I. The good Jesus, having resolved to give Himself to

us, asks His Father to allow Him to remain with us
“ daily,” which appears to mean “ for ever.” Yet,
while writing this, I have been wondering why, having
said ” daily,” He should add, ” This day.” I tell
you of my foolish thoughts, so that if they really are
absurd, you may see what a simpleton I am — as indeed
I must be, to dare to discuss such matters. Yet, as we
are to think over what we are praying for, let us con-
sider what this petition means, so that we may fulfil
its obligations reasonably, and may thank our Lord
for taking so much trouble to teach us. I believe that
” daily ” means that we may enjoy His presence while
we dwell in this world, where He remains with us and
we receive Him as our Food, and in heaven also, if we
profit by His company here. His sole object in abiding
with us is to aid, to incite, to strengthen us to do the

^ Valladolid edition, ch, xxxvi. ; Escorial, ch. lx.

CHAP. XXXIV.] ijAlLY BREAD. 225

will of God which we have asked may be ‘'done’*
in us.

2. The term “ this day,” seems to rriean the one
day during which this mortal life lasts and no more —
and indeed it is but a single day for the unfortunate’
wretches who condemn themselves to forfeit Our Lord’s
presence in the next world. He has done all that He'
could to aid them, as His own children, while they lived
on earth, dwelling with them and strengthening them,
and, if they are overcome. He will not be to blame,
for He never ceased to encourage them until the end of
the fray. Lost souls will have no excuse to make for
themselves, nor will tl^ey be able to accuse Christ’s
Father of depriving them of this Bread in their direst
need. Therefore Jesus covenants with His Father that,
since the world only lasts ” one day,” He may be allowed
to spend it in our service. As God has given Him to
us and has sent Him on earth of His own free-will, it
is incredible that He would deprive us of His Son when
most we want Him, for the insults men offer Him will
endure but for a single day. Our Lord respects the
obligation He has contracted by offering our will in
conjunction with His own, which binds Him to aid us
to fulfil this promise by every means in His power ; He
is not willing to desert us, but desires to remain with
us, for the greater glory of His friends and the confusion
of His enemies. He prays for nothing new, when He

T5

226 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XXXlV.

says “ this day/’ for since His Majesty has given
this food and manna for the children of men once for
all, we can obtain it whenever we please : we shall
never die of famine, except by our own fault, for the
soul that receives the Blessed Sacrament will find in
it whatever solace and help it requires. There is neither
need, nor cross, nor persecution that cannot easily be
borne when we once begin to share and to love those
our Lord bore, and to keep them ever in our hearts.

3. As regards the other bread — I mean bodily nourish-
ment and wants — I neither wish you to remind God of
them, nor to remember them yourselves. Keep your
thoughts as guarded as if you wfere raised to the heights
of contemplation, where one no more thinks of food
than if one had already quitted this world. Would our
Lord have laid such stress on our asking for our meals ?
It would not seem to me becoming either for Him or
for us. He is here teaching us “to fix our affections
on things above ” ^ and to pray that we may enjoy the
first-fruits of them here : would He, then, bid us concern
ourselves about anything so base as asking God for
our sustenance ? He knows perfectly well that, if we
once began to concern ourselves about the needs of our
bodies, we should soon forget the needs of our souls.
Besides, who would carry prudence to such an excess ?
We are satisfied with little, and we do not beg for much ;

^ Coloss. iii. I : “ Quae sursum sunt quaerite.”

227

CHAP. XXXIV.] TRUST IN GOD.

the more men give the more the heavenly water appears
to fail us. Let those of you, daughters, who are most
anxious about our necessities, ask for this !

4. Join our Lord, then, in praying to His Father to
let you have your Spouse “ this day,” that you may
never be without Him in this world — your joy will be
tempered by His remaining hidden beneath the accidents
of bread and wine ; which is a torture to those who can
find no love or consolation elsewhere. Beg Him not
to fail you, but to give you grace to receive Him worthily.
Since you have completely abandoned yourselves into
the hands of God, have no care for any other bread but
this : I mean while you are at prayer and are asking
Him for other things of far greater importance, for there
are times when you ought to work to gain your living,*
although without feeling undue anxiety about it. Never
trouble your mind about such matters, but while your
body labours, for you ought to support yourselves, let
your soul be at peace. As I have fully explained to
you,^ these cares should be left to your Bridegroom,
who will always provide for you. Never fear that He
will fail you, if you do not fail to keep your promise of

® Our holy Mother was very anxious that her nuns should
not be idle. She was always busy herself, although her health
was very delicate, and even when she went to the parlour she
took her task of work with her. {Deposition of Guiomar of the
Blessed Sacrament. Fuente, vol. vi. 320, n. ii.)

^ Way of Perf. ch, ii. i, 6.

228

THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XXXIV.

resigning yourselves to the will of God. As for me,
daughters, I assure you that if I deliberately broke
this pledge, as I have often done before, I would neither
ask Him to give me bread nor any other food : let Him
leave me to die of hunger ! For why should I seek to
live, if every day I am making eternal death more
inevitable ? ®

5. A comparison. If, then, you have truly surrendered
yourselves to God, as you say, abandon all care of your-
selves, for He cares for you and will always do so. We
may be compared to a servant who enters into service
with a householder : the domestic is obliged to do all
he can to please his master, and the master is bound to
maintain the servant while employing him in his house,
unless prevented by poverty from feeding either himself
or his dependents. Here the cases differ, for our Master
is, and always will be, rich and powerful. It would seem
very strange if the servant went to his employer every
day to ask for his meals, knowing perfectly well that
without this he would be fed and cared for. It would
be waste of time, and his master might tell him to look
after his own work, for if he worried himself about other
people’s business Jie would do his own badly.

6. Then, sisters, let who will demand this earthly

^ Escorial, ch. Ixi. Continues the same subject ; a comparison
is given. This chapter is very useful for those who have received
Holy Communion.

CHAP. XXXIV.] HEAVENLY BREAD. 229

bread. Let us speak to the purpose and beseech the
Father to give us grace so to prepare ourselves for the
reception of this sacred and heavenly food that, although
our bodily eyes cannot rejoice in looking on Jesus, hidden
as He is beneath the sacramental veils, yet He may
reveal Himself to the sight of our soul, and may teach
us that this Bread is a special kind of nutriment, which
contains in itself sweetness and joy, and sustains our
life. Inadvertently, we shall often desire and pray for
earthly things, but we need not purposely recall such
matters to our minds. Our miserable tendency to
whatever is base and low, may often excite these thoughts
against our will, but let us not deliberately ask for
any gifts except those I have recommended to you, for
if we obtain these we obtain all the rest.

7. Do you not know that this most holy Sacrament
is a most beneficial food even for our body and a power-
ful remedy for its diseases ? I am sure that it is. I
am acquainted with a person subject to severe illnesses
which often cause her acute pain ; she was freed from
them instantaneously by this Bread,® and remained in
perfect health. This often occurs, and people are cured
of visible maladies, which I do not think could be counter-
feit. The miracles worked by this most holy Bread on
those who receive it worthily are so well recognised, that
I will not say much about those which happened to the

® Life, ch. XXX. 16.

230 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XXXIV.

person I mentioned, although I know all about them and
am sure of their truth. But our Lord had given her so
lively a faith and devotion, that when she heard people
saying that they wished they had lived while Christ,
our only Good, dwelt in the world, she used to smile
to herself, thinking that while He so undoubtedly re-
mains among us in the Blessed Sacrament, we have
nothing left to desire.

8. Although she was far from perfect, yet I know that
for many years my friend endeavoured so to strengthen
her faith, that whenever she received Holy Communion,
at which time, as she believed, our Lord entered her
poor little dwelling, she might as far as possible with-
draw her mind from all earthly things, and enter into
herself with Him. She strove to control her senses, in
order that they might comprehend the grace she was
enjoying, or rather, that they might not prevent her soul
from enjoying it. She imagined herself at the feet of
our Lord and wept with Magdalen,’ as if she had really
seen Him in the house of the Pharisee. Even if she felt
no devotion, faith told her that it was well for her to be
there, and she continued conversing with Him. For,
unless we choose to be obtuse and to blind ourselves to
the fact, we cannot suppose that Christ’s presence here
is only an image of our imagination, as when we think
of Him on the cross or in other phases of His Passion.

^ Exclamation x. 4.

CHAP. XXXIV.] HOLY COMMUNION. 23I

These happened in the past, but He is here with
us at the present moment in very truth : we need
not go far to seek Him, for we know that our good
Jesus remains with us until the accidents of bread
have been consumed by our natural heat. Let us not
lose this golden opportunity, but let us stay in His
company.

9. If, while Jesus lived in the world, the mere touch
of His garments healed the sick, who can doubt that
when He is dwelling in the very centre of our being He
will work miracles on us,® if we have a living faith in Him ?
And will He not grant our petitions, while He is our
Guest ? His Majesty is not a bad Paymaster for a good
inn. Are you grieved at not seeing Him with your bodily
eyes ? That would not be expedient for us here. It

® Saint Teresa felt an unspeakable joy, when founding a fresh
convent, at the thought that there would be one more church in
which the Blessed Sacrament would be reserved (see Life, ch. xxxvi,
5). It was this that gave her strength to bear all the hardships
of the journey and the other labours which she had to go through.
While she was at St. Joseph’s at Avila she was often enraptured
after communicating and could not leave the little Communion
grille, but had to be removed by the nuns. While she was at
Toledo she went into an ecstasy after receiving the Blessed
Sacrament. The sacristan, not suspecting what had happened,
used great force to make the holy Mother sit down, even pulling
her by both hands, but she remained leaning against the wall
in a rapture, and was as immovable as stone until she came
to herself. She was seen to rise several feet in the air in the
choir of St. Joseph’s, Avila, after having communicated. {Ribera,
bk. iv. ch. xii.)

232 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XXXIV.

would be a different matter, now that He is glorified,
from what it was when He lived in the world. Human
nature would be too weak to bear it. The world would
exist no longer, and no one would remain in it, for when
men had once seen eternal Truth, they would perceive
that all we value on earth is but a lie and a mockery.
And if His sublime glory could be seen, how could such
a sinful wretch as I am dare to draw thus near to Him,
after my many offences ? Beneath the accidents of
bread. He is accessible — if the King disguises Himself,
there does not seem to be the same need for ceremonies
and court etiquette ; indeed. He appears to have waived
His claim to them by appearing incognito. Who other-
wise, would venture to approach Him, thus tepidly,
unworthily, and laden with imperfections ? Indeed, we
know not what we ask ; but He, in His wisdom,
understands far better than we do. When He sees
that it would profit a soul, He reveals Himself to it ;
although unseen by the bodily eyes. He manifests
Himself to it by vivid interior intuitions and by other
means.

10. Take pleasure in remaining in His society : do not
lose this most precious time, for this hour is of the utmost
value to the soul, and the good Jesus desires you to
spend it with Him ; take great care, daughters, not to
waste it. If obedience calls you, try to leave your soul
with our Lord, who is your Master ; although you may

CHAP. XXXIV.] HOLY COMMUNION. 233

not understand how, He will continue to teach you.
But if you allow your thoughts to wander at once to
other matters, and you show no more care or reverence
for Him Who dwells within you than if you had not
received Holy Communion, how can He make Himself
known to you ? You have no one to blame for this but
yourself. This - is the time for our Master to instruct,
and for us to listen. I do not assert that you
must use no vocal prayers, for you would say I was
speaking of contemplation. If our Lord does not raise
you to this, recite the Pater Noster, but take care to
remember how truly you are in the company of Him
Who taught it you : kiss His feet for having done so,
and beseech Him not to leave you. If you are accus-
tomed to ask for graces from Christ while looking at
His picture, would it not be foolish, at this time, to turn
away from Him Who is now with you in person, and
to look at His image ? It would be the same thing as if,
when a friend we dearly loved came to visit us, we re-
fused to talk to him and would only speak to his portrait.
Do you know when the gazing on a representation of
Christ is a good and holy practice, in which I take great
pleasure ? It is when our Lord is absent and makes us
feel His loss by aridities. It is a great joy to look at an
image of our Lady or of any Saint for whom we have a
devotion. How much more so when the likeness is that
of Christ, who has given us such cause to love Him ?

234 the way of perfection, [chap. XXXIV.

To gaze on His picture rouses the soul to fervour.® And
I should like to see His image wherever I turned my
eyes. What can we look on that is better or more
delightful than Him Who loves us so tenderly and Who
comprises in Himself all good things ? Unhappy heretics
who have forfeited this consolation ^®and support as well
as many others ! “