TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
In the sacrament of the altar He wills to be Poor. Wherefore ? Because He loves the poor, and because, being like to them, He can find easier access into their hearts. Jesus Christ only passes under the roofs of our churches and over the stones of our altars; His most loved dwelling, and that where He would always live, is the heart of man. But —I hasten to add it—it is especially the heart of the poor. There He meets more habitually with the virtues which He prefers, humility, modesty, simplicity, candour. There He does better, and in greater profusion, the work which He came to do. He heals more bleeding wounds; He consoles more sorrows; He excites a more lively faith; He inspires a more burning love. There, in fact, He acts more easily, and more quickly.
Is not this, O Christian soul! a fact that experience demonstrates—sad for the rich, sweet and consoling for the poor? Every time that the Priest from the Christian pulpit makes an appeal to souls, and when he calls to the marriage feast those who have been invited by the Father of the family, does one not see most of the rich pass coldly on, and many poor run together ? As in the days of His earthly life, only with grace more intimate, more penetrating, and more profound, the Saviour still says to them: " Follow me," and after the example of the apostles, they give themselves entirely to Him.
