Chapter I: Preface

The custom of honouring the Eucharistic presence of Christ our Lord by paying “Visits” to the Blessed Sacrament may be quoted as one of the most conspicuous examples of development in the devotional practice of the Catholic Church. Down to the latter part of the Middle Ages such an usage seems to have been entirely unknown. As far as regards England, the late Father Bridgett, if I mistake not, says that in all the researches made by him while compiling his _History of the Holy Eucharist in Great Britain_ he had not come across one clear example of a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in pre-Reformation times. Even on the Continent the idea of any extra-liturgical _cultus_ of the Blessed Eucharist seems to have grown up very tardily. There were many saints as late as the fifteenth century, say, for example, St. Frances of Rome, whose lives show no trace of such a conception, though nothing could be more strongly emphasised than their devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion.[1] It is remarkable to notice that even St. Ignatius Loyola, in the book of the _Spiritual Exercises_, when directing attention to the abiding presence of God with His creatures as a motive for awakening love, says not a word of the Blessed Sacrament. One must not, of course, press the negative argument too far. No prudent man would infer in this latter case that the practice of visiting churches to commune with our Lord in the Tabernacle was unknown in the sixteenth century, but it is reasonable to conclude that the uninterrupted Eucharistic presence of God with His people did not then play the same conspicuous part in the devotional life of the faithful that it does in our day.

This late and gradual development of a devotion, which seems to us now so natural and so unmistakably involved in premises that all men accepted, is certainly a remarkable fact. Even to the present day the Greek Church, though its belief in transubstantiation is no less explicit than our own, has never drawn the inference that our Lord has come in the Blessed Sacrament to be our companion and refuge as well as our food. It seems to have been part of the Divine dispensation, in this as in some other matters, to hold men’s eyes that they should not know Him. Throughout the long centuries our forefathers seem to have regarded the Eucharistic presence as if Christ had wished to preserve His _incognito_ while He dwelt amongst them, or as if He were sleeping as of old in the bark of Peter and would rebuke the want of faith of those who too importunately disturbed His repose. But surely we are right in thinking that if they so apprehended God’s purpose in remaining on our altars, their appreciation of His boon was but inchoative and imperfect. To us now it seems so obvious that the work of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was not meant to be intermittent, limited to the time of Mass and Holy Communion, that it is hard to believe that Christians who truly recognised this presence in their midst can ever have conceived otherwise. Perhaps we may draw the lesson that if the fulness of understanding were long delayed in so plain a matter, it is not surprising that in other dogmas and practices which justify themselves less obviously there may be developments in the Church’s teaching not suspected or at least not clearly apprehended by our forefathers in the faith.

As things are, no devout Catholic would wish to be deprived of the privilege of drawing near to our Saviour in the Tabernacle and making Him the daily confidant of hopes and fears, of joys and troubles. But what distresses many pious souls is that having Him ready and willing to listen they should so often find themselves tongue-tied in His presence. The set forms of prayer which they know by heart are worn threadbare by routine, and books too often prove stiff and artificial. The heart has many wants and longings, but hardly knows how to put them into words. In such a case real help, I think, is likely to be found in this very miscellaneous collection of musings, self-arraignments, out-pourings of spirit, to which the authoress has given the apt name of _Coram Sanctissimo_, “in the presence of the Most Holy”. They are not intended to be taken in rotation, or to be used every day, but there are times when a troubled worshipper, turning over the leaves, may light upon something here which will chime in with his mood and will make the task of prayer more easy to him. And if for one or another the thoughts of this little book may serve to break the ice and to render the soul for the nonce more at home in that holy presence, I feel sure that the authoress will consider the labour spent in writing it to have been abundantly repaid.

It will be noticed that in the pages which follow verse finds a place as well as prose. It would not be fair to let this go forth to the world without stating that it has been written, so to speak, under protest, and that without strong encouragement Mother Mary Loyola would hardly have suffered it to see the light. Although the verses are perhaps unequal, I do not in any way repent the share I have had in urging the writer to let them stand. It would have been worth a greater risk of failure and a longer expenditure of time to have secured even a few such happy lines as may be read for instance in the chapter headed “In Silence and in Hope,” describing St. Mary Magdalen:--

She came with her crushing memories,
She came with her secret fears,
She brought Him her hidden misery
And her bitter, burning tears.

Or again:--

Absorbed in her loving ministries
She knelt at His feet apart,
The scandal of every eye save one
That soundeth the secret heart.

The verses at best are only an experiment. They were written in each case for the sake of the thought, not of the metrical form, and if the authoress could have found, as she long endeavoured to do, any suitable religious poetry which expressed kindred ideas, and which would have afforded that variety which is meant to be characteristic of this little booklet, she would have been glad, I know, to escape the seeming presumption of appearing as a writer of verse. But I do not think that the many friends who use and appreciate Mother Loyola’s _Confession and Communion_ and her other devotional books will be disappointed in anything which may meet their eye in this new effort of her pen.

HERBERT THURSTON, S.J.

_11th September, 1900._

[1] The earliest satisfactory example of visits to the Blessed Sacrament which I have so far come across occurs in the life of Blessed Maria de Malliaco (A.D. 1331-1414), who, it is stated, “in festis solemnibus vigilabat in ecclesia coram corpore Christi”. The story of St. Louis of France, who in a grievous storm placed himself on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament on ship-board, does not appear to me to belong to quite the same category. I should be grateful to any readers of this note who may be able to supply me with earlier instances.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. VISITS 1
II. PRAISE 9
III. “POSSUMUS” 14
IV. THE SON OF MAN 18
V. WHAT THINGS? 21
VI. VENITE AD ME OMNES 30
VII. THE HIDDEN GOD 33
VIII. LOOKING THROUGH THE LATTICES 37
IX. LORD, COME AND SEE! 41
X. NEGLECT 43
XI. FAITH 47
XII. AFTER A DEFEAT 52
XIII. AFTER A VICTORY 55
XIV. A DIVINE FRIEND 57
XV. AN EVENING VISIT 59
XVI. PRIVILEGED 63
XVII. THE IMPROVIDENCE OF LOVE 67
XVIII. CHANGES 70
XIX. I HAVE SOMEWHAT TO SAY TO THEE 73
XX. A DIVINE PLAINT 77
XXI. THANKSGIVING 80
XXII. DARKNESS 85
XXIII. “WHAT IS TRUTH?” 91
XXIV. HIS SECOND COMING 95
XXV. OUR EARTH 99
XXVI. CHRIST OUR STUDY 104
XXVII. OUR FATHER 109
XXVIII. HEREAFTER 111
XXIX. MY VINEYARD 115
XXX. WHERE WE ARE TRUE 118
XXXI. IN SILENCE AND IN HOPE 121
XXXII. GOD’S WORK 124
XXXIII. A STRONG CRY 129
XXXIV. “BE READY” 133
XXXV. “DOMINE, ECCE QUEM AMAS INFIRMATUR” 137
XXXVI. AFTER A DEATH 142
XXXVII. GOD’S WAYS 145
XXXVIII. TWILIGHT AND NOON 153
XXXIX. RESPONSIBILITY 159
XL. LIFE 166