The result of a good Communion is, _within_, a fear of a sin, _without_, a
love for others.
Holy Communion is a great aid to sanctification.
JESUS visits the soul, working in it, and filling it with His Grace, which
is shed on all around, as the sun sheds forth its light, the fire gives
out its heat.
It is impossible but that CHRIST, thus visiting the soul, should not leave
something CHRIST-like within, if only the soul be disposed to receive it.
Fire, whose property is to give warmth, cannot produce that effect unless
the body be placed near enough to be penetrated with the heat.
Does not this simple thought explain the reason that there is often so
little result from our frequent Communions?
Do you long at each Communion to receive the grace bestowed by CHRIST that
shall little by little fit you for heaven hereafter?
Will you, receiving thus the GOD of _Peace_ within, have for those around
you kind words that shall fill them with calmness, resignation, and peace?
Will you, receiving thus the GOD of _Love_, gradually increase in
tenderness and love that will urge you to sacrifice yourself for others,
loving them as CHRIST would have loved them?
Will you, receiving Him you rightly name the _Gracious_ GOD, become
yourself gracious, gracious to sympathize, gracious to forbear, gracious
to pardon, and thus in a small way resemble the GOD Who gave Himself for
thee?
This should be your resolve when about to communicate.
_Resolved_: to obey GOD'S Commandments in all their extensiveness, never
hesitating in a question of duty, no matter how hard it may be; the duty
of forgiving and forgetting some injustice or undeserved rebuke; accepting
cheerfully a position contrary to your wishes and inclinations;
application to some labor, distasteful, and seemingly beyond your
strength....
If your duty seems almost _impossible_ to fulfil, ask yourself, "Is this
GOD'S Will for me?" and if conscience answers _yes_, then reply also, _I
will do it_.
All difficulties vanish after Holy Communion.
_Generous_: depriving yourself those days of Communion of some pleasures
which though harmless in themselves, you know, only too well, enfeeble
your devotion, excite your feelings, and leave you weaker than before.
_Generous_ means doing over and above what duty requires of us.
_Conscientious and upright_: not seeking to find out if some forbidden
thing is really a _sin_ or not, and whether it may not in some way be
reconciled to conscience.
Oh! how hurtful are these waverings between GOD and the world, duty and
pleasure, obedience and allurements. Did JESUS CHRIST hesitate to die for
you? and yet _you_ hesitate! Coward!
_Humble and meek_: treading peacefully the road marked out for you by
Providence, sometimes weeping, often suffering, but free from anxiety,
awaiting the loving support that never fails those who trust and renew
their strength day by day. Living quietly, loving neither the world nor
its praise, working contentedly in that state of life to which you are
called, doing good, regardless of man's knowledge and approval, content
that others should be more honored, more esteemed, having only one
ambition,--_to love God, and be loved by Him_.
* * * * *
If this be the disposition of your soul, then be sure each Communion will
be blessed to you, make you more holy, more like CHRIST, with more taste
and love for the things of GOD, more sure of glory hereafter.