§ 1. The Holy Eucharist.

WHEN thou art about to be admitted to that heavenly banquet in which Christ is received, reflect with piety 192on the benefits of God, and chiefly on the Passion of our Lord, in which the unspeakable love of Christ towards us especially shines forth. He Himself saith, speaking of this banquet, “This do for the commemoration of me ” (1 Cor. xi. 24). Therefore if thou hast leisure, think over or meditate on what the Lord Jesus did and suffered for thee, and at the same time beseech Him to prepare in thee a grateful and pleasing habitation for Himself. Ask of Him, that all thy sins being blotted out, He would adorn thy destitute soul with His merits and virtues.

Receive the holy Eucharist with humble reverence, believing with firm faith that under the appearance of a little bread thou receivest the true and immortal Body of Christ. For by the divine power, operating through the words of consecration which the priest pronounces, the substance of bread and wine is supernaturally converted and transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. If this same Eucharist be given even to many thousands of men, each one of them receives the Body of the Lord, and Christ undivided; also if one consecrated Host be divided into many parts, Christ is entire in each fragment. And nevertheless the Body of the Lord remains whole, Christ remains entire at the Right Hand of the Father in heaven. This great mystery, this incomprehensible transubstantiation (as it is called), is accomplished by the operation of God, to whom nothing is impossible. Verily Christ in the Eucharist gives thee His whole Self; that is, He gives His supreme Divinity, His perfect Body with His Blood, and His Holy Soul.

If thou worthily and fittingly receivest this venerable and adorable Sacrament, thou art greatly confirmed and strengthened in well-doing, and receivest an especial remedy against sin; thou art also more closely joined to God, and more intimately united with Him; lastly, thou art made more excellently a par taker of all the merits of Christ, and of all the virtues which He exercised in His Life and Passion, and art enriched with unspeakable grace. No tongue can indeed express, no heart can understand, what immense gifts accrue to men from the pious reception of this Sacrament. Glorify thy God, who out of His most abundant goodness has left and given to His Church in this miserable exile, so great a treasure.

When thou dost not receive Christ sacramentally, neglect not to receive Him spiritually, preparing thyself, and desiring that He should come into thy soul. No one surely can prevent thee from making a spiritual communion every day, if thou wilt. As often as thou art present at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, devoutly offer the Host consecrated in it by the priest to God the Father, in full expiation and satisfaction for thy sins; offer it to Him in the odour of sweetness and to His eternal praise, for thy own salvation, and that of others.