Fourteenth Elevation
Heart desiring to be prayed to
Fifth desire of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus: the divine praise
I
Reflection. – The desire to be granted a request reveals a great love and a doubly generous heart, which, not content with giving, warns the one who must warn it, in order to give more quickly; it is also a great humility. Jesus bows down to us, and this is the humility of God. But it is not so much the prayer of supplication as the prayer of praise that is the object of Jesus’ desire here.
II
Jesus – You who bless the Lord, raise up his greatness as much as you can, for he is above all praise, and strengthen yourselves more and more, so that you do not grow weary, for you will never understand what he is and what he deserves. Let your prayer be continual[1]. Come, let us adore him, for my Father is also your Father in heaven. Pray with me, through me and in me, that your worship may be acceptable to him.
May his name be sanctified[2], as it should be; may all men know him and proclaim his thrice holy name. He does not reign in all hearts, alas! Ah, ask that this reign may come and that it may extend its benefits over the whole earth; that the nations may be converted to the faith and my Church, my bride, may reign triumphantly beside me; that all men may be brothers and form among themselves only one heart and one soul[3] to love and praise the Lord Almighty. With all creatures, publish his greatness, and you who have a soul created in his image, manifest his glory by the wisdom of your conduct.
Let his supreme and infinitely wise will be accomplished with joy from the east to the west, as in the expanse of the heavens, for he is the sovereign monarch of the universe. And now what you must praise with all your voices and hearts, what you must exalt night and day[4] with transport, with unceasing thanksgiving and perpetual adoration, is the supreme gift of this living bread that has come down from heaven[5], 5] this daily bread for your souls, kneaded with my divine blood and which is my flesh, given to you by my Father, whose name is great among the nations and for whom a pure oblation is offered in every place, from the rising of the sun to its setting.
III
The soul – Lord, you have taught me praise and supplication; how I love to repeat after you this hymn of your charity towards your Father and towards your creatures! Are there more beautiful models, more abundant subjects of prayer than this very prayer of the Lord? You want our prayer to be constant, O Jesus, not only because of the pressing need for your continual assistance, but because your august presence in our midst commands it.
Ah, Jesus-Hostia, when you are there, mingled in some way with the mire of our lowly sojourn, we can forget the perpetual prostration into which admiration and gratitude, as well as reparation for the forgetfulness of such a great duty, must invincibly plunge us!
But you are good, O Jesus, you know that the miserable subjection of this mortal life also imposes duties that keep us away from your temples for a long time, and we cannot always pray in the holy place where your Eucharistic Body has taken up residence; but has your Heart imposed limits on itself?
Just as my body far from your sanctuary does not keep my heart fixed in you by will, so, O Jesus, your Heart follows me and hears the secret prayer that my lips do not murmur. Substances endowed with great power of expansion break their container; but you who contain all properties, you, O Jesus, do not break anything, you expand, and your works are accomplished with sweetness; the walls of the tabernacle contain you without restricting you; your glorified substance penetrates and fills all the environments.
When you say: Come, and nothing stops it, I must rush forward; but when duty dictates, it is you yourself who come… you cross the space, and like the perfume that fills the air I breathe, you are there, and by your grace my sacrifice becomes a sacrifice of pleasant odor. Your Eucharistic Heart thus receives a perpetual homage, so that each one of us can perform it always in every place and in every form. But, O Jesus, did not your Father glorify you first in your Eucharist? – Was not this glory the first word that came from your lips, still tinged with your own blood, immediately after the Last Supper: « Now the Son of Man is glorified: Nunc clarificatus est Filius homini[7]. »
What sacrifice of immolation before your death on Calvary was more worthy of his glorifying love than your Eucharist, since it was your endless immolation preceding and continuing the sacrifice of the Cross! Oh, who will ever know what ineffable rays of fatherly tenderness envelop this incomparable Son in his sacramental shroud! and what accents of filial love rise from it!… Let us close our eyes and abide in this infinity, O Father, O Son, O Holy Spirit! O Trinity and unity! O Jesus, O Sacred Host!
15th Elevation: Heart of new graces
[1] Cf. Luke XVIII, 1.
[2] Cf. Matthew VI, 9.
[3] Cf. IV, 32.
[4] Cf. Ps 1:2.
[5] Cf. John VI, 41.
[6] CF. Malach. I, 11.
[7] Cf. John XIII, 31.