Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/318

 when you  approach  the  holy  table. " Be  ye  clean,"  exclaims the  prophet,  "that  carry  the  vessels  of  the  Lord." (Is. lii.  11.)  How  much  greater  reason  have  you  to purify  yourself,  since  you  carry  in  your  breast  our  Lord Himself!

I. The  tree  of  life,  that  grew  in  Paradise,  restored the decaying  forces  of  nature  and  preserved  man,  who was then  immortal,  in  continual  repair. In his  Apocalypse, St.  John  says,  that  "  the  tree  of  life  bore  twelve fruits." (Apoc. xxii.  2.)  The  Eucharist  is  the  bread  of life,  so  called  by  Christ  Himself,  because  by  the  grace which it  gives,  it  renders  us  immortal;  and  because  it yields  twelve  kinds  of  fruit,  which  are  sovereign  remedies against  every  infirmity  to  which  man's  nature  is subject  by  sin.

II. Our first  misery  arises  from  the  assaults  of  the devil, who,  "  as  a  roaring  lion  goeth  about,  seeking  whom he  may  devour." (1 Pet.  v.  8.)  The  holy  Eucharist  arms us against  this  misery  by  supplying  us  with  strength to resist  the  devil  and  drive  him  away. To compare great things  with  small,  it  is  like  the  heart  of  the  fish  of Tobias;  which  when  burnt,  "the  smoke  thereof  driveth away  all  kinds  of  devils." (Tob. vi.  8.)  The  second  evil to which  man  is  subject,  is  the  rebellion  of  concupiscence, of  which  the  Apostle  says,  "  I  see  another  law  in  my members,  fighting  against  the  law  of  my  mind." (Rom. vii. 23.)  This  law  is  the  concupiscence  of  sin,  in  our members, such  as  the  desire  of  wealth,  the  inclination to calumniate,  and  the  love  of  pleasure. The heat  of this  concupiscence  is  allayed  by  the  holy  Eucharist.