Of the Fruit That We Should Gather from Holy Communion

THE virtues and admirable effects of this Divine Sacrament, declared by the saints, are not only to show us its excellence and the immense love and charity that the Lord bears us, but also to make us fix our eyes and heart upon them to the end that we may gather fruit from Holy Communion; and so we will proceed to mention some of those fruits. This Divine Sacrament, like all the rest, has one effect which is common to all sacraments, that is, to give grace to him who receives it worthily. It has another effect all its own, which marks it off from the other sacraments; that effect is what theologians call “spiritual refection,’”’ which means that it is the sustenance and nourishment of the soul, whereby the soul is remade and restored, and gathers strength to resist her passions and embrace virtue. Thus on those words of Christ our Lord: My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed (John vi. 56), the saints commonly say—and the Council of Florence says the same—that all the effects which bodily nourishment works in bodies, this divine food works spiritually in souls. And they say that it was to this end that Christ our Lord chose to institute this Most Holy Sacrament under the appearance of food, that the very appearance under which He instituted it might declare to us its effects and the need that our souls had of it. According to this, as bodily nourishment sustains the life of the body and renews its strength, and at a certain age makes it grow, so too this Most Holy Sacrament sustains the spiritual life, restores the powers of the soul, repairs the feebleness of virtue, fortifies the man against the temptations of the enemy, and makes him grow to his due perfection. This is the bread that strengtheneth the heart of man (Psalm ciii. 15), and in the strength of which, like Elias, we are to journey till we arrive at the mountain of God, Horeb (III Kings xix. 8).

Bodily food has another property, which is to afford a pleasant taste and relish to him who eats it, and that the more, the better and more costly is the food and the better disposed the palate. So also this divine food not only nourishes us, preserves and strengthens us, but also imparts a spiritual relish and sweetness. This accords with what the patriarch Jacob said in those prophetic blessings which he gave to his sons at the hour of his death, announcing what was to be under the law of the Gospel. Coming to his son Aser, he said: Aser, his bread shall be fat, and shall afford delight to kings (Gen. xlix. 20). Christ is this bread, most rich, most sweet, most delicious to the taste. St. Thomas says that so sweet is the taste, so great the relish, that this heavenly bread affords to those who keep their soul’s palate clean, that no words can express it, for here spiritual sweetness is tasted in its very fountain, which is Christ our Savior, fountain of all sweetness, and life of all things, Who by means of this Sacrament enters into the soul of the communicant. And frequently this sweetness is so great as not only to refresh the spirit, but also to redound on the body, according to that saying of the prophet: Mine heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God (Psalm Ixxxiii. 3). Hence it comes about, as St. Bonaventure says, that often a person goes to Holy Communion feeling very feeble and weak, and so great is the joy and consolation that he receives by virtue of this food that he gets up from thence as strong as though he had never felt any weakness at all. An ancient author, Bishop Guimond of Adversa, writes of those ancient monks that, thanks to the great consolation and strength that they felt in Holy Communion, some of them went without any other food, and were sustained by that alone, both body and soul; and the day they did not communicate they felt in themselves such weakness and utter prostration that they thought they should faint and could not live. And he says that for some of them an angel brought Communion to their cell. In the chronicles of the Cistercian Order there is a story of a monk who, every time that he went to Communion, seemed to receive a honeycomb, the sweetness of which lasted for three days.

In accordance with this, the fruit that we should gather from Holy Communion should be a manly courage to journey and go on further in the way of God, with great fortitude to mortify our passions and resist and vanquish temptations, for to that end the Lord has prepared for us this table. Thou hast prepared a table in my sight against them that persecute me (Psalm xxii. 5). At other tables, he who has enemies, fears and dares not be there; but at this, man receives strength and fortitude to overcome all his enemies. And so St. Chrysostom says that we should rise from this holy table like lions, breathing fire, striking terror into the devils. And this effect was signified to us by Christ our Redeemer, when after communicating His disciples He said to them: Arise, let us go hence (John xiv. 31), as much as to say: “Now you have communicated, arise, let us go to suffer.” And so we see that in the primitive Church, when this Divine Sacrament was so much frequented, not only had Christians strength to keep the law of God, but also to resist the force and fury of their persecutors and give their blood and life for Christ.