examination of the heart 532 with timbrel and choir, with strings and organs, with sound of trumpet and with psaltery and harp (cf. Ps 150:3-5). They did so when they had been led out of Egypt. They did so when the immense waves of the sea, returning to their place, covered and engulfed Pharaoh, the Egyptian tyrant, along with his whole army (cf. Ex 13:18; 15:1-21). They did so when they overcame Sisera (cf. Jgs 5:1-31). And finally, they did so whenever they won a renowned victory, when they overcame all of their enemies, and when God benefited them in some extraordinary and singular way. Will you not bring forth today, right now, indeed in the course of your whole life, joyful songs out of your mouth? Will you not pour out praises from your heart? Will you not strike the tambourines of prayers? Will you not dance and say from the bottom of your heart what an enormous benefit of Holy Communion you have been granted, enriched, and filled with by the best, kindest, and most generous God? 2. Consider that friends, treated to a banquet by other friends, always think and give care to repay this courtesy of human kindness. Likewise, you should apply yourself today to finding out how you can repay the present generosity of Jesus Christ, your Lord and best friend, with which He gave Himself completely to you in His Body and Blood to be consumed as food. Therefore, out of love for Him, you should offer yourself, for example, for the works to be accomplished and the hardships to be endured, whichever would present themselves to you, as the Prince of the Apostles offered himself at the Last Supper (although with God permitting and arranging it wisely, it happened otherwise) and was ready to undergo death itself for the Lord, saying: “Even if I must die with [Y]ou, I will not deny [Y]ou” (Mt 26:35). Perhaps, you should take upon yourself some mortification to practice in honor of this most excellent Sacrament; or you should resolve to cultivate some heroic virtue; or you should promise to avoid with an extraordinary zeal and to root out every abominable vice, every perverse and reprehensible habit, into which you fall rather frequently, which is especially displeasing to the
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