Meditation on the Humility of the Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacrament

IN HONOUR OF THE SACRED HEART FOR ITS LIFE OF HUMILIATION IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

(For the Fourth Day of the Novena.)

“Learn of me, who am meek and humble of heart,” are the words of Jesus Christ, and He repeats them by His actions in the life of humiliation which He has embraced in the Blessed Sacrament. In this Blessed Sacrament we will meditate His entire humility, and its most remarkable circumstances.

Preparatory prayer.—As usual.

First Prelude.—Observe with a little attention the total absence of majesty Jesus Christ shews in that tabernacle, and conceiving as well as you can the majesty which surrounds Him in heaven, conclude what an infinite difference there must be.

Second Prelude.—Beg of Him to let you fully comprehend the secret intentions of His Heart in a state so unworthy of His greatness, and the grace of an effectual love of Him by imitation.

POINT I.

1. Self-abasement and the love of everything that can contribute to it, form the character of humility. Observe the abasement of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. He totally conceals everything that gives honour. What mark do you see of His divinity? Splendour, majesty, the attending bands of angels and throne of glory—where are they? What appearance betrays itself of that power which supports the whole world? of that wisdom that governs it? of that sovereignty which reigns in heaven and on earth? Could He hide Himself more, if He feared to be honoured in this Sacrament as the God that He is? Could He even debase Himself more, if He really desired to be disregarded and despised? His abode is nothing but a narrow lodging of wood, or at most of stone, and although a few altars are kept becomingly, numberless others, on which He remains, are so destitute, wretched and dirty, that the dwelling of an artizan is neater. He could have made it a precept in Christianity that the gold and finest jewels of the cities should be devoted to His tabernacles as formerly in the ancient Temple built by Solomon. But though He knew what would happen to Him, He has abandoned Himself in this respect to the indolence, the avarice, and the irreligion of ungrateful men. What a complete example of the sincerest humility of heart! It is not necessity, it is His Heart that generously chooses such humiliations and such a contemptible appearance and state. Here then is a Heart that loves humility with a sincerity beyond suspicion.

2. And this is the humility He wishes you to imitate. Examine your words and the acts of humility which you also sometimes perform; are they thus voluntary and loving? Are you as indifferent as the Heart of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament whether you are treated with honour or contempt? Do you resign your honour as He does, into the hands of others? Ah! what a model! what a school! what a difference between the two Spouses you and your Lord, and yet the one but a slave, the other a king! Resolve and pray.

POINT II.

1. Consider two striking circumstances of the humility of the Heart of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

   i. First, a heart less fond of humility than that of Jesus Christ might have believed that, for the greater glory of God, He should have set bounds to His debasement in this adorable Sacrament. This God present in the Blessed Sacrament would have been more easily known and respected there, if He had at least from time to time, let some sensible sign of His hidden majesty betray itself. But not so, thought the Heart of Jesus Christ. He wished that the example of His humility in the Blessed Sacrament should be perfect to the last degree. Reflect Religious soul, that it is sometimes your secret vanity that thus deceives you. If I remain silent, if I yield, honour, innocence and justice are lost. Ah! do you not know that the highest honour of innocence is, to be innocently undervalued, and that the greatest glory of justice, is to be unjustly oppressed? This is the beloved maxim of the humble Heart of Jesus Christ, and to many souls, even in Religious houses, and even in objects in themselves small, this maxim frequently gives opportunities of great and heroic acts.

   ii. Secondly, a heart less fond of humility than the Heart of Jesus Christ, might have believed that to let itself be sensibly known by men, a little at least, was likely to produce more fruit in souls. O loving incarnate love! what heart amongst us could have resisted even a fleeting glimpse only seen by us once in life in a sensible manner, of the sweet and heavenly beauty, were it only of Thy adorable humanity. But not so thought the Heart of Jesus Christ. He, the infinite wisdom, thought it most for our good to give us in the Blessed Sacrament the greatest example of His humility.

2. Ah! then, pride, vain esteem of yourself, your natural haughtiness has been considered, O Religious soul, by Jesus Christ as His and your greatest enemy. Jesus Christ, to undeceive us by His own example in a thing of so much consequence, has even renounced the more easy acquisition of our tender love. But, O Heart wonderfully humble! O my sovereign, infinitely adorable, and infinitely humbled! more dear art Thou to me precisely as Thou art more humbled for my instruction. “Quanto pro me vilior, tanto mihi carior.”—Examine your particular circumstances, make particular resolutions, and beg with a great heart for great helps.