V About the third reason for the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, namely, that it may be the food of man
V
About the third reason for the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, namely, that it may be the food of man
C. There is a threefold reason of the wisdom of God why our Lord gives us His Body as food: I. the greatness of His bounty; II. the corruption of human nature; III. the condition of human nature. We will consider the first reason, I., now; and the other two, II. and III., in the next meditation.
I. Since God is good in the highest way, the highest bountifulness becomes Him; but no bountifulness can be greater than this. It is shown in three things: (1) the magnificence of the gift; (2) the lavishness of the giver; (3) the good of the receiver.
(1) The magnificence of the gift is seen from this, that the Giver of all things gives us Himself in this Sacrament, and that in the most lavish way, for He gives us His own Body as food. This is the highest step of the generosity of God, as to the gift. You will see this clearly if you consider six steps of God’s bountifulness, in which He has given all His good things to man. Two of these steps regard creatures, and the last four regard our Lord Himself.
1. He has given man heaven and earth and all irrational creatures for service. By His benefits He has always witnessed, even to the creature, that He is God, and that He is a Redeemer.
2. He has given the Angels to man that they may minister to him. They are most glorious creatures, with great gifts of intellect, dwelling in the heavenly light. To each man, from his birth, is given a guardian Angel. Hence we read of the countless kindnesses they have shown to men, and of the things they do daily by converting sinners, by saving many from evils, by taking the good to Heaven. They help us too in the fire of Purgatory.
3. He has given us Himself; but what this gift is we shall see best by four considerations.
a. He has given Himself to be the companion of our pilgrimage. For, being God, He made us and set us here on our probation, giving us commandments of good life that we may not fail. Then, lest the way should be too hard for us, He was made man Himself, that He might be the companion of our lonely way. Being truly and properly good, He made Himself a good companion. With the best of all words He strengthened the weary, saved those that were in danger, healed the sick, raised the dead.
b. He made Himself the servant of our necessities. He gave drink to the thirsty and food to the hungry. He washed the feet of His disciples.
c. He gave Himself as the price of our redemption. He was the good Shepherd, and He gave His life for His sheep, that they might know Him as He knows them.
d. The sixth and highest step is this: He gives us His Body for our food. St. Gregory says, ‘Our Lord, the good Shepherd, gave His life for the sheep, that in our Sacrament He might give us His Body and Blood, and that He might feed, with the nourishment of His own Flesh, the sheep whom He had redeemed.’ In this is the highest expression of His bounty and love. It is a great thing to give Himself as the companion of our pilgrimage and the servant of our necessities. It is a greater thing to give Himself as the price of our redemption. Still this gift is in a certain kind of separation from him to whom it is given. When, however, He gives Himself for food, He is not given in any kind of separation, but for union in every way. For thus the food and the feeder are joined together in unity of body. In this step, therefore, we see the highest bountifulness of the goodness of God.
(2) Next, we prove the liberality of God by the generosity of the giver. He gives His Body lavishly—that is, not only to His friends and those who love Him, but also to the bad who are His enemies. As He once allowed Himself to be crucified by the hands of the wicked, so now He allows Himself to be handled by those who hate Him, and, as it were, to be torn in His Sacrament by the teeth of the unclean. Thus, at the Last Supper, He is said to have given His Body to Judas with the others. He makes the truth of His presence, like the sun, rise on the just and on the unjust, though they receive Him with very different effects. For as the sun acts differently on an eye that is diseased and on an eye that is whole, so His friends receive effects of the goodness of God, while His enemies receive effects of His anger.
N. Observe that it is much to give great gifts to near relatives and friends, but more to give them to servants, and still more to give them to strangers and the unknown; but the greatest thing of all is to give them to enemies. Hence if we do not love Him He taxes us with great thanklessness. When God in His goodness and kindness and bountifulness does so much for His enemies and those who sin against Him, and chiefly when He allows them to receive Him, He does it, that by such kindness He may turn them from sin to Himself.
(3) Thirdly, there are the benefits for the receiver. In this Sacrament the worthy receiver is made deiform, that is to say, by the grace of goodness or by the imitation of Christ he is made in a way like God. St. Ambrose says, ‘Because the Lord Jesus is partaker of Godhead and of flesh, thou also who dost receive His Body art made partaker of His divine substance by that food.’ The substance of God is goodness. Thus, therefore, to partake of Him in this food is by grace to be likened to the goodness of God. But grace is the flowing of God’s goodness into the soul, by which, being likened to God, it becomes pleasing to Him and worthy of everlasting life. So great is the bountifulness of God that it is not enough for Him in this Sacrament or in this food to enlighten the intellect, heal the will, gladden the memory, strengthen our whole nature in good, and join us to the mystical body; but, further, He makes us like Himself—here by grace, and hereafter by glory. Beyond that we cannot go.
The Voice of the Holy Ghost
About the food of man; My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. St. John 6:56–58.
I. The greatness of God’s bounty:
(1) The magnificence of His gift; 1. Inanimate and irrational creatures; God created man of the earth, and made him after His own image … and gave him power over all things that are upon the earth. Ecclus. 17:1, 3.
Let Us make man to Our image and likeness. Gen. 1:26.
Who made the great lights … the sun to rule the day … the moon and the stars to rule the night. Ps. 135:7–9.
The sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven … which the Lord thy God created for the service of all nations. Deut. 4:19.
That you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. St. Matt. 5:45.
He left not Himself without testimony, doing good from Heaven, giving rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14:16.
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Ps. 8:5.
2. The holy Angels; Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation? Heb. 1:14.
I say to you that in Heaven their Angels always see the face of My Father who is in Heaven. St. Matt. 18:10.
Behold I will send My Angel, who shall go before, thee and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Ex. 23:20.
The Lord went before them to show the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, that He might be the guide of their journey at both times. Ex. 13:21.
3. Our Lord Himself; a. Our companion; He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved. Afterwards He was seen upon earth and conversed with men. Bar. 3:37, 38.
He travelled through the cities and towns, preaching and evangelising the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with Him; and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary, who is called Magdalene, out of whom seven devils were gone forth; and Joanna, the wife of Chusa Herod’s steward; and Susanna, and many others who ministered unto Him of their substance. St. Luke 8:1–3.
b. Our servant; Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. Philip. 2:5–7.
He riseth from supper and layeth aside His garments, and having taken a towel girded Himself. After that He putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. St. John 13:4, 5.
Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered to, but to minister. St. Matt. 20:28.
I am in the midst of you, as He that serveth. St. Luke 22:27.
c. The price of our ransom; Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness. Eph. 5:2.
The Son of Man came … to give His life a redemption for many. St. Matt. 20:28.
d. His Body our food; I was like a foster-father to Ephraim; I carried them in my arms; … I put his meat to him that he might eat. Osee 11:3, 4.
The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world. St. John 6:52.
(2) The lavishness of the Giver; The wicked draw near against Me to eat My Flesh. Ps. 26:2.
N. Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh? Job 19:22.
Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to penance? Rom. 2:4.
(3) The good of the receiver; As many as received Him He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name.’ St. John 1:12.
He that is good shall draw grace from the Lord. Prov. 12:2.
Thanksgiving
O Jesus, Thou art all-bountiful, and there is no giver like Thee. Thou art the cheerful giver whom the Father loves with a great love. I thank Thee for Thy priceless gift. I thank Thee for coming to me in this morning-light. Even Thou couldest not give me more, for Thou hast given me Thyself. O loving Lord, my Friend and Brother and God, Thou didst make Thyself the servant of all. Hungry and thirsty and tired, Thou didst seek for us, as a shepherd seeks for his sheep that are scattered. From cloudy mountains Thou didst gather us in days of darkness and dread. I long to love Thee more, O Brother, who didst die for me. I long to keep Thee more lovingly in my heart, O Friend, who givest me Thyself in this Sacrament of Thy love. Let my soul be joined more and more to Thine; and let my body belong more and more to Thee. Thou givest me power to become a child of God. O Son of God, Thou hast come to me from the Altar, in healing and light.