examination of the heart 464 in the temple, being unmindful of the good things that his father had done for him (cf. 2 Chron 24:20-22). As for you, flee from and avoid similar ingratitude and such a great crime, mindful of the salvation which God’s Son, whom you are approaching, obtained for you, having poured out His Blood most abundantly. Having forgotten the many benefits obtained from His sacred table so many times, you crucify today, between the temple and the altar, through the most unworthy preparation and reception, the child of the eternal Father, by Whom you have been created and placed above all creatures of the world. After Holy Communion 1. “all the righteous blood shed on earth” (Mt 23:35). If the shedding of the blood of the righteous killed by the Jews was so important to the Lord that He says that anywhere this happened the same blood will be required from their hands, then ponder: with what rigidity of justice would He demand His Blood from you, the Blood that He gave you to drink today at the holy table, or with which He washed your soul entirely from all stains of imperfections? However, you tarnished it again by no small filth of faults. Oh, how most justly and not without threats could He say to you inside your heart: Do you who are earth and dust, not fear that the Just Blood, which was shed upon the earth, should fall upon you? Are you not afraid that it will be for your condemnation, unless you immediately repent, improve upon repenting, and advance and persevere in virtues upon improving? 2. “Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate” (Mt 23:38). Christ the Lord promises and predicts desolation to the inhabitants of Jerusalem because they withdrew from Him and did not want to live under His laws. You too shall feel a great desolation of your soul and shall not escape from it, unless you first avoid whatever disperses the spirit, whatever does not unite you with God and does not allow your senses to rest constantly under the feathers of His will like chicks under the wings of the hen (cf. Mt 23:37); unless you flee
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