363 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts Without the way, one cannot walk; without the truth, one cannot learn; without the life, one does not live. I am the way, which you should follow; the truth which you should believe [f.114v]; the life that you should hope for. I am the imperishable way, the infallible truth, and the endless life. I am the straightest way, the supreme truth, the true life, the blessed life, the uncreated life. If you will follow this way, you will come to know the truth; and the truth shall set you free (cf. Jn 8:32), and you will attain eternal life. FOR THE FEAST OF THE FINDING OF THE HOLY CROSS Before Holy Communion 1. “there was a man of the Pharisees” (Jn 3:1). Consider that Nicodemus was attracted to Christ by an extraordinary grace of God. For who was he? “A man of the Pharisees.” Pharisees were the kind of people always opposed to Christ: haughty, infected by hypocrisy, full of deceits and fraud. However, by the power of grace, the Divine Goodness drew to Himself this man of the Pharisees just as a magnet attracts very hard iron, and then He taught and enlightened him. Consider that the same thing happens to you today: being made an adversary of your Lord by sin, you did not behave honestly towards Him in anything. Once, it was through the greatest fraud in Adam, now of your own accord, you passed over to the side of His enemy, since there was nothing easier and sweeter to you than to disobey His commandments and to make little account of the rule of living that He proposed to you. Nevertheless, behold, He again calls you to Himself and enkindles in you most ardent flames of desire to receive Him. Therefore, go to Jesus, O Nicodemus the Pharisee, and open your heart to His teaching, which is instilled in you in the present Communion. Try to practice it yourself and humbly pass it on to the others.
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