03-09-2021, 05:14 PM
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’sown 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.