I. Our Lord in the tabernacle is the same God Who will one day be our Judge.
II. Let us go to Him with contrition and love. Ris heart is full of mercy and compassion for the penitent sinner. Does He not Himself say: " I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live."
III. By a holy and penitent life, especially by frequently coming to importune Jesus for mercy and pardon, His just anger will be converted into love and He will receive us with the smile and benediction of a loving and merciful judge.
CONSIDERATIONS
How terrible is death ! How awful and alarming is the judgment which follows ! The poor soul, standing alone, with its whole life unmasked before the Judge, awaiting the sentence that is to decide its lot for all eternity.
Who can think of this without trembling? Who can realize this truth and not quiver with fear and anxiety ?
Yet, why fear the Judge? If that tabernacle were to vanish, if the veils of the Blessed Sacrament were to be torn apart, that altar would be a throne of judgment, and we should be in the presence of our Judge.
We are now kneeling before Him, and who is afraid ? Who can fear the heart that has loved us for so many centuries, the eyes that have wept over our sorrows, the hands that have removed the rocks out of our path lest we should stumble and fall, the tongue that has never uttered a harsh or unkind word ?
Why, then, fear our Judge? No, dear Jesus, we do not, we will not fear Thee, whatever character Thou mayest assume, provided Thou remainest our Jesus.
And our Jesus Thou wilt always be, unless by our impenitence, and hard-heartedness we compel Thee to assume the office of an inexorable Judge.
But, alas! our sins and ingratitude terrify us the more, because Thou art our Jesus, and because Thou dost love us so dearly, and we are sore afraid when we think of the answer we are to make to Thee.
When we kneel before the tabernacle in the light of thy countenance our Judge all our omissions, our bad communions or at least our cold and indifferent ones our irreverences in Thy presence, or rather our total forgetfulness of it;
our neglect to visit Thee often;
our diffidence, distractions, and eagerness to bring our visits to a close, when we did come occasionally;
our carelessness in not attending at Mass on week-days, though we could go to church so easily; our guilt in neglecting to hear Mass even on Sundays;
our folly and timidity in not defending Thy name and Thy honor, when they were abused and scoffed at by Thy enemies;
our cruel coldness in not offering Thee any consolation or reparation for the insults and injuries inflicted on Thy divine heart in the Holy Eucharist;
all this grieves and confounds us.
Tis not that Thou wilt judge us without mercy or love, but because Thy love and untiring patience will magnify these sins and make them appear as mountains on our heads. But there is yet time to amend. As yet, dear Jesus, it is not the time of judgment; and though Thou art our Judge,
Thou art also now our Saviour, our Brother, our Friend, and our Companion. Com passionate Jesus ! touch our hearts before the time of judgment comes, that there may be a real and permanent change effected within us. Thou hast made us realize what we shall experience if we continue sinful and negligent, as we have been; give us the additional grace of a contrite and humble heart, of sincere repentance, of a firm purpose of amendment, and of an all-absorbing love for Thy honor and glory in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Make us now do what we shall wish to have performed, when we stand before Thy judgment-seat.
Let us resolve to visit Jesus in the Tabernacle every day, if not by going to the church, at least in spirit;
let us regularly, once a week, make the "Hour of Adoration";
let us assist at daily Mass, so that the precious blood of the sacrifice may wash away those sins which will so alarm us at the last day;
let us go to the holy table at least once a week, to nourish and strengthen our souls with the Bread of Eternal Life;
let us seek to be present at Benediction, that the blessing of Jesus may be our support in weariness and temptation; let us do this and then we need not fear the coming of the Judge, whether it be at the sixth or at the ninth or at the eleventh hour, because then we shall hear from His own sweet lips: "Euge, serve bone et fidelis, quia in pauca fuisti fidelis, supra multa te constituam; intra in gaudium Domini tui" "Well done, good and faithful servant; because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Adapted from " LOVE OF JESUS."
Our Lady of the Most Holy Sacrament, Mother and model of adorers, pray for us, who have re course to thee.
St. Joseph, pray for us, that like thee, we may die in the arms of Jesus and Mary .
PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST
0 Holy Ghost, Thou Teacher and Sanctifier, Who givest light and strength to my soul, bless me that I may be more faithful to Jesus, my Saviour and my God, Who is hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, and that I may love Him more and more. In the light of the tabernacle I ask of Thee, 0 Holy Spirit, to fill my heart with pure desire for Jesus, the Living Bread. Give me grace to adore Him with the zeal and humble veneration of the holy angels; grant that His will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that His will be done in my soul. Help me to thank Him for all His gifts, and, most of all, for Himself. By this Holy Sacrament He strengthens souls on earth, gives rest to souls in purgatory, and gladdens souls in heaven. He is the hidden manna, promised by Himself to all who overcome themselves and love Him. May I taste the sweetness of Jesus! Set up more and more Thy kingdom in my soul, that I may keep my body under and bring it to subjection, lest I should be a castaway from Jesus and from Thee.
SPIRTUAL COMMUNION
0 Jesus, my Saviour, Who art truly present in the Blessed Sacrament for the nourishment of our souls! since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, I humbly and earnestly beseech Thee to refresh me spiritually. I love Thee above all things and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Come into my mind to illumine it with the light of heaven; come into my heart to enkindle therein the fire of Thy love. Unite me so intimately with Thee, that it may be no more I that live, but Thou that livest and reigneth in me forever.
FRUIT OF THE VISIT
I. Behold Christ seated in thy heart, as a merciful Judge, ready to give thee pardon and peace, if thou wilt come to Him with a contrite and humble heart.
II. Love Him with anxious love, as the saints have loved Him, that so thou mayest shim all careless ness in thy spiritual exercises and to the perform ance of thy duties.
III. Ask Him for the spirit of " Mercifulness " ; that thou mayest obtain eternal mercy from thy divine Judge, Who knoweth how to have compassion on our infirmities (vide Heb. iv. 15).
Aspiration.
"We have received Thy mercy, God, in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy name, God, so also is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth " (Ps. xlvii. 10).
EUCHARISTTC GEMS
They, who frequently receive their God hidden under the eucharistic veils, and who at the same time do not endeavor to reproduce Him in their own lives by making them conformable to His divine life, do not fulfil the end Our Lord had in view when He instituted this sacrament of union and of love. ABBE DE BRANDT.
My dearest Good!
Who dost so bind My heart with countless chains to Thee;
O sweetest Love! my soul shall find
In Thy dear bonds true liberty.
Thyself Thou hast bestowed on me,
Thine, Thine forever will I