examination of the heart 470 so that you may be consoled by delighting in Him, refreshed by seeing Him, restored, and strengthened by receiving Him. Thus, you have a great consolation for your road, by which you strive toward eternity: the Son of God present on the sacred altar. Oh you, the blessed one! If only you would not drink the turbid water of Egypt (cf. Jer 2:18), but seek refreshment only from Him! If only you would not seek the consolations of the world, but be content with the consolation of God, though sometimes He would deny it, because He is wise and just, then you still shall be blessed, if you conform your will to His. After Holy Communion 1. “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream” (Mt 2:13). If St. Joseph resolved immediately to be obedient to the friendly warning, although he could reject it with a just excuse since it was given to him in sleep and during such time that many men can be deceived by the infernal illusions; would you hold in little esteem the evident voice of the Lord, rather His very Person? Enclosed in your heart, this person exhorts you to flee to Egypt, that is, to tear yourself away from sensual pleasures and to attach yourself to the cross, for Egypt does not signify anything other than difficulties and grief. Hence, when the Lord wants you to flee to Egypt, He teaches by His example that you should despise the treacherous allurements of this world and continuously love and carry the cross from which you are to be recalled afterwards to the eternal region of joys. And so, always choose suffering rather than abounding in consolations, since by the judgment of the wise man himself, mourning is always preferable to joy (cf. Eccl 7:3), and indeed more beneficial. 2. “[Herod] killed all the male children” (Mt 2:16). You should be stirred and troubled by a feeling of shame, because you still have not suffered anything for the name of Jesus. Behold the little children, two years old and younger, who were snatched from the breasts of their mothers and professed the Messiah with their blood. They did not yet know Him, nor
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