486. Wednesday after Corpus Christi

Meditations no. 229 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Being a Eucharistic soul means treating our Lord as the family at Bethany treated him.

Our whole life is centred around Jesus Christ. He is the root from which our soul, if it is in love, draws all its strength. Therefore we need to look for him, and long for union with him. It is in the Sacrament of the Altar that we reach the union we desire. Though veiled in mystery, it is a promise and a pledge of the full union which we hope to have, once and for all, in heaven.

The Work is essentially Eucharistic, and we have to be Eucharistic souls. The house at Bethany was a resting-place where Christ could regain strength after his labours, and it is a good model for our relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. In that home our Lord found not merely the courtesy he missed at the house of Simon the Pharisee, nor just the open-hearted generosity of Zacchaeus. At Bethany Jesus found peace, affection, simplicity, straightforwardness, and trust. Lazarus would spend some time in conversation with our Lord - he did the Confidence - and then the three of them would offer Jesus a meal, the best they had, and he would accept it gratefully, because their hospitality was another proof of their love.

Jesus was at home in his friends’ house, in the village where he could always find rest whenever he was tired from all his journeying. And it is that atmosphere - the atmosphere of Bethany - that our Father wanted our tabernacles to have: places where there would always be someone to look after our Lord, where we would go to offer him reparation and to tell him about our hopes and our joys. There our Lord is, waiting for us to come home from work, just like Lazarus, and open our hearts and tell him, “This has happened to me, and that; and I’ve got a friend who’s doing such and such a thing…”

The tabernacle must always be the centre of our Centres and of our own life. We go there at any time to talk to Jesus Christ, who always listens to us, and who always has a word of comfort, encouragement, and affection for us. The tabernacle should be for us what Bethany was for Jesus. It’s true that I always call our Tabernacle Bethany… -Make friends with the Master’s friends: Lazarus, Martha, Mary. -And then you will no longer ask me why I call our Tabernacle Bethany.

Centring our whole day around the tabernacle

Be Eucharistic souls. When the thoughts and aspirations of a house are all centred around the tabernacle, what abundant fruits of sanctity and apostolate there are! But what does being a Eucharistic soul mean? It means that the tabernacle is the source of our life, so that our whole day revolves around it. Being a Eucharistic soul means seeking union with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, everywhere we go, and in the most varied circumstances. You need to keep up a constant conversation with our Lord throughout the day, a conversation that springs from the actual happenings of your daily work. Let your thoughts go to the tabernacle, and offer our Lord the work you have in hand.

We can turn to him at any moment of our day. Sometimes we can make a brief visit, spending a few moments of loving conversation with him. At other times the work we are doing prevents us from physically getting to the tabernacle, but we can always talk to him intimately, as one talks to one’s father, or one’s brother, or one’s Love. Living continually close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in this way is the source of our joy and peace, and of our life as contemplative souls in the world. When things are going well and when they are not going so well; when we are tempted to leave a job half-done, because we are tired; when we are overjoyed with our apostolate; when our heart is dulled by an unchanging daily routine; and when we are wounded to the heart by people’s ingratitude or indifference; no matter what the circumstance, if we are Eucharistic souls our eyes will turn straight to the tabernacle, to feel secure and serene, but also to feel loved, and to love.

To be Eucharistic souls we must place our hearts in the tabernacle, close to Jesus Christ’s Heart; thinking with Christ, acting with Christ, living with him and in him; and correcting the direction our thoughts are taking as often as necessary, so as to find our Love again. Go to the tabernacle very often, our Father recommends. But when you can’t leave your job to get there, go to the oratory in your thoughts; go close to the tabernacle and offer our Lord that little setback, that little thing you find hard. Offer him all that, and you will be happy, with a happiness that shows in the way you love one other.

As St Cyril of Alexandria puts it, in the tabernacle we always find Christ who gives us a place at his own table; Christ who serves us; Christ, lover of mankind, who gives us life. His love is infinite, and we ought to respond to it with boundless love on our own part. He gives himself totally, and our response must be one of generous self-denial. That way we will really be Eucharistic souls, centred entirely on Jesus Christ, as our Father describes: Do you see, my child, how you always greet our Lord when you come in and go out; how you feel an almost instinctive awareness of the tabernacle, even when you’re out of the house; how you greet the tabernacles of the churches you pass in the course of your daily work?

How we can show our devotion to the Eucharist.

Our love for the Eucharist impels us to refer our whole day to the tabernacle. Our Lord has actually come into our heart at the moment of sacramental Communion, and so we find it natural to return his visit, and for everyone in the Centre to come and visit him as a family. However, if ours is a truly Eucharistic soul, we are not satisfied with a simple act of politeness, but we want to be with Jesus often. Therefore we come to the tabernacle whenever we can, to make a brief but intense visit to show him how much we love him. Don’t omit the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament. - After your usual vocal prayer, tell Jesus, really present in the Tabernacle, about the cares and worries of your day. -And you will get light and encouragement for your life as a Christian.

Love keeps us alert. When we are out, our soul tries to discover what Pope Paul the Sixth described as the marvellous mystery of the countless tabernacles that form constellations of light visible only to Angels, Saints, and believers, covering the face of the earth. If we turn a corner and find a Catholic church, or we see a church steeple in the distance, our heart overflows with happiness. Doesn’t it make you happy if you discover, along your usual route through the streets of the city, another Tabernacle?

Our souls are consumed by the desire for union with Jesus Christ. And so we well understand, and try to put into practice, our Father’s words: Don’t be so blind or so thoughtless as not to enter inside each Tabernacle when you glimpse the walls or towers of the houses of God. This same desire for union makes us want to have Christ always in our hearts. Hence we find ourselves making spiritual Communions, frequently and affectionately, throughout the day. They are a Norm for always and a firm support on our journey. What a source of grace spiritual Communion is! - Practise it frequently and you will have more presence of God and closer union with Him in your deeds. We love to tell our Lord, in a thousand ways, that we wish to receive him. And especially we recite the prayer which our Father taught us to say, slowly, savouring the words: I wish, Lord, to receive You… We show him how very small we feel, and that we are not as well prepared as we ought to be; but that our will, our desire to be better, our love, is wholehearted and true. And we ask him for the dispositions - purity, humility and devotion - which his blessed Mother had, and for the spirit and fervour with which the Saints received him.

On feast days our Eucharistic piety takes on greater resplendence as we adore the Body of Christ exposed in the Monstrance. And during the night before the first Friday of the month we celebrate, as our Father says, a vigil of love and reparation, because the Work is eminently Eucharistic; because we are in need of Christ; and because we want to repay him for all his goodness by keeping him company, in memory of the bitter night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, when he suffered so much abuse and torment for our sakes.

The Eucharist fills our life and gives it meaning. If we hold onto our Lady’s hand, like small children, we can learn how to treat Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament with still more sensitivity and care. And like the children we are, we will be delighted to follow our Father’s advice: Child: don’t lose your loving habit of “storming” Tabernacles.