I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am before I place myself there.
I adore Thee, O my Saviour, present here as God and man, in soul and body, in true flesh and blood.
I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary's womb, and lay in Mary's bosom; which grew up to man's estate, and by the Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven.
I praise, and bless, and give myself wholly to Him, who is the true Bread of my soul, and my everlasting joy.
Among those meditations, Saint John Henry reflects on "The Forty Days Teaching" (between the Resurrection and the Ascension), starting with "The Kingdom of God":
1. MY Lord Jesus, how wonderful were those conversations which Thou didst hold from time to time with Thy disciples after Thy resurrection. When Thou wentest with two of them to Emmaus, Thou didst explain all the prophecies which related to Thyself. And Thou didst commit to the Apostles the Sacraments in fulness, and the truths which it was Thy will to reveal, and the principles and maxims by which Thy Church was to be maintained and governed. And thus Thou didst prepare them against the day of Pentecost (as the risen bodies were put into shape for the Spirit in the Prophet's Vision), when life and illumination was to be infused into them.
If you are used to reading Newman's Anglican Parochial and Plain Sermons and his more controversial, theological, or philosophical works, these meditations can be surprising. The direct address to Our Lord; the use of Thy and Thou; the archaic usage of "wentest", "didst" and "dost" are all different to (or from) his more discursive, exploratory writing, where he takes an idea apart and puts it back together.
Here he's summarizing the appearances of Jesus to the Apostles and the disciples and how He prepared them for their mission after His Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Several of the Gospel passages we've heard read at Mass since Easter are wrapped up in that brief sketch--and Newman expects the reader to know them.
Then he moves swiftly to applying these truths to meditation and action and what they should mean to him (and his readers), especially as they apply to the Catholic Church:
I will think over all Thou didst say to them with a true and simple faith. The "kingdom of God" was Thy sacred subject. Let me never for an instant forget that Thou hast established on earth a kingdom of Thy own, that the Church is Thy work, Thy establishment, Thy instrument; that we are under Thy rule, Thy laws and Thy eye—that when the {379} Church speaks Thou dost speak. Let not familiarity with this wonderful truth lead me to be insensible to it—let not the weakness of Thy human representatives lead me to forget that it is Thou who dost speak and act through them. . . .
Newman makes the connection between his meditation on these truths and his adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in the Presence of His Savior, with intense contemplation:
It was just when Thou wast going away, that then Thou didst leave this kingdom of Thine to take Thy place on to the end of the world, to speak for Thee, as Thy visible form, when Thy Personal Presence, sensible to man, was departing. I will in true loving faith bring Thee before me, teaching all the truths and laws of this kingdom to Thy Apostles, and I will adore Thee, while in my thoughts I gaze upon Thee and listen to Thy words.
He goes on in another section of this meditation to emphasize how much he needs Jesus to teach him these truths, "to give me that true Divine instinct about revealed matters that, knowing one part, I may be able to anticipate or to approve of others. I need that understanding of the truths about Thyself which may prepare me for all Thy other truths . . ." so that he can avoid error or even "an originality {380} of thought, which is not true if it leads away from Thee."
Finally, Newman asks for the development of a good conscience and the virtues of wisdom and discernment:
3. And, for that end, give me, O my Lord, that purity of conscience which alone can receive, which alone can improve** Thy inspirations. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear Thy voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see Thy tokens. Thou alone canst quicken my hearing, and purge my sight, and cleanse and renew my heart. Teach me, like Mary, to sit at Thy feet, and to hear Thy word. Give me that true wisdom, which seeks Thy will by prayer and meditation, by direct intercourse with Thee, more than by reading and reasoning. Give me the discernment to know Thy voice from the voice of strangers, and to rest upon it and to seek it in the first place, as something external to myself; and answer me through my own mind, if I worship and rely on Thee as above and beyond it.
**I think that Newman is using the archaic meaning of improve as to "use" or "employ", as in "to use to good purpose".
It's rather startling to see a great intellectual demonstrate his submission to realities external to himself in these terms--but I think it's what Saint John Henry tried to convey to his congregations in Oxford and Birmingham throughout his ministry, and why he is so obviously relevant to us today.
Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!
Holy Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!
