Introduction to the Devout Life

BEGIN your preparation over-night, by sundry aspirations and loving ejaculations. Go to bed somewhat earlier than usual, so that you may get up earlier the next morning; and if you should wake during the night, fill your heart and lips at once with sacred words wherewith to make your soul ready to receive the Bridegroom, Who watches while you sleep, and Who intends to give you countless gifts and graces, if you on your part are prepared to accept them. In the morning rise with joyful expectation of the Blessing you hope for, and (having made your Confession) go with the fullest trust, but at the same time with the fullest humility, to receive that Heavenly Food which will sustain your immortal life. And after having said the sacred words, “Lord, I am not worthy,” do not make any further movement whatever, either in prayer or otherwise, but gently opening your mouth, in the fulness of faith, hope, and love, receive Him in Whom, by 121 Whom, and through Whom, you believe, hope, and love. O my child, bethink you that just as the bee, having gathered heaven’s dew and earth’s sweetest juices from amid the flowers, carries it to her hive; so the Priest, having taken the Saviour, God’s Own Son, Who came down from Heaven, the Son of Mary, Who sprang up as earth’s choicest flower, from the Altar, feeds you with that Bread of Sweetness and of all delight. When you have received it kindle your heart to adore the King of our Salvation, tell Him of all your own personal matters, and realise that He is within you, seeking your best happiness. In short, give Him the very best reception you possibly can, and act so that in all you do it may be evident that God is with you. When you cannot have the blessing of actual Communion, at least communicate in heart and mind, uniting yourself by ardent desire to the Life-giving Body of the Saviour.

Your main intention in Communion should be to grow, strengthen, and abound in the Love of God; for Love’s Sake receive that which Love Alone gives you. Of a truth there is no more loving or tender aspect in which to gaze upon the Saviour than this act, in which He, so to say, annihilates Himself, and gives Himself to us as food, in order to fill our souls, and to unite 122 Himself more closely to the heart and flesh of His faithful ones.

If men of the world ask why you communicate so often, tell them that it is that you may learn to love God; that you may be cleansed from imperfections, set free from trouble, comforted in affliction, strengthened in weakness. Tell them that there are two manner of men who need frequent Communion—those who are perfect, since being ready they were much to blame did they not come to the Source and Fountain of all perfection; and the imperfect, that they may learn how to become perfect; the strong, lest they become weak, and the weak, that they may become strong; the sick that they may be healed, and the sound lest they sicken. Tell them that you, imperfect, weak and ailing, need frequently to communicate with your Perfection, your Strength, your Physician. Tell them that those who are but little engaged in worldly affairs should communicate often, because they have leisure; and those who are heavily pressed with business, because they stand so much in need of help; and he who is hard worked needs frequent and substantial food. Tell them that you receive the Blessed Sacrament that you may learn to receive it better; one rarely does that well which one seldom does. Therefore, my child, communicate frequently,—as often as you 123 can, subject to the advice of your spiritual Father. Our mountain hares turn white in winter, because they live in, and feed upon, the snow, and by dint of adoring and feeding upon Beauty, Goodness, and Purity itself in this most Divine Sacrament you too will become lovely, holy, pure.

²⁴ S. Bonaventura, Louis of Grenada, and Da Ponte’s works are still available and are admirable helps to meditation. Among more modern works might be suggested Isaac Williams on the Passion, Avrillon’s Lent Guide, &c. &c. ²⁵ Ps. cxxxix. 7. ²⁶ Gen. xxviii. 16. ²⁷ Ps. lxxiii. 26. ²⁸ Acts xvii. 28. ²⁹ Cant. ii. 9. ³⁰ Ps. li. 11. ³¹ Ps. xxv. 4. ³² Ps. cxix. 34. ³³ Ps. cxix. 125. ³⁴ Ps. cii. 6, 7. ³⁵ The Egyptians used the pelican as a symbol of parental devotion; and among the early Christians, as may be seen in the Catacombs, it was employed to shadow forth the deep mysteries of Christ’s love. On many a monumental brass, church window, or chalice of old time, occurs this device, with the motto, “Sic Christus dilexit nos.” “Thus hath Christ loved us.” And so Saint Thomas in his Eucharistic Hymn “Adoro Te devote,”—“Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda, Tuo sausguine!” ³⁶ Was it in imitation of this that the hymn was written? ³⁷ S. Anselm was born at Aosta in Piedmont, A.D. 1033. ³⁸ Moore has preserved the graceful imagery of the sunflower, anciently called “tourne-soleil” (as by S. Francis here).
“Oh the heart that once truly loved, never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns to her God when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose.” ³⁹ “Pensees.” This play on words is common—as Ophelia says in Hamlet, Act iv. sc. 5: “There is pansies—that’s for thoughts.” But the name of this pretty viola is really derived from panacea, signifying all-heal, just as Tansy is derived from Athanasia, i.e. immortelle or everlasting. Its other name of heart’s-ease also refers to the potent virtues ascribed to it of old. Cawdray, in his Treasurie of Similies, London, 1609, says: “As the herb Panax or Panace hath in it a remedy against all diseases, so is the Death of Christ against all sin sufficient and effectual.” In the preface to our English Bible of 1611, the translators speak of “Panaces, the herb that is good for all diseases.” ⁴⁰ Cant. iii. 6. ⁴¹ “Nor was I sated in those days with the wondrous sweetness of considering the depth of Thy counsels concerning the salvation of mankind. How did I weep, in Thy hymns and canticles, touched to the quick by the voices of Thy sweet-attuned church The voices flowed into mine ears, and the truth distilled into my heart, whence the affections of my devotion overflowed, and tears ran down, and happy was I therein.”—conf. bk. ix. 14. ⁴² S. Mark xii. 25. ⁴³ Faber was a Savoyard. ⁴⁴ S. Luke ii. 51. ⁴⁵ Cant. v. vii. ii. ⁴⁶ Ps. xcv. 10, 11. ⁴⁷ In the English version this passage is, “My soul failed when he spake.” (Cant. V. 6.) But in the Vulgate it is in the far more expressive form quoted by S. Francis de Sales, “Anima mea liquefacta est, ut locutus est.” ⁴⁸ Cant. v. 6. ⁴⁹ S. Matt. xvi. 19, xviii. 18; S. John xx. 23.