Quote of the day, 19 June: Hermann Cohen

Come then to this Heavenly Banquet prepared for you by Eternal Wisdom. Come, draw near. Leave behind your baubles and fantasies, cast away these mocking rags which cover you; ask of Jesus the white robe of pardon, and, with a new heart—with a pure heart, drink of the limpid fountain of His love.

Believe me, now that your Divine Savior might grant you an audience, He daily ascends His throne within your churches: He will hear you with still greater clemency. Throw yourselves at His Feet; give Him your heart, and He will bless you, and you will taste joys—joys so immense that, if you do not taste them for yourselves, I cannot describe them to you. Taste then and see how gracious the Lord is!

O Jesus, my love, how I want to enkindle my former friends with the love with which you have enkindled me. How I want to testify to the happiness that you give me.

But unfortunately, I stop short, unable to say any more, for my songs don’t have the fire of love I wished them to have, and I can do no more.

It is to you, O God, that I come for help. Give me the hidden strength with which you alone know how to attract me.

Then like a torch thrown on a heap of wood, it will light a fire of love for the Eucharist. Amen

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD

For the Love of Jesus Christ, excerpts
Discalced Carmelite convent of Agen
March 1851

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

Featured image: This detail of a wood engraving in color was published in France by Pellerin in 1853. It depicts the procession of the Blessed Sacrament on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. It appears to be a clever set of cut-outs on one sheet that a child could play with to arrange a Blessed Sacrament procession at home. Image credit: Bibliothèque Nationale de France / gallica.bnf.fr (Public Domain).