Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/280

278 This is not earthly food; it is I myself who give myself entirely to you.

And oh, with what desire does Jesus Christ pant to come into our souls in the Holy Communion! With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer. So he spoke on that night in which he instituted this sacrament of love. With desire I have desired: so did the excessive love which he bore us cause him to speak, as St. Laurence Justinian remarks: "These are the words of most burning love." And in order that everyone might easily receive him, he desired to leave himself under the appearance of bread; for if he had left himself under the appearance of some rare or very costly food, the poor would have been deprived of him; but no, Jesus would hide himself under the form of bread, which costs but little, and can be found everywhere, in order that all in every country might be able to find him and receive him.

In order, then, to excite us to receive him in the Holy Communion, he not only exhorts us to do so by so many invitations,—Come, eat My bread; and drink the wine which I have mingled for you; Eat, O friends, and drink, speaking of this heavenly bread and wine, but he even gives us a formal precept: Take ye, and eat; this is My body. And more than this; that we may go and receive him, he entices us with the promise of paradise. ''He that eateth My flesh hath everlasting life. He that eateth this bread shall live forever''. And still more, he threatens us with hell, and exclusion from paradise, if we refuse to communicate. Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you shall not have