381 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts O my Savior! With what can I repay You for this most sumptuous nourishment, this most exquisite banquet? I give infinite thanks to You, and I pray humbly at the same time that I, who am about to enter the way of eternity, may deserve to be refreshed, equipped, and sustained by this most real, most salutary, and most holy food and drink. 2. “He who eats [M]y flesh … has eternal life” (Jn 6:54). Realize that this heavenly food is much healthier than the manna from Heaven, which was given to the Jews in the desert. Indeed, the king and psalmist, retelling that story, said that our fathers “did eat” manna, “and were filled exceedingly,” etc., but “while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them and [H]e slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel” (cf. Ps 78:30-31). This is not the effect of consuming the Divine Body. To those who eat it, the manna of the New Testament imparts life, not death; salvation, not destruction; Heaven, not hell. As for you, burst forth here with expressions of love and gratitude, remembering that although God chose and loved the Jews more than other nations, nonetheless He did not nourish them with such salutary heavenly food as He does Christians. 3. “They who eat unworthily, eat condemnation for themselves” (cf. 1 Cor 11:29). Ponder this: although the Savior promised life to those who receive His Body and Blood, nevertheless He emphasized through the Teacher of the Nations that those who would treat unworthily the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist (as well as the others), shall bring His condemnation upon themselves. Truly, it is out of His goodness that He gives life to those who receive Communion; [f.121r] but choosing death and condemnation should be attributed to the malice of those who receive Communion unworthily. In this, we seem to resemble a sick person who turns into poison a wholesome medication by not taking it in the appropriate manner. Thus, the flesh of Christ, which most certainly contains life, becomes however, a reality of condemnation and death for those who eat it unworthily, or even
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