Volume II, Treatise VIII, Chapter V

Another Disposition, and a More Particular Preparation, for Approaching This Divine Sacrament

THE saints and masters of a spiritual life tell us, that to obtain a greater abundance of fruit, and more admirable effects of this divine sacrament, we must endeavour more particularly to prepare ourselves for it, by an actual devotion; I shall therefore explain here what this devotion is, and how we may excite ourselves to it. We must, in the first place, say they, approach this divine sacrament with a great humility and respect; secondly, with a great deal of love and confidence; and thirdly, with a great deal of fervour; with a hunger after this celestial bread, and a desire to partake of it, All sorts of affectionate emotions, by which we may excite this actual devotion, either before or after.communion, are reduced to these three. As books are filled with divers holy devotions and considerations, upon this matter, I shall touch here only on some of the more ordinary, which often also are the most profitable that after I have set down the method, every one may of himself work hereupon, and be able te reap from his own stock. For what we acquire by ourselves, invariably makes the most deep and permanent impression; as St. Ignatius takes notice of, in his annotations upon the spiritual exercises. | First, we must approach this adorable sacrament with most profound respect and humility: and the better to excite this feeling in our hearts, we can at first represent to ourselves, the supreme greatness and infinite majesty of God, who is really in the Eucharist. We can consider that it is he, who has created heaven and earth, by one sole act of his will; and preserves them also, and that he can destroy them by the same divine will; and in fine, we can reflect that the angels tremble with respect before him, and at the least sign he makes, the very pillars of heaven shake, and tremble with fear. After this we must turn our eyes upon ourselves, to behold our misery and baseness, and sometimes entertain ourselves with the thoughts and sentiments of the publican in the gospel, who durst not approach the altar, nor so much as lift up his eyes to heaven; but retiring into a corner of the temple, struck his breast, “saying, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) Sometimes we must help ourselves with the words of the prodigal child: “Lord, I have sinned against heaven and against thee; I deserve no longer to be called thy son, make me only like one of thy servants.” (Luke 15:18) At other times we may frequently repeat in our heart and mouth the words of St. Elizabeth to the blessed Virgin, and say, “how comes it to pass that I should receive so great a favour?” (Luke 1:43) —_It will be very good also to reflect upon those words the church makes use at the time of holy communion, which are taken out of the gospel; “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: say but the word, and my soul shall be healed.”—(Mat. viii. 8.) I am not worthy, O Lord, to receive you, but I approach you, that you may render me worthy. QO Lord! I am sick and weak, and I come to you to be healed and strengthenad by you; because you have said, “that those who are well stand not in need of a physician, “but only those that are sick,” (Mat. 3 ix. 12), and it was those only you came for.

_ Ensabius, who was disciple of St. J erom, and present at his death, says, that this great saint being upon the point of receiving his viaticum, and considering on the one hand, the infinite majesty and goodness of God, and on the other, looking upon himself, said: Lord, why do you debase yourself at present so low as to come to find out a publican and sinner; and this not only to eat with him, but even with a desire to be eaten by him? It is related in the Second Book of Kings, that David having said to Miphiboseth, “thou shalt always eat at my table;”’ Miphiboseth, answered him, “who am I your servant, that you should ‘cast your eyes upon me, who am but like a dead dog.”—-(2 Kings 9:7,8) Now, if the son of Jonathan made such an answer as this, to a king who invited him to his table; what answer ought not be made by us, whom God himself invites to his? But since we can never approach the sacred banquet with such a disposition as it deserves, let us supply it, at least, by profound humility, and say with the royal prophet, “who is man that thou art mindful of him? Orthe son of man that thou dost visit him?’’ (Psalms 8:5) Or else with Job, “who is man whom thou hast elevated to so great a dignity?” (Job 7:17) It is with reason, therefore, that the church, admiring the goodness of God, cries out upon this occasion, c O inconceivable wonder! a vile slave eats his Lord and master.”

In the second place, we must approach this sacrament with a great deal of love and confidence; and to render this sentiment more lively and tender, we must consider the infinite mercy and bounty of God, which here appears more clear, than in any other thing whatsoever, as we have said in the beginning. For when we shall set this before our eyes, how is it possible we should not love him who has so much loved us? And how can we but have a great confidence in him, who has heaped so many benefits upon us? And what is it he can refuse us, who has vouchsafed to give us himself? ‘What shepherd,” says St. Chrysostom, upon this adorable mystery, ‘has ever nourished his flock with his own blood? But why do I speak of shepherds? How many mothers are there, who, after their pains of childbirth are past, give up their children to be nourished by other women? But our Saviour has not permitted that we should be given out to be nursed by others: he nurses and nourishes us himself, with his own blood, and by all possible ways unites us to himself.”—-(Hom. ]xxxiii. in Mat.)

The third thing that God requires of us in this adorable sacrament is, that we come to it with an ardent desire. “This bread,” says St. Austin, “must be eaten with a great hunger of the inward man.”—(Cone. iii. in (Psalms 103)) And as the things we eat with a good appetite, do ordinarily most good to the body; so this celestial bread will work a better and more wonderful effect in our souls, if it be eaten with a great hunger, and with an extreme impatience of uniting ourselves to God, and with an ardent desire of obtaining some particular grace thereby. For the prophet assures us, that “he will satisfy hungry souls;’’ and does not the holy Virgin also assure us, that “he filled those that were hungry with good things?”—-(Luke 1:53) The means to excite in us this hunger of the celestial bread, is on the one hand, to regard the extreme necessity we have of it; and on the other, to consider the admirable effects it produces. We do not read, that when our Saviour conversed with men, any one implored his assistance in vain. The Cananezan woman only touched the hem of his garment, and was cured—the adulteress only cast herself at his feet, and received pardon for her sins. The lepers, possessed persons, paralytics, blind, lame, deaf and dumb, received cure of all their diseases, as soon as they had recourse to him; “because there proceeded virtue from him that cured them all.”—-(Luke 6:19) He is the same now, he was then; and has the same will and power; so that if we approach this divine sacrament with an ardent desire of being cured, we shall therein find remedy for all the distempers of our souls.

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