Seventh Elevation
Despised Heart
Fifth Complaint of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus to those whom the world drags down
I
Reflection. – Forgetfulness, by its nature, is silent. In friendship, it is the sleep of the heart or its absence; and contempt is its evil awakening. A despised love suffers a poignant affront; it has been told: I have something else in me, and have no use for you.
This cold contempt is accentuated in a word, a gesture, an omission; and these are so many swords for the despised heart, which bloody its life without bringing it the consolation of taking it away; and often, what is still harder, without taking away its love.
II
Jesus – … Ego non sum de mundo[1]: I am not of the world, because the world does not have the spirit of truth in it[2], and this is why its contempt has fallen upon me; for this reason also this contempt, while offending my justice, does not touch my heart. My friends, you whom my Father has given me[3], whoever you are, do not love the world or what is in the world[4].
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is either concupiscence of the flesh, or concupiscence of the eyes, or pride of life;[5] and those who take pleasure in these things and in themselves, these are the world, my enemy and yours, my beloved. It seeks to deceive you, and for this reason I pray to my Father, that he may preserve you from the spirit of the world and keep you from evil[6]. But that is not all; you must guard yourselves, not exposing yourselves to danger, for then you would succumb, since to expose yourselves voluntarily would be a beginning of infidelity…
Ah, you who are my friends, let me entrust to your hearts the affliction of mine; a great number of souls, alas! are thus ravished by the world; yesterday they were my faithful disciples sharing the sweet dishes of my table; and today, here they are becoming my enemies. Already they no longer believe in me, they suffer without hope and play at my love. Ah! I have nourished children, I have brought them up, and they have despised me! See if there is pain like my pain[7]. How can you treat me like this after all I have suffered to redeem you, O my people? You, at least, who want to comfort me, speak to these brothers who are going astray, enlighten them, touch their hearts and tell them this: Return to him who filled your youth with joy,[8] remember your first innocence, do not consume your loss, but return to the Lord.
III
The soul- O man, look and see how much you are loved by God. What! the world still pleases you! What, you can want something else than Jesus himself! You should die of shame and regret! O Jesus, my adorable Master, why have you come to this earth to seek contempt? You, King of kings, supreme Grandeur … Is contempt a drink worthy of God, that you wanted to take it in long drafts? What a mystery!
Ah! you give me to understand it: as you wanted to be born in a stable, because it was repugnant to your true greatness to borrow something from the false greatness of the earth and because you owed it to your dignity to place yourself at the opposite extreme, so the vain glory of the world is repugnant to the true glory which is proper to you; and the contempt of this foolish world honors you while offending you. You face it for us, Lord, so that you may teach us to despise it too. Why then do we, who believe ourselves to be your friends, still pay any attention to the judgments that come from the spirit of the world? Why is it that, living your life in frequent communion, which should gradually transform us into you, our views are still so far from yours?
This shows a great weakness. If, therefore, we are on our feet, let us beware of falling, the life of the world circulates in our veins and fights against the life of Jesus Christ! If the Heart of Jesus in his Eucharist makes us as another law of love, in the law of love itself, to defend us by the strength of this powerful love against the lure of sin, let us remember that this perverse law of sin is still in us, that the hotbed of lust is not extinguished, and that there is no evil done by one man of which another man is not capable.
Among the Jews, Lord, you have long taken care to remain unknown, to veil even your truths, so that they would be less guilty of rejecting them. It is because they were, it must be admitted, quite surprising to them; so they were less guilty than we were in their contempt for your holy teachings. Yes, like the rebellious angels, we sin in the light; and the bad angels had not known the Eucharist!
[1] Cf. John XVII, 16.
[2] Cf. Ibid. XIV, 17.
[3] Cf. Ibid. VI, 39.
[4] Cf. 1 John II, 15.
[5] Cf. John II, 16.
[6] Cf. John XVII, 15.
[7] Cf. the Lament of Jeremiah I, 12. I, 12.
[8] Cf. Ps.XLIII, 4.