I. At the close of this beautiful month, which we have consecrated to thee, O Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, after having meditated upon thy greatness, admired the perfection of thy adoration and Eucharistic service in the Cenacle, it remains to give ourselves entirely to thee, so that thou may guard and direct us in our vocation as adorers.
I remit into thy hands the direction of my vocation and the graces of the sublime duties that it imposes upon me.
My vocation of adorer is beautiful, the most beautiful of all, since it retains me forever in the service of the Adorable Person of Jesus Christ in His Divine Sacrament. It is a privilege, since it gives me the right to go directly to His Divine Person without an inter-medium.
My vocation is beautiful and sublime, since I share the functions of the angels and, if I dare say it, those of the Blessed Virgin herself, in the service of Jesus. But for this divine vocation, I should have some remarkable qualities, some true virtues, and, at least, ordinary piety but, alas! I have nothing of all this, and I am nothing! I can do nothing! I have, on the contrary, only defects, bad habits, and I am full of self-love. I have no humility, no meekness, no spirit of mortification. I know not how to pray nor how to make prayer. I possess only routine piety, with some meagre ideas of virtue, narrow and limited. Alas, my God! Thou who should have at Thy service all that is greatest, most perfect, and most holy, how hast Thou chosen me, poor infirm creature, a nothing full of miseries, still covered with the scars of my sins, all leprous still with the old man that lives in me?
How dare I accept this grace, to dwell with angels, to be in the same house with Thy Holy Mother, to remain in Thy company and in Thy presence?
Mary, my celestial Queen and my Divine Mother, I cannot accept the honor of becoming the happy servant of our Eucharistic Jesus, if thou dost not consent to form me, to raise me, and to clothe me with thy spirit, thy virtues, thy merits; if thou dost not take me for thy child, O thou who art the Queen and Mother of the servants of Jesus, thou who didst love only in Jesus and for Jesus!
I remit, then, into thy hands, my good Mother, the grace and the training of my vocation. I give myself to thee, do thou give Jesus to me. Formed and presented by thee, O good Mother, Jesus, my sweet Master, will receive me kindly and love me in thee.
II. If my vocation is beautiful, its duties are great and divine. I should pass my life in adoration at the foot of the throne of Incarnate Love, doing before that Eucharistic throne what the angels and saints do, and will eternally do in heaven, praising His infinite bounty, blessing His boundless mercy, thanking His love, devoting myself to His glory, immolating myself for sinners, and consuming myself for the extension of His reign on earth.
I ought to live always with Jesus in the Host, like the Blessed Virgin at Nazareth and in the Cenacle, like the saints in glory. I ought not to quit Him, even to serve and follow my neighbor. My mission is that of Magdalen, contemplative, with the Queen of the Apostles in the Cenacle, praying before the tabernacle, converting the world by her prayer at the foot of the Eucharist; that of Saint Teresa, Saint Catharine of Siena, and of all those holy souls who carry on an uninterrupted apostolate of prayer and immolation.
I ought to honor in an entirely special manner the interior and hidden life of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, living unknown to men, even the pious and the holy, forgotten by my own, despised by the world, dead to all in order to live more freely and more purely with Jesus in God.
But how can I, all alone, fulfill duties so sublime? How dare I even approach Jesus to serve Him? Alas! all alone I should be ashamed of myself!
But, O my good Mother, since thou dost deign to become my teacher, thou wilt let me adore Jesus with thee, bless Him with thy praises, entreat Him with thy prayers, serve Him with thy hands, love Him with thy heart, glorify Him with thy sanctity. I will be thy disciple, thy child, and, shall I say it? a little Mary, another thyself, the servant of Jesus!
I shall tell thee simply and artlessly my faults, my good Mother! I shall make known to thee my ignorance, my little knowledge, my little success. I shall give thee the tiny flowers of virtue that I shall have gathered, and thou wilt offer all to Jesus, and myself along with thyself.
On this condition alone, do I hope to become a true servant of the Most Blessed Sacrament. My God, behold Thy humble servant! May it be done unto me according to Thy merciful goodness and Thy grace of love!
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Mother and Model of Adorers, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
- from Month of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, by Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard