«Accipite, et comedite: hoc est Corpus meum» — "Take and eat: this is My Body" (Matt. 26).
Point I
Let us consider: 1. the great gift that is the Blessed Sacrament; 2. the great love that Jesus has shown us in this gift; 3. the great desire of Jesus that we receive this gift of His. Let us consider first the great gift that Jesus Christ has given us, in giving us Himself entirely as food in Holy Communion. St. Augustine says that, since Jesus is an almighty God, He had nothing more He could give us: «Cum esset omnipotens plus dare non potuit» — "Being almighty, He could give no more." And what greater treasure, adds St. Bernardine of Siena, can a soul receive or desire than the most holy Body of Jesus Christ? «Quis melior thesaurus in corde hominis esse potest, quam Corpus Christi?» — "What better treasure can there be in the heart of man than the Body of Christ?" The prophet Isaiah cried out: «Notas facite adinventiones eius» — "Make known His wondrous devices" (Isa. 12). Publish, O men, the loving inventions of our good God. And who, if our Redeemer had not made us this gift — who among us (I say) could ever have asked for it? Who would ever have had the boldness to say to Him: Lord, if You wish to make us know Your love, place Yourself under the appearances of bread, and permit us to feed on You? It would have been reckoned madness even to think it. «Nonne insania videtur», says St. Augustine, «dicere, manducate meam carnem, bibite meum sanguinem?» — "Does it not seem madness to say: eat my flesh, drink my blood?" When Jesus Christ revealed to the disciples this gift of the Blessed Sacrament that He wished to leave us, they could not bring themselves to believe it, and they went away from Him, saying: «Quomodo potest hic carnes suas dare ad manducandum? Durus est hic sermo, et quis potest eum audire» — "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? This saying is hard, and who can listen to it?" (John 6:61). But what men could never have imagined, the great love of Jesus Christ conceived and carried out.
St. Bernardine says that the Lord left us this Sacrament as a memorial of the love He showed us in His passion: «Hoc Sacramentum est memoriale suae dilectionis» — "This Sacrament is a memorial of His love." And this accords with what Jesus Himself left us through St. Luke: «Hoc facite in meam commemorationem» — "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). The love of our Savior, adds St. Bernardine, was not content with sacrificing His life for us: before dying, He was compelled by this very love of His to make us the greatest gift He has ever given us, by giving us Himself as food: «In illo fervoris excessu, quando paratus erat pro nobis mori, ab excessu amoris maius opus agere coactus est, quam unquam operatus fuerat, dare nobis Corpus in cibum» — "In that excess of fervor, when He was ready to die for us, by an excess of love He was compelled to perform a greater work than He had ever done: to give us His Body as food" (St. Bernardine of Siena, tom. 2, Serm. 54, a. 1, c. 1). Abbot Guerric says that in this Sacrament Jesus made His utmost effort of love: «Omnem vim amoris effudit amicis» — "He poured out all the power of His love upon His friends" (Serm. 5, On the Ascension). And the Council of Trent expressed it better, saying that in the Eucharist Jesus poured forth all the riches of His love toward men: «Divitias sui erga homines amoris velut effudit» — "He poured out, as it were, all the riches of His love toward men" (Sess. 13, ch. 2).
What a refinement of love, says St. Francis de Sales, would it be thought, if a prince, seated at table, sent a poor man a portion from his own dish? What then if he sent him his whole meal? And what, finally, if he sent him a piece of his own arm so that he might feed on it? In Holy Communion, Jesus gives us as food not only a part of His meal, not only a part of His body, but His whole body: «Accipite, et comedite; hoc est Corpus meum» — "Take and eat; this is My Body." And together with His body, He gives us also His soul and His divinity. In short (says St. John Chrysostom), by giving you Himself in Holy Communion, Jesus Christ gives you all that He has and reserves nothing for Himself: «Totum tibi dedit, nihil sibi reliquit» — "He gave you all; He left nothing for Himself"; and another author writes: «Deus in Eucharistia totum quod est et habet, dedit nobis» — "God in the Eucharist gave us all that He is and all that He has." Behold, that great God whom the world cannot contain (marvels St. Bonaventure) makes Himself our prisoner in the Blessed Sacrament: «Ecce quem mundus capere non potest, captivus noster est» — "Behold, He whom the world cannot contain is our captive." And if the Lord in the Eucharist gives us all of Himself, how can we fear that He would then deny us any grace we ask of Him? «Quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit?» — "How has He not also, with Him, given us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).
Affections and Prayers
O my Jesus, who ever moved You to give us Yourself as food? And what more remains for You to give us after this gift, to oblige us to love You? Ah, Lord, give us light and make us understand what excess this was — to reduce Yourself to food in order to unite Yourself with us poor sinners. But if You give Yourself wholly to us, it is right that we too give ourselves wholly to You. O my Redeemer, how could I have offended You, who have loved me so much, and who had nothing more to do to win my love? You became man for me, You died for me, You made Yourself my food; tell me, what more remained for You to do? I love You, infinite goodness; I love You, infinite love. Lord, come often to my soul; inflame me wholly with Your holy love; and make me forget everything, so that I may think of and love nothing but You.
Divine Mother, pray for me, and by Your intercession make me worthy often to receive Your Son in the Blessed Sacrament.
Point II
Let us consider, in the second place, the great love that Jesus Christ showed us in this gift. The Blessed Sacrament is a gift given by love alone. According to the divine decree, it was indeed necessary for our salvation that the Redeemer die and, by the sacrifice of His life, satisfy divine justice for our sins; but what necessity was there that Jesus Christ, after having died, should leave Himself to us as food? Yet so love willed it. For no other reason, says St. Lawrence Justinian, did He institute the Eucharist than «ob suae eximiae caritatis indicium» — "as a sign of His surpassing charity" — that is, to make us understand the immense love He bears us. And this is precisely what St. John wrote: «Sciens Iesus, quia venit hora eius, ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem, cum dilexisset suos, in finem dilexit eos» — "Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved His own, loved them to the end" (John 13:1). Jesus, knowing that the time to depart from this earth had now come, willed to leave us the greatest sign of His love, which was this gift of the Blessed Sacrament; this is exactly what those words mean, «in finem dilexit eos» — "He loved them to the end" — that is, «extremo amore, summe dilexit eos» — "with utmost love, He loved them supremely" — as Theophylact explains together with St. John Chrysostom.
And let us note what the Apostle noted: that the time in which Jesus Christ willed to leave us this gift was the time of His death. «In qua nocte tradebatur, accepit panem, et gratias agens fregit, et dixit: Accipite et manducate, hoc est Corpus meum» — "On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, and giving thanks, broke it, and said: Take and eat; this is My Body" (1 Cor. 11). When men were preparing scourges, thorns, and a cross to put Him to death, then did the loving Savior will to leave us this last sign of His affection. And why did He institute this Sacrament at death, and not before? St. Bernardine of Siena says that He did so because the signs of love shown by friends at death remain more easily in the memory and are held more dearly: «Quae in fine in signum amicitiae celebrantur, firmius memoriae imprimuntur, et cariora tenentur» — "Those things which are done at the end as a sign of friendship are more firmly impressed upon the memory and held more dear." Jesus Christ, says the saint, had already given Himself to us in many ways: He had given Himself as companion, as teacher, as father, as light, as example, and as victim; there remained the last degree of love, which was to give Himself to us as food, in order to unite Himself wholly with us, as food unites with the one who takes it;
and this He did by giving Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: «Ultimus gradus amoris est, cum se dedit nobis in cibum, quia dedit se nobis ad omnimodam unionem, sicut cibus et cibans invicem uniuntur» — "The last degree of love is when He gave Himself to us as food, because He gave Himself to us for every manner of union, just as food and the one who eats it are united to each other." Thus our Redeemer was not content to unite Himself only to our human nature; by means of this Sacrament He willed to find a way to unite Himself also to each one of us in particular.
St. Francis de Sales used to say: "In no other action can the Savior be considered more tender or more loving than in this, in which He annihilates Himself, so to speak, and reduces Himself to food in order to penetrate our souls and unite Himself to the hearts of His faithful." Therefore, says St. John Chrysostom, to that Lord on whom the Angels do not dare to fix their gaze, «Huic nos unimur, et facti sumus unum corpus, et una caro» — "to Him we are united, and we have become one body and one flesh." What shepherd ever (adds the saint) feeds his sheep with his own blood? Even mothers give their children to nurses to be fed; but Jesus in the Sacrament feeds us with His very own blood and unites us to Himself: «Quis pastor oves proprio pascit cruore? Et quid dico pastor? Matres multae sunt, quae filios aliis tradunt nutricibus; hoc autem ipse non est passus, sed ipse nos proprio sanguine pascit» — "What shepherd feeds his sheep with his own blood? And why do I say shepherd? There are many mothers who hand their children over to other nurses; but He did not permit this — He Himself feeds us with His own blood" (Hom. 60). And why did He make Himself our food? Because (says the saint) He loved us ardently, and thus willed to unite Himself wholly and become one same thing with us: «Semetipsum nobis immiscuit, ut unum quid simus; ardenter enim amantium hoc est» — "He mingled Himself with us, that we might be one thing; for this is the mark of those who love ardently" (Hom. 61). Therefore Jesus Christ willed to perform the greatest of all miracles: «Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, escam dedit timentibus se» — "He made a memorial of His wonders; He gave food to those who fear Him" (Ps. 110), in order to satisfy the desire He had to be with us and to unite our heart in one with His most holy Heart. «O mirabilis dilectio tua (esclama S. Lorenzo Giustiniani), Domine Iesu, qui tuo corpori taliter nos incorporari voluisti, ut tecum unum cor, et animam unam haberemus inseparabiliter colligatam!» — "O wondrous love of Yours, Lord Jesus (exclaims St. Lawrence Justinian), who willed that we be so incorporated into Your body that with You we might have one heart and one soul inseparably bound together!"
That great servant of God, Father de la Colombière, used to speak thus: If anything could shake my faith in the mystery of the Eucharist, I would not doubt the power, but rather the love that God shows us in this Sacrament. How the bread becomes the Body of Jesus, how Jesus is found in many places — I say that God can do all things. But if you ask me how God can love man to such a degree that He wills to become his food, I can answer nothing except that I do not understand it, and that the love of Jesus cannot be comprehended. But, Lord, such an excess of affection — reducing Yourself to food — seems unbefitting to Your majesty. But St. Bernard answers that love makes the lover forget his own dignity: «Amor dignitatis nescius» — "Love knows nothing of dignity." St. John Chrysostom answers likewise that love does not go seeking a reason of propriety when it comes to making itself known to the beloved; it does not go where it is fitting, but where it is led by its desire: «Amor ratione caret, et vadit quo ducitur, non quo debeat» — "Love is without reason, and goes where it is led, not where it ought"
(Serm. 147). St. Thomas Aquinas was therefore right to call this Sacrament the Sacrament of love and the pledge of love: «Sacramentum caritatis, caritatis pignus» — "Sacrament of charity, pledge of charity" (Opusc. 58). And St. Bernard to call it «Amor amorum» — "Love of loves." And St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi to call the day of Holy Thursday, on which this Sacrament was instituted, "the day of love."
Affections and Prayers
O infinite love of Jesus, worthy of infinite love! Ah, when, my Jesus, shall I love You as You have loved me? You have nothing more to do to make Yourself loved by me; and yet I have had the heart to leave You, the infinite good, to turn to vile and wretched goods! Ah, enlighten me, O my God; reveal to me ever more the greatness of Your goodness, so that I may fall wholly in love with You and labor to give You pleasure. I love You, my Jesus, my love, my all; and I wish to unite myself often with You in this Sacrament, to detach myself from everything, and to love You alone, my life. Help me, O my Redeemer, through the merits of Your passion.
Help me also, O Mother of Jesus and my mother; pray to Him, that He may inflame me wholly with His holy love.
Point III
Let us consider, in the third place, the great desire Jesus Christ has that we receive Him in Holy Communion: «Sciens Iesus quia venit hora eius» — "Jesus, knowing that His hour had come" (John 13:1). But how could Jesus call "His hour" that night in which His bitter passion was to begin? Yes, He calls it "His hour," because on that night He was to leave us this divine Sacrament, in order to unite Himself wholly with His beloved souls. And this desire made Him say then: «Desiderio desideravi hoc Pascha manducare vobiscum» — "With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you" (Luke 22). Words by which the Redeemer willed to make us understand the longing He had to join Himself with each one of us in this Sacrament. «Desiderio desideravi» — "With desire I have desired" — so does the immense love He bears us make Him speak, says St. Lawrence Justinian: «Flagrantissimae caritatis est vox haec» — "This is the utterance of most ardent charity." And He willed to leave Himself under the species of bread, so that everyone could receive Him; had He placed Himself under the appearance of some precious food, the poor would not have had the means to take it; and even under the appearance of some other food that was not precious, at least that other food would perhaps not be found in every place on earth. Jesus willed to leave Himself under the species of bread because bread costs little and is found everywhere, so that all in every place can find it and receive it.
Because of this great desire the Redeemer has to be received by us, not only does He exhort us to receive Him with so many invitations: «Venite, comedite panem meum, et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis» — "Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you" (Prov. 9:5); «Comedite amici, et bibite, et inebriamini carissimi» — "Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearest ones" (Song 5:1); but He even imposes it upon us as a precept: «Accipite, et comedite, hoc est Corpus meum» — "Take and eat; this is My Body" (Matt. 26). Moreover, so that we may go to receive Him, He entices us with the promise of eternal life: «Qui manducat meam carnem, habet vitam aeternam» — "He who eats My flesh has eternal life" (John 6:54). «Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum» — "He who eats this bread shall live forever" (Ibid. 58). And if not, He threatens us with exclusion from paradise: «Nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis, non habebitis vitam in vobis» — "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, you shall not have life in you" (Ib. 53). All these invitations, promises, and threats spring from the desire Jesus Christ has to unite Himself with us in this sacrament. And this desire springs from the great love He bears us; for (as St. Francis de Sales says) the end of love is nothing other than to unite oneself to the beloved object; and because in this sacrament Jesus unites Himself wholly to the soul: «Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in illo» — "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:35); for this reason He so greatly desires that we receive Him. There is no bee (the Lord once said to St. Mechtilde) that casts itself upon the flowers to suck their honey with such an impetus of love as that with which I come to these souls that desire Me.
Oh, if only the faithful understood the great good that Holy Communion brings to the soul! Jesus is the Lord of all riches, since the Father has made Him master of all things. «Sciens Iesus, quia omnia dedit ei Pater in manus» — "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands" (John 13:3). Hence, when Jesus Christ comes into a soul in Holy Communion, He brings with Himself immense treasures of graces. «Venerunt autem mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa» — "All good things came to me together with her" — says Solomon, speaking of eternal Wisdom (Wis. 7:11).
St. Denis used to say that the Blessed Sacrament has a sovereign power to sanctify the soul: «Eucharistia maximam vim habet perficiendae sanctitatis» — "The Eucharist has the greatest power to perfect holiness." And St. Vincent Ferrer left it written that the soul profits more from one Holy Communion than from a week of fasting on bread and water. Holy Communion, as the Council of Trent teaches, is that great remedy which frees us from venial faults and preserves us from mortal ones: «Antidotum quo a culpis quotidianis liberemur, et a mortalibus praeservemur» — "An antidote by which we are freed from daily faults and preserved from mortal sins" (Council of Trent, Sess. 13, c. 2). Hence St. Ignatius the martyr called the Blessed Sacrament «Pharmacum immortalitatis» — "The medicine of immortality." Innocent III said that Jesus Christ by His passion freed us from the punishment of sin, but by the Eucharist He frees us from sinning: «Per Crucis mysterium liberavit nos a potestate peccati, per Eucharistiae sacramentum liberat nos a potestate peccandi» — "By the mystery of the Cross He freed us from the power of sin; by the sacrament of the Eucharist He frees us from the power of sinning."
Moreover, this sacrament kindles the divine love. «Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam, ordinavit in me caritatem. Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo» — "The King has brought me into the wine cellar; He has set charity in order within me. Sustain me with flowers, surround me with apples, for I languish with love" (Song 2). St. Gregory of Nyssa says that Holy Communion is precisely this wine cellar, where the soul is so inebriated with the divine love that it forgets the earth and every creature; and this is properly the languishing of holy charity. The Venerable Father Francesco Olimpio, a Theatine, also used to say that nothing avails so much to inflame us with love toward God as Holy Communion.
God is love, and He is a fire of love. «Deus caritas est» — "God is charity" (John 4:8). «Ignis consumens est» — "He is a consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24). And the eternal Word came to kindle this fire of love on earth: «Ignem veni mittere in terram et quid volo nisi ut accendatur?» — "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I will but that it be kindled?" (Luke 12:49). And oh, what beautiful flames of holy love Jesus kindles in the souls that receive Him with longing in this sacrament! St. Catherine of Siena one day saw Jesus in the Sacrament, in the hand of a priest, as a furnace of love; and the saint afterward marveled how, from so great a conflagration, all the hearts of men were not burned and reduced to ashes. St. Rose of Lima used to say that in receiving Holy Communion she seemed to receive the sun; hence her face sent forth such rays that they dazzled the sight, and such heat issued from her mouth that whoever offered her drink after Communion felt his hand scorched, as if he had brought it near a furnace. St. Wenceslaus, the king, merely by going about visiting the Blessed Sacrament, became inflamed even outwardly with such ardor that his servant who accompanied him, walking on the snow, would place his feet in the saint's footprints, and so felt no cold. «Carbo est Eucharistia», said St. John Chrysostom, «quae nos inflammat, ut tanquam leones ignem spirantes ab illa mensa recedamus facti diabolo terribiles» — "The Eucharist is a burning coal that inflames us, so that we depart from that table like lions breathing fire, made terrible to the devil." The saint said that the Blessed Sacrament is a fire that inflames, so that we should leave the altar breathing such flames of love that the devil would no longer have the courage to tempt us.
But someone will say: "The reason I do not receive Holy Communion often is that I see myself cold in the divine love." But such a man, says Gerson, would be doing the same as one who refused to draw near the fire because he feels cold. The colder we feel ourselves to be, therefore, the more often we must draw near to the Blessed Sacrament, provided we have a desire to love God. "If they ask you (writes St. Francis de Sales in his «Philothea», ch. 21) why you receive Holy Communion so often, tell them that two sorts of persons must go to Communion often, the perfect and the imperfect: the perfect, to preserve themselves in perfection; and the imperfect, to attain perfection." And St. Bonaventure likewise says: «Licet tepide, tamen confidens de misericordia Dei accedas. Tanto magis eget medico, quanto quis senserit se aegrotum» — "Though lukewarm, yet approach with trust in the mercy of God; the more a man feels himself sick, the more he needs the physician" (De Prof. rel. c. 78). And Jesus Christ said to St. Matilda: "When you are about to receive Holy Communion, desire all that love which any heart has ever had toward Me, and I will receive it as you would wish such a love to be" (Appr. Blos. in Concl. An. fidel. c. 6, n. 6).
Affections and Prayers
O lover of souls, my Jesus, it no longer remains for You to give us greater proofs of love to show us that You love us. And what else remains for You to invent, to make Yourself loved by us? Ah, grant, O infinite goodness, that from this day forward I may love You with all my strength and with all tenderness. And who should love my heart with greater tenderness than You, my Redeemer, who, after having given Your life for me, give me all of Yourself in this sacrament? Ah, my Lord, may I always remember Your love, so that I may forget all things and love You alone, without interval, without reserve! I love You, my Jesus, above all things, and You alone do I wish to love. Drive from my heart, I beg You, all the affections that are not for You. I thank You that You give me time to love You and to weep over the displeasure I have caused You. My Jesus, I desire that You be the sole object of all my affections. Help me Yourself and save me; and let my eternal salvation be to love You with all my heart, and always, in this life and in the next.
My Mother, teach me to love Jesus; pray to Him for me.