THE REAL PRESENCE
Saint Peter Julian Eymard
Founder, Blessed Sacrament Fathers

THE EUCHARIST AND FAMILY LIFE Noli relinquam vas orphanos. I will not leave you orphans. (John xiv. 18.) THE Imitation says: "When Jesus is present, all goes well; but when Jesus is absent, everything is hard. To be without Jesus is a grievous Hell." What would have become of us if our Savior had contented Himself with living only His mortal life? Undoubtedly, that would have already been a great mercy and would have sufficed to merit salvation and eternal glory for us; but it would not have prevented us from being the most unhappy of men. What! Unhappy with the grace, the words, and the examples of Jesus! Unhappy with the excessive proofs of His love! Yes, with all that, we would still be the most unhappy of men. I WHEN a family is of one mind and gathered around a good father, it is happy. But if it is separated from him, tears take the place of joy and happiness. It is no longer a family; it is without a father. Now, Jesus came down to earth to establish a family. His children, says the Prophet, will be joyful like young olive plants round about His table. But let Jesus go away, and His family is scattered. Without our Lord, we would be like the Apostles during His Passion, wandering about and not knowing what to do with ourselves. And yet they had not been long separated from our Lord. They had received everything from Him; they had witnessed His miracles; His life had just spent itself under their very eyes. All that is true; but their kind Father was gone, they were no longer a family, they were no longer brothers. They went off, each one to his own business. What society can last without a head? The Eucharist is the link that binds the Christian family together. Take the Eucharist away, and there is no brotherliness left. Does the Christian brotherhood exist among the Protestants since they have lost the Eucharist? They are but strangers to one another. They do not form a family even when they are gathered together in their temples; each one is free to think and speak as he wishes. Their churches are nothing but large drawing-rooms, that invite very little to prayer. Is there a brotherly feeling among Catholics who neglect the Eucharist? We cannot say there is. Families in which the father and the sons do not communicate, soon lose the spirit of harmony; the mother becomes a Martyr and the daughters are constantly annoyed. No, no! Without the Eucharist there is no real family. But if Jesus returns, the family is reborn. Look at the large family of the Church. It has feast days, the meaning of which we can easily understand: feast days in honor of the Father, of the Mother, and of the Saints, who are our brothers. These feast days have a purpose. Jesus was well aware that as long as the Catholic family lasted He would have to be its Father, its center, its delight, its joy, its happiness. And so when we meet, we can greet one another like brothers; we rise from the same table. The Apostles instinctively called the first Christians their brothers. Oh! How well the devil knows that by keeping souls away from the Eucharist he is destroying the Christian family and fostering selfishness in us. For there are only two loves: the love of God and the love of self. We must give ourselves to the one or to the other. II WE ALSO find a protection and safeguard for ourselves in our Lord's presence. Jesus said: "You shall not resist others. If you are insulted, forgive. If your coat is sought from you, give your cloak also." Jesus seems to grant us as Christians only one right here below: the right to be persecuted and execrated by men. If we are deprived of the Eucharist, where shall we get the strength to follow such teachings? Life becomes unbearable. Jesus has condemned us to an intolerably wretched life. What king abandons his people after having involved them in a murderous war? It is true that we still can hope for Heaven. But that reward is so long in coming! What! I still have twenty, perhaps forty years to live in this land of misery, and during all that while I shall have to live on so distant a hope? But my heart needs consolation; it needs to unbosom itself in a friend. I am not supposed to seek that consolation in the world; to whom then shall I go? He that lacks faith in the Eucharist answers: "I will give up my religion, and I will embrace another which lets me free." That is logical; we cannot stand having only sorrows and never any consolations. It is impossible to live without Jesus. Go therefore to see Him in His Sacrament; He is the Friend, the Guide, the Father! A child is no happier for having received a kiss from its mother than is the faithful soul for having conversed with Jesus. I cannot understand how those who suffer can do without a great devotion to the Eucharist; they will end by falling into despair. That is no surprise to me. Saint Paul, loaded with so many graces, continued to find life heavy and wearisome. Oh! We should go mad without the presence of Him Who says to the passions: "You shall not rise any higher; you shall have no control on the head and heart of this man." How kind then has Jesus been to perpetuate Himself in the Eucharist! III THE mere presence of Jesus lessens the power of demons and prevents them from lording it over men as they did before the Incarnation. It is a fact that since our Savior's coming, there have been relatively few cases of possession by the devil; pagan lands have many more than Christian lands. The reign of the devil returns in proportion to the lessening of faith in the Eucharist. Are not your temptations-----at times so terrible and frightful-----frequently quelled the moment you enter a church, or commune with Jesus in the Eucharist? He is the One Who once commanded the storms. Jesus is then with us; and as long as there is an adorer on earth, Jesus will be with him to protect him. This is the secret of the longevity of the Church. People often fear the enemies of the Church; that comes from a lack of faith. But we must honor and serve our Lord in His Sacrament. What would a father do if he were despised and outraged by his children? He would leave them. Let us take good care of Jesus, and we shall have nothing to fear. If we love Jesus in the Eucharist, if we are sorry for our faults when we have grieved Him, He will not abandon us. The main thing is that we be not the first to abandon Him. He must always be able to say: "I have a home." And when a strong man armed keepeth his house, his family is secure.

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