Hence it is compared to the manna, which " lay like unto the hoar-frost on the ground." (Ex. xvi. 14.) The same Lord, Who is concealed in the Eucharist, says by His prophet, "I will be as the dew; Israel shall spring as the lily." (Osee xiv. 6.)
III. The third misery to which we are subject, is the corruption of the heart, for " there is no just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." (Eccles. vii. 21.) This corruption the Eucharist corrects and purifies, as the burning coal taken from the altar, purified the lips of Isaias. The fourth misery is the anger of the Creator against His sinful creatures. The Eucharistic sacrifice appeases His indignation and resembles the gift, of which the Wise Man speaks. " A gift in the bosom quencheth anger." (Prov. xxi. 14.) There is no gift more acceptable to God, than His only Son, Who is received into our bosoms, after having been offered to His eternal Father, in the Eucharistic sacrifice.
WEDNESDAY.
The Eucharist Compared to the Tree of Life.— II.
I. The fifth misery, which is the consequence of original sin, is ignorance. Before the completion of creation, " darkness was on the face of the deep." (Gen. i. 2.) So does darkness overspread the heart of man, when it is not enlightened by the grace of God. Hence the prophet observes, " The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it?" (Jer. xvii. 9.) The Eucharist expels this darkness, and enlightens the understanding; as the honey opened the eyes of Jonathan. " You have seen yourselves," he said, " that my eyes are enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey." (1
