them unto the end;" that is, with the highest love, as both S. Chrysostom and Theophylact explain it.
And it should be remarked, that the Apostle records the time in which our blessed Lord wished to leave this gift, which was at the hour of His death " The same night in which He was betrayed took Bread; and when He had given thanks, He Brake It, and said, Take, eat: THIS is My Body." (i Cor. xi. 24.) At the very time whilst the men were preparing the scourges, the thorns, and the Cross, to kill Him, did He, the loving Saviour, wish to leave this last proof of His love. Wherefore in death, and not during life, did He institute this Sacrament? S. Bernardine answers, that " the things which are celebrated at the hour of death for marks of friendship are the more firmly impressed upon the heart, and are the more lovingly treasured up in the memory." He continues, that our blessed Lord had before this given Himself to us in many ways. He had given Himself to us to be a Companion, a Master, a Father, a Light, an Example, a Victim. "It was the last degree of love, when He gave Himself to us for food; since He gave Himself to us in the most perfect union, as the food and the eaters of it are in every way united into one." So our Blessed Lord was not content to unite Himself to our human nature only, but He willed by this Sacrament, to find a means of uniting Himself even to each one of us in particular.
S. Francis of Sales says, that in no other action, can the Saviour be thought of as being more tender, more loving, than in this, in which He so annihilates Himself, so to speak, and so reduces Himself to food, that He may penetrate our souls, and may unite Himself with the hearts of His faithful ones. As S. Chrysostom writes, that upon which the angels do not dare to fix their eyes, " to this we are united, and we are made with IT one Body and one Flesh." He continues: " What shepherd feeds the sheep with his own blood? And wherefore do I say a shepherd? There are many mothers who deliver up their children to other nurses; but this He permitted not, but He feeds us Himself with His own Blood." But wherefore does He make Himself our food? S. Chrysostom answers: " He mingled Himself with us, that we might be one with Him for this is the desire of those
