The Effects of the Eucharist Are Visible in the Devout Communicant

by Cure' of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney and complied by Abbe' H. Convert

From the NAS (Nocturnal Adoration Society) Letter August 2006

We can tell when a soul has received the Sacrament of the Eucharist worthily. It is so flooded with love, so pervaded and changed, that we recognize it no longer in its words and actions. It is humble, gentle, mortified, charitable, and modest, and at peace with everyone. It is a soul capable of the greatest sacrifices; in fact, it is unrecognizable.

St. Magdalen of Pazzi tells us that it needs only one Communion, made with tender love and a very pure heart, to raise us to the highest perfection.

People who practise devotion, who confess and communicate often, and who neglect works of faith and charity, are like trees in blossom; you think there will be much fruit as flower - but there is a great difference.

The blessed Cure' contended with our Lord in generosity. Every morning he received the Body and Blood Christ, and in return sacrificed his whole self in union with the divine Savior. For the conversion of his parish he multiplied prayers, vigils, and scourgings, and led a life more and more austere. Insensible to so many mortifications, however, the people confided to his care indulged in dancing and frivolous pleasures with the same ardour, profaned the holy day of Sunday with the same obstinacy, and still frequented the public houses.

The holy Cure' thought he was thus unsuccessful because he had not offered enough penances to our Lord, and he exclaimed, distressed but resolute, "I will go on till I can do no more." It was then that he was found trying to live on the grass in his garden and during certain periods of the year taking a meal only once every two days. And what a meal! It consisted of a piece of dry bread and a single boiled potato which was often moldy.

The servant of God was no less lavish towards souls with his time and toil than with his fasts and penances. In contact with the God of the Eucharist who delivered himself up for our redemption, and who daily renews his sacrifice, St. John Vianney's zeal was kindled to such a point that he could say one day; "If the good God should give me my choice of going to heaven this very minute or staying on earth till the end of the world to work for the conversion of sinners, I would stay, and I would continue to get up at midnight."