16.) This man is Christ, and the Eucharist is the great supper, to which all mankind are invited. " Come to Me all you that labor and are heavy laden," says Christ, " and I will refresh you." (Matt. xi. 28.) Never since the commencement of the world was there a feast so sumptuous and magnificent as that which Christ has prepared for His friends. Prepare, therefore, your soul to be present at this banquet, and ponder the admirable effects which you have reason to expect from it.
II. This banquet is not prepared for one individual only, but for all nations. 4< The Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of wine." (Is. xxv. 6.) This feast will continue to the end of time; it is not like the feast of King Assuerus, which lasted only "for a hundred and fourscore days." (Esth. i. 4.) This banquet has continued nearly nineteen hundred years, and it will continue until the Church militant be transferred to heaven; " even to the consummation of the world." (Matt, xxviii. 20). It contains every variety of spiritual taste, possessing, as the wise man says, " all that is delicious and the sweetness of, every taste." (Wis. xvi. 20.) The feast, besides, is most wholesome, for "he that eateth this bread shall live forever." (John vi. 59.)
III. This feast is most delicious; " he fed them with the fat of wheat and filled them with honey out of the rock, and the rock was Christ." (Ps. lxxx. 17, and 1 Cor. x. 4.) The flesh and blood of the Son of God is the food which the Christian receives. Approach, therefore, this sacred table with every sentiment of piety and devotion, and say with the Church, " O sacred feast, in which Christ is received, the memory of His passion renewed, our mind filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory given us."
