Quote of the day, 20 December: Hermann Cohen

Oh Jesus my love, I should like to kindle in the hearts of my former friends the fire which burns in me. I should like to show them the happiness you give to me… 

If you no longer see me trying my utmost for applause and empty respect, it is because I have found my renown in the Eucharist…. If you no longer see me wasting my resources in casinos or chasing riches, it is because I have found wealth and inexhaustible treasure in the cup of love sealed in the Eucharist. If I no longer come and drown my worries in noisy parties, it is because I am nourished at the wedding feast with the angels of heaven. It is because I have found true joy.

Yes, I have found it, what I really love, it is mine and no one can take it from me. Unhappy riches, cloying pleasures, honors that only debase—those are the things I looked for in your company. But now that my eyes have seen, and my hands have touched and my heart has beaten on the heart of God, I can only be sorry for your blindness in pursuing pleasures that are unable to satisfy your hearts.

So come to this heavenly feast which has been prepared by eternal wisdom. Come, draw near.

Abandon your baubles and empty dreams, cast off the rags that cover you. Ask Jesus for the shining robe of pardon, then with a new heart, with a pure heart quench your thirst at the limpid fountain of his love.

Cast yourselves down at his feet. Give your heart to him and he will bless you, and you will taste joys so great that I cannot describe them for you—unless you come and try them. “Taste and see how sweet is the Lord.”

If King David danced before the ark which prefigured you, O my true covenant, then with what songs of triumph ought I break out?

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.
(Hermann Cohen)

Hymns to the Eucharist, dedication

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN