TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
From the beginning of this conversation I have taken care to warn you, O Christian soul, that no connection can exist between the holy Eucharist and the world which has been the object of the maledictions of the Saviour. What relations can there be between the chaste delights of the altar and the guilty voluptuousness of the world ? It is with reference to this that S. Paul pronounced these plain words: " You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils." (1 Corinthians x. 21.) The chalice of Jesus Christ is the Wine which brings forth virgins: the chalice of devils poisons and destroys souls. This guilty world you must fly; but I am persuaded beforehand that the holy love of the Eucharist will suffice to cause you to avoid it.
The holy love of the Eucharist! Ah ! it is then a very precious grace bestowed on us by the Lord ! It suffices to guard us from a number of shameful faults into which our corrupt nature would draw us. Happy is the soul which, at the holy Table, has "tasted and seen how sweet the Lord is." (Psalm xxxiii. 9. 16) It has unlearnt by this very means the unholy science which the world reveals to us; it has, if I may so express myself, lost the sense of worldly things. But in place of this, it has gained an exquisite, a divine sense, which is only satisfied at the altar. It is in vain henceforth that the world will burn before it the vapid incense of its vanities : it loves better to run to the perfumes of the tabernacle. In vain it amasses before its eyes all that enchants, all that seduces: it is never deceived by those deceptions. Ah ! it says, how vile is the world when I gaze upon the altar!
From the beginning of this conversation I have taken care to warn you, O Christian soul, that no connection can exist between the holy Eucharist and the world which has been the object of the maledictions of the Saviour. What relations can there be between the chaste delights of the altar and the guilty voluptuousness of the world ? It is with reference to this that S. Paul pronounced these plain words: " You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord and the chalice of devils." (1 Corinthians x. 21.) The chalice of Jesus Christ is the Wine which brings forth virgins: the chalice of devils poisons and destroys souls. This guilty world you must fly; but I am persuaded beforehand that the holy love of the Eucharist will suffice to cause you to avoid it.
The holy love of the Eucharist! Ah ! it is then a very precious grace bestowed on us by the Lord ! It suffices to guard us from a number of shameful faults into which our corrupt nature would draw us. Happy is the soul which, at the holy Table, has "tasted and seen how sweet the Lord is." (Psalm xxxiii. 9. 16) It has unlearnt by this very means the unholy science which the world reveals to us; it has, if I may so express myself, lost the sense of worldly things. But in place of this, it has gained an exquisite, a divine sense, which is only satisfied at the altar. It is in vain henceforth that the world will burn before it the vapid incense of its vanities : it loves better to run to the perfumes of the tabernacle. In vain it amasses before its eyes all that enchants, all that seduces: it is never deceived by those deceptions. Ah ! it says, how vile is the world when I gaze upon the altar!
