Meditation for the Fourth Tuesday after Pentecost

Meditation for the Fourth Tuesday after Pentecost

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore the infinite goodness of Jesus Christ descending upon the altar at the summons of the priest, and immolating Himself there for us. Let us beg of Him to make us thoroughly understand the dispositions with which we ought to welcome His arrival amongst us.

FIRST POINT

The Lively Faith we ought to Bring to the Holy Sacrifice

As in this ineffable mystery the senses tell us nothing of what is really contained in it; as the eyes, the taste, the hand, far from instructing us, hide the truth of things from us, we cannot appreciate the mystery of the altar except in proportion to the faith we bring to it. With a languishing faith, the august action of the Sacrifice does not touch us any more than does the most indifferent of actions; the Holy Table is nothing but a common table, the bread of heaven is but as common bread, and the Eucharistic wine but as ordinary wine. The beautiful prayers of the liturgy say nothing to the soul; we allow the most burning words to slip over a cold and icy tongue, without associating our hearts with our lips, and we return from the Holy Sacrifice just the same as when we went to it, without repenting of our faults and without resolving to lead a better life. With a lively faith, on the contrary, we behold in the sacrifice of the Mass the very sacrifice of Calvary; we see there the sacrifice in heaven, where the Lamb is, as it were, immolated before the throne, in the midst of angels and saints, who sing His glory and render to God, through Him, infinite praise. We associate ourselves with all the princes of the heavenly court, to sing with them the canticle of eternity. We adore, we thank, we pray with our whole soul for ourselves, for those belonging to us, for the Church, for the whole world; and the angels, like heavenly messengers, go from thence to open the prisons of purgatory and to shed over the whole world the graces obtained by the offering of the divine Host (St. Chrysostom, Horn, 28, ad Antiocli). Oh, what good reason then has the Church to call the Eucharist the mystery of the faith (Inter verb. Cone. Cal.), and how fervently ought we to repeat the prayer of the apostles: “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Do we understand the need we have of it?

SECOND POINT

The Profound Humility which must be Brought to the Holy Sacrifice

The whole liturgy of the Mass breathes nothing but humility; that is to say, the annihilation of the soul, confounded in presence of the greatness of God and overwhelmed by the sentiment of its misery. Hardly has the priest reached the altar before the holy liturgy makes him pause, in order that he may think of the majesty of God, before Whom he is about to present himself. It makes him implore the assistance of grace to perform an action so holy, and it bows him down under the weight of his indignity. It makes him implore the assistance of all heaven and ask for grace and pardon, and it is not till after the Lord has shown him mercy that he dares ascend the steps of the altar of God; arrived at the summit of the holy mountain, he resumes his accents of humility: “Thou who takest away the sins of the world, have pity on us. Purify my heart and my lips.” He continues these expressions of humility at the offertory: “I offer Thee this sacrifice for my sins, my offences, my innumerable negligences. Receive me in the state of confusion to which my sins reduce me. Do not let my soul be lost with the wicked; have pity on me.” After the consecration he repeats the same words of humility, calling himself a sinner, and exclaiming: “Forgive us our sins, deliver us from evils, past, present, and future. Thou who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee.” What continual accents of humility uttered by the priest and the faithful, who ought to associate themselves with him!

THIRD POINT

The Fervent Love which ought to be Brought to the Holy Sacrifice

O Jesus, when should we love Thee, if it be not at the solemn moment in which, coming down from the heights of heaven, Thou dost descend upon the altar through love of us; at that moment when, surrounded by the angels, Thou dost transport Thy court into the midst of us, and makest a paradise of our churches; at that moment in which Thou dost offer Thyself in sacrifice for us, adoring, thanking in our stead, expiating our sins, asking pardon for us, and presenting all our needs to the Most Holy Trinity; at that moment, lastly, in which Thou dost give up Thyself wholly to an exercise of love for us, always ready to give Thyself wholly to us if we desire to receive Thee by communion? Ah, that is the moment above all for loving Thee, the moment when the heart ought to be melted with love of Thee, when to love Thee we need all the love of heaven. Even then it would not be enough; in our poverty we must at least offer all that we have, all that we are, in order to live only by His love, and to desire nothing more, either in this world or in the next, except to love Him always more and more. Is this the ardent love with which we assist at the Holy Sacrifice? Have not the angels of the sanctuary often seen us, and with astonishment, cold, icy, distracted? What a subject of confusion for us!