TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
Oh! how easy would it be for me now to finish the task which I have undertaken in showing you, 0 Christian soul, that if ever, since the time of His earthly life, the Saviour has willed to beatify the poor, it is especially in the Eucharist that He opens to them an inexhaustible source of happiness.
From the altar, as from the summit of the mountain, He addresses to them the Divine words: " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is The Eucharist and Charity. the kingdom of heaven!" But then, immediately descending to them, and coming to dwell in their hearts, He adds: " The kingdom of heaven is within you."
It is a beautiful characteristic of the providence of the Saviour that He multiplies His gifts according to the measure of our need. The Eucharist, it is true, gives Itself entirely to all; but the rich, who already possess the consolations of earth, will receive from It fewer divine pleasures. The poor have often, alas! no other friend, no other consolation, no other support, no other hope than the God of the tabernacle. It is to him that this God, become Poor, reserves His most abundant riches. The reason why the Eucharist does not always establish Its kingdom in our heart is that this heart already belongs to a thousand worldly hopes, to a multitude of covetous and carnal interests. The heart of the poor is empty, and Luke xvii. 21. the kingdom of God finds place there.
"The kingdom of God is within you." This kingdom, says the Apostle S. Paul, is not meat and drink, but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.* The kingdom of God, truly, could not consist in the carnal delights which habitually embellish the life of the rich, in the feasts and intoxication of the world. But it is truly, 0 great Apostle! in the Eucharistic Food, in the Cup on the altar, which inebriates; and this Food and this Cup, which are the best festival of the poor, communicate to them abundantly justice, peace, and joy.
"The kingdom of God is within you." "This kingdom," says the Gospel, "is like to a grain of mustard seed, which becomes a great tree." The poor man is this grain of mustard seed, which the world despises, and which it tramples under its feet. But the Eucharistic sap makes of the mustard seed a great tree, where the birds of heaven rest, because the poor man becomes great before God, and the angels love to converse with his simple and humble soul. The kingdom of God resembles again the leaven which, being mixed with three measures of meal, leavens the whole lump, and makes delicious bread of it! * And, similarly, the heart of the poor, when the Eucharistic leaven raises and strengthens it, is changed into a new heart, which is the delight of the Lord.
Finally, this same kingdom resembles a merchant seeking pearls. The most precious is the Eucharist, and when the poor man has found it, he possesses an incomparable treasure.
Oh! how easy would it be for me now to finish the task which I have undertaken in showing you, 0 Christian soul, that if ever, since the time of His earthly life, the Saviour has willed to beatify the poor, it is especially in the Eucharist that He opens to them an inexhaustible source of happiness.
From the altar, as from the summit of the mountain, He addresses to them the Divine words: " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is The Eucharist and Charity. the kingdom of heaven!" But then, immediately descending to them, and coming to dwell in their hearts, He adds: " The kingdom of heaven is within you."
It is a beautiful characteristic of the providence of the Saviour that He multiplies His gifts according to the measure of our need. The Eucharist, it is true, gives Itself entirely to all; but the rich, who already possess the consolations of earth, will receive from It fewer divine pleasures. The poor have often, alas! no other friend, no other consolation, no other support, no other hope than the God of the tabernacle. It is to him that this God, become Poor, reserves His most abundant riches. The reason why the Eucharist does not always establish Its kingdom in our heart is that this heart already belongs to a thousand worldly hopes, to a multitude of covetous and carnal interests. The heart of the poor is empty, and Luke xvii. 21. the kingdom of God finds place there.
"The kingdom of God is within you." This kingdom, says the Apostle S. Paul, is not meat and drink, but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.* The kingdom of God, truly, could not consist in the carnal delights which habitually embellish the life of the rich, in the feasts and intoxication of the world. But it is truly, 0 great Apostle! in the Eucharistic Food, in the Cup on the altar, which inebriates; and this Food and this Cup, which are the best festival of the poor, communicate to them abundantly justice, peace, and joy.
"The kingdom of God is within you." "This kingdom," says the Gospel, "is like to a grain of mustard seed, which becomes a great tree." The poor man is this grain of mustard seed, which the world despises, and which it tramples under its feet. But the Eucharistic sap makes of the mustard seed a great tree, where the birds of heaven rest, because the poor man becomes great before God, and the angels love to converse with his simple and humble soul. The kingdom of God resembles again the leaven which, being mixed with three measures of meal, leavens the whole lump, and makes delicious bread of it! * And, similarly, the heart of the poor, when the Eucharistic leaven raises and strengthens it, is changed into a new heart, which is the delight of the Lord.
Finally, this same kingdom resembles a merchant seeking pearls. The most precious is the Eucharist, and when the poor man has found it, he possesses an incomparable treasure.
