The Eucharist: Divine Wisdom, Power, and Generosity

Friday after Corpus Christi

Summary of Today’s Meditation

We will today consider the Eucharist, that gift so excellent in itself and in its perpetuity, as the masterpiece of the wisdom, the power, and the generosity of God, according to the beautiful words of St. Augustine: “God, all-wise though He be, knows nothing better; all-powerful though He be, He can do nothing more excellent; infinitely rich though He be, He has nothing more precious to give, than the Eucharist.” Our resolution shall be: First, often to thank Our Lord, by means of loving aspirations, for this magnificent institution; second, to make to Him, during the day, a fervent visit of thanksgiving. The words of St. Augustine shall serve as our spiritual nosegay.

Meditation for the Morning

Let us transport ourselves in spirit before the holy tabernacle; let us there adore Jesus Christ in union with the angels of the sanctuary, who form an invisible guard around Him day and night. Let us recollect ourselves, let us adore and let us bless, like them, the God of heaven, present in our midst.

FIRST POINT

The Eucharist is the Masterpiece of Divine Wisdom

Supreme wisdom consists in proposing to itself the best ends and in attaining them by the best means. Now this is what we indeed find in the Eucharist. First, Jesus Christ desired to return to His Father, but without leaving us; these two designs seem to be incompatible with each other, but divine wisdom has accomplished them marvelously in the Eucharist. Second, it was the design of God the Father that the Church should live in the belief of His Son remaining among men, but here also there seemed to be an incompatibility: how to reconcile the presence of the object with the merit of faith! It is very true that before the death of the Savior it was possible to see Him and believe in Him, because His flesh, which was passible and subject to suffering, served as a veil for the divinity in which His disciples believed; but after His resurrection the splendor of His glorified flesh would have annihilated the merit of faith. What, then, did eternal wisdom do? It hid its glory beneath the Eucharistic veils, and by hiding it a double merit was provided for our faith: the merit of believing what we do not see, and the merit of not believing what we do see, since there are no bread and no wine in what solely appears to be such to us; whence results a continual exercise of our faith, as honorable to Jesus Christ as it is meritorious for us. Third, if the Savior had remained in the splendor of His glory, our eyes would not have been able to bear it, and we should not have dared to approach Him. What, then, did His wisdom accomplish? Through a merciful condescension it tempered the splendor by covering it with the Eucharistic veils. Fourth, He desired to teach us by His example the simplicity and modesty of the garments which cover our body; could He do so better than by veiling His own as He has done? Fifth, it was His plan to teach us, by means of the Eucharist, humility, a hidden life, universal detachment, the charity which practices devotedness; and in order to do so He lessens Himself within the limits of a particle. Sixth, He desired to attract us to receive Him frequently in communion; and in order to do so He quits His first form of flesh and blood, because we have a natural repugnance to eat human flesh and to drink human blood; He therefore substitutes for it the appearance of bread and wine, for which everyone has a liking, and He encloses Himself therein, whole and entire, even down to the most humble host, hiding so many great and divine things under mean appearances, in order to incorporate Himself wholly in us and to give Himself even to the sick; who could not receive Him under a larger form. Could there be more excellent ends and better means? Doubtless He might have veiled Himself beneath other appearances, but He preferred the appearance of bread, to make us understand that He is the “Bread of God come down from heaven, which gives life to the world”, (John 6:33) that He divinely nourishes and satisfies all those who eat Him as they ought; that all Christians ought to form but one body and, as it were, but one bread, by the union of charity. To the species of bread he adds the species of wine, to make us understand, on the one hand, that the Eucharist is a complete repast, where, to the wheat of the elect, which is His body, is joined the wine which makes virgins; on the other side, that Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary continued, where the separation of His blood from His body is represented by the species of the wine separated from that of the bread; lastly, that the Eucharist produces in souls which receive it worthily a wholly divine ardor and strength, joy and transport O infinite wisdom! I recognize Thee and I adore Thee beneath the veils which cover Thee, and I joyfully repeat the words of Thy servant St. Augustine, “All wise as Thou art, Thou knowest of nothing more excellent to give us.”

SECOND POINT

The Eucharist is the Masterpiece of Divine Power

Here, indeed, Jesus Christ accumulates miracles which are infinite; the miracle of the change of the bread into the substance of His sacred body, and of the change of the wine into His precious blood; the miracle of His presence in His body and in His soul upon our altars, without His ceasing to be present in heaven; the miracle of the multiplication of His presence in as many places as there are hosts consecrated upon earth; the miracle of His presence whole and entire in each host, whole and entire in even each particle of each host, after the manner of spirits, who occupy no space; the miracle of the appearances of bread and wine preserved without any substance which sustains them, of whiteness without anybody which is white, of taste without anybody which has taste; the miracle of the production of all these wonderful effects by means of four or five words which the priest pronounces at the altar. O miracle of incomprehensible power, to which nothing is comparable excepting the ingratitude of men who respond so ill to such goodness, and the patience of God which suffers it! Of a truth, O my God! We have indeed good cause to repeat once more the words of St. Augustine, “All-powerful though Thou art, Thou couldst have done nothing more,” and I understand why, before recounting the story of the Last Supper, in which Thou didst institute the Eucharist, St. John recalls to mind that God the Father has given all power into Thy hands (John 13:3).

THIRD POINT

The Eucharist is the Masterpiece of Divine Generosity

Generosity is known by the sacrifices made for the person beloved, above all when we owe him nothing and expect nothing. Now, what has Jesus Christ done for us in the Eucharist? He gives us not only His graces, He gives Himself, to remain always with us, to unite us to Him and to transform us into Him, and at what a price? By reversing all natural laws by the most astonishing miracles, by abasing Himself, and lessening Himself through love for us; by devoting Himself to suffer irreverence, outrages, profanations, and sacrileges, to which He has been subjected since the day of the Last Supper. And what did He owe us that He gave Himself thus entirely to us? What did He expect from us? Less than nothing. He knew that most often He should receive from men nothing but indifference, coldness, abandonment, sometimes even the most dreadful outrages. O divine generosity, Thou hast accomplished Thy masterpiece! Infinitely rich though Thou art, Thou hadst among Thy treasures nothing more marvelous; and yet I love Thee so little, I honor Thee so ill, I am so cold, so tepid towards Thee. Ah, truly I am a shame to myself, and I cry to Thee: Mercy, pardon! I will set to work with all my heart to love Thee. Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above