Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

"We see Christians despise Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and His Heart which has loved them and which consumes Itself with love for them! To despise Him, they take advantage of the veil which hides Him. They insult Him with their irreverences, their guilty thoughts and criminal glances in His presence. To insult Him, they avail themselves of His inalterable patience of, of the kindness which suffers everything in silence as it did with the impious soldiery of Caiphas, Herod and Pilate. They blaspheme sacrilegiously against the God of the Eucharist. They know that His love renders Him speechless. They crucify Him even in their guilty soul! They receive Him! They dare take this living Heart and bind it to a foul corpse; they dare deliver it to the devil who is their Lord! No, never even in the days of His Passion, has Jesus received so many humiliations as in His Sacrament! Earth for Him is a Calvary of ignominy. In His agony He sought a consoler; on the Cross He asked f...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Our Lord is in the Blessed Sacrament to receive from men the same homages He received from those who had the happiness of coming close to Him during His mortal life. He is there in order to give everybody the opportunity to render personal homage to His Sacred humanity; if that were the only end and justification of the Eucharist, we should still deem ourselves most fortunate to be enabled thereby to fulfill our Christian duties towards our Lord in person. If you take away the Real Presence, how will you render to His sacred humanity the respect and honor it is entitled to? Moreover, since our Lord as man is only in heaven and in the Most Blessed Sacrament, it is through the Eucharist that we can come close to our living Savior in person, see Him and converse with Him. Through this sacramental presence we go to our Lord directly and come to Him as during His mortal life. How unfortunate it would be if, in order to honor the humanity of...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) "To adore well we must, above all, talk to our Lord; He will answer us. Everybody can talk to our Lord. Is He not in the Eucharist for everybody? Does He not tell us, 'Come ye all to me'? This conversation which goes on between the soul and our Lord is the true eucharistic meditation, that is, adoration. The grace of it is given to everybody. Go to our Lord as you are. Exhaust your own stock of piety and of love before resorting to books; cherish the inexhaustible book of humble love. It is all very well to have a devotional book with you to regain control of yourself in case the mind wanders or the senses grow drowsy, but remember that the good Lord prefers the poverty of your heart to the most sublime thoughts and affections borrowed from others. Always begin your adoration, therefore, with an act of love, and bringing your soul under the action of God will be a joy. If you begin with yourself, you will stop half way; o...