9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
wax, both portions become perfectly intermingled. When we partake of the body and blood of
Christ, something very similar occurs. Christ becomes part of us, and we become part of Him”
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem). “The fellowship of the body and blood of Christ, of Holy Communion,
aims at nothing else but that we be transformed into that of which we partake, and that we bear
the spirit and the flesh of Him in whom we have died, with whom we have been buried, and with
whom we have risen” (St. Leo the Great). By partaking of this food we become incorporated
in Christ, and for this reason it is necessary that we be taken up to where Christ is, there to be
associated with Him in a community of life inexpressibly rich in its spirit and possessions, since
He is the Son of God. He will be in us, and we in Him.
Now we are the object of the eternal and supernatural love of the Father, which makes us,
more than ever before, children of God, which sweeps us up to the bosom of the Blessed Trinity.
Now we are enveloped by the fullness of the godhead, by the life of God, and at the same time
made partakers of the glory which the Son has received from the Father. Now the words of
Christ are fulfilled, “And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them” ( Jn 17:22).
Now we become one in body and blood with Him. Now we become “Christophers,” bearers of
Christ, since we have partaken of His flesh and blood, and thus become partakers of the divine
nature and possessors of the divine life. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem.) This participation in the life
of God accomplishes at the same time our perfect possession of the Holy Ghost, who dwells
in a special way in the body of Christ, of which we have partaken. He diffuses Himself in the
richest measure in those who are united to Christ as one body. Since we have been bound to
our Lord so as to form one body, we shall be filled with His Spirit and with His divine life. We
shall become one in spirit with Him just as truly and as intimately as we have become one in
body with Him in the Holy Eucharist.
“As . . . I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me” (Gospel).
This life in Christ is the marvelous result of the Eucharistic union. It does not consist principally
in the fact that we fashion and shape our will after that of the Lord who operates in
us; neither does it consist in the fact that Christ’s spirit guides and controls ours. The unity
of spirit which results from the reception of Holy Communion is based on the fact that our
spirit is permeated with the Spirit that lives in Christ. God in His innermost essence places
Himself in our soul and fills us with His divine life. He grasps the soul like an enveloping
flame to penetrate it with His light and His warmth, and to clothe it in His own glory.
Now that we have become one in spirit with God through the Holy Eucharist, the Son
of God lives His divine life within us. “And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal
2:20). “And all My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine” ( Jn 17:10). His love is our love,
His thoughts are our thoughts; His will and our will are one; His love, His thoughts, His
desires, and ours are like particles of incense which melt and intermingle and send a single
column of incense up to heaven. The Lord destroys in our souls our purely human way of
thinking, seeing, and acting, and plants in us His way of thinking, seeing, and acting. He
tears us away from our selfish blindness and elevates us to an understanding of His spirit,
of His poverty, of His love of the Father, of His humility, of His obedience, and of His love
of the cross. We begin to forsake our selfish, personal wishes, plans, ambitions, and desires,
and by means of His spirit begin to live after His manner of life. “He that eateth Me, the
same also shall live by Me.”
429