CONSIDERATION XXXIII
The Holy Communion
"Take, eat; This is My Body." S. Matt. xxvi. 26.
First Point.
LET us observe how great a gift is this Holy Sacrament; how great is the love that Jesus has shown to us in this gift, and how great is His desire that we should receive this His gift.
Let us consider, in the first place, the GREAT GIFT which Jesus Christ procured for us, in giving Himself to be wholly food for us in the Holy Communion. S. Augustine says that our Blessed Lord, " although He is omnipotent, was not able to give us more than this." S. Bernardine of Sienna asks, " What greater treasure can the heart of man possess, than the most holy Body of Christ?" The prophet Isaiah cries, " Declare His doings among the people." (Isaiah xii. 4.) Publish, O men, the loving inventions of our good God. If our Redeemer had not given us this gift, who ever would have been able to ask for it, who would ever have dared to say to Him, Lord, if Thou desiredst to make us know Thy love, conceal Thyself under the form of Bread, and permit us to feed on Thee? It would have been esteemed madness even to think of this. S. Augustine asks, "Would it not seem madness to say, Eat My Flesh and drink My Blood?" When our Blessed Lord revealed to His disciples this gift of the Holy Sacrament which He wished to leave them, many of them could not attain to the belief of it, and they parted from Him, saying, "How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat? .... This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (S. John vi. 52, 60.) But what men were not able at any time to conceive, the great love of our Lord Jesus Christ, both intended and wrought.
S. Bernardine says that our Blessed Lord left us "this Sacrament to be a memorial of His love," and the record which S. Luke has left us of our Lord's words, agrees with this statement "This do in remembrance of Me." (S. Luke xxii. 19.) S. Bernardine adds that the love of our Lord was not satisfied with sacrificing His life for us: " In that excess of fervour, when He was ready to die for us, He was impelled by this ocean of love to do a greater work than ever had been wrought, to give to us His Body for food." Abbot Guerric says, that in this Sacrament Jesus "poured out upon His friends the last strength of His love;" and the same sentiment is expressed more forcibly, when it was said of old that in the Eucharist our Blessed Lord, " as it were, poured out upon men the riches of His love."
S. Francis of Sales says, What a refinement of love it would be deemed, if a prince at table were to send to a poor man a portion of his own dish! How much more if he sent to him his whole dinner, if finally he sent him a piece of his own flesh that he might eat it? Our Blessed Lord in the Holy Communion gives us for food not only a part of His own table, not only a part of His own body, but His whole Body: " Take, eat; this is My Body," and together with His Body He gives us even His Soul and His Divinity. In short, says S. Chrysostom, in the Holy Communion Jesus Christ " gave Himself to thee wholly, and left nothing for Himself." S. Thomas Aquinas adds, that " God in the Eucharist has given to us all that He is, and all that He has." S, Bonaventure exclaims with wonder of our Blessed Lord's presence in the Eucharist, " Behold He Whom the world cannot contain, is our prisoner." And if the Lord in the Eucharist gives us His whole Self, how can we fear that He will deny us any grace that we ask of Him: " How shall He not with Him, freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.)
Affections and Prayers.
O my Jesus, and what has ever led Thee to give Thy whole Self for our food? And what remains, after Thou hast given us this gift, to compel us to love Thee? Oh! Lord, give us light, and make us to feel how excessive is the love which caused Thee to reduce Thyself to food, to unite Thyself with us poor sinners. But if Thou givest Thyself wholly to us, it is a reason that we also should give ourselves wholly to Thee. O my Redeemer, how have I been able to offend Thee, Who hast so loved me, and Who hast had nothing more that Thou couldst do to gain my love? Thou hadst become Man for me; Thou didst die for me; Thou hast made Thyself my food; tell me what more it remains for Thee to do? I love Thee, O Infinite Goodness; I love Thee, O Infinite Love! Lord, come often into my soul: inflame me wholly with Thy holy love, and cause me to forget all else, so that I may neither think o nor love any other than Thee.
Second Point.
Let us consider, in the second place, the GREAT LOVE of Jesus Christ, which He has shown to us by such a gift. The Holy Sacrament is a gift which is given from love alone. It was needful for our salvation, according to the Divine decree, that the Redeemer should have died, and by the sacrifice of His life should have made satisfaction to Divine Justice for our sins; but what necessity was there, that after having died, He should leave Himself to us as food? But thus love willed. " For no other reason," says S. Laurence Justinian, did our Lord institute the Eucharist, " than as a token of His exceeding love." And this is exactly what S. John wrote: " When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own, .... He loved them unto the end." (S. John xiii. i.) Jesus, knowing that the hour had come for Hun to depart from this earth, wished to leave a most marked proof of His love, which was this gift of the Holy Sacrament, as is signified particularly in the words, " He loved 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 who love ardently." Therefore it was, that our Blessed Lord willed to perform this most wonderful of all miracles that " The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done His marvellous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance, He hath given meat unto them that fear Him," (Ps. cxi. 4, 5) that He might satisfy the desire that He had, of remaining with us and of uniting in one, our own with His most Sacred Heart. S. Laurence Justinian exclaims, " O Lord Jesus, how wonderful is Thy love, Who so willed to incorporate us with Thy Body, that we might have with Thee one heart and one mind inseparably bound together."
Father de la Colombiêre said, " That if anything could shake my faith in the mystery of the Eucharist, I should not be able to doubt the power, but rather the love of God, which He has revealed to us in this Sacrament." How can the bread become the Body of Jesus? How can Jesus be found in more than one place? I answer, that God can do all things. But if you ask me how God can love man to such an extent as to be willing to become his food, I can only answer, that I do not understand it, and that the love of Jesus cannot be more fully comprehended. But Lord, this excess of affection, in reducing Thyself into food, is not agreeable to Thy majesty! But S. Bernard replies, " Love is conscious of no dignity;" and S. Chrysostom says, that love is bound by no consideration of convenience, when it seeks to make itself known to the loved one: " Love lacks reason, it goes whither it is led, not whither it ought." S. Thomas Aquinas rightly calls the Holy Communion " a Sacrament and pledge of love;" and S. Bernard the "love of loves;" and S. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi styled, Holy Thursday, the day of its institution, " The day of love."
Affections and Prayers.
O infinite love of Jesus, worthy of infinite love! Alas! when, my Jesus, shall I love Thee as Thou hast loved me? Thou couldst do no more to make Thyself loved by me, and I have had the heart to leave Thee, O Infinite Good, and to turn myself back to vile and miserable riches. Oh, enlighten me, O my God, discover to me evermore the glories of Thy goodness, so that I may be altogether enamoured of Thee, and weary myself to give Thee pleasure. I love Thee, my Jesus, my Love, my All; and I desire very often to be united with Thee in this Sacrament, that I may separate myself from all things, and love Thee alone, my Life. Succour me, O my Redeemer, through the merits of Thy Passion.
Third Point.
Let us consider, in the third place, the GREAT DESIRE of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we should receive Him in the Holy Communion. "Jesus knew that His hour was come." (S. John xiii. i.) But how was our Blessed Lord able to call His hour that night in which He was to experience, the beginning of His bitter Passion? Yes! He called it His hour, since in that night He was about to leave us, that Divine Sacrament for the perfect union of Himself with His beloved souls. And this longing made Hun say, " With desire, I have desired to eat this passover with you." (S. Luke xxii. 15.) Words, by which our Redeemer wished to make us understand the desire that He had of uniting Himself with each one of us in this Sacrament. " With desire, I have desired:" it is thus that the great love which He bears us, forces Him to speak. S. Laurence Justinian calls it " a voice of the most burning love." And he willed to leave Himself under the form of bread, so that all might be able to receive Hun; for, if He had placed Himself under the form of any precious food, the poor would not have had the power to receive it, and even if He had left Himself under the form of any other food not precious, it might perhaps not have been found in every part of the world; therefore, it was that Jesus willed to leave Himself under the form of bread, since bread is of small cost; it is found everywhere, so that in every place it can be obtained and received.
Through the great desire that the Redeemer had to be received by us, not only did He exhort us to receive Him with such invitations as, " Come, eat of My Bread, and drink of the Wine which I have mingled," (Prov. ix. 5); " Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved, (Sol. Song v. i); but He imposed the reception of Himself by positive command, "Take, eat; this is My Body," (S. Matt. xxvi. 26.) So that we may come to Him to receive Him, He allures us with the promise of eternal life: " Whoso eateth My Flesh .... hath eternal life." (S. John vi. 54.) " He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever." (Ib. 58.) And if we do not thus, He threatens us with exclusion from heaven: " Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man .... ye have no life in you." (Ib. 53.) These invitations, promises, and threats, all come from the desire which our Blessed Lord has of uniting Himself with us in this Sacrament, and His desire flows from the great love which He bears us. As S. Francis of Sales observes, The end of this love is no other, than that it may unite itself to the beloved object; and so in this Sacrament, our Blessed Lord wholly unites Himself with the mind: " He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him. (S. John vi. 56.) Hence it is, that He so greatly desires that we should receive Him. A bee could not be found that, with so great impetus of love, darts upon the flowers to extract the honey, as our Blessed Lord comes to the souls who desire Him.
Oh, that the faithful would understand the great good, that Holy Communion brings to the soul. Jesus is the Lord of all riches, since the Father has made Him Lord of all things. " The Father had given all things into His hands." (S. John xiii. 3.) Hence, when Jesus Christ comes into a soul in the Holy Communion, He carries with Him the infinite treasures of grace; as Solomon says, speaking of eternal Wisdom, "All good things together came to me together with her, and innumerable riches in her hands." (Wisd. vii. II.)
S. Dionysius says, that " the Eucharist has the highest power of perfecting holiness." S. Vincent Ferrer recorded, that the soul profits more by one communion than by a week of fasting on bread and water. The holy Fathers have declared the Sacrament to be " the antidote by which we are freed from daily sins, and preserved from those which are deadly." Hence, S. Ignatius calls it "the medicine of immortality." Innocent III. said, that our Blessed Lord, " through the mystery of the cross, liberated us from the power of sin; through the sacrament of the Eucharist, He liberates us from the power of sinning."
Besides, this Sacrament kindles the Divine love. " He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love; stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love." (Sol. Song ii. 4, 5.) S. Gregory Nyssen says, that the Communion is precisely that " banqueting house," where the soul is in such a way inebriated by Divine love; that it becomes forgetful of the earth and all created things, and that this is really to languish with Divine love. Father Olympio says, that nothing so inflames with love towards God as the Holy Communion. " God is love." (i S. John iv. 8.) And He is the fire of love: " God is a consuming fire." (Deut. iv. 24.) The Eternal Word came to kindle this fire of love in the world. " I am come to send fire on the" earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled?" (S. Luke xii. 49.) And Oh, what bright flames of sacred love does Jesus kindle in souls, which with such a desire, receive Him in this Sacrament! S. Chrysostom says that " the Eucharist is a coal which inflames us; that, like lions breathing fire, we depart from that Table, being made terrible to the devil.
But some will say, I do not often communicate, for the reason that I seem cold in Divine love; but this, says Gerson, would be the same, as if a person were unwilling to go near the fire because he felt cold. By how much the more we feel cold, by so much the more, we ought to approach frequently the holy sacrament, that we may ever desire to love God. S. Francis of Sales writes, If they ask you "why you communicate so often? " tell them that two classes of persons ought to communicate often; the perfect and the imperfect; the former to preserve their perfection, the latter to attain to perfection." S. Bonaventure said also, " Although thou art cold, yet approach, trusting in the mercy of God; he so much the more needs a physician, as he feels himself to be the more ill." S. Mechtildes adds, " When thou art about to communicate, desire to have all the love that any heart ever had for Jesus Christ, and He will receive it, that thou mayest have the love thou desirest."
Affections and Prayers.
Beloved of souls, my Jesus! there remains no further proof of love by which to show us that Thou dost love us; and what more is there that Thou canst think of to make us love Thee? Also, grant me, O Infinite Goodness, to love Thee, from this day forward, with all strength, and with all tenderness. Than Thou, my Redeemer, who can love my soul with more tenderness, Who, after having given Thy life for me, dost give me Thy entire Self in this Sacrament. Ah, my Lord, may I ever remember Thy love, by my forgetfulness of all else, and so love Thee only, without interruption, and without reserve. I love Thee, my Jesus, above all things; and I desire to love Thee only, I beseech Thee to sever from my heart all affections which are not for Thee. I thank Thee that Thou hast given me time to love Thee, and to bewail the offences which I have committed against Thee. My Jesus, I desire that Thou shouldst be the sole object of all my affections; succour me, save me; and let it be my salvation to love Thee with all my heart, and for ever, in this life, and in the life to come.