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THE EUCHARISTIC MEDITATIONS OF THE CURÉ D’ARS
The “Eucharistic Meditations of the Curé d’Ars”
– St John Baptist Mary Vianney – was first published in
English by Carmelite Publications in 1961, following the centenary celebrations of the saint’s death in 1959.
© Carmelite Publications 1961.
In the Foreword for the original edition we find the following words, equally applicable and apt for today, for the post-Vatican II Church, indeed even more significant:
“His discourses on the Most Blessed Sacrament can truly be said to be the most expressive of him and of his love for God . . . From them we can learn the most precious lessons of Eucharistic devotion. For these reasons we hope thatthis little book of Eucharistic meditations may have the effect of enkindling in many hearts something of the saint’s
own love for our Eucharistic Lord.”
THE CURÉ D’ARS: John Baptist Mary Vianney was born in Dardilly in France in 1786. He was ordained priest in 1815 and appointed cure of Ars – a village near Lyons – in 1818. He completely immersed himself in the work of his parish but soon gained a reputation right across Europe as a confessor and spiritual guide. He also the gift of healing and
of hidden knowledge but he was also tormented in life by evil spirits. He gave all he had to the poor and needy and went about in ragged clothes, eat poorly, and slept little. In the twelve months before he died in 1859 he was visited by over one hundred thousand people. He was canonized in 1925 and declared Patron of Parish Clergy in 1929.
MEDITATION 1: JESUS CHRIST IS PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST
At the moment when the Mother of St. Alexis recognised her son in the dead body of thebeggar, who had lived for thirty years under the stairs in her palace, she exclaimed:
“O my son! too late have I known thee!” The soul leaving this life will see at last Him, whom it
possessed in the Eucharist, and at the sight of the consolations, beauties and riches that she had
ignored, she will likewise cry out:
“O Jesus! O my Life! O my Treasure!
O my Love! too late have I known Thee!”
Divine Saviour, while I meditate on the proofs of your presence under the sacramental veils,
enlighten my mind, influence my heart, inspire me with the lively, ardent faith, which is already a
vision of your eternal beauty.
Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist with His Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity. Do
you wish for proofs clear and convincing?
1. OUR LORD HAS SAID IT.
The evening of the Last Supper, He took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the Apostles,
and said: “Take and eat. This is My Body.” Then He took the chalice containing wine, and said:
“Drink ye all of this. This is My Blood. Do this in memory of Me.”
“This is My Body” - then it is no longer bread. “This is My Blood” - then it is no longer wine.
Jesus Christ has said it. I believe because He is the Truth, who does not deceive, the Power that all
things obey.
But why reason, O my soul? Believe and adore. Believe that Jesus Christ is in this sacrament as
truly as He was nine months in the womb of Mary, as really as He was nailed to the Cross. Adore
in humility and gratitude.
2. IT IS A FACT THAT IS IN ACCORD WITH REASON.
Our Lord has said: “All that you ask the Father in My Name He will give it to you.” Never
would we have thought of asking God to give us His own Son. But what man could not have even
imagined, God has done. What man could not say or think, and what he could not have dared to
desire, God, in His love has said it, planned it and carried His design into execution.
Would we have dared to ask God to deliver His Son to death for us: to give us His Flesh to eat
and His Blood to drink? If all this is not true, then man has been able to imagine things greater
than God can do. He would have gone further than God in the inventions of love. This is not
possible. In other words, what man could not even conceive, God has executed.
If the Eucharist, mystery of an infinite love, was an invention of the human spirit we would
have a greater idea of the love of God for men than that which God has realized.
But God does not let Himself be outdone in love, and we are compelled to say with St.
Ambrose, who applies to the Eucharist the words of St. Paul, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
May He be blessed forever.
3. IT IS A FACT MADE EVIDENT BY A KIND OF INTUITION.
There is no room for doubting that Our Lord is in the Holy Eucharist. One knows well that
He is there. One feels it.
In receiving Holy Communion one feels something extraordinary, a sense of well-being which
pervades his whole body. What is this sense of well-being? It is Our Lord who communicates
Himself to all parts of our bodies, and makes them thrill with joy. We are compelled to cry out
with St. John: “It is the Lord.”
O Jesus, without wishing to aspire after the favours granted to your saints, give me, I pray, the
proof of your presence in Holy Communion by the unction of your grace, by the spiritual joy and
generous enthusiasm in the practice of virtue.
4. IT IS A FACT ATTESTED BY HISTORY.
A priest was saying Mass in a church of Bolsene and after pronouncing the words of
Consecration doubted the Host. At that instant the Sacred Host was quite covered with Blood.
Jesus Christ seemed to wish to reproach His minister for his infidelity, and to make him ashamed,
and at the same time to show us by this great miracle how convinced we ought to be of His holy
Presence in the Eucharist. This holy Host poured forth blood in such abundance that the corporal,
altar cloth and even the altar itself were covered. The Pope, who was informed of the miracle,
ordered that the corporal all saturated with blood should be brought to him. When it reached the
town of Orvieto it was received with the greatest ceremony, and exposed in the church. Each year,
this precious relic is carried in procession on Corpus Christi.
ANOTHER PROOF, THIS TIME PERSONAL.
“Do you believe that a piece of bread could detach itself and go on its own and place itself on
the tongue of one who was coming to receive it?” I asked this one day of two Protestant ministers
who did not believe in the Real Presence of Our Lord. “No.” Then it is not bread. Here is a story of
which I myself am a witness. A man had temptations against faith in the Real Presence. How does
one know it? It is not certain. The Consecration, what is it? What happens on the altar at that
moment? But he wished to be delivered from these temptations, and he prayed to the Blessed
Virgin to obtain for him a faith simple and peaceful. Listen now. I do not say that this happened
somewhere. I say that it happened to me. At the moment when this man came to receive
Communion, the Sacred Host left my fingers while I was yet a good distance away. It went of Itself
and placed Itself on the tongue of this man.
See how that ought to strengthen our faith! But, my God, what need have we of proofs after
the words of Jesus Christ Himself.
5. HOW DOES OUR LORD DWELL IN THE EUCHARIST?
In an invisible manner, hidden under the species of bread. He accommodates Himself to our
weakness. In heaven, when we will be triumphant and glorious, we shall see Him in His glory. If He
showed Himself now before us with this glory, we would not dare to approach Him, but He hides
Himself as someone in prison and says to us: You do not see Me, but this does not matter: ask Me
all that you wish, I will give it to you.
Oh! if we had the faith . . . if we were really persuaded of the Real Presence of Him who thus
hides Himself out of love, and who is there, His hands full of graces, longing to distribute them,
with what reverence we would come before Him, with what confidence we should invoke Him.
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MEDITATION 2: THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST
Jesus Christ having loved His own, loved them to the end (John xiii, 1). Is it not indeed an
excess of love which makes Jesus perpetuate His presence in the midst of His disciples? He makes
them an inestimable gift; He assures them of an all-powerful remedy for all the tribulations of the
world; He opens to them a source of special graces. Let us meditate on the wonders of the divine
love.
The love of Jesus Christ in the institution of the Eucharist shows itself:
1. BY THE GIFT THAT HE GIVES US.
By the Eucharist He feeds His children, not with the Manna with which the Jewish people
were fed in the desert, but with His adorable Body and His precious Blood. Who could have ever
thought of it, if He Himself had not told us and done it at the same time.
Has anyone ever seen the tenderness of a father, the liberality of a king for his subjects, go so
far as that of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of our altars. Parents in their wills leave their goods to
their children: but in the testament of Jesus Christ it is not temporal goods that He bequeaths to
us, it is Himself He gives us with His divine riches. Is not this truly wonderful generosity on the
part of God for His creatures?
Oh! how worthy these marvels are of our admiration and our love! A God after taking on
Himself our weakness makes Himself the food of our souls! O, Christian people, how happy you
are to have a God so good and so rich!
2. THE MOTIVE FOR WHICH HE GIVES THIS GIFT.
Knowing that the time had come for Him to return to His Father, He could not make up His
mind to leave us alone among so many enemies, all seeking our destruction. He wanted us to have
the happiness of being able to find Him always whenever we wished, and by this great sacrament,
He pledges Himself to remain with us day and night, to be our Father, Consoler and our food.
More happy than those who were alive during His earthly life, when He was only in one place,
we find Him today with His Body, His Soul and His Divinity in every corner of the world, and this
happiness is promised to us until the end of the world. O immense love of God for His creatures!
How great is His fatherly kindness.
3. OF THE GRACES HE GIVES US IN THIS GIFT.
In the Eucharist Jesus Christ is God Our Saviour, who, each day, offers Himself for us to the
justice of His Father, and who, not satisfied with becoming man for our salvation, gives Himself to
each of us in particular, urged to this by His love. And He desires that in Him we should find all
our happiness. If we are in trouble or distress, He will comfort and relieve us. If we are ill, He will
cure us or will give us strength to suffer in such a way as to merit heaven. If the devil, the world and
our inclinations make war on us, He will give us arms to fight, to resist and to come off victorious.
If we are poor, He will enrich us with all kinds of riches for time and for eternity.
Is all this enough, think you? Indeed no, He has still other gifts to bestow on us that His
immense love has formed in His Heart burning with love for the world. But, let us pause, let us
open, rather, the door of this sacred and adorable Heart; let us enclose ourselves, for an instant, in
its flames, and we shall see what a God who loves us can do! O my God, who will be able to
understand it!
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MEDITATION 3: THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST
“The greatest proof of love is to give one’s life for those one loves.” It is of you yourself that
you speak, O Jesus, when You say these words.
In order to give me your life in the Eucharist you have left your sacrament open to the
profanations of the wicked, and you come to me across these irreverences and mockeries. It is at
the moment when your enemies prepare for you a crown of thorns, the nails, the cross, that you
prepare for me a chalice of benedictions, and bread from heaven. O how eloquently you show me
by this the strength of your love. Grant that I may be all on fire during this meditation.
Three things make the love of Jesus Christ shine forth for us in the institution of the
Eucharist.
1. THE CONTEMPT TO WHICH LIE EXPOSES HIMSELF.
Before instituting this sacrament of love, He knew very well to how much scorn and contempt
He was exposing Himself. O my Saviour, why not remain in heaven after your return there! There,
at least, the Angels will love you with a pure and perfect love: but in the Eucharist, the Jews will
pierce you again with nails, wicked Christians will receive you unworthily, some without contrition,
others without the wish to correct themselves, others perhaps with crime in their hearts. He knows
it: but all that does not hinder His love. “O city of Sion, exclaims the Lord, by the mouth of the
prophet Isaias (xii, 6) cry out, thrill with joy, because your God dwells in the midst of you.” Jesus
Christ has chosen for Himself the humiliations and at this price has assured to us forever the
happiness and benefit of His presence.
2. THE DAY ON WHICH LIE INSTITUTED THIS SACRAMENT.
What love is there like to that of Jesus Christ? He chose for the institution of the Eucharist the
eve of the day on which He was to be put to death! At this moment all Jerusalem is in a fever. The
whole people are angry, and all conspire to bring about His death, and it is precisely at this
moment that He prepares for them the most ineffable pledge of His love. Men weave the darkest
plots against Him, and He thinks only what is the most precious gift He can give them! They think
only of lifting Him on an infamous cross to die:. He thinks only of raising an altar on which to
immolate Himself each day for us. They prepare to shed His Blood, and Jesus Christ wishes this
same Blood to be for us the wine of immortality for the consolation and happiness of our souls.
Yes, we can truly say Jesus Christ has loved us and has exhausted the wealth of His love, sacrificing
Himself in every way that His wisdom and His power could inspire. O tender and generous love of
a God for vile creatures like us, how unworthy we are of it!
3. SOME CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN OF THE INSTITUTION.
He chose for instituting the Eucharist bread and wine, the food of all, both rich and poor, of
strong or weak, to show us that his heavenly nourishment is for all Christians - little and great,
subjects and kings: “Come to me all you who wish to preserve the life of grace and to have strength
to fight the evil spirit. Come to the feast I have prepared for you. I exclude no one.”
He consecrated the wine in a cup. We read in the Apocalypse of St. John that this apostle saw
an angel to whom the Eternal Father gave the vessel of His wrath to pour out on all the nations;
but here we see quite the contrary. The Eternal Father puts in the hands of His Son the vessel of
His mercy to be poured out on all the nations of the earth.
In speaking to us of His adorable Blood, He says to us as to His apostles: “Drink you all of this
and you will find remission of your sins and life eternal.” O ineffable blessing! O, happy
fountainhead! The Blood of Jesus Christ will implore grace for you.
When Jesus Christ worked this great miracle (of the Consecration) He lifted His eyes to
heaven, and gave thanks to His heavenly Father, showing us thus how this happy moment for us
was desired by Him. Yes, my children, this divine Saviour seems then to say: My Blood is impatient
to flow for you; My Body burns with desire to be wounded to cure your wounds; the thought of My
sufferings and death fill Me with joy, because through them you will find a remedy for all your ills.
O, what a love of a God for His creatures!
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MEDITATION 4: EXCELLENCE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
Lord, I will praise Thee with all my heart in the assembly of the just (Ps. 110. 1-5).
Creation, the government of the universe are great works showing forth your power, wisdom
and goodness; but nowhere are they more resplendent than in the Eucharist, memorial of all the
wonders you have wrought upon the earth. I devote my voice, my heart, my soul to bless you; give
me the love and reverence of the Cherubim and Seraphim who adore you with a holy fear.
1. THE POWER AND THE GOODNESS OF GOD ARE SHOWN FORTH IN THE EUCHARIST BETTER
THAN IN CREATION.
If we consider all that God has made: the heavens, the earth, the wonderful order that reigns
in this vast universe, all declare to us an infinite power that created all things. an admirable wisdom
which governs all, a supreme goodness which provides for all with the same care, as if it was
concerned only with one single being — so many wonders must fill us with amazement and
admiration.
But if we speak of the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist, we can say that here is the prodigy
of the love of a God for us; it is here that His power, grace, and goodness shine in a marvellous
manner. Here is the bread come down from heaven, the bread of Angels which is given to us to be
the food of our souls; the bread of the strong to comfort and sweeten our sorrows; here is the bread
of the wayfarers; it is the key which opens heaven for us; so said the Saviour: “whosoever will
receive Me will have life eternal.” To give us this bread, Jesus multiplies miracles, inverts the order
of nature and suspends its laws.
2. HIS LIBERALITY AND HIS MERCY ARE MORE VIVIDLY SHOWN HERE THAN IN THE OTHER
SACRAMENTS.
None can be compared to the Eucharist. By Baptism we receive, it is true, the character of
children of God, and, in consequence. heaven is open to us and we share in all the treasures of the
Church; by Penance, the wounds of our souls are healed and the friendship of God is restored to
us; by Confirmation, Jesus Christ gives us the spirit of light and strength; by Extreme Unction He
covers us with the merits of His Death and His Passion; by Holy Orders He gives to priests all His
powers; by Marriage He sanctifies all our actions, even those that seem only to follow the
inclinations of nature. Mercies truly of a God who is infinite. But all this seems to be only an
apprenticeship to His love for men. In the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist He goes much
further. We receive not only the application of His precious Blood, but Christ Himself, the Author
of all Grace, who has Himself merited it for us by His Passion and Death. He is there as living as in
Paradise. He communicates Himself to us with His glorious wounds, shining eternal witnesses of
His love, source inexhaustible of all supernatural life. O my God, may you be blessed! I bow down
and adore.
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MEDITATION 4: EXCELLENCE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
Lord, I will praise Thee with all my heart in the assembly of the just (Ps. 110. 1-5).
Creation, the government of the universe are great works showing forth your power, wisdom
and goodness; but nowhere are they more resplendent than in the Eucharist, memorial of all the
wonders you have wrought upon the earth. I devote my voice, my heart, my soul to bless you; give
me the love and reverence of the Cherubim and Seraphim who adore you with a holy fear.
1. THE POWER AND THE GOODNESS OF GOD ARE SHOWN FORTH IN THE EUCHARIST BETTER
THAN IN CREATION.
If we consider all that God has made: the heavens, the earth, the wonderful order that reigns
in this vast universe, all declare to us an infinite power that created all things. an admirable wisdom
which governs all, a supreme goodness which provides for all with the same care, as if it was
concerned only with one single being — so many wonders must fill us with amazement and
admiration.
But if we speak of the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist, we can say that here is the prodigy
of the love of a God for us; it is here that His power, grace, and goodness shine in a marvellous
manner. Here is the bread come down from heaven, the bread of Angels which is given to us to be
the food of our souls; the bread of the strong to comfort and sweeten our sorrows; here is the bread
of the wayfarers; it is the key which opens heaven for us; so said the Saviour: “whosoever will
receive Me will have life eternal.” To give us this bread, Jesus multiplies miracles, inverts the order
of nature and suspends its laws.
2. HIS LIBERALITY AND HIS MERCY ARE MORE VIVIDLY SHOWN HERE THAN IN THE OTHER
SACRAMENTS.
None can be compared to the Eucharist. By Baptism we receive, it is true, the character of
children of God, and, in consequence. heaven is open to us and we share in all the treasures of the
Church; by Penance, the wounds of our souls are healed and the friendship of God is restored to
us; by Confirmation, Jesus Christ gives us the spirit of light and strength; by Extreme Unction He
covers us with the merits of His Death and His Passion; by Holy Orders He gives to priests all His
powers; by Marriage He sanctifies all our actions, even those that seem only to follow the
inclinations of nature. Mercies truly of a God who is infinite. But all this seems to be only an
apprenticeship to His love for men. In the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist He goes much
further. We receive not only the application of His precious Blood, but Christ Himself, the Author
of all Grace, who has Himself merited it for us by His Passion and Death. He is there as living as in
Paradise. He communicates Himself to us with His glorious wounds, shining eternal witnesses of
His love, source inexhaustible of all supernatural life. O my God, may you be blessed! I bow down
and adore.
MEDITATION 5: THE EUCHARIST THE FOOD OF OUR SOULS
There is in every house a place where the provisions of the family are kept: the storeroom. The
church is the house of souls. This house belongs to us who are Christians. Well, in this house there
is a storeroom. Do you see this tabernacle? If one asks Christian souls, what is that? Your souls
answer: “it is the storeroom. It is there that the Body and Blood of Jesus is, and this good Saviour
says to us: ‘Take and eat . . . take and drink’.”
A mortal man, a creature, feeds himself, satiates himself with his God, making of Him his daily
food and drink! O miracle of miracles! O love beyond all love! O happiness beyond all happiness! I
thank you, O my God, and I ask of you the grace to hunger always for this heavenly food.
1. THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST FEEDS OUR SOULS IN THE EUCHARIST.
All creatures have need of food in order to live, that is why God has made the trees and plants.
It is a table well served where all the animals come to take the food which suits each one.
But the soul also must be fed. Where then is its food? When God wished to give food to our
soul to sustain it in the pilgrimage of this life, He looked over all the creation and found nothing
worthy of it. Then He fell back on Himself and resolved to give Himself.
O my soul, how great thou art since only a God can satisfy thee! The food of the soul is the
Body and Blood of a God! What beautiful nourishment! The soul can only feed on a God! No
other than God can suffice. Only God can satisfy its hunger. It needs God absolutely.
O my soul, bless this God who is so magnificent. Come often to this divine banquet to satiate
thyself with justice and holiness. Those who refuse to sit down here or who partake of it only at
long intervals, condemn themselves to certain death or to weakness, because one cannot live
without food nor enjoy vigorous health without eating frequently.
2. JESUS, OUR FOOD, GLORY OF THE CHRISTIAN SOUL AND WITNESS OF THE DIVINE
CONDESCENSION.
Jesus our food, incomparable glory of the Christian soul. What the Angels behold only with
awe, the radiant splendour of which they cannot sustain, we make our food, we receive it into us,
we become with Jesus Christ one same Body one sole Flesh. Who shall declare the works of the
Lord, and who shall declare all His praises (Ps. cv. 2).
3. JESUS OUR FOOD, WITNESS OF A LOVE MORE THAN MATERNAL. WHERE, THEN, IS THE
SHEPHERD WHO FEEDS HIS SHEEP WITH HIS OWN FLESH?
But why do I say shepherd! Some mothers there are who give their children to
strangers to be nourished. Our Lord does not act thus. He feeds us with His own Blood and unites
us to Himself in every way. By His Incarnation He has willed to be born of our race, to come to all.
By the Eucharist He comes to each one of us, and those to whom He gives life He feeds on
Himself.
It is without doubt very humiliating for the good God to come into our hearts, but it is to find
there a soul that He loves, that He has bought at the cost of His Blood. Do not let us then be
indifferent since we have been favoured with such love and such glory. Have you ever noticed how
eagerly an infant sucks at his mother’s breast? Let us come with the same eagerness to this Holy
Table to this breast whence we draw a spiritual drink. Let us draw with greater strength still than
the little ones, the grace of the Holy Spirit. Let us only have one regret — to be deprived of this
heavenly nourishment. (St. John Chrysostom, Horn. 82 in Math.)
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MEDITATION 6: THE SUNDAY FEAST
The Council of Trent wishes that at each Mass the faithful who are present may communicate
in order to draw more abundant fruit from the Holy Mass (Sess. xxii. cap. vi). The faithful being
obliged to assist at Mass on Sunday should then enter into the spirit of the Church and receive
Holy Communion. That is why the saint recommends so earnestly “that we give our souls this
special feast on Sunday.”
Let us thank the Holy Spirit for the light that he gives us by His Church and let us strive to
conform our conduct to it.
1. THE SUITABILITY FOR AN IMMORTAL SOUL OF A GOOD BANQUET ONCE A WEEK.
The Third Commandment is a great affair — “You will spend the Sunday serving God
devotedly.” Weekdays are for the matter, Sunday is for the spirit.
The body made from the earth can be destroyed; the soul image of God is imperishable, and it
is this which sustains the body. It is to this then that we owe the most care, and, nevertheless, we
always neglect the soul and care only for the body.
See, all the week one gathers, one spends, one buys, one sells; but all that is for the body.
Arrange things then to make once a week a feast for the immortal soul: O delicious banquet! O
heavenly Bread! Oh! what a privilege! to be able to feed his soul and to feed it with God!
2. WHEN OUGHT ONE TO COMMUNICATE?
On Sunday at least, it is true that we are obliged to do this only once a year — at Easter; but
should we deny ourselves the happiness we may have by communicating often? The wise men of
old could not understand this extraordinary thing. They said God was too great to become
incarnate to give Himself’. That is because they did not know how good God is. We know it.
How much better off we are; God has come amongst us, we can go up to Him. Ah, if we will,
we will be as Angels on earth.
O beautiful life! O happy life! To live for God. Live for God at least on Sunday. Take care,
without God you are lost. Has one then to hunger for God? Is it too much one day in seven to
nourish oneself on God?
My body eats when it is hungry, but my soul? If it is not hungry, then it is that it is very ill. Oh!
let us love God, live for God, serve God. There is happiness.
3. WE SHOULD PREPARE FOR THIS FEAST OF THE SOUL BY PURITY OF HEART.
We must take some trouble to purify our souls. Look at the pictures of the holy Virgin, of St.
Philomena, the painter has worked hard to adorn them, that is why they are so beautiful. They are
pleasing to look at. Let us work as hard to adorn our souls to please men and Angels and the good
God.
Nothing is so beautiful as the pure soul that is nourished by its God. Purify yourself then by a
good Confession, and each Sunday receive God the food of your soul. You know that one only
relishes the good odour and taste of fruits in proportion to the health of the body; thus the soul
penetrates the wonders of God in the measure of its purity.
Ah! we do not relish God because of lack of purity. Oh! what a misfortune not to taste the
good God. Let us purify ourselves, let us receive our God, let us merit heaven; in heaven we shall
see our beauty, and we shall feel all the taste of God.
4. TO DESIRE IT ARDENTLY.
See, if we reflected . . . this priest holds God to feed my soul! O! we should die of joy . . . but
we do not love the good God. No.
Behold the good God is so good, so great that we must fly joyously and very high like a bird to
come to Him. How we shall sing for joy when we have attained to Him! See then what joy it is to
have this great God for food.
What has this soul done to merit it? O my soul, whom do you go to receive? Thy God, thy
Creator, thy Saviour.
Ah, my children, if you understood this clearly, you would die of joy!
5. THE EFFECTS OF THIS BANQUET ON THE SOUL AND THE BODY.
We have seen good Christians who are unmindful of their bodies. Isn’t that better than to be
like those bad Christians who forget their souls, like people in the world who think only of
material things, who fill their stomachs with plentiful and delicious food. Well, what is the fruit of
it? At the end a body which will go to the graveyard. For us Christians the fruit of our spiritual food
is our salvation, and in heaven even our bodies will be transfigured.
Do you understand? To go up to heaven, to be filled with God! Man is so great, so great, that
he is carried there on the shoulders of God.
See to what the fruit of partaking of this food leads; the Holy Communion nourished St.
Simeon in his body as well as in his soul. His soul bathed in the joy of the love of God sustained
his body.
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MEDITATION 7: DAILY COMMUNION
Take and eat: bread is not made to be put behind a glass or kept in an urn, but to be food and
daily food. The greatest compliment you can pay good bread, is it not to eat it?
O Flesh and Blood of Jesus, true food and drink of souls, I adore you. I hunger and thirst for
you. Come each day to inundate with heavenly life this sad life of exile, to enrich it and to make
shine in it a ray from the joys of our heavenly home.
1. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
There are two kinds of food - that of the soul - and that of the body which the earth brings
forth. Our body which is only dust lives on the earth, but the food of the soul is the Body and
Blood of a God. O beautiful food! it is enough, if one thinks of it to make one lose oneself in this
abyss of love. My Father is God! my good is heaven! my food the Body and Blood of God Himself!
O man, how happy thou art! Thou are made to adore, to love and to receive God!
The bread of souls is in the tabernacle. The tabernacle is the storeroom of Christians. Oh! how
wonderful it is my children! when the priest holds up the Host and you see It, your soul can say:
“there is my food.” 0! my children, we are too well off. We shall only understand it in heaven.
What a pity! If we could conceive a little of the grandeur and happiness of Communion, we would
desire life only to have the happiness of making Jesus Christ our daily bread. All created things
would be as nothing. We should despise them in order to cling to God alone, and all our actions
would tend only to make us more worthy to receive it. When one can have a divine banquet every
day, is it not bad taste not to take it?
2. GO, THEN, TO COMMUNION.
My children, go to Jesus with love and confidence. Go, to live by Him in order to live for Him.
Do not say that you have too much to do. Has not the divine Saviour said:
“Come to Me all you who work and are heavily laden; come to Me and I will comfort you”?
Can you resist an invitation so full of tenderness and friendship? You work each day.
Communicate then each day. Do not say that you are not worthy. What nonsense! It is true you are
not worthy, but you are in need. If our Saviour had had our worthiness in view He would never
have instituted His beautiful Sacrament of love, because no one in the world, not even the Saints
nor the Angels, nor the Archangels, not even the Blessed Virgin, are worthy of it. Since He wishes
to abase Himself to our misery, let us work then to merit to receive Him every day. This is what the
Christians did in the early Church.
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MEDITATION 8: DISREGARD FOR THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN
“I AM with you said Jesus, the living Bread come down from heaven. He who eats this Bread
shall live forever.”
I believe, I adore, because you have the words of eternal life. No one else can give it to me, and
I know that apart from you there is only feebleness and decay. Grant, O Jesus, that I may fear above
all things the indifference which, keeping me at a distance from the Holy Table, would deprive me
of an increase of life divine and lead me progressively to death.
1. INDIFFERENCE TO HOLY COMMUNION IS SOMETIMES A SIGN OF TEPIDITY.
You who only communicate rarely are like someone between two sleeps. You know that Jesus
Christ is truly in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, that this food is absolutely necessary for your poor
soul. Nevertheless, one sees in you little desire.
There are long intervals between your Confessions and Communions. You decide to go
because of a great feast or a jubilee or a mission, or because others are going, and not because your
poor soul needs it. Not only do you not try to merit this happiness, but you do not even envy those
who taste it more often. Thus you imitate the Jews. They are reproached for refusing shelter to
Jesus Christ on the first Christmas night although they did not know Him. You treat Him with the
same discourtesy, you who neglect to receive Him into your hearts in Holy Communion. Do not
forget that at the Particular Judgment Jesus Christ will judge us on all the good we could have
done. He will show you all the sacraments that you could have received during your life. How many
more times you could have received His Body and His Blood if you had wished to lead a better life.
Ah, great God!
2. INDIFFERENCE TOWARDS HOLY COMMUNION PUTS OUR SALVATION IN DANGER.
Here are Christians who are poor in spiritual goods, who are subject to a thousand infirmities,
who are weak and languishing. My God! how then can they remain three, four or five and six
months without giving this heavenly food to their souls.
Beside the beautiful Sacrament, they are like someone who is dying of thirst beside a river, and
would only have to bend his head to drink, or like a man who remains poor beside a treasure, who
need only stretch out his hand.
Having a remedy so efficacious for curing their soul and a food so capable of conserving its
health, how is it that they let it die of misery? My God! what misfortune and what blindness!
Alas! let us say it groaning. One spares nothing for a body which sooner or later will be
destroyed and eaten by worms, and a soul created to the image of God, a soul that is immortal, is
despised and treated with the greatest cruelty. Is it not, in effect, to treat it without pity, to let it die
of starvation, refusing it the bread of life which alone can sustain it?
But, we are peaceful and happy in this state. Yet you risk being surprised by death and cast into
hell.
Is it because the devil is your master? If your faith was not dead, what confusion you would feel
at seeing your father, or mother or brother or sister, or one of your neighbours go to the Holy
Table to be fed with the adorable Body of Jesus Christ, and you, yourself, abstaining from it! O my
God! what a misfortune! So great that one cannot understand it!
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MEDITATION 9: THE EUCHARIST UNITES US TO JESUS CHRIST
A saint used to say that we were God-bearers. It is really true because at the moment of
receiving the Blessed Eucharist, and as long as the Sacred Species subsist, Jesus Christ is
substantially present with His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in our body and our soul. We are
thus tabernacles, living ciboria of Jesus Christ. What are You doing, O my Saviour, during this
quarter of an hour, when You deign to dwell in me; when You are in contact with my body and my
soul? I cure you of your spiritual laziness, strive to draw you into My Heart; I set you on fire with
flames of love for God and for your brethren. O mystery of condescension and of divine love! Give
me O Jesus, an understanding and relish of it.
1. UNION OF SPIRIT WITH CHRIST.
Jesus, whilst He remains after Holy Communion under the Eucharistic Species, unites Himself
intimately to the Christian soul, by animating it with the most lively sentiments of love and
fervour; this is the chief end for which He comes into our hearts. The union of the Flesh of Christ
with our flesh has its consummation and its perfection only in this union of spirit which it brings
about and symbolises. In the Eucharist, the Flesh of Our Lord is in some way the instrument by
which the Divinity touches us even to the most intimate depths of our being in order to give us life.
Let us listen to the servant of God telling us, after the manner of the saints, this wonderful
effect of this adorable Sacrament.
One Communion is to the soul what a breath of wind is to a fire that is dying out, but where
there are still many embers. It blows on them and the fire is rekindled.
One Communion well made is sufficient to inflame a soul with the love of God and to make
him disregard the world.
A great personage of this world not long since came here to Holy Communion: he had a
fortune of 300,000 francs. He gave 100,000 to build a church, 100,000 to the poor, and 100,000 to
his parents, and he entered La Trappe. A lawyer came after him; he made a good Communion, and
set out determined to put himself under the direction of Père Lacordaire. Oh! One Holy
Communion, one only, it is enough to given man a distaste for earth and to give him a foretaste of
heavenly delights.
When one has received Communion, the soul revels in the embraces of love as a bee in the
flowers. He who communicates loses himself in God as a drop of water in the ocean. They cannot
be separated.
He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, said Jesus Christ, abides in Me and I in him. My
Flesh is meat indeed and My Blood is drink indeed; so that by Holy Communion, the adorable
Blood of Jesus Christ flows in our veins, His Flesh is truly mingled with ours. We are united to His
Person as food is to our flesh.
St. Paul expressed this union very well when he says: “It is no longer I that live, but Jesus
Christ Who lives in me.” It is no longer I who act, who think, but it is Jesus Christ who acts and
thinks in me. If we communicate often and worthily, our thoughts, our desires, and also all our
actions and our proceedings have the same end as Jesus Christ had whilst He was on earth. We
love God, we do not attach ourselves to any of the things here below. Our hearts and minds aspire
only for heaven. O what happiness! No, no, it will only be in heaven that we shall understand it. O
my God! a creature enriched by such a gift.
He, says St. Cyril, who receives Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, is so united to Him that
they are like to two pieces of wax that are melted together, and end by becoming only one.
When you have received Our Lord, you feel your soul purified and bathed in the love of God.
When we have the good God in our heart, it ought to be on fire. The hearts of the disciples on
the way to Emmaus were burning, and they only heard Him speak.
What does Our Lord do in the Sacrament of His love? He has taken His good Heart in order
to love us. There goes out from this Heart a flood of tenderness and mercy to cleanse the sins of
the world. O Heart of Jesus, loving Heart! Flower of love! If we do not love the Heart of Jesus what
then will we love? There is only love in this Heart. How is it possible not to love what is so lovable.
2. HOLY COMMUNION IS THE SIGN OF UNITY AND THE BOND OF CHARITY.
Jesus, whilst He remains after Holy Communion under the Sacred Species, unites us
intimately to our neighbours by charity.
It is at this moment that He says again His prayer. “Holy Father, that all these may be one as
Thou Father in Me and I in You, that they may be one in Us.” “This Sacrament is the sign of unity,
the bond of charity, the symbol of concord,” says the Council of Trent. What it signifies, that it
effects. He is generous to us with Actual Graces, to help us to love our brothers sincerely, and
generously, and to make with them one body with Jesus Christ. That is why this sacrament is called
by the name Supper and Table of the Lord. These names express the union of a family, the union
of friends who gather at the same feast, around the same table.
But this union is the fruit of the sacrament. One can tell, said one saint, when a soul has
worthily received the Eucharist. It is so bathed in love, penetrated and changed, that one no longer
recognises it by its actions, in its words. It is charitable it is on good terms with everyone.
If you communicate often and worthily, you will be touched by the spiritual and temporal
miseries of your neighbour. Do not suffer any ill-will or bitterness in your heart against your
neighbour. This would be contrary to the work of Jesus in you. But this is not enough. At the
moment of Communion, and during the time after receiving, pray for the conversion of sinners,
for fervour for the tepid, the salvation of the dying, and the relief of the dead. When infinite love
comes to you, He can refuse you nothing for the souls He loves so dearly.
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MEDITATION 10: THE HOLY EUCHARIST INCREASES SANCTIFYING GRACE IN US
He who eats My Flesh shall live by Me. It is You, O my God, Who will be his life. What a
transformation life works where it meets with no obstacle. From inert dust, from a little mud, it
brings forth a flower which delights us with its perfume and colour; it communicates to it its nature
and its properties. It is thus You treat my soul by Holy Communion, O Jesus. You bow down even
to me, You, the substantial and uncreated life. You divinize the dust of my nothingness, and this
nothingness, when divinized, produces fruits worthy of You, of infinite value because it is a divine
sap which makes it fertile. O Jesus, be my life, my holiness, my love.
1. HOLY COMMUNION INCREASES SANCTIFYING GRACE IN US.
This is easy to understand, because when we receive Jesus Christ, we receive the source of all
sorts of spiritual blessings.
Jesus Christ is the light.
When we receive Him, we feel our faith reanimated. We see more clearly the truths of our
holy religion. We realize more the gravity of sin, and its dangers. The thought of the judgment
frightens us more, and the thought of the loss of God becomes a greater grief.
Jesus Christ is the life.
In receiving Him, our soul is strengthened: we are firmer in the fight; more unyielding in trials
and temptations. Food is not changed into our substance immediately, says St. John Chrysostom,
but the action of the divine Blood on our soul is instantaneous, and the soul feels at once its
marvellous effects.
Jesus Christ is love.
When we receive Him, our intentions are more pure in all we do. Our love is inflamed more
and more. The thought that we have Jesus Christ in our hearts, the joy that we experience in this
happy moment seems to unite us and bind us in such a way to God that our hearts can think of
and desire only God.
Jesus Christ is the sovereign good.
In receiving Him, the thought of the perfect possession of God fills us in such a way that our
life appears long. We envy not those who live a long time, but those who set out soon to be
reunited with God forever. All that tells us of the dissolution of our bodies fills us with joy.
By increasing Grace, the Blessed Sacrament enlightens our faith, revives our hope and inflames
our love, and spreads abroad in our souls with greater abundance, the gifts of Fortitude, Fear of the
Lord and Piety.
2. SANCTIFYING GRACE IN HOLY COMMUNION ADORNS THE SOUL AND COMMUNICATES TO IT A
FECUNDITY WHICH IS THE WEALTH AND ORNAMENT OF THE SPRITUAL LIFE.
If anyone could put his hand into liquid gold, says St. John Chrysostom, he would draw it out
covered with gold. The Eucharist does more for our souls. He who buys a slave, buys him with
gold, and if he wishes to adorn him he does it also with gold. Jesus Christ has bought us with His
Blood, and He adorns us with His Blood. You who receive this Blood are clothed with the Royal
Robe of Jesus Christ.
What do I say? They are clothed with the King Himself.
This Blood makes shine in us the royal image of Christ. It produces an incredible beauty, and
when the soul is often watered and nourished, its nobility is never tarnished.
From the earthly Paradise there burst out a spring which produced rivers; from this table there
pours forth a stream which is the source of all grace — grace overflowing without stint or limit.
Near this source spring up, not sterile willows, but trees which mount up to Heaven producing
their fruits in their time, fruits which will never wither. These fruits are abundant, of great variety,
delicious. “They are,” said the Curé d’Ars, “humility, gentleness, mortification, modesty, charity,
virginity.” A soul that communicates worthily becomes inexhaustibly fruitful, and one no longer
recognizes it.
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