Self-Denial
by St. John Eudes
[The following was written by St. John Eudes in his "Memorial of Ecclesiastical Life," Part 5, 14. This presents good points for reflection as we enter the Lenten Season.]
Adore Jesus saying: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself (Lk 9:23). Adore the view, plan and design he had regarding you when he said this. Beg his forgiveness for having placed obstacles in the way of their fulfillment. Give yourself to him in order to accomplish what he meant by these words. Acknowledge that he himself first did what he is asking you to do, having given the perfect example of self-denial.
Indeed, while on earth he was never guided by his own desires, but rather by the Spirit of his Father. He never did his own will, but the will of his Father. He never sought his own satisfaction nor his own interests: Christ did not seek to please himself (Rom 15:3), but the interest of his Father. He did not live for himself but for his Father, he shed his blood to the very last drop, gave his very life, emptied of himself (Phil 2:7), and, till the end of time, will remain in a prodigious state of annihilation of both his humanity and his divinity in the Blessed Sacrament.
Thank him for all the glory he has given and will ever give to his Father through this self-denial, as well as for the graces he has merited for us. Give yourself to him to share his sentiments and follow him in this denial of self. Make yours the sentiments of Jesus Christ: he emptied himself though he was in the form of God (Phil 2:5-7).
Consider that Jesus requires us by these word not only to renounce the world, Satan, some vice or bad habit, or something dear and precious or even a part of of ourselves. But he also says: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, he must renounce himself: You have put aside your old self (Col 3:9); he must die to himself: You have died (Col 3:3); he must lose his life: Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 10:39); he must despise himself: If anyone comes to me without hating his own life, he cannot be my disciple (Lk 14:26).
There are three reasons for practicing self-denial:
First, we do not belong to ourselves: You are not your own property (1 Cor 6:19). We belong to God by an infinity of titles. So we have no right to dispose of ourselves; no right even to exist, to live, do, say or think anything for ourselves, but only for him to whom we belong infinitely. This compels us infinitely to deny ourselves entirely in order to be fully God's.
The second reason is our obligation to follow Jesus if we want to be united to him. Now, it is impossible to follow him without renouncing ourselves for, on our own, we are by darkness, sin , death and hell; and darkness cannot copy or imitate light, nor sin grace nor death life, nor hell paradise.
A third reason for self-denial is that nothing in the world is more opposed to eternal salvation than our own selves. Indeed, we bear within us four sources of evil. The first is our own mind, filled as it is with darkness and poisoned by the venom of sin. The second is our will and the third is our self esteem, the source of infinite disorders. The last of them is ambition, arrogance and pride, the root of all vices.
Be sure to renounce yourself when you begin at least your principal actions, and surrender yourself to Jesus to do them in him, in his virtue and spirit.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 44-46.
Adore Jesus saying: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself (Lk 9:23). Adore the view, plan and design he had regarding you when he said this. Beg his forgiveness for having placed obstacles in the way of their fulfillment. Give yourself to him in order to accomplish what he meant by these words. Acknowledge that he himself first did what he is asking you to do, having given the perfect example of self-denial.
Indeed, while on earth he was never guided by his own desires, but rather by the Spirit of his Father. He never did his own will, but the will of his Father. He never sought his own satisfaction nor his own interests: Christ did not seek to please himself (Rom 15:3), but the interest of his Father. He did not live for himself but for his Father, he shed his blood to the very last drop, gave his very life, emptied of himself (Phil 2:7), and, till the end of time, will remain in a prodigious state of annihilation of both his humanity and his divinity in the Blessed Sacrament.
Thank him for all the glory he has given and will ever give to his Father through this self-denial, as well as for the graces he has merited for us. Give yourself to him to share his sentiments and follow him in this denial of self. Make yours the sentiments of Jesus Christ: he emptied himself though he was in the form of God (Phil 2:5-7).
Consider that Jesus requires us by these word not only to renounce the world, Satan, some vice or bad habit, or something dear and precious or even a part of of ourselves. But he also says: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, he must renounce himself: You have put aside your old self (Col 3:9); he must die to himself: You have died (Col 3:3); he must lose his life: Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 10:39); he must despise himself: If anyone comes to me without hating his own life, he cannot be my disciple (Lk 14:26).
There are three reasons for practicing self-denial:
First, we do not belong to ourselves: You are not your own property (1 Cor 6:19). We belong to God by an infinity of titles. So we have no right to dispose of ourselves; no right even to exist, to live, do, say or think anything for ourselves, but only for him to whom we belong infinitely. This compels us infinitely to deny ourselves entirely in order to be fully God's.
The second reason is our obligation to follow Jesus if we want to be united to him. Now, it is impossible to follow him without renouncing ourselves for, on our own, we are by darkness, sin , death and hell; and darkness cannot copy or imitate light, nor sin grace nor death life, nor hell paradise.
A third reason for self-denial is that nothing in the world is more opposed to eternal salvation than our own selves. Indeed, we bear within us four sources of evil. The first is our own mind, filled as it is with darkness and poisoned by the venom of sin. The second is our will and the third is our self esteem, the source of infinite disorders. The last of them is ambition, arrogance and pride, the root of all vices.
Be sure to renounce yourself when you begin at least your principal actions, and surrender yourself to Jesus to do them in him, in his virtue and spirit.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 44-46.
Mary Bore Christ in Her Heart and Still Does
We are eprinting the following excerpt from the last book written by St. John Eudes, "The Admirable Heart of Mary." This is in celebration of the Eudist Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was first publicly celebrated on February 8, 1648 in Autun.
A testimony of St. Augustine's ardent devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary is found in his book on her Virginity: The divine maternity would not have profited Mary if she had not first borne Jesus Christ in her Heart more happily and advantageously than in her womb.
This is one of the noblest praises one can give to the Heart of the Queen of heaven since, in St. Augustine's words, her Heart is preferred to this divine Mother's blessed womb, and not without reason.
First, this incomparable Virgin conceived the Son of God in her virginal Heart before she conceived him in her womb.
A testimony of St. Augustine's ardent devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary is found in his book on her Virginity: The divine maternity would not have profited Mary if she had not first borne Jesus Christ in her Heart more happily and advantageously than in her womb.
This is one of the noblest praises one can give to the Heart of the Queen of heaven since, in St. Augustine's words, her Heart is preferred to this divine Mother's blessed womb, and not without reason.
First, this incomparable Virgin conceived the Son of God in her virginal Heart before she conceived him in her womb.
"Happy are you, Mary who bore the Creator of the world; but happier still because, before you carried him in your body, you bore him in your Heart."
(Antiphon for Sext on the Feast of the Heart of Mary)
(Antiphon for Sext on the Feast of the Heart of Mary)
Secondly, she had made herself worthy of conceiving him in her womb, having first conceived him in her Heart.
Third, she bore him in her womb for only nine months whereas she bore him in her Heart from the very first moment of her life and will carry him there eternally.
Fourth, she bore him in a more noble and holier manner in her Heart than in her womb, since her Heart is a living heaven in which the King of heaven and earth is loved more passionately and glorified more perfectly than in heaven.
Fifth, the Mother of our Savior bore him in her womb only when he was in his temporal and mortal state with all the weaknesses of infancy whereas she will bear eternally in her Heart the glorious, impassible and immortal Jesus. That is what allows St. Augustine to rightly say: She bore him in happier and more excellent fashion in heart than in her womb.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 177-178.
Third, she bore him in her womb for only nine months whereas she bore him in her Heart from the very first moment of her life and will carry him there eternally.
Fourth, she bore him in a more noble and holier manner in her Heart than in her womb, since her Heart is a living heaven in which the King of heaven and earth is loved more passionately and glorified more perfectly than in heaven.
Fifth, the Mother of our Savior bore him in her womb only when he was in his temporal and mortal state with all the weaknesses of infancy whereas she will bear eternally in her Heart the glorious, impassible and immortal Jesus. That is what allows St. Augustine to rightly say: She bore him in happier and more excellent fashion in heart than in her womb.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 177-178.
Sent by Jesus to Act in His Name
A priest is truly another Christ living and walking on earth. He takes Christ's place, represents his person, acts in his name and exercises his authority. Our blessed Lord said: As the Father has sent me, I also am sending you (Jn. 20:21), that is to say, I send you to dispel the darkness of hell which covers the face of the earth, and to illuminate the world with heavenly light. I send you to work for the destruction of the tyranny of sin and the establishment of the kingdom of God. I send you to perpetuate on earth the life I led and the virtues I practiced. I send you to continue my own office of mediator between God and human, of judge and savior.
These three functions are the principal qualities with which Christ has endowed priests, especially pastors.
First of all, priests are mediators between God and human being, making known his divine will. Theirs is the duty of drawing all to God and of reconciling them with him; theirs is the obligation of rendering to God the homage, adoration, praise and satisfaction due to him. Between God and humans they must deal with the greatest and most important relations in heaven and on earth, those which have to do with his glory, the salvation of the world, the completion of the sufferings of his Son by their application to all souls.
With the Son of God, they are judges of the world, not in earthly and temporal things but in things heavenly and eternal. With Christ, priests are saviors of the world. The Son of God shares with them the heavenly prerogative of Savior, desiring that they should be associated with himself in the salvation of souls: We are God's coadjutors (1 Cor 3:9). He wants them to discharge the office of saviors and be employed in the continuation and fulfillment on earth of the greatest and most divine of all his works, the redemption of the world. Towards this one end, every duty and office of the priestly life is primarily directed.
In the work of saving sols, Our Lord Jesus expended himself completely, spent every moment of his time, all his thoughts, words and actions, his works, his blood and his very life. Thus too, priests and more so pastors, must give to this work their heart and soul, their thoughts and affections, their time, their strength and ten thousand lives if they had them to give, in order to be able to truly say with St. Paul: I most gladly will spend and be spent myself totally for your souls (2 Cor 12:15). Other wise, if a single soul is lost through sufferings and the Blood he shed for that soul will cry vengeance against them at the hour of death: I will require his blood at your hand (Ez 3:18). Truly, the priest is another Christ living and walking on earth. Consequently, our life and our conduct should be a perfect and living image, or rather a continuation of Jesus' life and conduct.
We are obliged then, to study carefully what he said and did while he was on earth, the virtues he practiced, his way of living and acting, his horror for sin, in order to express them and continue to practice them in our own lives.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 128-130.
These three functions are the principal qualities with which Christ has endowed priests, especially pastors.
First of all, priests are mediators between God and human being, making known his divine will. Theirs is the duty of drawing all to God and of reconciling them with him; theirs is the obligation of rendering to God the homage, adoration, praise and satisfaction due to him. Between God and humans they must deal with the greatest and most important relations in heaven and on earth, those which have to do with his glory, the salvation of the world, the completion of the sufferings of his Son by their application to all souls.
With the Son of God, they are judges of the world, not in earthly and temporal things but in things heavenly and eternal. With Christ, priests are saviors of the world. The Son of God shares with them the heavenly prerogative of Savior, desiring that they should be associated with himself in the salvation of souls: We are God's coadjutors (1 Cor 3:9). He wants them to discharge the office of saviors and be employed in the continuation and fulfillment on earth of the greatest and most divine of all his works, the redemption of the world. Towards this one end, every duty and office of the priestly life is primarily directed.
In the work of saving sols, Our Lord Jesus expended himself completely, spent every moment of his time, all his thoughts, words and actions, his works, his blood and his very life. Thus too, priests and more so pastors, must give to this work their heart and soul, their thoughts and affections, their time, their strength and ten thousand lives if they had them to give, in order to be able to truly say with St. Paul: I most gladly will spend and be spent myself totally for your souls (2 Cor 12:15). Other wise, if a single soul is lost through sufferings and the Blood he shed for that soul will cry vengeance against them at the hour of death: I will require his blood at your hand (Ez 3:18). Truly, the priest is another Christ living and walking on earth. Consequently, our life and our conduct should be a perfect and living image, or rather a continuation of Jesus' life and conduct.
We are obliged then, to study carefully what he said and did while he was on earth, the virtues he practiced, his way of living and acting, his horror for sin, in order to express them and continue to practice them in our own lives.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 128-130.
Christ, the Center of
Our Lives
New year, new life! With clean slate, we begin with new resolve to live a better self. But where is Christ in this? St. John Eudes reminds us that as followers of Christ, our life should revolve around him!
The first and principal object, indeed, the only object of the attention, the love and good pleasure of the eternal Father is his Son Jesus. I say the only one because, as his divine Father has willed that his Son Jesus, be all in all things (Eph 1:23), and that in him and by him all things hold together (Col 1:17), according to the words of the Apostle, so he sees and loves all things in him, and sees and loves nothing but him in all things.
And as this same Apostle teaches us that he has made all things in him and by him (Col 1:16), so we learn from him that he has made all things for him (Heb 2:10). And, as he has placed in him all the treasures of his knowledge and wisdom (Col 2:3), of his goodness and beauty, of his glory and happiness, and of all his other divine perfections, so he himself proclaims loudly and more than once, that he has placed all his good pleasure and his delights in this only-begotten and well-beloved Son (Mt 3:17). Which, of course, does not exclude the Holy Spirit, because he is the Spirit of Jesus and is really one with him.
In imitation of this heavenly Father, whom we should follow and imitate as our Father, we should make Jesus the sole object of our minds and our hearts. We should see and love all things in him, and should see and love only him in all things. We should do everything in him and for him. We should place all our satisfaction and our paradise in him, for, as he is the paradise of the eternal Father, in whom he takes his pleasure, so this holy Father has given him to us; in fact, he has given himself to us, to be our paradise. This is why he commands us to make our dwelling in him: Remain in me (Jn 15:4). And his beloved disciple repeats this commandment twice: Remain in him, my little children, remain in him (1 Jn 2:28). And St. Paul to induce us to do so, assures us that there is no condemnation for those who remain in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:1).
But when I say that we should make Jesus our only object in life, this does not exclude the Father and the Holy Spirit. For Jesus also assures us that those who see him, see his Father (Jn 14:9), those who speak about him, speak also about the Father and his Holy Spirit; those who honor him and love him, likewise honor and love his Father and his Holy Spirit; and those who make him the only object of their attention, behold at the same time the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Look then upon this very lovable Savior as the unique object of your thoughts, desires and affections; as the sole goal of all your actions; as your center, your paradise and your all. Go to him from wherever you are as to a place of refuge, by lifting up your mind and your heart to him. Remain always in him, that is to say, let your mind and your heart, all your thoughts, desires and affections be in him, let all your actions be done in him and for him.
Remember, from time to time, that you are before God and in God himself (cf. Acts 17:28); that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his divinity, surrounds you on all sides, indeed penetrates and fills you, so much so that he is more in you than you are yourself; that he never stops thinking of you, and that his eyes and his heart are always turned towards you.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 29-31.
The first and principal object, indeed, the only object of the attention, the love and good pleasure of the eternal Father is his Son Jesus. I say the only one because, as his divine Father has willed that his Son Jesus, be all in all things (Eph 1:23), and that in him and by him all things hold together (Col 1:17), according to the words of the Apostle, so he sees and loves all things in him, and sees and loves nothing but him in all things.
And as this same Apostle teaches us that he has made all things in him and by him (Col 1:16), so we learn from him that he has made all things for him (Heb 2:10). And, as he has placed in him all the treasures of his knowledge and wisdom (Col 2:3), of his goodness and beauty, of his glory and happiness, and of all his other divine perfections, so he himself proclaims loudly and more than once, that he has placed all his good pleasure and his delights in this only-begotten and well-beloved Son (Mt 3:17). Which, of course, does not exclude the Holy Spirit, because he is the Spirit of Jesus and is really one with him.
In imitation of this heavenly Father, whom we should follow and imitate as our Father, we should make Jesus the sole object of our minds and our hearts. We should see and love all things in him, and should see and love only him in all things. We should do everything in him and for him. We should place all our satisfaction and our paradise in him, for, as he is the paradise of the eternal Father, in whom he takes his pleasure, so this holy Father has given him to us; in fact, he has given himself to us, to be our paradise. This is why he commands us to make our dwelling in him: Remain in me (Jn 15:4). And his beloved disciple repeats this commandment twice: Remain in him, my little children, remain in him (1 Jn 2:28). And St. Paul to induce us to do so, assures us that there is no condemnation for those who remain in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:1).
But when I say that we should make Jesus our only object in life, this does not exclude the Father and the Holy Spirit. For Jesus also assures us that those who see him, see his Father (Jn 14:9), those who speak about him, speak also about the Father and his Holy Spirit; those who honor him and love him, likewise honor and love his Father and his Holy Spirit; and those who make him the only object of their attention, behold at the same time the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Look then upon this very lovable Savior as the unique object of your thoughts, desires and affections; as the sole goal of all your actions; as your center, your paradise and your all. Go to him from wherever you are as to a place of refuge, by lifting up your mind and your heart to him. Remain always in him, that is to say, let your mind and your heart, all your thoughts, desires and affections be in him, let all your actions be done in him and for him.
Remember, from time to time, that you are before God and in God himself (cf. Acts 17:28); that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his divinity, surrounds you on all sides, indeed penetrates and fills you, so much so that he is more in you than you are yourself; that he never stops thinking of you, and that his eyes and his heart are always turned towards you.
Source: Lectionary Proper to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, translated from the original French by Louis Levesque, CJM, pp. 29-31.
