Visits to Jesus in the Tabernacle by Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance

We all believe that the Blessed Sacrament is the true Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine. Yes; we all Believe it, but do we realise it?

There are many persons who wish they had lived at "the time of Our Lord". Now, this is ten thousand times more the time of Our Lord than when He walked the Earth in His visible humanity. Then He was corporally present in but one place at a time, and, comparatively speaking, but a small number of men were blessed with the sight of His divine presence. But now, in every place where His word is preached, He abides, not in figure, but in reality.

Many of you live quite close to a church; you, perhaps, pass it daily in your walks, or as you go to and from your work. Do you think of it? Do you realise that He Himself is there, as truly present as He was present in the Holy Land? Do you realise that the same pierced hands are waiting there to bless you, the same gentle eyes to gaze upon you, and that the same adorable heart is calling you, loving you, waiting for you to give it some little sign of love, or at least recognition if nothing more than a genuflection?

Oh! do you think that if Catholics realised what they believe, it would be possible to go into a Church at any hour and find it empty? Now, supposing you had lived centuries ago, and, by some happy chance, had dwelt near the Holy House at Nazareth: if our dear Lord had given you permission to go in and speak to Him as often as you wished, would you not have found something to say? Would you not have wished to discuss with Him every daily joy and sorrow, to seek His sympathy in every disappointment or contradiction? Would you not have entered sometimes to thank Him for gladdening the Earth with His presence, to acknowledge His kindness, to beg some gift, or to ask a blessing on yourself and others? And if any one insulted or denied Him in your hearing would it not be an occasion for you to hasten and assure Him that you, at least, would always show Him love and veneration? Even supposing that at times you had nothing to say, would you not still have loved to enter, and to stay near Him, blessed by the mere fact of His sacred presence?

Alas, people will cheerfully undergo endless pains and fatigues in making pilgrimages to holy relics and holy places, and yet they will not turn down the next street in order to visit Him from whom both relics and places derive their holiness! Truly, we have eyes and we cannot see, ears and we cannot hear, I am afraid we have also understandings and we cannot understand!