How does God manifest this jealousy of His for my soul, for all souls? He is, first of all, my "shield." Just as a soldier will lift his shield and protect himself behind it from the bullets that fly, so does our God place Himself between sin and the soul. He is jealous of the life and health and ultimate security of that soul, and He guarantees to it that no fatal wound will injure it, provided it keeps using this shield. "God is faithful and will not permit you to be tempted beyond that which you are able, but will make also with the temptation issue that you may bear it."
God shows His jealousy by making Himself the Physician of the soul. If, through its own folly, it receives a wound in the fight, even a serious wound, this divine Physician can always restore it fully to perfect health. More, even if it be brought in dead, He can raise it to life again. So jealous is He that He will never refuse His skill, never fail to produce the remedy, and never demand any fee except sorrow for the sin and a sincere promise not to sin again, lest some worse evil should befall the soul.
Men going to war have to receive injections against disease. The divine Physician has an infallible injection which renders the soul immune. He never tires of speaking about its power and He would have every soldier get the full benefit of it. It is His own Precious Body and Blood which He gives in Holy Communion. Could He prove His jealousy of the soul in any more effective manner? If you use it only haphazardly or not at all, who is to blame if the soul is once more wounded and dies?
A person who is jealous of a treasure will be insistent in giving advice as to how it should be acquired or increased. A man who loves money will allow it into another's hand only after minute instructions as to how it is to be spent. Jesus Christ speaks to the soul too, through sermons, through spiritual reading, perhaps most of all in the silence of prayer such as the soul is making here at this meditation. And His words prove very clearly His anxiety for the true interests of the soul, and His sure knowledge of the pitfalls and their remedies. All His instructions and pleadings and warnings are discovered to have a common root: they proceed from this jealousy of God for the soul bought by Him at such a price.
Further, He gives men a splendid example by putting into practice in His own life whatever He recommends or orders His disciples to do. "I have given you an example, that, as I have done, you do also."
It might be fairly contended that even His fearful warnings about hell are intended, not merely to instill terror - as undoubtedly they should - but also to give further proof of His jealousy of souls. When He speaks of hell, Our Lord sees, on the one hand, this place of appalling torments, and, on the other, the soul He loves, in imminent danger. Is it any wonder that He raises the cry of alarm?
Jesus, my shield, be my protection. Jesus, my physician, heal the many scars of my sinful soul. I need immunization; inject into me Your Precious Blood. I need counsel; speak it in my ear. I need courage; go before me and show me how. Give me Your fear and, above all, Your love.