of God; here, we are in the presence of our Lord, Who is very close to us.
And since the heart follows the mind, since
affection follows knowledge, it becomes easier to love in the presence
of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Love is then actual, since it has for its
object Jesus living before us and renewing all His mysteries in the
Eucharist.
He that meditates on the mysteries in
themselves without giving them life through the Eucharist always feels
that something is missing, and he harbours a regret in spite of himself.
'Oh, that I had been there! he says to himself.
But in the presence of the Most Blessed
Sacrament, what is there to regret, to desire? All the mysteries live
anew through the Saviour's presence. Our love actually enjoys Him.
Whether you are thinking of the mortal life of Jesus or of His risen
life, you know that Jesus Christ is there with His body, His soul, and
His divinity.
Let us therefore put these ideas into
practice. No matter what mysteries are represented in our imagination,
let us strengthen and quicken the remembrance of them through the
presence of Jesus Christ.
Let us then remember that our Lord is in the
Host in all His different states, and in His entirety. He who does not
realise that lives in darkness; his faith is always weak and fails to
make him happy.
Let our faith be active and thoughtful; that
is what will make us happy. Our Lord wants to bring us happiness all by
Himself. No man can make us happy; even piety cannot do it of itself. We
need a piety that has fed on the Eucharist; for happiness comes only
from the possession of God, and in the Eucharist we own God.
THE LOVE OF JESUS IN THE EUCHARIST Nos credidimus caritati quam habet Deus in nobis.
We have believed the charity, which God hath to us. (1 John iv. 16.)
WE believe in the love of God for us. That is a profound saying.
Belief in the truth of the words of God is
required of every Christian; but there is another belief, which is more
perfect and is the crown of the first: belief in divine love.
Belief in the divine truths will be vain if it does not lead to belief in divine love.
What is this love in which we must believe?
It is the love of Jesus Christ; the love,
which He manifests to us in the Eucharist, a love that is Himself, a
living and infinite love.
They who are satisfied with believing in the truth of the Eucharist, love not at all, or very little.
But what proofs of His love does our Lord give us in the Eucharist?
I
FIRST of all we have His word, His veracity.
Jesus tells us that He loves us, that He
instituted His Sacrament only out of love for us. Therefore, it is true.
We believe an honest man on his word. Why should we not trust our Lord
as much?
When someone wants to give his friend a proof of his love, he tells him personally that loves him and he gives him an affectionate handshake.
Well, Our Lord sends neither angels nor ministers to assure us of His love; He comes in person. Love will have no go between.
And so He perpetuates Himself only to tell us over and over again: 'I love you. You see that I love you!
Our Lord was so afraid we might forget Him
that He took up His abode among us. He made His home with us so that we
might not be able to think of Him without thinking of His love. By
giving Himself thus and insisting on. this gift, He hoped not to be
forgotten. Whoever gives serious thought to the Eucharist, and
especially whoever partakes of it, cannot help feeling that our Lord
loves him, He feels that in Him he has a father.
He feels that he is
loved as a child and that he has a right to come to his Father and speak
to Him. In church, at the foot of the tabernacle, he is in his Father's
home; he feels that he is.
Ah! I understand why people like to live near a church, in the shadow of their Father's house!
And so, Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament
tells us that He loves us; He tells us interiorly and makes us feel it.
Let us believe in His love.
II
DOES He love me personally?
To this there is but one answer; do we belong to the Christian family? In a family, do not the father and the mother love each one of their children with an equal
love? And if there were any preferences, would they not be for the
weakest and frailest child?
Our Lord's sentiments toward us are at least those of a good father; why deny Him this quality?
Besides, see how our Lord manifests His
personal love for each one of us. Every morning He comes to see each one
of His children in particular, to converse with them, to visit them, to
embrace them.
Although He has repeated this so many times, He is as
gracious and as loving at His last visit as He was at the first. He is
as young as ever and is not tired of loving us and giving Himself to
each one of us.
Does He not give Himself whole and entire to
each one? And if a greater number come to receive Him, does He divide
Himself up? Does He give less to each one?
If the church is full of adorers, can they not all pray to Jesus and converse with Him?
Is not each one listened to and his prayer granted as if he were the only one in church?
Such is the personal love of Jesus for us.
Each one may take it all for himself and wrong no one; the sun gives all
its light to each and everyone of us; the ocean belongs whole and
entire to each and every fish. Jesus is greater than us all. He is
inexhaustible.
III
THE persistency of the love of Jesus in the
Most Blessed Sacrament is another undeniable proof that He loves us. An
almost incalculable number of Masses are celebrated every day; they
follow one another almost without interruption. But how distressing it is for an
understanding soul to realise that very often no one is present to hear
or assist at these Masses, in which Jesus offers Himself up for us!
While Jesus is crying mercy on this new Calvary, sinners are insulting
God and His Christ.
Why then does our Lord renew His sacrifice so often, since men do not profit by it?
Why does our Lord remain day and night on so many altars to which no one comes to receive the graces He is offering so lavishly?
He loves, He hopes, and He waits!
If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentances might
have to look for Him and, not finding Him, have to wait. Our Lord
prefers to wait himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him
waiting one instant; having to wait would perhaps discourage the sinner
in his attempt to break with the slavery of sin.
Oh! How few reflect that Jesus loves them that much in The Most Blessed Sacrament!
And yet
all these things are true! We have no faith in the love of Jesus! Would
we treat a friend, or any man at all, as we do Our Lord?
THE EUCHARIST, THE CENTRE OF OUR LOVE Manete in Me.
Abide in Me. (John xv,. 4.)
I
THE heart of man needs a centre of affection and expansion. As a matter of fact, when God created the first man He said:
'It is not good for man to be alone; let Us make him a help like unto himself.
And the Imitation also says: 'Without a friend thou canst not well live.
Well, Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament
wants to be the centre of all hearts, and He tells us:
'Abide in Me . . .
Abide in My love.
What does abiding in our Lord's love mean? To
abide in His love is to make His Eucharistic love the centre of our
life, the only source of our consolation; it is to cast ourselves into
the Heart of Jesus in our afflictions, in our sorrows, in our
deceptions, in the circumstances in which the heart unbosoms itself more
spontaneously. He invites us to do so.
'Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.
To abide in His love is, in time of joy, to
refer our happiness to Him; for delicacy of friendship wants a friend
with whom to share its joys.
To abide in His love is to make the Eucharist
the centre of our desires: 'Lord, I desire this only if Thou desirest
it. I will do this to please Thee.
To abide in His love is to delight in surprising Him with some gift, or some little sacrifice.
To abide in His love is to live by the
Eucharist; to guide ourselves in our actions by His thought, and to make
it a point unswervingly to prefer the good service of the Eucharist to
everything else.
Alas! Is Jesus Eucharistic really our centre?
Perhaps in time of extraordinary difficulties,
or of very fervent prayer, or of urgent need; but in everyday life, do
we think, do we reflect, do we act in Jesus as in our centre?
II
WHY is our Lord not my centre?
Because He is not yet the ego of my ego; because I am not completely under His control, under the inspiration of His will; because I have desires that are vying
with the desires of Jesus within me; because He does not mean everything
to me. And yet a child works for his parents, an angel for his God; I
ought therefore to work for my Master, Jesus Christ.
What am I to do? I must enter into this
centre, abide in it, and act in it, not indeed by the sentiment of His
sweetness, which does not depend on me, but by repeated attempts, by the
homage of every action. Come, () my soul! Leave the world; come but of
thyself; renounce thyself; and go to the God of the Eucharist.
He has an
abode in which to receive thee; He longs for thee; He wants to live
with thee, to live in thee. Abide therefore in Jesus present in thy
heart, live in thy heart; live in the goodness of Jesus Eucharistic.
O my soul, study our Lord in thee, and do nothing but by Him.
Abide in our Lord. Abide in Him through A
sense of devotedness, of holy joy, of readiness to do whatever He will
ask of thee. 'Abide in the Heart and the peace of Jesus Eucharistic.
III
W HAT
impresses me is that this centre of the Eucharist is hidden, invisible,
altogether interior, and, for all that, most real, living, and
sustaining.
Jesus draws the soul spiritually into the wholly spiritualised state that is His in the Sacrament.
What, in fact, is the nature of the life of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament? It is entirely hidden, all interior.
He conceals therein His power and kindness; He conceals His divine Person.
And all His actions and virtues take on this simple and hidden character.
He requires silence around Him. He no longer
prays to His Father 'with a strong cry and tears as in the Garden of
Olives, but through His self-abasement.
All graces come from the Host. From His Eucharist Jesus sanctifies the world, but in an invisible and spiritual manner.
He rules the world and the Church without either moving or speaking.
Such must the kingdom of Jesus be in me, all
interior. I must gather myself up around Jesus: my faculties, my
understanding, and my will; and my senses, as far as possible. I must
live of Jesus and not of myself, in Jesus and not in myself. I must pray
with Him, immolate myself with Him, and be consumed in the same love
with Him. I must become in Him one flame, one heart, one life with Him.
What nourishes this centre is something similar to God's call to Abraham: egredere (Go
forth out of thy country); it is the renouncing and abandoning of
outside things; the turning to those within and the losing of oneself in
Jesus. This manner of life is more pleasing to His Heart and gives
greater glory to His Father; that is why our Lord desires it ardently.
He tells us: 'Come out of thyself and follow Me into solitude where,
alone with thee, I will speak to thy heart.
This life in Jesus is nothing other than the
love of predilection, the gift of self, the intensifying of union with
Him; through it we take root, as it were, and prepare the nourishment,
the sap of the tree. Regnum Dei intra vos est.The kingdom of God is within you.
IV
THERE is no centre other than Jesus, and Jesus Eucharistic.
He tells us: 'Without Me you can do nothing.
He alone gives grace. He reserves to Himself the distribution of it in
order to oblige us to come to Him and ask Him for it.
He wants thus to establish and foster union
with us. He reserves to Himself the right of giving consolation and
peace, so that in sorrows and combats we may have recourse to Him. He
wants to be the heart's only happiness. He has placed this centre of
repose in none other than himself: Manete in Me. And lest we should ever miss Him when we come to Him, He remains always at our service, always ready, always lovable.
He is continually drawing us to Himself. The
life of love is nothing other than this continual attraction of us to
Him. Alas! I am so little established in this centre of love! My
aspirations to Jesus are still so imperfect, so rare, and so
interrupted, often for long hours at a time! And yet Jesus tells us
repeatedly: 'He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood abideth in
Me, and I in him.
GOD IS THERE!
Vere Dominus est in loco isto, et ego nesciebam! Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!
(Genesis xxviii. 16.)
I
In order to form a fair judgment of a family,
we must see whether the law of respect is observed.
When you meet with a
family in which the children and servants are obedient and respectful,
you can say:
'Here is a good and happy family.
The respect and honour given to parents is the
religion of the family, just as respect for the sovereign or his
representatives is the religion of societies
We are not asked to honour the qualities of the individual, but his authority, which comes from God.
We owe respect to Our Lord; that is our first
duty. Under pain of failing in our duties towards Our Lord, we must have
for him a spontaneous respect, a respect of instinct that should
require no premeditation.
It must be in the nature of an impression in
us. We must honour our Lord wherever He is; His dignity as God-Man
requires it. In His name every knee bows in heaven, on earth, and in
hell.
In heaven, the angels prostrate themselves
before His Majesty in trembling adoration; the place of our Lord's glory
is also the place where He receives sovereign respect.
Every creature on earth has obeyed our Lord.
The sea adored Him by becoming solid beneath His feet. The sun and the
heavenly bodies mourned Him; they honoured Him while men were cursing
Him.
And in hell the damned tremble beneath the justice of the severe Judge of the living and the dead.
II
RESPECT for the presence of Our Lord should
not have to be reasoned out. When the court or the King is announced,
all stand; it is instinctive.
When the Sovereign goes by, everyone pays him
reverence. A spontaneous movement of respect and deference greet him
everywhere. He who is no longer of that sentiment or who wishes to
destroy it in others is no longer a man.
Catholics have much reason to blush for their lack of respect in our Lord's presence. I am speaking only of spontaneous respect.
Let our body therefore take the attitude of
prayer, of adoration. Let us all form the court of our King Jesus: Keep
the presence of the Master in your thoughts; impress your mind with the truth of it.
Let all your attentions be for our Lord Jesus Christ! Vere Dominus est in loco isto.
Truly, the Lord is here.
Imprimi Potest:
Alphonsus Pelletier, S.S.S., Provincialis.
Nihil Obstat:
Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D., Censor Librorum.
Imprimatur:
@ Patrick Cardinal Hayes,
Archbishop of New York.
May 21, 1938. ********
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