A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [47]
this
world to My Father, compel Me to give Myself and My loving presence at the
table of the last supper to My dear disciples, and in all future times to My
elect, because I knew beforehand the misery which many a languishing heart
would suffer for My sake.
The Servant.--Oh, dearest Lord, and art Thou Thyself, Thy very Self,
really here?
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou hast Me in the sacrament, before thee and with
thee, as truly and really God and Man, according to soul and body, with
flesh and blood, as truly as My pure Mother carried Me in her arms, and as
truly as I am in heaven in My perfect glory.
The Servant.--Ah, gentle Wisdom, there is yet something in My heart,
may I be allowed to utter it to Thee? Lord, it does not proceed from
unbelief, I believe that what Thou willest Thou canst do; but, tender Lord,
it is a marvel to me (if I may venture to say so) how the beautiful, the
delightful and glorified body of my Lord in all its greatness, in all its
divinity, can thus essentially conceal itself under the little shape of the
bread which, relatively considered, is so out of all relation. Gentle Lord,
be nor angry with me on this account, for, as Thou art my Wisdom elect, I
should be glad by Thy favour to hear something on this head out of Thy sweet
mouth.
Eternal Wisdom.--In what manner My glorified body and My soul,
according to the whole truth, are in the Sacrament, this can no tongue
express, nor any mind conceive, for it is a work of My omnipotence.
Therefore oughtest thou to believe it in all simplicity, and not pry much
into it. And yet I must say a little to thee about it. I will thrust this
wonder aside for thee with another wonder. Tell Me how it can be in nature
that a great house should shape itself in a small mirror, or in every
fragment of a mirror, when the mirror is broken? Or, how can this be, that
the vast heavens should compress themselves into so small a space as thy
small eye, the two being so very unequal to each other in greatness?
The Servant.--Truly, Lord, I cannot tell, it is a strange thing, for my
eye is to the heavens but as a small point.
Eternal Wisdom.--Behold, though neither thy eye nor anything else in
nature is equal to the heavens, yet nature can do this thing, why should not
I, the Lord of nature, be able to do many more things above nature? But now,
tell me further, is it not just as great a miracle to create heaven and
earth, and all creatures out of nothing, as to change bread invisibly into
My body?
The Servant.--Lord, it is just as possible for Thee, so far as I can
understand, to change something into something, as to create something out
of nothing.
Eternal Wisdom.--Dost thou wonder then at that, and not at this? Tell
Me further, thou believest that I fed five thousand persons with five
loaves, where was the hidden matter which obeyed My words?
The Servant.--Lord, I know not.
Eternal Wisdom.--Or dost thou believe thou hast a soul?
The Servant.--This I do not believe, because I know it, for otherwise I
should not be alive.
Eternal Wisdom.--And yet thou canst not see thy soul with thy bodily
eyes.
The Servant.--Lord, I know that there are many more beings invisible to
human eyes than such as we can see.
Eternal Wisdom.--Now listen: many a person there is of senses so gross
as hardly to believe that anything which he cannot perceive with his senses
really exists, concerning which the learned know that it is false. In like
manner does the human understanding stand related to divine knowledge. Had I
asked thee how the portals of the abyss are constructed, or how the waters
in the firmament are held together, thou wouldst perhaps have answered thus:
It is a question too deep for me, I cannot go into it: I never descended
into the abyss, nor ever mounted up to the firmament. Well, I have only
asked thee about earthly things which thou seest and hearest, and
understandest not. Why shouldst thou wish, then, to understand what
surpasses all the earth, all the heavens,
world to My Father, compel Me to give Myself and My loving presence at the
table of the last supper to My dear disciples, and in all future times to My
elect, because I knew beforehand the misery which many a languishing heart
would suffer for My sake.
The Servant.--Oh, dearest Lord, and art Thou Thyself, Thy very Self,
really here?
Eternal Wisdom.--Thou hast Me in the sacrament, before thee and with
thee, as truly and really God and Man, according to soul and body, with
flesh and blood, as truly as My pure Mother carried Me in her arms, and as
truly as I am in heaven in My perfect glory.
The Servant.--Ah, gentle Wisdom, there is yet something in My heart,
may I be allowed to utter it to Thee? Lord, it does not proceed from
unbelief, I believe that what Thou willest Thou canst do; but, tender Lord,
it is a marvel to me (if I may venture to say so) how the beautiful, the
delightful and glorified body of my Lord in all its greatness, in all its
divinity, can thus essentially conceal itself under the little shape of the
bread which, relatively considered, is so out of all relation. Gentle Lord,
be nor angry with me on this account, for, as Thou art my Wisdom elect, I
should be glad by Thy favour to hear something on this head out of Thy sweet
mouth.
Eternal Wisdom.--In what manner My glorified body and My soul,
according to the whole truth, are in the Sacrament, this can no tongue
express, nor any mind conceive, for it is a work of My omnipotence.
Therefore oughtest thou to believe it in all simplicity, and not pry much
into it. And yet I must say a little to thee about it. I will thrust this
wonder aside for thee with another wonder. Tell Me how it can be in nature
that a great house should shape itself in a small mirror, or in every
fragment of a mirror, when the mirror is broken? Or, how can this be, that
the vast heavens should compress themselves into so small a space as thy
small eye, the two being so very unequal to each other in greatness?
The Servant.--Truly, Lord, I cannot tell, it is a strange thing, for my
eye is to the heavens but as a small point.
Eternal Wisdom.--Behold, though neither thy eye nor anything else in
nature is equal to the heavens, yet nature can do this thing, why should not
I, the Lord of nature, be able to do many more things above nature? But now,
tell me further, is it not just as great a miracle to create heaven and
earth, and all creatures out of nothing, as to change bread invisibly into
My body?
The Servant.--Lord, it is just as possible for Thee, so far as I can
understand, to change something into something, as to create something out
of nothing.
Eternal Wisdom.--Dost thou wonder then at that, and not at this? Tell
Me further, thou believest that I fed five thousand persons with five
loaves, where was the hidden matter which obeyed My words?
The Servant.--Lord, I know not.
Eternal Wisdom.--Or dost thou believe thou hast a soul?
The Servant.--This I do not believe, because I know it, for otherwise I
should not be alive.
Eternal Wisdom.--And yet thou canst not see thy soul with thy bodily
eyes.
The Servant.--Lord, I know that there are many more beings invisible to
human eyes than such as we can see.
Eternal Wisdom.--Now listen: many a person there is of senses so gross
as hardly to believe that anything which he cannot perceive with his senses
really exists, concerning which the learned know that it is false. In like
manner does the human understanding stand related to divine knowledge. Had I
asked thee how the portals of the abyss are constructed, or how the waters
in the firmament are held together, thou wouldst perhaps have answered thus:
It is a question too deep for me, I cannot go into it: I never descended
into the abyss, nor ever mounted up to the firmament. Well, I have only
asked thee about earthly things which thou seest and hearest, and
understandest not. Why shouldst thou wish, then, to understand what
surpasses all the earth, all the heavens,