the most happy art thou, O priest! since, by an especially honourable privilege, I have chosen thee to myself out of the people, to stand before me at my table as my intimate friend and counsellor; and thence not only to receive food thyself, but to dispense it to the rest of my faithful. To thee (by what merit of thine?) is given what is not given to the angels, by an office every way admirable, terrible, and truly divine, with sacred lips to make present the Lord of majesty, to call him down, as it were, from the throne of his glory, and, by the obedience of God to the voice of man, to place him there on the altar, to handle him, and dispense him to others. At this the heavens stand amazed, and the angels, astonished, venerate the mystery, when they see him below them, whom above them they ever adore. And can it be that a man, or a nest, presumes ever to celebrate a mystery like this with a cold, unclean, and distracted heart? And that one who is fed so often with angels’ bread still longs to eat husks with swine?
Man. Great is the dignity of man; but the dignity of the priest is greater. Great, too, without doubt, is the duty of every one to live conformably to so great a dignity. But alas, O Lord, I behold the transgressors and pine away; and how I myself fail in many things! Thy eyes see my imperfection. I too see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin; so that I do not the good which I will, but the evil which I will not.
§ 3. The profit and necessity of the most sweet Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Christ. To this end, behold, I offer thee my grace and assistance; nay, in this Sacrament I bestow on thee my very self, the fountain of grace and the author of all good. I know that without me thou canst do nothing; but behold, I am the living bread who came down from heaven; the bread, I say, that strengthens the heart of man, which, if thou wouldst often and reverently receive, thou wouldst quickly know the change of the right hand of the Most High; for then thy soul would be filled as with marrow and fatness; thou wouldst become strong and mighty to do works of virtue, and in the strength of this food thou wouldst walk through the desert of this world, even to the mount of God. But what enemy can he fear who has me, who am inwardly present with him, for his helper? He will say boldly with my apostle, If God is for us, who is against us?[1] And, I can do all things
- ↑ Rom. viii. 31.
