03-23-2021, 02:33 PM
MEDITATION 11: THE BLESSED EUCHARIST LESSENS IN US OUR TENDENCY TO EVIL
WE read in the Gospel that when Jesus Christ went into St. Peter’s house, he asked Him to
cure his mother-in-law who was sick of a violent fever. Jesus Christ commanded the fever to leave
her, and instantly she was so completely cured that she was able to serve them at table.
The fever, says St. Ambrose, is our avarice, our anger, our sensuality. These passions boil up in
our flesh, and agitate the soul, the spirit and the senses. They have their remedy in the Blessed
Eucharist, the food and strength of the Christian soul. Let us thank Our Lord for this healing and
sanctifying gift.
THE HOLY EUCHARIST WEAKENS OUR INCLINATIONS TO EVIL.
The precious Blood of Jesus Christ which flows in our veins, and His adorable Body which is
blended with ours, can it do less than destroy, or at least greatly diminish the attraction towards
forbidden pleasures that the sin of Adam has left in us.
This is so true that when one receives Jesus Christ one feels a new taste for the things of
Heaven, and a new contempt for created things.
Tell me, how could you let pride find its way into a heart that is about to receive a God,
humiliated even to annihilation? Can one consent to think anything of one’s self! On the contrary,
would he not find matter enough to cause him to abase and despise himself? A heart that is about
to receive a God who is so pure, who is holiness itself, will it not feel born in it an invincible horror
of all sins of impurity, and would it not rather let itself be cut in pieces rather than consent, I do
not say to a bad action, but even to a bad thought?
A tongue which a short time ago has been so happy as to bear its Creator and Saviour, could it
dare to lend itself to lascivious words, to sensual kisses? No, without doubt, it would never dare to
act thus.
Eyes which just now desired so earnestly to contemplate their Creator, who is more pure than
the sun’s rays, could they after such happiness, look on indecent objects? That would seem to be
impossible.
WE read in the Gospel that when Jesus Christ went into St. Peter’s house, he asked Him to
cure his mother-in-law who was sick of a violent fever. Jesus Christ commanded the fever to leave
her, and instantly she was so completely cured that she was able to serve them at table.
The fever, says St. Ambrose, is our avarice, our anger, our sensuality. These passions boil up in
our flesh, and agitate the soul, the spirit and the senses. They have their remedy in the Blessed
Eucharist, the food and strength of the Christian soul. Let us thank Our Lord for this healing and
sanctifying gift.
THE HOLY EUCHARIST WEAKENS OUR INCLINATIONS TO EVIL.
The precious Blood of Jesus Christ which flows in our veins, and His adorable Body which is
blended with ours, can it do less than destroy, or at least greatly diminish the attraction towards
forbidden pleasures that the sin of Adam has left in us.
This is so true that when one receives Jesus Christ one feels a new taste for the things of
Heaven, and a new contempt for created things.
Tell me, how could you let pride find its way into a heart that is about to receive a God,
humiliated even to annihilation? Can one consent to think anything of one’s self! On the contrary,
would he not find matter enough to cause him to abase and despise himself? A heart that is about
to receive a God who is so pure, who is holiness itself, will it not feel born in it an invincible horror
of all sins of impurity, and would it not rather let itself be cut in pieces rather than consent, I do
not say to a bad action, but even to a bad thought?
A tongue which a short time ago has been so happy as to bear its Creator and Saviour, could it
dare to lend itself to lascivious words, to sensual kisses? No, without doubt, it would never dare to
act thus.
Eyes which just now desired so earnestly to contemplate their Creator, who is more pure than
the sun’s rays, could they after such happiness, look on indecent objects? That would seem to be
impossible.