The Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations/Meditations for Three Days after Communion
Meditations
FOR THREE DAYS AFTER COMMUNION,
FOR YOUNG PERSONS.
First Day.
On the Sentiments which the Holy Communion should produce in our Souls.
First Point. — Consider with astonishment the excessive liberality with which Jesus Christ has treated you; by this one Communion you are infinitely elevated above all that the world calls great — you are happier than if you enjoyed all the delights of the universe — richer than if you possessed all its treasures — and more dignified than if you were its sole sovereign. Ah! if you understood the gift of God, if you had a just idea of your own dignity, how soon would you despise every thing in this world! Penetrated with gratitude for the greatness of the benefit you have received, you should exclaim with the Royal Prophet: What shall I render to the Lord for all he has done for me? how shall I testify my gratitude? Do not on this important matter deceive yourself as many do. Do not imagine that so great a benefit as a Communion is worthily acknowledged by the most fervent expressions of thanksgiving. It is not those who say, Lord, Lord, that shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; nor is it those that multiply acts of gratitude, who afterwards prove themselves truly grateful for the happiness of communicating. “Sincere gratitude for any benefit,” says St. Thomas, “consists chiefly in esteeming the benefit as it deserves, and in endeavouring to make our benefactor an adequate return.” This is seldom thought of by the generality of communicants; they would be ashamed of treating an earthly friend or benefactor with indifference; they would reproach themselves with insensibility, if they received favours from a fellow-creature without acknowledging them, and would be delighted at an opportunity of repaying them with gratitude. It is God alone, in this mystery of love, whose goodness is scarcely ever felt or acknowledged, and whose most precious favours do not often induce his servants to make him even a trifling return. Let not this be your case; be you at least that thankful Samaritan, whose first care was to cast himself at the feet of his Benefactor, penetrated with gratitude for the favour he had received, and disposed no doubt to acknowledge it to the best of his power. Return this day to give glory to him, who has given you his precious body and blood, his soul and divinity, and thus rendered you in some respect an object of envy to the angels themselves, since they never received that mark of infinite love. Beg of God most earnestly to enlighten your mind, that you may understand the greatness of the favour conferred on you; and also to touch your heart, that you may feel your obligation of acknowledging it by every means in your power.
Second Point. — Cast yourself in spirit at the feet of your Creator, and present to him the sacrifice of thanksgiving which he deserves, viz., a voluntary, unreserved oblation of your whole being. Can that be too much for him who has created you to his image and likeness, and redeemed you with his precious blood? or rather, what can be enough for him who has loved you so far as to give you himself? If you would really and entirely belong to God, you should make a two-fold sacrifice — a sacrifice of your body with all its senses, and of your heart and soul with all their powers and affections. First, you should consecrate your body to God; that is, you should in future bear in mind the union you have contracted with God, and respect in yourself the temple of the Divinity — a temple of which he has so lately taken possession; consecrated by his presence, purified by his blood, and enriched with the most precious gifts of his holy spirit: This is the sacrifice to which St. Paul exhorts all Christians, but particularly Communicants, when he says: I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God. (Horn. xii. 1.) Reflect also, that as a material temple is not alone consecrated to God externally, but is known before it is entered to be a house of God, by its external solemnity; so should your modesty and Christian deportment manifest to every one that you are really consecrated to God, and become the living temple of Jesus Christ. To animate you to this meritorious consecration of your senses to God, consider how strongly St. Chrysostom recommends it, when he says: It is not just that those eyes which have beheld the divine and sacred Host should afterwards delight in the vanity and idle follies of the world — that those lips, which received and touched the God of heaven, should ever be profaned by frivolous discourses — that your tongue, on which the body of Jesus Christ reposed, should ever become instrumental in lessening the reputation of others, or in wounding charity. Present your resolutions on this head to God through the glorious Queen of Virgins. Set before your eyes, and resolve in every action of your life, to imitate this incomparable model of perfection, whom St Anselm describes as having “nothing disagreeable in her looks, nothing inconsistent in her words, nothing imprudent in her actions; whose deportment was not assuming; whose voice was not loud or arrogant; and whose exterior modesty was a finished portrait of her interior purity.” O most blessed Virgin! take me under thy protection, and preserve me from defiling by sin the temple of thy only beloved Son.
Third Point. — Consider that your immortal soul was created by God for himself; stamped with his own sacred image; redeemed with his blood, adorned with his graces, enriched with his merits, and often strengthened with that sacrament of life which you have so lately received. Its value must then be great, since God himself did not think it too dearly purchased by the blood of his only Son. Yes, you cannot be too deeply convinced that your immortal soul is your great and only treasure; to save that no pains can be excessive, no security too great; — if that be lost, all is lost; and if you be so happy as to save that, though you lose all the rest, all is gained. What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matt. xvi. 26.) What does it now avail many of the damned to have been on earth honoured, loved, respected, endowed with such beauty, talents, wit, or accomplishments as made them the idols or envy of all around them? Alas ! what does all that avail them now, since they unfortunately lost their souls? Dwell on this irreparable misfortune, and you will soon feel the justice and necessity of curbing your passions, and leading a virtuous life. Your last words, perhaps, may be a recommendation of your soul into the hands of God; but remember, that the best, the only means of securing for it an asylum in the bosom of its Creator, is by frequently consecrating all its powers to his honour and glory; by making use of your memory to recall the benefits and mercies of God; by employing your understanding in meditating on his holy law, that you may model your life on all it prescribes; and by renouncing your will so perfectly, as to have no other will than the will of God. But the victim of thanksgiving which God peculiarly requires from you, is your heart and all its affections. This is the sacrifice which will give value to every other, and without which all others would be vain: it is that which above all others you should endeavour to make perfectly, because it is the offering which God himself condescends to ask: Son, give me thy heart. Consider how early you were taught to say: My God, I give thee my heart. These are the first words you daily utter, still perhaps you have not yet really offered your whole heart to God. Ah! delay no longer: to whom does it so justly belong? who ever loved you so much as God? who can make you happy, but God? O divine Lord ! how true it is, that I have never been satisfied but when I endeavoured to serve thee, to act for thee, to give myself to thee. How sincerely I regret having ever cast away a single thought, a single affection, or a single moment of my existence, on any object less than thee, my Creator and my God ! Penetrated with gratitude for that infinite mercy which induced thee to give thyself to me in the adorable Eucharist, I most fervently wish that I could make thee a sacrifice worthy of thyself; but as that is impossible — as thou knowest my poverty, and wilt be content with the little I can give, permit me to offer thee my whole being, my body, my soul, my life, my actions, my will, and above all, my heart and affections. O my God! accept this oblation, in union with the sacrifice which Jesus offered thee on the cross, and in union with the early consecration which his blessed Mother made of herself to thee in the Temple.
Second Day.
On the Imitation of Jesus Christ.
First Point. — Consider attentively, that as one of the chief ends for which Jesus gives himself to us in the holy Communion, is to unite us to himself, and to make us one with him, those who communicate are much more strictly bound than all others to endeavour to resemble their Redeemer. St. Thomas says, that in the Holy Eucharist Jesus Christ applies his most sacred body like a seal on the heart of man, to revive that adorable image of the Divinity to which we were created; and to transform his creatures into himself, by imprinting on the soul the image of his adorable perfections, and infusing into the heart abundant graces to imitate his virtues. To become a perfect imitation of Jesus Christ, you should conform your judgment, your opinions, your ideas, your heart, feelings, and all your affections, to those of your divine Lord; thinking and reasoning like Jesus, and judging of all things here below as he judged of them. The thoughts of Jesus were always directed to God, or bent on something relative to the glory of God. How do you act in this respect? Have you ever reflected on the benefit and even necessity of banishing idle or useless thoughts? Are you convinced, that to repress those, and substitute a frequent and respectful recollection of God, would be the best guard you could have against those thoughts of vanity or pride which are so common and so sinful when indulged? Jesus Christ judged of all things as God judges of them: he viewed the things of this world in the light of God, and pronounced on every thing passing in it accordingly. He valued what God values, and despised all that God despises. His adorable heart, inflamed with love for God, and desire for his glory, was incapable of a single sentiment of joy, of sorrow, of fear, of hope, of consolation, or sadness, but according as the interests, the glory, the worship of his heavenly Father were concerned. Examine your mind and heart on this most perfect and adorable model. Be ashamed of the trifles with which you have been hitherto delighted, or the insignificant incidents at which you have been grieved. Consider what would Jesus have thought of them, how he would have regarded what you so much value or so greatly apprehend. O my divine and adorable Master! instead of looking on all things as thou seest them, and as I myself shall see them after death, 1 have consulted my interests, my passions, my imagination, and the corrupt maxims of the world, in forming my opinions and ideas. I have unfortunately sought after those very things which thou didst shun; 1 loved what thou didst hate; I have hated what thou didst love. Thou didst pronounce those blessed and happy who suffer, and I have always considered them as objects of compassion; thou didst despise and flee from the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world, and I have desired and esteemed them as great advantages. O my God ! enlighten me to see and detest my folly
Second Point. — Consider, that the first lesson which Jesus Christ gives you in his early years, is the necessity of becoming more virtuous, more rational. as you become older; for Jesus, as the Gospel says, increased in grace and wisdom with God and man. (Luke ii. 52.) Learn from this, that as every day, every hour, the Almighty adds to your life, every grace, every instruction you receive, should advance you in the road of solid virtue. In particular, every time you have the happiness of communicating, you should grow, like Jesus, in grace and wisdom before God and man; that is, God should discern in your heart, and those with whom you associate should witness in your conduct, an increase of the fear and love of God. Those faults and failings which were excusable some years ago, before you were admitted to the holy Communion, become serious at present. Examine whether you may not unfortunately have lost much of the fervour with which you first approached the adorable Eucharist, and never forget that not to go forward in virtue, is to go back.
Jesus Christ, while yet a child, is found among the Doctors in the Temple, asking them questions, and listening to the word of God with profound veneration. Did the eternal Son of God, the Fountain of all knowledge, require instruction? Was there anything for him to learn, or any person on earth who could teach him? Certainly not; but on this occasion he would teach you with what ardour you should seek after instruction — how thankfully and respectfully you should receive it — how highly you should value an opportunity of hearing the Word of God. He would also impress on your mind an essential duty of youth, which is, to venerate age, and love the society of the virtuous. But the chief virtue which characterized the youth of Jesus Christ was obedience; so strongly would he recommend this to you, that he has scarce permitted any other account of his early years to reach us, than that he was subject to his blessed mother and his reputed father. He obeyed them in all things, at all times, with cheerfulness and exactness: consequently, to imitate your adorable model in this important point, you must resolve to respect and love your parents, or those who hold their place: to submit to their authority with docility, because they are deputed by God to command you; and with confidence, because they have also received light to direct your inexperience. Remember that Jesus Christ was not less submissive to the orders of Herod, one of the most wicked of men, than he was to those of his blessed mother, the most perfect of creatures: because it was God alone whom he obeyed in all superiors. Impress this lesson on your mind, and guard against a fault so common to youth, viz., that of obeying only those who may please you, and totally forgetting that duty with regard to others. If you do not respect the authority of God in all your superiors; if you do not love God in them all, and remember that it is he who inspires your parents themselves with their tenderness towards you, and their solicitude in providing for your welfare, you can never acquire that amiable docility, which is a virtue so necessary to youth, that without it you cannot become virtuous, learned, or happy. O Jesus! my God, impress on my heart the image of thy divine childhood; thy purity, simplicity, obedience, and docility; infuse into my soul the horror thou hadst of sin, that I may dread it as the only real evil, the only obstacle to my resembling thee.
Third Point. — Consider, that the hidden life of Jesus Christ is a model which you should continually study, because it was during those years that Jesus has given you an example that you should follow his footsteps. (1 Pet. ii. 21.) During thirty years of subjection and labour, Jesus deigned in a peculiar manner to become the model of all Christians. Contemplate that model attentively, and consider with astonishment, that he who had descended from heaven to instruct, convert, and save the whole universe, employed the greater part of his life in seclusion; showing no otherwise the perfection of the Divinity which resided in him, than by obeying his parents, serving and assisting them, and fulfilling in all things the will of his heavenly Father. The accomplishment of that adorable will was the only object of his most vehement desires; it was so necessary to his happiness that he himself declared it to be his food, the support of his existence, the end of his mission on earth. This pure, upright, and divine intention of accomplishing the will of God, accompanied and enhanced the merit of all our Redeemer’s actions, so that one word, one sigh, one tear, one thought of Jesus Christ, was more meritorious in the sight of God, than the labours and austerities of all the saints. Learn then, from the hidden life of Jesus, that lesson of perfect conformity to the will of God, by which alone you can resemble him, and attain true sanctity. Resolve, in every stage of your life, to place all your perfection in being about the business of your heavenly Father; that is, in faithfully discharging the duties which Providence has allotted you, whatever they may be. If you be firmly convinced that this faithful, cheerful, persevering discharge of duty, is true sanctity, and a real imitation of Jesus Christ, you will carefully avoid that disedifying system of devotion pursued by many, who say long prayers; spend, or rather lose, much time in churches; who frequent the sacraments, yet whose hands are empty before God, because they do their own will, and not his; because their devotion is little better than sloth, which leads them, under cover of piety, to neglect those duties which God has allotted them, and which should be their conscientious pursuit and their glory.
In the public life of Jesus Christ, which was a series of miracles and wonders, humility, patience, mortification, meekness, and unexampled charity, were lessons which he never ceased to preach to the world. The imitation of Jesus Christ in this respect is a point of the utmost importance, because charity was a favourite virtue of Jesus— the virtue to which he sacrificed his life — the virtue by which he would have his real followers distinguished — and the virtue also which St. Francis of Sales calls the peculiar fruit of a good communion. Resolve, then, that the fruits of your having been so lately united to the God of Charity should appear evident by your gentleness, patience, forbearance, silence on the defects of others, and endeavours to serve and oblige all, particularly those who may appear to you least amiable or deserving. Conclude this meditation, by fervently and humbly begging of God to impress the truths it contains so deeply on your heart, that your ideas and conduct may, in future, be happily regulated by them.
Third Day.
On the Danger of not corresponding with the graces received in the holy Communion.
First Point. — Consider, that Christians in general frustrate more or less the designs of Christ in instituting this mystery of love; some by constantly relapsing into mortal sin after their Communion; others by committing venial sins habitually, or by persevering in their ordinary failings, and taking no pains to amend their lives.
As to the first description of relapsing sinners, viz., those who banish Jesus from their hearts by grievous sin, their misfortune is so great, that it can never be too much dreaded, or sufficiently deplored. They are compared by the Holy Fathers to the Jews, because, like them, they receive Jesus Christ with feelings of joy and gratitude, but shortly after crucify him by sin; they are even likened to Judas, the most unfortunate of all men, because, like him, they no sooner communicate, than they betray their Lord and divine Guest. Alas! would it not be better that such persons never communicated, never received those graces of which they never profit. Do you most earnestly beg of God to enlighten your mind, and give you a clear idea of the dreadful risk which relapsing sinners run, and also to penetrate your heart with a sincere horror of their ingratitude. To conceive their danger, you need only reflect on those awful words of St. Paul, who says, that it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have touted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance ( Heb . vi. 4, and 6); that is, sincere conversion becomes extremely difficult for those who, though fully enlightened by instruction, frequently nourished with the heavenly gift of Christ’s sacred body, and also strengthened by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless persevere in a fatal habit of repenting, confessing, communicating, and then relapsing; salvation for them must indeed be most difficult, if not impossible. Why? because the ordinary means of salvation become useless to them: the bread of the strong does not fortify their souls, therefore the sacraments which are a source of grace and salvation to other sinners, become the chief subject of their condemnation. As to their ingratitude, what can be more ungrateful, than to trample on the sacred blood which purified their souls? to insult a God again who so often received them with mercy! Ah! 1 will never be guilty of such ingratitude; I will never expose my soul to such danger; but I must not depend on my own strength; though I trust in the mercy of God, that the spirit of sin has gone forth from me, yet has he not perhaps already said that he would return? (Luke xi. 24.) Does he not perceive, with envy and rage, that my soul is, as the Gospel says, swept and garnished? (Ibid.) That it is purified by a good confession, and adorned with the robe of sanctifying grace; with the ornaments of virtuous desires and holy resolutions? Has not that wicked spirit determined to disturb the happiness I now enjoy, and to tempt me again with seven times more violence than before? O my God! my strength! my refuge! thou knowest that the least temptation would be too strong for me, if 1 be abandoned to myself. O stay with me, then, my God! protect me from mine enemies; and rather take me out of the world, than permit me to commit one mortal sin.
Second Point. — The second description of relapsing sinners, are those who communicate regularly, yet continue to commit venial sins deliberately, and persevere in a course of tepidity and negligence. Those are persons whose example you should most carefully guard against, because you would be more likely to imitate them than notorious sinners. The danger of persevering in ordinary faults and habitual negligence, requires even more serious reflection on your part, than the misfortune of falling into grievous sin; because as yet the fear and love of God must have sufficient influence over your mind, to make you tremble at the idea of committing mortal sin after communion; but it is too common at your age, for relapses into venial sin to appear much less criminal and dangerous than they really are. That you may conceive how important it is to profit by each of your communions, reflect seriously on the parable of the slothful servant in the Gospel, who buried the talent he received from his master. Take particular notice, that he is not accused of having made bad use of it; his only crime is, not having made any use of so favourable a means for promoting his own interests. On his master’s return, he is not found richer than before, though he could have become so; he frustrates the benevolent designs of his Lord, and on that account alone he is treated with the utmost severity, and deprived of the talent bestowed on him, which is transferred to another. This is a clear and striking figure of those who receive the adorable Eucharist, yet bury that precious talent, that is, make no use of it for advancing the business of their salvation; who, after years spent in regularly frequenting the sacraments, are not perceived ta have corrected one single fault, or acquired one single virtue. This dangerous and disedifying system is chiefly attributed to our weakness, and perhaps with too much justice; how many persons, to the disgrace of religion and scandal of their neighbour, continue from one communion to another as proud and vain, as negligent in their spiritual exercises, and thoughtless of their domestic duties; as attached to the vanities of the world and to their own will; as impatient and peevish, talkative and uncharitable, slothful and idle, as if they never communicated! Oh! how much have those to fear, who thus destroy with one hand what they build up with the other! Such persons injure the cause of religion much more than declared sinners. A young person who frequents the sacraments without becoming more faithful to God, more useful and amiable in the domestic circle, and more edifying to others, gives more scandal than those, whose heads, it is true, appear turned with the vanities and pleasures of the world, but whose example has no weight, because they never received the benefit of instruction, the help of the sacraments, or perhaps even the light of faith. Consider these truths seriously: beg of God most earnestly to penetrate your heart with a holy fear of the account you will have to render for the very Communion you have just made. Resolve to make every effort necessary on your part for profiting of so great a grace; be on your guard against your accustomed faults; endeavour at least to lesson their number, that when you next communicate, your divine Lord may have no cause to reproach and punish you like the slothful servant of the Gospel. O my God! by that infinite mercy which caused thee to die for my salvation, and that infinite love which induced thee to visit me in thy adorable Sacrament, deign to preserve me from exposing myself by negligence or sloth to the loss of the blessing I have received.
Third Point. — After having seriously considered the ingratitude and misfortune of relapsing sinners, you must already have firmly resolved never to become one of their unhappy number. This firm, determined resolution should be the happy effect of the union you have so lately contracted with Jesus Christ, and of all the graces you have received this last week. But perhaps you have already often determined to serve God, and made the same resolution after each of your Communions, which is so recommended to you; whence came it then, that you have been so negligent? Why have you fallen away from your first fervour? Why are you now the very same as you were when you first received your Saviour in this adorable mystery? It is because your resolutions hitherto have been only vague and verbal resolutions, such as relapsing sinners themselves seldom fail to make, such as many of the damned frequently have made. But if you sincerely intend to avoid being ranked among relapsing sinners, you would do well to dwell on the following reasons or motives for perseverance: — First, consider that your divine Redeemer, whom you have received in the Sacrament of his Love, will at all times be as great, as good, as amiable, as merciful, as worthy of your whole heart, as he now appears; consequently though you may change, though your fervour and desire to advance in virtue may lessen in a month hence, perhaps in less, you should nevertheless persevere in your good resolutions, for the same reasons which caused you to make them. You should say to yourself, is not God the same now as when I felt that he deserved any exertion I could make for his sake? None of the truths of religion have changed — death is just as uncertain — judgment as terrifying — hell as formidable — eternity as long as when they made such deep impression on my mind. Secondly, reflect on the difficulty you will certainly find in returning to God, if once you completely fall off from your present good purposes. How much did it perhaps cost you to enter into yourself — to examine your conscience — to prepare for your late Confession and Communion. Would you then, by relapsing, furnish as much, or rather ten times more uneasinesp, remorse, and difficulty for a future occasion, and at length for the bed of death? Thirdly, consider the uncertainty of your having a wish, or even an opportunity to approach the Sacraments, if the grace you have just received be abused. A desire to be reconciled to God depends on a peculiar grace, of which those who relapse deserve to be deprived; and as to time, how do you know whether you may not die in a week or a month? Whether your late Communion may not be your last? These, and many other good reasons for continuing to act as you are now determined to do, will strengthen your resolution, if you seriously reflect on them, whenever you feel tempted to relapse. Remember, however, that your best resolutions will be vain, if you are not also resolved to adopt the best means calculated to insure perseverance. Those are many, but the chief are, first, such a horror of sin as will dispose you to suffer all that could be endured in this world, rather than offend God mortally; secondly, great care in avoiding the commission of venial sins deliberately, and with a clear* distinct view that you are going to offend God. This point is of so much consequence, that you should take care not to pass it over lightly, because those multiplied venial faults, though slight in themselves, are most dangerous in their consequences. You would not consent to swallow a small quantity of poison frequently, though you were sure it would not kill you; why, then, should you, on any occasion, consent, by a deliberate venial fault, to swallow even a small portion of the deadly poison of sin? Alas it is by doing so frequently, that many who began well, became so weak in virtue, that they were overcome by the first temptation, and miserably fell into mortal sin; because, as the catechism tells you, venial sin (particularly of habit and deliberation) leaves the soul feeble and tepid, and exposes her to fall into mortal sin. The other means of persevering are, attention to the presence of God, exactness in the discharge of your duties, but chiefly, and above all, fervent prayer. Perseverance is the most difficult, the most rare, and the most necessary of virtues; you should therefore earnestly and daily implore it of Him who is the Giver of all good gifts.
[Conclude your meditation, by begging
that peculiar assistance from God, without which you can do
nothing, and placing your resolutions in the adorable
Heart of Jesus, and in the sacred hands of your
blessed and glorious Patroness, the Mother of God.]