house filled it with joy and gladness: “This day is salvation come to this house;”[1] at whose word, although from a distance, the dying were restored to health, as we learn from the prayer of the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof;” such a great favor I do not expect; “but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.”[2] In a word, it is Jesus Christ who visits you, and He can at once relieve you from pain and sickness, or alleviate your sufferings, or lengthen your life, or give you patience, or assure you of eternal life; or else, if He does not help you in that way, He can let you understand what His reason is, that He wills you to suffer longer for the good of your soul; therefore He consoles you in the best way of all, giving you the grace of resignation to His holy will and decrees, so that you can say with the patient Job: “Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.”[3]
Hence the sick man should esteem himself fortunate at being able to receive such a visit from Christ. We feel a sort of holy envy sometimes when we read of holy servants of God being favored with a visible apparition of their angel guardian, as was the case with St. Frances of Rome, who enjoyed this privilege almost daily; or with visits from the Blessed Virgin, as happened to St. Dominic and others; or from the Child Jesus; and St. Antony of Padua, St. Stanislaus Kostka, and St. Herman Joseph had the honor of holding Him in their arms. Oh, we think, what a happiness, what an extraordinary grace for a poor mortal! If I could only enjoy that privilege even once! But what are we saying? Is not an equal, nay, I might say, a greater honor shown us when the great Son of God Himself, with His body and soul, divinity and humanity, in His own living person, visits us when we receive holy Communion, and allows us, not merely to take Him in our arms, but to receive Him into our mouths and into our bodies? Can we not then say with truth what Solomon said of wisdom: “All good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands.”[4] All good things come to me when the Supreme Good visits me. What a great longing should we not then have for Him! What comfort and consolation should we not experience when He comes, and that too, as often as we approach the
- ↑ Hodie domui huic salus facta est.—Luke xix. 9.
- ↑ Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum; sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur puer meus.—Matt. viii. 8.
- ↑ Vitam et misericordiam tribuisti mihi, et visitatio tua custodivit spiritum meum.—Job x. 12.
- ↑ Venerunt autem mihi omnia bona pariter cum ilia, et innumerabilis honestas per manus illius.—Wis. vii. 11.
