 THE REAL PRESENCE Saint Peter Julian Eymard Founder, Blessed Sacrament Fathers  THE GOD OF GOODNESS Quam bonus Israel Deus! How good is God to Israel! (Psalm lxxii. 1.) THAT was the cry of the Jewish people, of David, at the remembrance of the benefits God had not ceased lavishing upon them. What will be the cry of the Christians? And have we not many more reasons than the Israelites to cry out: Quam bonus Israel Deus! "How good is God to Israel!" The Jews had received much less from God than we. We have received the goods of Heaven: Redemption, Grace, the Eucharist. God's gift to us is Jesus Himself, the Eucharist. But what commends God the most to our gratitude in the gift of the Eucharist is the special marks of goodness He gives us therein. To give is already something; but to give well is everything. I JESUS CHRIST gives Himself to us in the Eucharist without any imposing display. In the world we are made to feel more or less who is who and the value of what is given. That is necessary, it seems, to safeguard and honor social relations duly. But in order to be more lovable and more on our level, Jesus will have nothing of that. And yet His Body is glorious as in Heaven; He reigns, and the Angels pay court to Him. He hides His glory; He conceals His Body, His Soul, His Divinity. He shows nothing but the veil of His goodness. He lowers Himself, humbles Himself, abases Himself so that we may not be afraid of Him. In the days of His mortal life He was so meek and humble in His manner that none lacked the courage to approach Him. The children, the women, the lepers, the poor, all came without fear. Now that His body is glorified, He could not show Himself without dazzling us, and so He veils Himself. Nobody is afraid to enter a church. It is open to everybody. We know we are coming to a kind Father Who is waiting for us to do us good and to converse familiarly with us. Quam bonus Israel Deus! How good is God to Israel! II JESUS gives Himself to us without reserve. With wonderful patience and longanimity He waits for us to come and take Him. He gives Himself to all without snubbing anyone. He waits for the poor man, for the sinner. The poor man comes in the morning before his work to receive a kind blessing on his day. The manna fell on the encampment of the Israelites before sunrise so they would not have to wait for the heavenly food. Our Lord is always on His altar; He is there before His first visitor. Blessed is he that receives the Savior's first blessing! As to sinners, Jesus waits for them in His Sacrament for weeks, and months, and even years. He stretches out His arms for forty and sixty years to some sinner who finally gives in to His entreaties. Venite ad Me omnes. "Come ye all to Me." Ah! If we could see our Lord's joy when we come to Him! One would think He is the one Who is interested and gains by it. Oh! Why should they keep this good Savior waiting so long! Alas! There are some who will never come, or only when carried in a casket; but it will be too late then; they will find only an angry Judge. III JESUS gives without exterior show. We do not see His gifts; we might become attached to them and forget the Donor. He conceals His hands so as to have us think of His heart, of His love. By making His gifts in this manner; He teaches us how to give secretly and avoid being seen when we do good, so that the thanks may ascend to God, the author of all giving. In His kindness Jesus will even be grateful to us. Yes, He is pleased with everything we give Him; we make Him happy. One would think He needed our heart. He even begs us for it, and entreats us: "My son, I implore thee, give Me thy heart!" IV IN THE Eucharist He is good even to the point of weakness. Let us not be scandalized at this; for it is the triumph of Eucharistic goodness. Look at a mother whose tenderness knows no limit jut death. Look at the father of the prodigal son, running out to meet his son and weeping for joy at seeing again that ungrateful boy who had squandered his fortune. The world calls that weakness; it is the heroism of love. What shall we say of the goodness of the God of the Eucharist! Ah Lord! Yes, we must speak of the scandal of Thy goodness! Jesus surrounds Himself with weakness in the Blessed Sacrament. He allows Himself to be insulted, disgraced, despised, profaned under His very eyes, in His very presence, at the very foot of His altar! And no Angel is there to strike these Judases, these new Heliodori! None. And the heavenly Father allows His well-beloved Son to be insulted! This is worse than on Calvary. There at least the sun veiled itself for horror, and the universe mourned its Creator; but here, nothing! This Calvary of the Eucharist is set up everywhere. It started from the Cenacle and now covers the earth, and it will last to the last minute of the world's existence. O God! Why this excess? This is the conflict of goodness with ingratitude. It is Jesus Who wants to out-love man's hate, to love man in spite of himself, and to do him good for the pleasure of it. He will submit to anything rather than take revenge. He wants to wear out man's resistance with His goodness. Such is the goodness of Jesus, without glory, without show, full of weakness, but all resplendent with love for those who want to see. Quam bonus Israel Deus. Lord Jesus, God of the Eucharist, how good Thou art!  Contact Us HOME------------------------HOLY EUCHARIST www.catholictradition.org/Eucharist/real-presence25.htm |