Eucharistic Reflection - Christ, Our Daily Banquet!

 

"Although all exercises of devotion are capable of filling the soul with interior consolations, and all good works are accompanied by an unspeakable delight and joy, which is inseparable from the testimony of a good conscience, and which surpasses all other pleasures, it is, however, certain, that Jesus Christ never grants so many sensible favors as in the practices of devotion which tend only to honor Him in the most Blessed Sacrament.

 
The lives of the saints are filled with examples of this truth. When did a St. Francis, a St. Ignatius, a St. Teresa, a St. Philip Neri, a St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and numberless others feel their hearts inflamed with love, than when they approached this august Sacrament? What sighs of love issued from their hearts, what sweet tears streamed from their eyes in the celebration or in the participation of this adorable mystery!

 
With what consolations, with what torrents of delight, were they not replenished! For indeed Jesus Christ is nowhere more liberal than in this august Sacrament; so nowhere does He make us feel more abundantly the sweetness of His Presence.

 
In the other mysteries He gives us His graces. In this, the first grace He bestows on us, is to give Himself really and truly to us. Joy is ever attendant of a banquet. Jesus Christ prepares a banquet daily for us in the adorable Eucharist. Can we be surprised if He treats his friends therein with so much sweetness and love?

 
As the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus makes us true and faithful adorers of Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament, so it also procures for us the greatest favors. It might be said that our Lord measures the singular favors He grants herein, by the number of insults He has received; and that, there is no mystery in which He has received so many outrages, so there is none in which He fills with sweeter consolations those who neglect nothing to repair these indignities.

 
The motive of this holy practice being so pure and so pleasing to Jesus Christ, we need not wonder if, as He is the best and holiest of all Masters, He gives so much consolation to His faithful and grateful servants, especially at a time when He meets with so little gratitude, so little true love, in those even, who make a profession of loving Him."

(From Devotion to the Sacred Heart by Father John Croiset, S.J.)

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