Second Elevation
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
I
Reflection. – What is the Eucharistic Heart ? It is the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ loving us and wanting to give himself to us through the Sacrament of the Eucharist. To qualify the Heart of Jesus with the title of Eucharistic Heart is to recognize, in order to pay homage to it, the immensity of his love in the set of acts by which he conceived the institution of the divine Eucharist, realized it, perpetuated it, fixed himself in it, universalized it and gave himself to us through it, wanting to make his residence there and thus remain in our midst.
II
Jesus. – My Eucharist was conceived in the eternal thoughts of my Father, with whom the Son is one[1]. It is my Father who gives you the true bread of Heaven[2], and I give you my heart in this living bread which is my flesh[3]. I announced my Eucharist by the mouth of the Prophets, I prepared it from my birth in Bethlehem, the house of bread, and during the course of my earthly life, veiling it at first in order to spare human weakness and to predispose the world to receive this mystery of love which is too lofty for the minds still in darkness[4]. I realized this on the eve of my Passion in one of the last sighs of love from my passive and mortal heart: « Hoc est enim corpus meum » [5]. I perpetuated it by giving my Apostles the power to renew this mystery in memory of me: « Hoc facite in meam commemorationem »[6]. I made it my own; the confidant of my heart tells you: « Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end: cum dilexisset suos qui erant in mundo, in finem dilexit eos[7] » – Finally through the Eucharist I give myself to you every day, so that through the communion of my body, blood, soul and divinity, my whole divine and human being may be in you with my Eucharistic Heart, and keep you for eternal life.’
III
The soul. – St. John tells us that the Word[8] of God bore a written name which no one knows but himself[9]. It is as if he wanted to say, adds St. Francis de Sales: « My name must be adored, but it can only be understood by me, who alone knows how to utter my own name, by which I truly and simply express my excellence. » [10] O Jesus, eternal Wisdom, Doctor of the Evangelists, Treasure of the faithful, spotless Lamb, Bread of Angels, how could we know all the names due to you, to you the summary and source of all the wonders of the Creator, to you who concentrate all that the world contains of divine clarity, of celestial beauty, of sublime mystery; you the most accomplished model, the most perfect masterpiece of nature and of grace! And are not all these blessed names united in that of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, since the sacrament of love reproduces all your mysteries?
Ah, if the greatest proof of love is to give one’s life for those one loves[11], accepting the death that ends the trial, to give it up in such a way as to die without ceasing, to immolate oneself mysteriously always, to give oneself without end: Is this not going to the very limits of sacrifice and love? Does not the one who creates the possibility of giving more when he has given everything, surpass in love the one who has given all he had?
« The Eucharist, » says a pious author,[12] « was the greatest effort, the most exuberant outpouring of this adorable Heart, rather than even that love which made him offer himself to the sharp point of the soldier, even after his death, to shed the last drop of his blood mixed with water. »
Heart of Jesus, in your passible and mortal state, Heart of Jesus, in your sacramental state! Heart of Jesus in heaven, crown of all the saints, be blessed a thousand and one times in all the manifestations of your divine love!
Amen.
[1] Cf. John X, 30.
[2] Cf. John VI, 32. 3
[3] Cf. John VI, 56.
[4] Cf. John I, 5.
[5] Cf. Luke XXII, 19.
[6] Cf. id.
[7] Cf. John XIII, 1.
[8] Cf. John XII, 25.
[9] Rev. XIX, 12.
[10] S. François de Sales, Traité de l’Amour de Dieu, I. II, ch. 1 (Paris, Vrayet de Surcy, 1863, p. 75).
[11] Cf. John XV, 13.
[12] Faber, Holy Sacrament, vol. II, p. 307 (Paris, Bray-Retaux, 1883).