Ave Maria Meditations
(St. Peter Julian Eymard, August 2nd)
Why is Jesus in the Eucharist? Many answers could be given to that question. The one that sums them all runs as follows: because He loves us and because He wants us to love Him. Love: that is the motive for the institution of the Eucharist.
Without the Eucharist, Christ’s love would be nothing more for us than a lifeless love of the past, which we would quickly forget and which it would be almost excusable for us to forget.
On account of the Eucharist, Jesus has every right to be loved because in It He gives us a proof of infinite love. Natural love, as God has placed in our hearts, requires three things: Mutual presence or fellowship of life, joint ownership of property, and perfect union.
Separation weakens the strongest friendship and, if it is to prolong, may end by destroying friendship altogether. If our Lord is kept at a distance the love for Him will suffer the dissolving effect of absence. It is in the nature of man and of his love to require, and in order to live, the presence of the object of his love. Love wants to see, to hear, to converse, and to touch. Nothing can take the place of the beloved, neither memories nor gifts, nor pictures; there is no life in these things. Our Lord was well aware that nothing could take the place of His Person. We must have our Lord himself! What a fellowship! It is truly the sweet companionship of a simple, loving, familiar, and intimate friendship: we have need of it.
