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Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion; for great is he that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel-(Is. xii. 6). O God, and what joy ought not we men to conceive, what hopes and affections, in knowing that in the midst of our land, in our churches, near our homes, the Holy of Holies, the true God, dwells and lives in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!
As soon as you fall into any fault, raise your eyes to God, make an act of love, and with a humble confession of your fault, hope most assuredly for His pardon, saying to Him : Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. Between friends who sincerely love, it often happens that when one has displeased the other and then humbles himself and seeks pardon, their friendship becomes thereby stronger than ever.
God wishes us to love Him with our whole heart: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart -(Matt. xxii. 37). That person loves Jesus Christ with his whole heart who says to Him with the Apostle: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?-(Acts ix. 6).
St. Paul praises the obedience of Jesus Christ, saying that He obeyed His Eternal Father even unto death: becoming obedient even unto death-(Philipp. ii. 8). But in this Sacrament He has gone still farther; for here He has been pleased to become obedient, not only to His Eternal Father, but also to man; and not only unto death, but as long as the world shall last; so that we can say: “He has become obedient even unto the consummation of the world.”
Think of the Lord in goodness. In these words the Wise Man exhorts us to have more confidence in God’s Mercy than dread of His divine Justice, for God is immeasurably more inclined to bestow favours than to punish. Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.
“And Mary rising up in those days,” says the sacred text, “went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Jude” (Luke 1, 39).
Our Lady’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth already engaged our attention while we were preparing for the Christmas festival. But it is only fitting to return again to an event so important in our Lady’s life; the mere commemoration of this mystery made on Ember Friday in Advent would be insufficient to bring forward all it contains of deep teaching and holy joy.
Tell us, oh holy Lady, why thou didst undertake this long and difficult journey, and why thou didst thus hasten on thy way? I am going, she answers, to exercise my office of charity; I am going to console a family. If, then, oh great mother of God, thy office is to console and dispense graces to souls, ah come to console and visit my soul. Thy visit then sanctified the house of Elizabeth; come, oh Mary, and sanctify me also.
From whence are wars? … Are they not from your concupiscences?–(James iv. 1, 2). When we are made angry by some contradiction, we fancy we shall find relief and quiet by giving vent to our anger in actions, or at least in words: but we are mistaken, it is not so; for after having done so, we shall find that we are much more disturbed than before. Whoever desires to persevere in uninterrupted peace must beware of ever yielding to ill-humour.
The Spouse in the Sacred Canticles went about seeking for her Beloved; and, not finding Him, she asked all whom she met: Have you seen him whom my soul loveth?-(Cant. iii. 3). Jesus was not then on earth; but now, if a soul that loves Him seeks Him, she can always find Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Blessed John of Avila was accustomed to say that amongst all sanctuaries he could neither find nor desire a more delightful one than a church in which the Most Blessed Sacrament was reserved.