251 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year the Lord Jesus prepared for the faithful of the Church Militant. How sweet is its food! How salutary is its drink! The food is the Body of Christ; the drink is the Blood of Christ. Compared to them, all the food and all the drinks of the world, even the most exquisite ones, are but a shadow, or rather an abomination. And yet, for shame! The table of God is so easily abandoned, is despised by many for the sake of human tables! They are the ones who, on account of carnal delights and through their incredible laziness, have become accustomed to deprive their souls of the heavenly ambrosia and nectar,111 while those who worthily enjoy the divine feasts may be regarded entirely as gods. 2. “invited many” (Lk 14:16). Consider that the greatness and excellence of a banquet is manifested in the number and dignity of the guests attending. Hence the Lord’s Supper is great and excellent, for many men are invited to it, whom God has made kings of the earth; the whole world is invited really: “Come to me, all…” (Mt 11:28) says Christ the Host. Reflect that this banquet is really so sumptuous, that if all of Heaven and earth would assemble for it, they would not run out of food for a whole century, even for all eternity. What you should admire most of all is that the participants of this sacred banquet always consume the entire Christ, and yet He is always intact; He is not dismembered; He is not diminished. Very miserable indeed are those who neglect this banquet because of their little faith, or pusillanimity, or finally because of some very vain occupations. 3. “But they all alike began to make excuses” (Lk 14:18). Consider the pettiness of the excuses of the foolish people who were invited to the great banquet. One said that he must take a good look at a farm; [f.63v] another claimed that he must test the oxen; finally, the last one, more foolish than the others, declared that he was impeded by the fact of his recent marriage 111 “Ambrosia” — the food of gods (CLD, p. 34); “nectar” — the drink of gods (CLD, p. 361).
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