TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
How many times, O Christian soul, has it not occurred to us to sigh over our indifference and our coldness when we approach the sacrament of the altar. Dissipated and distracted by our business and our pleasures, we have often perhaps hardly prepared our heart to receive its Divine Guest. And after having communicated, no true feeling of love, no earnest resolution, no burst of gratitude.
O you whom suffering distresses! I congratulate you truly. Your communions will now become very agreeable to God, and it will be easy to you to make them.
You are on the point of communicating: seek not to make long preparations, and do not fatigue your mind by useless efforts : you suffer : that is enough.
I said to you a moment ago that, precisely because you are ill, Jesus Christ is in great haste to come to you. The ills which you suffer form a powerful attraction which draws Him.
Formerly, perhaps, you tell me, you took care to prepare yourself by prayer and good works. Alas! often a self-satisfied feeling robbed them of all their value.
Suffering is never an act of our own will, it is as the direct expression of the Divine Will for us. Bear the burden which God has imposed upon you, suffer with resignation, and you will be able to say without fear to the God of the Eucharist: " My heart is ready, O God ; my heart is ready."
The Saviour comes to you. Do not say, My tabernacle is poor, without perfume and without ornament: I have neither virtues nor merits.
For you it is only a question of one single virtue, one single merit, but which, according to the expression of S. James, are the best evidence of your faith, and the highest stage of Christian perfection: to be resigned and patient. The dwelling which you offer to the Lord suits Him; He unites Himself willingly to you, because you unite your sufferings to His; He loves to repose Himself upon you, because being yourself weary of suffering, you can only repose yourself in Him.
After that you have communicated, your thanksgiving will be short-never will it have been more perfect; your sufferings will make up its value; you will simply address to. Jesus Christ these three words of His gospel: " Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick;" '' Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst heal me;" " Lord, may Thy Will be done, not mine. ,,
Ah ! if on leaving the Divine banquet, you have, like the Saviour, to enter the garden of Olives and to begin your agony, take courage, O Christian soul! Better than the angel who appeared to Jesus in His agony, it will be the Lord Himself, the God of the Eucharist, who will raise you up and sustain you
How many times, O Christian soul, has it not occurred to us to sigh over our indifference and our coldness when we approach the sacrament of the altar. Dissipated and distracted by our business and our pleasures, we have often perhaps hardly prepared our heart to receive its Divine Guest. And after having communicated, no true feeling of love, no earnest resolution, no burst of gratitude.
O you whom suffering distresses! I congratulate you truly. Your communions will now become very agreeable to God, and it will be easy to you to make them.
You are on the point of communicating: seek not to make long preparations, and do not fatigue your mind by useless efforts : you suffer : that is enough.
I said to you a moment ago that, precisely because you are ill, Jesus Christ is in great haste to come to you. The ills which you suffer form a powerful attraction which draws Him.
Formerly, perhaps, you tell me, you took care to prepare yourself by prayer and good works. Alas! often a self-satisfied feeling robbed them of all their value.
Suffering is never an act of our own will, it is as the direct expression of the Divine Will for us. Bear the burden which God has imposed upon you, suffer with resignation, and you will be able to say without fear to the God of the Eucharist: " My heart is ready, O God ; my heart is ready."
The Saviour comes to you. Do not say, My tabernacle is poor, without perfume and without ornament: I have neither virtues nor merits.
For you it is only a question of one single virtue, one single merit, but which, according to the expression of S. James, are the best evidence of your faith, and the highest stage of Christian perfection: to be resigned and patient. The dwelling which you offer to the Lord suits Him; He unites Himself willingly to you, because you unite your sufferings to His; He loves to repose Himself upon you, because being yourself weary of suffering, you can only repose yourself in Him.
After that you have communicated, your thanksgiving will be short-never will it have been more perfect; your sufferings will make up its value; you will simply address to. Jesus Christ these three words of His gospel: " Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick;" '' Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst heal me;" " Lord, may Thy Will be done, not mine. ,,
Ah ! if on leaving the Divine banquet, you have, like the Saviour, to enter the garden of Olives and to begin your agony, take courage, O Christian soul! Better than the angel who appeared to Jesus in His agony, it will be the Lord Himself, the God of the Eucharist, who will raise you up and sustain you
