487. Thursday after Corpus Christi
Meditations no. 230 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Jesus Christ, King of kings, is in the tabernacle.
The tabernacle is the centre of our Centres. Jesus Christ is waiting for us there, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -all things were created through him and for him. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, he is the Creator of the universe. In him, through the Incarnation, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. To him alone has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and he alone has this name inscribed on his robe and on his thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords. And he, our great God and Saviour? before whom Angels and devils tremble, and the mighty of this earth are as dust and vileness, has chosen to hide his royalty in the Host so that we can come to him with confidence. In Christ we have every ideal: for he is King, he is Love, he is God.
Jesus Christ is God from God, Light from Light. And together with his Blessed Humanity, there dwells in the tabernacle, in a way that cannot be expressed, the whole Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore all possible richness is too little to give fitting honour to the One who is our Creator, Redeemer and King. There is no place here for being calculating or mean.
That woman who, in the house of Simon the leper, in Bethany, anoints the head of the Master with precious perfume, reminds us of our duty to be splendid in our worship of God. - All lavishness, majesty and beauty seem little to me. - And against those who attack the richness of sacred vessels, vestments and altarpieces, we hear the praise given by Jesus: Opus enim bonum operata est in me - She has done a good deed to me.
All richness and majesty is very little to offer God.
O Lord, I love the habitation of your house, and the place where your glory dwells. We have learnt from our Father to give our Lord the best. The best room becomes the oratory. And we spare no pains to make sure that the vestments, altar, candlesticks, and especially the sacred vessels and the tabernacle, are as beautiful as possible, bearing in mind the fact that we are poor. It is the sacrifice of Abel. We canât be so stingy in our piety as to have sacred vessels and other liturgical articles made out of earthenware, when they are for Godâs worship. Our God has a right to the best, because heaven and earth belong to him: The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts.
We will always continue to give our Lord the best place, and everything of the finest. What else could we do? When two people are in love they donât give each other lumps of iron or sacks of cement as presents, but beautiful things, the best they can find. When they start doing things differently, so will we.
Our poverty teaches us to worship the Eucharist in this way, and the love and adoration we owe our Lord is also shown in the way we look after everything used in the liturgy. Our Founder tells us: I ask you to take great care of all liturgical articles. This is how we can show our faith, our piety and our blessed poverty too, because we get the best things we can for the liturgy, but at the same time we treat them with exceptional care. Sancta sancte tractanda - holy things must be treated in a holy way! These jewels belong to God.
Right from the start our Father taught us this sort of generosity in giving the best, and how to give divine worship its true dignity. Back in 1935 he warned us against certain deviations. Lots of electric light on the altarpiece and even on the tabernacle where the Sacred Host is exposed. Cloths and drapes that seem to belong in a provincial theatre. Weird decorations made of paper and bits of material. Brightly painted plaster statues. Albs and altar cloths covered in lace and dainty trimmings. Things for the altar, even the sacred vessels themselves, made in the latest and ugliest fashion - Iâve even seen this in one of our most famous cathedrals. And he taught us to take very special care of the liturgy and do everything possible to celebrate Godâs worship worthily.
Our faith and love mean that we will never be able to give enough to our Lord in the way of riches; and he is delighted with these material signs of affection because he knows that they come from the depths of our heart. Practise your faith cheerfully, keeping very close to Jesus Christ Really love him - but really, really love him! - and you will take part in a great Adventure of Love, because you will be more in love each day.
Loving care and good manners in our piety.
Children⌠How hard they try to behave properly when theyâre in front of their parents! And the children of Kings, before their father the King, how hard they try to uphold the royal dignity! And you⌠donât you know you are always before the Great King, your Father-God? We are always in Godâs presence, but especially so in the oratory, before the tabernacle where Jesus Christ is: his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. If we were granted an audience with some high-ranking person, how carefully we would mind our behaviour and manners! We have an audience with Jesus every day, an intimate personal conversation leading up to the total union of sacramental Communion. How do we receive him?
We need to be clean and well prepared in soul and body, and to learn the little marks of thoughtfulness towards him which are perfect manners in the field of piety. Piety has its own good manners. -Learn them. -What a pity to see those âpiousâ people who donât know how to attend Mass (even though they go daily), or how to make the sign of the Cross (they make weird gestures, all in a hurry), or how to bend the knee before the Tabernacle (their ridiculous genuflections seem a mockery), or how to bow their heads reverently before a picture of our Lady.
Love, both human and divine, makes the soul sensitive to the tiniest details of affection. We can never be in a hurry as we celebrate or attend the Holy Sacrifice. If we find we are normally rushed when doing any of the Norms, we need to realize that our love still falls short of perfection. Isnât it strange how many Christians, who are quite leisurely and even solemn in their social life (they are in no hurry), in the unhasty rhythm of their professional affairs, at table and in their recreation (no hurry here either), find themselves rushed and want to rush the Priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Altar?
Let us ask our Lady to stir up our faith in Christâs real presence in the Eucharist, and teach us how our relationship with her Son can take shape in loving, attentive deeds. I think, our Father told us, that God will look with special kindness on people who put love into everything that has to do with divine worship - who make sure that churches are clean and beautifully decorated, with the altars radiant and all the sacred vestments in perfect condition. He will pass over their failings more easily, because they show, through those details, that they do believe and love.