TENTH MOTIVE.
JESUS LEAVES ALL IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.
Ego autetn sum vermis, et non homo: opprobrium hominum et abjectio plebis. — I am a worm, and no man : the reproach of men. and the outcast of the people. — (Psalm xxi. 7.)
As Jesus is in the Most Holy Sacrament, He is there in His Divine Nature, and consequently with all possible greatness; but His Glory, infinite as it is, is so entirely concealed, that if one were to judge from appearances, it seems as if there were nothing
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present but a mean piece of bread ! Vere tu es Deus dbsconditus. Verily, we must confess, now or never, that the God whom we adore is a Hidden God, as He divests Himself of all marks of His Godhead.
Heis all-powerful, but under the sacramental species, He is all-weak ; it is He who gives motion to all things, but here He does not move. He is the Uncreated Word, the Eternal Word, and He utters not a word. We may even be guilty of insolence in His Divine Presence, by our discourses and postures, or by evil glances, yet He seems not to perceive it. O my God, to what has love reduced Thee ? We might even say that He has made Himself like unto those idols of which the Psalmist says, they have eyes and see not, they have ears and hear not, they have hands and handle not.
There is no sign of life discernible in the Consecrated Host, and to the senses there is no difference between one that is consecrated and another which is not. If, in the manger, God's love is bound by the swathing bands that are wrapped round Him, He is still at liberty to sigh ; whilst on the Cross, He speaks and has the use of His Sacred Eyes, but this is not the case in the Divine Eucharist. If, at least, He appeared in It under the semblance of an Angel, or some other noble creature, He would obtain the reverence of men; but He is united, not to an intellectual creature, not to a substance, but to the appearance of a crumb of bread and a drop of wine. He
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places Himself at times in so small a fragment of the Sacred Host, that it is scarcely perceptible to the eye of His creatures. Behold Him then, apparently stripped of all the greatness of His Divinity ! No Human Person is found there, the Sacred Humanity subsisting only in the Divine Person. It is love makes Him leave all things. The Great All leaves everything for nothingness.
After that, shall we miserable beings, in our nothingness, have the courage to reserve anything to ourselves ?
Earth has nothing really great ; but, even if it were full of earthly grandeurs, we ought justly to despise them in comparison with our dear Lord. O, how rare is it to find a heart that truly loves this Divine Lover of men ! If it be natural in real love to leave all for the loved one, it must be said that there are few who love, because there are few who know how to leave creatures for love of Jesus.
Some are attached to gold and silver, others to the pleasures of the senses; some are kept from loving God by the esteem they have for the world, and what people will say of them ; others by the love of some frail creature. You will see some who cannot overcome the love they have for their body ; men who cannot give up good cheer, delicate dishes, delicious wines; women who pass great part of their lives in dressing, talking about dress and their head-gear. O God! what conversation for people who hope to live in eternity!
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There are some who are caught in more wily traps ; people who pride themselves on a brilliant intellect, who use every effort to have elevated and sublime thoughts, make eloquent speeches and polite discourse ; people who make a show .of their knowledge, and try to make themselves great in the eyes of the world by their wisdom. There are, it is true, many who have detached themselves from all these things and yet are bound by ties more subtle, but which also will not fail to detain them captive, if they do not sever and destroy them. Such are those who think much of gratifying their taste in spiritual matters, who rest their affections on inspirations and a tender and sensible devotion ; who are much attached to particular exercises of piety and to certain means which, though very good and excellent, ought not to fetter the soul. In this class we may count inordinate regard for directors and spiritual friends, for certain books and a number of little objects of devotion ; it is to God alone, without reserve, that we should attach ourselves, and not to those things which are only means for leading us to Him.
Think you, who read these truths, what keeps you back, what hinders you; remember that love for you has made the God of Love leave all, therefore there is nothing which you ought not to give up for Him, whether it be a father or mother, child, friend, honour, friendship—I say more—even yourself. You can have no excuse for not leaving them
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and giving up your attachment to them, when you meditate on the Most Holy Sacrament See, therefore, what you will do. Look at what God has done for you; look at what you have done, and what you are going to do for Him ; think of what you are and what God is ; think of what, at the Day of Judgment, you would wish, for His sake, to have given up. That is what you must now forsake. Are you doing so, do you intend to do so ? Those creatures, those worldly goods, those honours, that self, which keep you so attached to them — what will become of all these at the hour of your death ? What will become of that world that you care so much about — those conversations in society, your beauty, your wit, the love of creatures ?
Alas, how odious all these vanities will then seem to you ! They will pass for ever with the world that you must leave for ever.
Ah, how much sweeter that Divine Love rather than the inevitable necessity of death should detach us from ourselves and the world ! I say to you once more—and I repeat it—think well of this, consider carefully all the hidden thoughts of your heart, and put from it all that is not good, all that does not tend to pure love, all that tends to the love of creatures. I know not what you will do, but I know well what you ought to do, and I know also that, if you do it not, all is lost for you, and you will lose yourself; therefore, with all the love of my heart, I cry out to you—Is it possible that
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my Beloved finds so little love in the hearts of you His creatures ?
Ah, my Sovereign Lord, it seems to me Thy love is so strong that I believe and cannot doubt that a soul who loves Thee, though it should possess all the goods, all the honours, and all the pleasures of the whole world —though it should possess the dominion of the Universe, would look upon them as nothing to have Thy love; would trample on crowns and sceptres; would burn a thousand worlds in sacrifice to the greatness of Thy love.
Such a soul has no attachment to bind her, no designs or wishes, holy though they may be, to occupy her heart ; her regret is, not at leaving self or creatures ; if she sighs, if she weeps, it is because she has nothing but herself to give as a sacrifice to love ; she would possess all to give all, and she is melted to tears because, though all created beings belonged to her, they would be nothing to offer to her Beloved. Compare yourself with those souls who love, and judge of your own state. Do you truly love God ?
ELEVENTH MOTIVE.
JESUS DOES ALL THINGS IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.
Omnia operator. — All these things [one and the same spirit] worketh. — (1 Cor. xii. 11.)
St. Paul, that man who was instructed in Paradise itself, that great Apostle, says, in speaking of his
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dear Master, that it is He who works all good in us ; that it is through His mercy that we are what we are. For this reason He has established Sacraments in His Church as so many channels