Wisdom-words from Sophie: On the gift of the Eucharist

Despite the great and terrible mysteries that the Church celebrates, it seems, in thinking of this ineffable gift of the Eucharist, that our hearts ought rather to be expanded than to be sorrowful.  Our Lord gave his whole self to us, his body, his blood, his soul, his divinity, and we can even say that by co-existence the entire adorable Trinity was given to us, in that the three adorable Persons are inseparably united.

In his infinite love, Our Lord desired ardently to give us this divine gift. What should we desire? How does the Divine Master prepare us for this Sacrament? By humility.  He prostrated himself before his Apostles and washed their feet, the basest service, which only slaves did then and even free servants considered beneath them. And this is God! Certainly, the Apostles have flaws, yet Our Lord seeks only to give them a lesson about humility, wanting them to learn by it that this virtue is the best preparation for Holy Communion.  Ah! If we were humble, we would understand the Eucharist, we would understand the Heart of Jesus, we would be all-powerful over souls to make them good and to save them.

We will never fulfill the plans of the Heart of Jesus, never unite ourselves to him to the degree that he desires, if we don’t have the love, the attraction, and the practice of humility profoundly in our heart.  I would like to see it engraved in fire on your hearts. 

Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat
Conference 132 (excerpts)
20 April 1859