examination of the heart 270 After Holy Communion 1. “Turn in the account” (Lk 16:2). You should demand of yourself an account of today’s Communion. Ask yourself: With what disposition and how well prepared were you when approaching the sacred table? With regard to your conduct there, were you filled with devotion? With eagerness, with piety? In what manner, in fact, did you return from there? What thanks did you express to the Lord? How long were you recollected? What fruit, what profit and what graces have you received from this Most Blessed Sacrament? Give an account to yourself, that you may either take notice of your failings, or make progress in these kinds of dispositions. 2. “I am not strong enough to dig” (Lk 16:3). Behold what great anxiety sluggishness creates in this despairing steward! He does not say that he does not know how to dig, but that he is not strong enough, and this means that he is lazy, and not ignorant. But because ignorance is more easily excused than idleness, truly you would be more fortunate to be judged as ignorant than as sluggish. Wherefore, when some labor is imposed upon you, or you assume it voluntarily for the glory of God, take care that you do not say or think: I cannot do it, this occupation is beyond my strength, I am not able to undertake such a difficult or such an ordinary labor. On the contrary, infusing yourself with courage, say with Paul: “I can do all things in [H]im who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) by His Body and Blood, the good God. 3. “I am ashamed to beg” (Lk 16:3). Behold the son of a white hen,118 behold the pampered chicken, behold the tender lover of the world. He is ashamed to be poor, 118 The original Latin text has: "albae gallinae filius" (“the son of a white hen”), which is a proverb, from the 1st century A.D. poet Junius Juvenalis, meaning “a lucky fellow” (CLD, p. 28 (s.v. albus)). Cf. SLL, vol. 1, Typis Seminarii apud Joannem Manfrè, Patavii: 1758, p. 322 (s.v. Gallina): “that is [someone who is] happy, fortunate, celebrated.”
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