TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MONSEIGNEUR DE LA BOUILLERIE, Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux.
No doubt that which is perceptible to his senses acts upon him more directly and attracts him most. Nevertheless, with his soul, with the loftiest part of his spirit, with all that is most noble and most loving in his heart, he aspires to the mysterious blessings which are offered to him at the altar. How often has the fervent Christian fixed his eager looks on the Divine Host! His faith, his hope, his love endeavoured to sound the mystery, and with the Angelical Doctor he never ceased to exclaim: "Divine Jesus, Whom I can hardly see beneath these veils, cause, I pray Thee, that beholding Thee face to Face, I may be inebriated with the vision of Thy glory."* Alas! his prayer was in vain: the veil was not raised, his eyes were uselessly cast upon it, and, borrowing the thought of David, he repeated again with him: " Mine eyes have failed for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me ? "
What pious soul is there which, at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, has not thus addressed its complaint; and one of our Christian sorrows is it not that of feeling so near the God Whom we love and yet never seeing Him?
Well, then, death is the longed-for moment when the curtain rises from before the invisible scene which enchanted our hearts beforehand.
For the last time the Eucharist presents Itself before our dying gaze—now It will reveal Itself. Perhaps we still retain the remains of our former desires, and perhaps we show to the world and to those who inhabit it a last and useless regret!
But in proportion as the hour approaches when the shadows around the Host will be dispersed, it is the world which, in its turn, seems to hide itself from us in thick darkness.
Our eyes scarcely recognise the objects which we have loved too well; they have now only one desire—to behold the Beauty of God.
Then our heaving breast struggles for the last breath in order to rise to Him. Then our heart, which death is chilling, finds warmth again for an act of love, and we already feel that this love is going to be stronger than death. We throw off the chains of our mortal body which will still bind us to life. Like St. Paul, we would die, in order to be only one with Jesus Christ! *
But already this union is effected, since the Saviour gives Himself to us. O last communion! 0 supreme gift of the love of a God!
The nearer we are to the point of leaving everything, the. more the Eucharist showers Its riches upon us. The more the attractions of the world vanish from our sight, the more It makes us taste and see how sweet the Lord is. We joyfully give up to It what remains to us of strength and of life, and, in exchange, It deposits in our souls the germ of a new life. We press our dying lips for the last time upon this adorable Body which is now our only Possession, and we fall asleep in the kiss of the Lord.
What pious soul is there which, at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, has not thus addressed its complaint; and one of our Christian sorrows is it not that of feeling so near the God Whom we love and yet never seeing Him?
Well, then, death is the longed-for moment when the curtain rises from before the invisible scene which enchanted our hearts beforehand.
For the last time the Eucharist presents Itself before our dying gaze—now It will reveal Itself. Perhaps we still retain the remains of our former desires, and perhaps we show to the world and to those who inhabit it a last and useless regret!
But in proportion as the hour approaches when the shadows around the Host will be dispersed, it is the world which, in its turn, seems to hide itself from us in thick darkness.
Our eyes scarcely recognise the objects which we have loved too well; they have now only one desire—to behold the Beauty of God.
Then our heaving breast struggles for the last breath in order to rise to Him. Then our heart, which death is chilling, finds warmth again for an act of love, and we already feel that this love is going to be stronger than death. We throw off the chains of our mortal body which will still bind us to life. Like St. Paul, we would die, in order to be only one with Jesus Christ! *
But already this union is effected, since the Saviour gives Himself to us. O last communion! 0 supreme gift of the love of a God!
The nearer we are to the point of leaving everything, the. more the Eucharist showers Its riches upon us. The more the attractions of the world vanish from our sight, the more It makes us taste and see how sweet the Lord is. We joyfully give up to It what remains to us of strength and of life, and, in exchange, It deposits in our souls the germ of a new life. We press our dying lips for the last time upon this adorable Body which is now our only Possession, and we fall asleep in the kiss of the Lord.
