I. "Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you" (Matt. xi. 28). Does not Jesus still address these words to us from the Tabernacle?
II. He who labors, needs nourishment. He who is weary, needs comfort and repose.
III. The Holy Eucharist is at once refreshment and rest to our souls.
CONSIDERATIONS
All human lives are condemned to labor and none are exempt from grief and pain. Either physical sufferings or mental sorrows-perhaps both-will be your lot.
"Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary."-LONGFELLOW'S Rainy Day.
Your life will be marked with trials and troubles, but these may be accompanied by many graces.
Look at Jesus-the Man of Sorrows. Look at Jesus in the tabernacle-Jesus Suffering. Look at the Saints! And learn like the saints to consider that day the happiest which brings you most trials and griefs, because therein you can approach more closely to the divine Pattern Whom you are striving to imitate. Afflictions trace in us Our Saviour's image.
You have suffered much; you may have more to suffer. Look upon it as a special predestination to have been in sorrow from your youth up. You will see one day how much love there has been in the share of trials which the good God has awarded you. Sickness and worry and disappointments, trials of the body and troubles of the mind keep our hearts detached from the world; they remind us of Jesus, the merciful Saviour in the tabernacle and warn us to fly to One mightier than man for help and consolation.
The great God is everywhere, in Him we live, and move, and are, but the great God, in the person of His Son, has become incarnate. He has taken on Himself the feebleness of our nature, with its cares, and sorrows, and pains, and derelictions; He has been a child, a boy, a man; He was a priest, He had a Mother. He had tears. and sighs, and blood. He placed on His beating heart the young apostle He loved; He embraced children in His arms and blessed them; He had His friends; He looked sadly at them when they wronged Him; the people were weary and He fed them; they were sick, and He healed them; He pitied the widow who followed to the grave her only child, and He raised him and restored him to his mother; the adulteress was brought to Him to be condemned, and silently He wrote words of mercy on the ground; there was another, and she had fallen utterly, but with tears of loving sorrow she bathed His feet, and she arose justified and His friend.
He found His apostles sleeping in the midst of His agony, and with plaintive voice He appealed to them to watch with Him if but a single hour.
What consolation to the sorrowful, what hope to the broken-hearted, what mercy to the penitent, that the same Jesus incarnate, in His own sweet human nature glorified, yet the same, is ever present in our churches, in the humblest Catholic chapel of the sequestered village, or in the midst of the crowded city, there is our Jesus:
"Come unto Me all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you."
"Be not fearful, 0 ye of little faith: It is I."
"Cast all your care upon life."
"It is I Who have borne your infirmities and carried your sorrows."
"I am meek and humble of heart."
"I was the man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity."
"My look was hidden and despised and they esteemed Me not.''
"But I am the mighty God, and the Father of the world to come."
"I heal the sick, I speak to the dead, and the dead arise to bless Me; I pardon the sinner, and the sinner returns to serve Me."
Exhaust the treasures of your wealth and the devout inventions of your soul to surround with beauty and with love your Jesus in His altar throne. On Him your all depends. He is now in your hands: a time will come when you will be in His: He is a generous giver, but HE IS GOD.
0 Jesus! Thou knowest my desire of serving Thee with the purest intention, and of living but for Thee. Make my life a continual act of resignation and of love, so that it may proceed constantly to perfection in Thy sight. To use the
words of St. Peter Eymard: "I resolve to submit myself entirely to the will of God; this shall be my mot d'orare for the year: To abandon myself and my future entirely in His hands. With what divine love has God ever led me where it was
best for me, and always given me what suited best my state."
Thou, 0 sweet Saviour, didst leave to Thy apostles a heritage of labor, suffering, and tears, and I ought not to desire a better fate than that of the best friends of my Lord. Thy spirit, gentle Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament is still the same. Thou hast placed Thyself in the tabernacle in a state of humiliation, of annihilation, and of death, but yet Thou art my Hope, my Strength, and my Life.
I will seek not so much for consolation as for the grace of a greater love towards Thee, my merciful Saviour, and for strength to suffer courageously for Thy greater glory and my own sanctification.
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Mother and model of adorers, pray for us who have recourse 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, Thon 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, the merciful Saviour, seated in thy heart, to pour the balm of consolation and strengthening ointment upon the wounds of all thy woes.
II. Desire out of love to burn sweetly with love for Him, as a whole burnt-offering; that so thou mayest resolve to do to thyself spiritually what was done to the victim-it was separated from the flock, was bound, killed, washed, divided into pieces, and burnt upon the altar.
III. Ask of thy Lord the spirit of " Devotion," that outwardly thou mayest show all worship, honor, and reverence to God, to Whom thou uost alto gether belong; and that inwardly tho.i mayest be entirely resigned to His holy will ana mayest love. Him with all sincerity.
ASPIRATION
The Lord ruleth me; I shall want nothing; He hath set me in a place of pasture, and hath brought me to the waters of refreshment; He hath converted my soul (Ps. xxii. 1-3).
EUCHARISTIC GEMS
When we partake of the body and blood of the Lord, by eating His bread and drinking His chalice, we are taught to die to the world, to have our life hidden with Christ in God, and to crucify our flesh with its vices and concupiscences. ST. FULGENTIUS.
Jesus! our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus! be Thou our glory now
And through eternity.