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The Third Chapter
IT IS PROFITABLE TO RECEIVE COMMUNION OFTEN
THE DISCIPLE
BEHOLD, I come to You, Lord, that I may prosper by Your gift and be delighted at
Your holy banquet which You, O God, in Your sweetness have prepared for Your
poor. Behold, all that I can or ought to desire is in You. You are my salvation
and my redemption, my hope and strength, my honor and glory.
Gladden, then, this day the soul of Your servant because I have raised my heart
to You, O Lord Jesus. I long to receive You now, devoutly and reverently. I
desire to bring You into my house that, with Zacheus, I may merit Your blessing
and be numbered among the children of Abraham.
My soul longs for Your Body; my heart desires to be united with You. Give me
Yourself -- it is enough; for without You there is no consolation. Without You I
cannot exist, without Your visitation I cannot live. I must often come to You,
therefore, and receive the strength of my salvation lest, deprived of this
heavenly food, I grow weak on the way. Once, most merciful Jesus, while
preaching to the people and healing their many ills, You said: "I will not send
them away fasting, lest they faint in the way."[49] Deal with me likewise, You
Who have left Yourself in this Sacrament for the consolation of the faithful.
You are sweet refreshment to the soul, and he who eats You worthily will be a
sharer in, and an heir to, eternal glory.
It is indeed necessary for me, who fall and sin so often, who so quickly become
lax and weak, to renew, cleanse, and inflame myself through frequent prayer,
confession, and the holy reception of Your Body, lest perhaps by abstaining too
long, I fall away from my holy purpose. For from the days of his youth the
senses of man are prone to evil, and unless divine aid strengthens him, he
quickly falls deeper. But Holy Communion removes him from evil and confirms him
in good.
If I am so often careless and lax when I celebrate or communicate, what would
happen if I did not receive this remedy and seek so great a help? Although I am
neither fit nor properly disposed to celebrate every day, yet I will do my best
at proper times to receive the divine Mysteries and share in this great grace.
This, indeed, is the one chief consolation of the faithful soul when separated
from You by mortality, that often mindful of her God, she receives her Beloved
with devout recollection.
Oh, wonderful condescension of Your affection toward us, that You, the Lord God,
Creator and Giver of life to all, should see fit to come to a poor soul and to
appease her hunger with all Your divinity and humanity! O happy mind and blessed
soul which deserves to receive You, her Lord God, and in receiving You, is
filled with spiritual joy! How great a Master she entertains, what a beloved
guest she receives, how sweet a companion she welcomes, how true a friend she
gains, how beautiful and noble is the spouse she embraces, beloved and desired
above all things that can be loved and desired! Let heaven and earth and all
their treasures stand silent before Your face, most sweetly Beloved, for
whatever glory and beauty they have is of Your condescending bounty, and they
cannot approach the beauty of Your name, Whose wisdom is untold.
