TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
And, in fact, O Christian soul, here is a sure sign by which it will be easy for you to see if the Eucharist exercises a happy influence on your relations with the world.
From time to time return upon yourself. Interrogate your own feelings, whether from the point of view of the world, or from that of the Eucharist. Is it the Eucharist, or is it the world which every day loses or gains most ground on your affections?
If you find that the world draws you away; if, like the unbelieving Jews, you think that the Eucharistic manna possesses no longer the same celestial flavour which It had formerly; if you prefer to It the coarse food of Egypt, take care: the world is worth nothing to you. Apply to yourself the words of the wise man: " Strive not against the stream of the river." (Ecclesiasticus iv. 32.) Retire rather to the calm and holy shore of our Eucharistic sanctuaries, and by deeper recollection, by more fervent prayer, endeavour to restore to your soul the energy which the softness of the enervating world caused it to lose.
But if, on the contrary, the spectacle of the vanities of the world which surround you only succeed in making you love still more the delights of the Eucharist; if, every time that you are invited to a worldly assembly, you say, with David : " Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged! How long shall my exile last ? " (Psalm cxix. 5.) If worldly conversation tires you, and if, returned to the foot of the Eucharist, you experience the truth of these beautiful words of our Sacred Books: " Her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness," (Wisdom viii. 16.) oh, then, I shall be less uneasy.
The world will in vain endeavour to retain you; you will love it less from day to day; and soon, I feel convinced, the Eucharist will obtain in you the triumph which It longs for.
By It and with It you will soon have overcome the world.
And, in fact, O Christian soul, here is a sure sign by which it will be easy for you to see if the Eucharist exercises a happy influence on your relations with the world.
From time to time return upon yourself. Interrogate your own feelings, whether from the point of view of the world, or from that of the Eucharist. Is it the Eucharist, or is it the world which every day loses or gains most ground on your affections?
If you find that the world draws you away; if, like the unbelieving Jews, you think that the Eucharistic manna possesses no longer the same celestial flavour which It had formerly; if you prefer to It the coarse food of Egypt, take care: the world is worth nothing to you. Apply to yourself the words of the wise man: " Strive not against the stream of the river." (Ecclesiasticus iv. 32.) Retire rather to the calm and holy shore of our Eucharistic sanctuaries, and by deeper recollection, by more fervent prayer, endeavour to restore to your soul the energy which the softness of the enervating world caused it to lose.
But if, on the contrary, the spectacle of the vanities of the world which surround you only succeed in making you love still more the delights of the Eucharist; if, every time that you are invited to a worldly assembly, you say, with David : " Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged! How long shall my exile last ? " (Psalm cxix. 5.) If worldly conversation tires you, and if, returned to the foot of the Eucharist, you experience the truth of these beautiful words of our Sacred Books: " Her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness," (Wisdom viii. 16.) oh, then, I shall be less uneasy.
The world will in vain endeavour to retain you; you will love it less from day to day; and soon, I feel convinced, the Eucharist will obtain in you the triumph which It longs for.
By It and with It you will soon have overcome the world.
