The Real Presence Saint Peter Julian Eymard Founder, Blessed Sacrament Fathers OUR SOVEREIGN GOD Mane nobiscum, quoniam advesperascit. Stay with us, because it is towards evening. (Luke xxiv. 29.) THE disciples on their way to Emmaus were inwardly warmed, enlightened, and moved by the conversation of the Divine Stranger Who joined them on their journey. He wanted to leave them. "Oh, stay with us," they said to Him, "stay, for it is towards evening." They could not tire listening to Him. It seemed to them that in losing Him they would lose everything. In our own day we can well say to our Lord: "Oh, stay with us, Lord; without Thee, it is night, a horrible night!" For the Eucharist is, in fact, the world's Sovereign Good. To be deprived of the Eucharist would be the greatest of misfortunes. I YES, Jesus is the Sovereign Good! "All good things," says the Book of Wisdom, "came to me together with Him." And Saint Paul cries out: "Since God has delivered His Son up to death for us all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?" Indeed, all that He has, all that He is, He gives it to us. He cannot give more. Omne quod habet, omne quod est, dedit nobis; Plus dare non potuit. (Saint Augustine.) With Jesus Eucharistic the light shines upon the world. With the Eucharist we have the Bread of the strong, the Viaticum of wayfarers, the Bread of Elias which helps us to walk unto the mountain of God, the manna which enables us to endure the horror of the wilderness. With Jesus, we have consolation and rest in the fatigues and troubles of the soul and the trials of the heart. In the Eucharist we find a remedy for our ills, and a payment for the fresh debts we contract daily towards Divine justice through our sins. Our Lord offers Himself up every morning as a Victim of propitiation for all the sins of the world. II BUT are we sure of always having this; Gift, which is above all gifts? Jesus Christ promised to remain with His Church "even to the consummation of the world." He did not make this promise to any people or individual in particular. He will remain with us if we know how to lavish honor and love upon His sacred Person. This is a positive condition. Jesus Christ has a right to honor; He demands it. He is our King, our Savior. We must honor Him before we honor anybody else; we must offer Him the supreme worship of adoration; we must honor Him publicly; for we are His people. The heavenly court prostrates itself before the Lamb that was slain. Here below, Jesus received the adoration of the Angels at His birth, of the multitudes during His life. and of the Apostles after His Resurrection. Peoples and kings came to adore Him. Has He not a right to still greater honors in His Sacrament since He multiplies His sacrifices therein and abases Himself more? To Him the solemn honors, the magnificence, the richness, the beauty of worship! God regulated Mosaic worship in its minutest details, and it was only a symbol. The ages of faith thought they could never do enough to heighten the splendor of Eucharistic worship: witness their basilicas, their sacred vessels, their vestments, which are master pieces of art and magnificence. These marvels were the work of faith; the worship and honors paid to Jesus Christ are the measure of the faith of a people, the expression of its virtue. Let honor therefore be given to Jesus Eucharistic. He is worthy of it; He has a right to it. But He will not be satisfied with exterior honors. He requires the worship of our love: the service of the heart and the submission of the mind, not indeed shut up within us, but manifested in the tender and loving attentions a dutiful child would have for his parents. We must act like a child who lives with his father and mother; who feels the need of seeing them and of giving them proofs of his tender affection; who suffers and languishes when far from them; who is with them the moment they need him; who obeys at the least sign; who even anticipates their wishes as much as he can; who is ready to do anything to please his good father and mother. Such is the worship of natural love. The worship of love that Jesus Eucharistic demands is the same. He that loves the Eucharist is always in quest of it. He frequently speaks of it. He needs Jesus; he is forever tending toward Him; he offers Him all his actions, all the pleasures of his heart, his joys, his consolations. He turns everything into a bouquet for Jesus Eucharistic. That is the price we must pay to keep the Most Blessed Sacrament; the loss of it would be our greatest misfortune. III WHEN the sun sets, darkness sets in; when the sun is not shining, the air is cold. If love for the Eucharist dies out in a heart, faith vanishes therein, indifference holds sway, and into this night of the soul vices come forth like wild beasts seeking their prey. That is the greatest of misfortulJes; for what can revive the frozen heart which the Eucharist itself has not the power to thaw? What Jesus Christ does for individuals, He does for nations. He is no longer loved, respected, or known. He is abandoned and despised. What would a king do if he were abandoned by his subjects? Jesus goes away; He goes to a better people. What a sad spectacle it is to see our Lord abandon a people! He had a tabernacle in the Cenacle; today the Cenacle is a mosque. Since He had no true adorers left, what would you want Him to do there? Egypt and Africa were formerly the classic land of Saints, inhabited by legions of holy monks; but Jesus Christ has abandoned these two countries. And since the Eucharist is no longer there, desolation reigns. But you may be sure that Jesus Christ was the last to leave the place; He left when He found Himself without adorers. This cloud of desolation has passed over Europe. Jesus has been driven out of His temples and profaned on His altars. He has never re-entered these temples. France has seen her faith in and love for the Eucharist diminish; and as a result, how many churches, in which Jesus Christ formerly had fervent adorers, are now devoted to heresy! When their love died out, Jesus fled. And He has not returned. It is alarming today to see Jesus Eucharistic abandoned and left alone, absolutely alone, in so many cities. And in our rural districts the churches are closed for fear of thieves and lack of worshipers. Is it possible? Do we really want to lose the Eucharist? We may be quite sure that when Jesus goes away, the scaffold, persecution, and barbarism will come back. Who would there be to stop these scourges? O Lord, stay with us! We will be Thy faithful adorers! We prefer exile, penury, and death to being deprived of Thee. Oh! Do not punish us by forsaking the sanctuary of Thy love! Lord, stay with us; stay, for it is growing late; it is night without Thee. Mane nobiscum, quoniam advesperascit. Contact Us    DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE HOME------------------------HOLY EUCHARIST www.catholictradition.org/Eucharist/real-presence28.htm