24 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat her Parisian habits. Not wanting to miss Mass, however, she went early – with her coat closed tight. She would get dressed when she got back home. Her perceptive child noticed this, and with his usual frankness, he said: “What? you dress up just for one of your friends, you put on a pretty dress; but to receive Jesus, the King of Heaven and earth, you stay in your bathrobe under your coat? Oh, Mamma, I don’t understand you!” The lesson paid off. From that day on, Madame de Fontgalland did as much, if not more, for her Eucharistic King. One day, as Guy was on his way to Mass with his teacher, she asked him, “Would you please pray for one of my intentions?” The boy promised that he would. Right after the Elevation, he turned to her and said in a gentle voice, “Miss, it’s done! I prayed for you.” As they were leaving the church, the teacher remarked that he should not have spoken so soon after the Consecration. The child replied with self-assurance: “Oh, but yes! When all the others are bowing their heads, that is when I lift mine up, look at God face to face, and tell Him what I have to ask: that is my moment!” “But what do you do during your thanksgiving, when Jesus is in your heart?” “Oh,” retorted Guy with an angelic smile, “that’s not the same. Then Jesus talks to me. I just listen to Him and taste Him.” Fearing that he had said too much, the child enclosed himself in a discreet silence and moved away rapidly, skipping along... Some things only concerned the “Good Little Jesus” and him! While we do not know the content of Guy’s conversations with Jesus, we can admire the exquisite fruits that ensued from that sweet intimacy. The following lines by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., paint a picture of the precocious virtues of the young lover of the Eucharist. Our Lord took pleasure in the soul of this child, as if to say to our generation: Unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.3 Indeed, in this little child’s soul we see the three theological virtues to a surprising degree for his age. HIS SPIRIT OF FAITH comes to light in his reflections on what the world values so highly: money, name, title, coat of arms, status... He said, “All of that is smoke, nothing but smoke!” He saw himself in his desire for the priesthood: “Papa and Mamma will be prouder to see their little Guy at the altar than to see him married to a rich princess.” This spirit of faith was even more apparent in the sacrifice of the greatly desired priesthood which Our Lord asked of him: “Oh, to die before becoming a priest!... Well, since Little Jesus wants it that way...” He made his sacrifice, but out of love for his mother, he had the strength to keep his impending death a secret: “Poor Mamma, if she knew, she would suffer too much.” HOPE IN GOD, FILIAL TRUST in Jesus and Mary, shone as brightly in this child as his spirit of faith. They were the soul of his prayer. “Sweetheart, aren’t you asleep?” his mother would ask. “Mamma, I’m talking...” – “Talking? But you’re alone.” – “Don’t you understand? I’m talking to Little Jesus.” He humbly admitted his faults to Him, confessed them, made amends for them with a sacrifice and went his way, leaning filially upon Him. His true devotion to Mary led him to say, “The Blessed Virgin is so much ‘more good’ than all mothers put together!” THE LOVE OF GOD AND SOULS did not languish in him: he was saddened by his inability to “make Good Jesus known and loved throughout the world”. One sensed in him a generous interior life, nourished by the spirit of sacrifice, when he said: “As for me, I never count with the Good Lord!” He understood that renunciation does not diminish life, it enhances it. And when asked to make a sacrifice in the name of the Lord, he would reply, “The finest word we can say to God is yes.” 3. St. Matthew 18:3.
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