FIRST MEDITATION FOR HOLY JESUS AND THE CHRISTIAN SOUL. Preparation. THE Soul, a simple and spiritual being, has need of motion, of food, and of rest, like the body. Being created in sympathy with God, it finds in Jesus Christ its type, its sphere, its aliment. Being made in the divine image, its activity is thought, its light is truth, its rest is in confiding prayer. In the soul, all activity and all lively or profund feelings tend to produce actions equivalent to their strength; it is then necessary for its welfare that it should be united to Jesus Christ on earth, because He alone can feed it with food suitable for it, capable of developing its activity; of satisfying its needs. In the Holy Eucharist our Lord places Himself at the disposal of the soul. One Communion ought to be enough to attach us irrevocably to Him. I. How Jesus approaches our souls. Between God and the soul there exists a resemblance, and therefore a harmony; in the beginning there was even a close intimacy. But sin has destroyed the resemblance, and turned the harmony into discord. And now the infinite greatness of God, and our littleness, are brought near to each other, by means of the Incarnation and the Holy Eucharist. Nothing more venerable or more tender can be imagined than the relationship established between Jesus in the Eucharist and the soul of man. This relationship begins upon the blessed day of first Communion, which develops the germ of supernatural life first implanted in us at baptism: and in every one of our future Communions our Saviour increases and perfects that supernatural life in the soul. I have had a spiritual childhood of which I remember even less than of my bodily infancy. Perhaps the first awakening of reason implanted in my mind the remembrance of some early fault. My youth, though marked by precious graces, yet leaves me the regret that at that age I did not do good without constraint. I deluded myself with passing desires which had not Jesus for their object and end. How carefully I observed the rules laid down for my studies, but how little solicitude I showed to keep faithfully the solemn compact made with my God in presence of the Sacred Host! Still more do I grieve for having afterwards tarnished the beauty of my soul by contact with the world. My soul perhaps loved that imperfect life and desired not its own revival. If I dwell upon those days of error and illusion, it is in order to feel more deeply how much I ought to love Jesus who has delivered me from them. O my Saviour, it was not Thine intention to come into my soul to form with it a passing union only, neither to dwell inactively therein. Thine intention was to make it better. Thou didst seal it with Thy Blood, with the intent that it should retain a sign to call ever to my remembrance Him who for my sake delivered Himself up freely to the bitter death of the Cross for me. Thou hast signed me with that sacred unction which Thou hast Thyself received, and caused my name of Christian to be formed out of Thy name of Christ. May that mysterious sign shield me from all my enemies. Preserve to my soul the health which Thou hast restored to it, and keep it ever under the direction of Thy grace. II. Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament attracts the Christian soul. Jesus has performed so many prodigies in order to hide Himself in the Holy Eucharist, that in one sense instead of appearing there as HE WHO IS, He appears as if He was not. But do not those very prodigies lend a voice to our Lord to say to us: Behold this little Host, under which I hide Myself entirely, my love seeks by this annihilation to attract you to Myself. Suffer me not to consume Myself vainly for love of you in the tabernacle. My Heart is ever ready to hear you, to sustain you, to console you, to make you happy. Although our Lord cannot be comprehended by our senses in the Eucharist, yet souls in a state of grace rarely fail to experience an impression of awe and reverence in His presence, an undefinable attraction to Holy Communion. How unfortunate are those who suffer this feeling to become extinguished, or who substitute the attractions of the world for the attractions of Jesus in the Sacrament! That soul, which loses itself in the pleasures of the world after having loved the Holy Eucharist, may count itself happy if one day the powerful grace of God should seize it, cause it to fly to the tabernacle, and make it feel that henceforth it must communicate or die! Jesus has granted that grace to me; one day my heart became attracted, chained as it were to the tabernacle, and never since have I been able to break that chain; I had tasted the Holy Eucharist! That word always thrills my heart, for it is full of hope, my sweetest recollections are included in it. Nevertheless, I often feel the need of reviving my faith in the Presence of our Lord, for distractions frequently oblige me to cry out, 'Truly, my God is here, and I knew it not;' or, rather, I thought not of it. How can one be near to Jesus, and yet not think continually of Him? O my Jesus, I believe firmly, I believe with joy unspeakable, that Thou art present in that little Host, which from all eternity Thou hast destined for me, and that now the happy day in which Thou wilt bestow it upon me has at length arrived. But what have I done all my life long to render myself worthy of that wonderful benefit? Alas, my silence shows my fault too plainly: this is only another reason why I should believe more firmly in Thy mercy. As fully as I believe in Thy greatness and holiness, so fully do I believe in Thy goodness and mercy. Regard me from that mercy seat to which I now venture to draw nigh, and look upon me only as the work of Thy mercy, not regarding my iniquities, for I come to Thee covered with Thy most precious Blood, and my faith strengthens my confidence in its efficacious action upon my soul. III. The obstacles which arise between God and the Christian soul. 'One should be pleased to receive God,' says St. Alphonsus Liguori; but far from being pure, we often drag to the Holy Table a half dead soul; for 'luxury, pomp, and curiosity,' St. Augustine says, 'are the offspring of a soul which is dead, but not so thoroughly dead as to be completely deprived of motion. Our souls die when they wander from the source of life; they take the tone of the age, and the torrent of its influence carries them away.' 2% We should feel our own weakness, but we must also humble ourselves still more for our sinfulness, which is the real barrier between Jesus Christ and our souls. While in the bottom of your heart Jesus Christ is saying to you tenderly, 'Come unto Me,' think well on the state of your conscience; recall to your mind * Confessions of St. Augustine, ch. xxi. the chief of those faults which you commit most frequently. Confess humbly that your will is weak, often evil, and that you never cease to offend God, who never ceases to do you good. Assure our Lord of your repentance, and while you say with St. Peter, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,' add with St. Magdalene of Pazzi, 'I would rather die than voluntarily lose one Communion,' lest you should thereby lose the benefit of those astonishing marvels which our Lord Jesus Christ can perform in one instant in our souls. Be humble and penitent, and Jesus will remove all the obstacles which your passions oppose to His grace and holy inspirations. O my Jesus, I have made thee an humble confession of all my faults, of everything which is displeasing to Thee in me; give me such grace that I may no more be one of those souls in whom the love of worldly things, cares of earth, taste for frivolity, dispute for empire with Thy divine law. Come, Lord, and reign more fully in my heart. Come and animate my soul, think with my mind, remember with my memory, act by my hands, and cause all my actions to bring forth fruit abundantly. IV. How the soul draws near to Jesus. If we compare the prodigies which Jesus effects in the Holy Eucharist in order to descend into our hearts with the efforts that we make to free ourselves from indolence, sensuality, self-love, and vanity, and from the habit of committing venial sin, we shall have good reason to feel our immense distance from Jesus. But our confidence in Him is the bridge which unites His Heart to ours, and spans the gulf of our offences. Let our confidence be proportioned to the depth of our wretchedness, and then our fears can never drive us away from Jesus. Yes, let us have confidence, Holy Communion is the means of bringing to |