"My flesh is real food" by Saint John Mary Vianney

My dear brothers, could we find in our holy religion a more precious moment, a happier circumstance than the moment in which Jesus Christ instituted the adorable Sacrament of the altar? No, my brothers, no, because this event reminds us of the immense love of God for his creatures. It is true that in all that God has done, his perfections are manifested in an infinite way. By creating the world, he blew up the greatness of his power; ruling this immense universe, it gives us proof of an incomprehensible wisdom; and we too can say with Psalm 103: "Yes, my God, you are infinitely great in the smallest things, and in the creation of the most vile insects." But what he shows us in the institution of this great Sacrament of Love is not only his power and wisdom, but the immense love of his heart for us. "Knowing very well that the time to return to his Father was near," he did not want to resign himself to leaving us alone on earth, among so many enemies who were looking for nothing but our perdition. Yes, before instituting this sacrament of love, Jesus Christ knew very well how much contempt and desecration was about to expose himself; but all this was unable to stop him; He wanted us to have the happiness of finding him every time we looked for him. By means of this sacrament he undertakes to remain in our midst day and night; in Him we will find a Savior God, who will offer himself for us every day to satisfy the justice of his Father.

I will show you how Jesus Christ loved us in the institution of this sacrament, so as to inspire you with respect and a great love for him in the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist. What happiness, my brothers, for a creature to receive his God! Feed on it! Fill your soul with Him! Oh infinite love, immense and inconceivable! ... Can a Christian ever reflect on these things and not die of love and amazement considering his unworthiness? ... It is true that in all the sacraments that Jesus Christ instituted he shows us infinite mercy . In the sacrament of Baptism, he snatches us from the hands of Lucifer, and makes us children of God, his father; the sky that had been closed to us opens to us; he makes us partakers of all the treasures of his Church; and, if we are faithful to our commitments, we are assured of eternal happiness. In the sacrament of Penance, he shows us and makes us partakers of his infinite mercy; in fact he snatches us from hell where our sins full of malice had dragged us, and he applies again the infinite merits of his death and his passion. In the sacrament of Confirmation, he gives us a Spirit of light who guides us in the way of virtue and makes us know the good we must do and the evil we must avoid; in addition, he gives us a Spirit of strength to overcome everything that can prevent us from reaching salvation. In the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, we see with the eyes of faith that Jesus Christ covers us with the merits of his death and passion. In the sacrament of the Order, Jesus Christ shares all his powers with his priests; they bring him down to the altar. In the sacrament of Matrimony, we see that Jesus Christ sanctifies all our actions, even those that appear to follow the corrupt inclinations of nature.

But in the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist, he goes further: for the happiness of his creatures, he wants his body, his soul and his divinity to be present in all corners of the world, so that as often as desired can be found, and with Him we will find all kinds of happiness. If we find ourselves in suffering and misfortune, He will console us and give us relief. If we are sick or it will heal us or give us the strength to suffer in order to deserve heaven. If the devil, the world and our bad inclinations move us war, He will give us the weapons to fight, to resist and achieve victory. If we are poor, it will enrich us with all sorts of wealth for time and eternity. This is already a great grace, you will think. Oh! No, my brothers, his love is not yet satisfied. He still wants to give us other gifts, which his immense love has found in his ardent heart of love for the world, this ungrateful world which, despite being filled with many goods, continues to outrage its Benefactor.

But now, my brothers, let's put aside the ingratitude of men for a moment, and open the door of this sacred and adorable Heart, let's gather a moment in its flames of love and we will see what a God who loves us can do. OMG! Who could understand it and not die of love and pain seeing so much love on the one hand and so much contempt and ingratitude on the other? We read in the Gospel that Jesus Christ, knowing very well that the moment when the Jews would have made him die would come, said to his apostles "that he wanted so much to celebrate Easter with them." Since the moment for us was absolutely happy, he sat down at the table, wanting to leave us a pledge of his love. He gets up from the table, leaves his clothes and girds himself with an apron; having poured water into a basin, he begins to wash the feet of his apostles and even of Judas, knowing very well that he was about to betray him. In this way he wanted to show us with what purity we must approach him. Having returned to the table, he took the bread in his holy and venerable hands; then raising his eyes to heaven to give thanks to his Father, to make us understand that this great gift comes from heaven, he blessed it and distributed it to his apostles saying to them: “eat all of them, this is truly my Body, which will be offered for you,". Having then taken the cup, which contained wine mixed with water, he blessed it in the same way and presented it to them saying: “Drink all of them, this is my Blood, which will be shed for the remission of sins, and every time you repeat the same words, you will produce the same miracle, that is, you will transform the bread in my Body and the wine in my Blood ”. What great love, my brothers, our God shows us in the institution of the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist! Tell me, my brothers, of what feeling of respect, we would not have been penetrated if we had been on earth, and had seen with our own eyes Jesus Christ while instituting this great Sacrament of love? Yet this great miracle is repeated every time the priest celebrates Holy Mass, when this divine Savior makes himself present on our altars. To make you truly understand the greatness of this mystery, listen to me and you will understand how great the respect we should have towards this sacrament should be.

He tells us the story that a priest while celebrating mass in a church in the city of Bolsena, immediately after pronouncing the words of the consecration, since he doubted the reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Holy Host, that is, he doubted that the words of the consecration had truly transformed the bread into the Body of Jesus Christ and the wine into his Blood, in the same instant the holy Ostia was completely covered with blood. It was as if Jesus Christ wanted to reproach his minister for the lack of faith, thus making him recover the faith he had lost because of his doubt; and at the same time he wanted to show us by means of this miracle that we must be convinced of his real Presence in the holy Eucharist. This holy Ostia shed blood with such abundance that the corporal, the tablecloth and the altar itself were flooded. The pope, when he became aware of this miracle, commanded that they bring him the bloody corporal; he was brought to him and was received with great triumph and placed in the church of Orvieto. Later a magnificent church was built to house the precious relic and every year it is carried in procession on the feast day. You see, my brothers, how this fact must confirm the faith of those who have any doubts. What great love Jesus Christ shows us, choosing the eve of the day that was to be put to death, to institute a sacrament through which he can remain among us and be our Father, our Comforter and our eternal happiness! We are luckier than those who were his contemporaries because He could only be present in one place or we had to travel many kilometers to be lucky enough to see him; we, however, find it today in all places of the world, and this happiness has been promised to us until the end of the world. Oh. Immense love of God for his creatures! Nothing can stop him when it comes to showing us the greatness of his love. It is said that a priest from Freiburg while taking the Eucharist to a sick person found himself passing through a square where there were many people dancing. The musician, although he was not religious, stopped saying: "I hear the bell, they are bringing the good Lord to a sick person, let's get on our knees". But in this company there was an impious woman, inspired by the devil who said: "Keep going, because even my father's beasts have bells hanging from his neck, but when they pass nobody stops and kneels." All the people applauded these words and continued to dance. In that same instant a storm arrived so strong that all those who danced were swept away and it was never known what happened to it. Alas! My brothers! These wretches paid very dearly for the contempt they had for the presence of Jesus Christ! This must make us understand what great respect we owe him!

We see that Jesus Christ, to do this great miracle, chose the bread which is the nourishment of all, both of the rich and the poor, of those who are strong as well as those who are weak, to show us that this heavenly food is for all Christians. who want to keep the life of grace and the strength to fight the devil. We know that when Jesus Christ worked this great miracle, he raised his eyes to heaven to give grace to his Father, to make us understand how much he desired this happy moment for us, so that we would have proof of the greatness of his love. “Yes, my children, this divine savior tells us, my Blood is impatient to be shed for you; my Body burns with the desire to be broken to heal your wounds; rather than being afflicted by the bitter sadness that causes me the thought of my sufferings and my death, on the contrary I am full of joy. And this is because you will find in my sufferings and in my death a remedy for all your evils ".

Oh! what great love, my brothers, a God shows for his creatures! St. Paul tells us that in the mystery of the Incarnation, he has hidden his divinity. But in the sacrament of the Eucharist, he even went so far as to hide his humanity. Ah! my brothers, there is none other than faith that can grasp such an incomprehensible mystery. Yes, my brothers, wherever we are, we turn our thoughts, our desires with pleasure, towards the place where this adorable Body rests, joining the angels who adore it with much respect. Let us be careful not to act like those wicked who have no respect for those temples that are so holy, so respectable and so sacred, for the presence of a God made man, who lives day and night among us ...

We often see that the Eternal Father rigorously punishes those who despise his divine Son. We read in history that a tailor was in the house where the good Lord was brought to a sick person. Those who were near the sick person suggested that he get on his knees, but he did not want to, on the contrary, with a horrible blasphemy, he said: “Should I get on my knees? I respect a spider much more, which is the vilest animal, rather than your Jesus Christ, whom you want me to adore ”. Alas! my brothers, what is one capable of who has lost faith! But the good Lord did not leave this horrible sin unpunished: at the same moment, a large all black spider broke away from the ceiling of boards, and came to rest on the mouth of the blasphemer, and stung his lips. It swelled up immediately and died instantly. You see, my brothers, how guilty we are when we do not have a great respect for the presence of Jesus Christ. No, my brothers, we never cease to contemplate this mystery of love where a God, equal to his Father, nourishes his children, not with ordinary food, nor with that manna that the Jewish people in the desert were fed, but with his adorable Body and with his precious Blood. Who could ever have imagined it, if he hadn't been the one to say it and do it at the same time? Oh! my brothers, how worthy all these marvels are of our admiration and our love! A God, after taking on our weaknesses, makes us sharers in all his goods! O Christian nations, how lucky you are to have a God so good and so rich!… We read in Saint John (Revelation), that he saw an angel to whom the Eternal Father gave the vessel of his fury to pour it out on all nations; but here we see quite the opposite. The Eternal Father places the vessel of his mercy in the hands of his Son to be poured out over all the nations of the earth. Speaking to us of his adorable Blood, he tells us, as he did to his apostles: "Drink of it all, and you will find there the remission of your sins and eternal life". O ineffable happiness! ... O happy spring that demonstrates until the end of the world that this faith must constitute all our joy!

Jesus Christ has not stopped doing miracles to lead us to a living faith in his real presence. We read in history that there was a very poor Christian woman. Having borrowed a small sum of money from a Jew, he gave him his best suit. As the feast of Easter was near, she prayed to the Jew to give him the dress he had given him for a day. The Jew told her that he was not only willing to return his personal belongings, but also his money, provided only that he had brought him the holy Ostia, when he would receive it from the hands of the priest. The desire that this miserable one had to get back her effects and not to be obliged to return the money she had borrowed, led her to perform a horrible action. The next day he went to his parish church. As soon as he received the holy Ostia on his tongue, he hastened to take it and put it in a handkerchief. He took her to that miserable Jew who had not made that request to her except to unleash his fury against Jesus Christ. This abominable man treated Jesus Christ with frightening fury, and we will see how Jesus Christ himself showed how sensitive he was to the outrages that were directed against him. The Jew began by placing the Host on a table and gave her many strokes of penknife, until he was satisfied, but this unfortunate man immediately saw plenty of blood come out of the holy host, so that his son shivered. Then having removed it from above the table, he hung it on the wall with a nail and gave it as many whiplashes as he wanted. Then he pierced her with a spear and blood came out again. After all these cruelties, he threw it into a boiling water boiler: immediately the water seemed to change into blood. The Host then took on the appearance of Jesus Christ on the cross: this terrified him to such an extent that he ran to hide in a corner of the house. At that moment the children of this Jew, when they saw the Christians going to church, said to them: “Where are you going? Our father killed your God, he died and you won't find him anymore. " A woman who listened to what those boys said, entered the house and saw the holy Ostia which was still under the guise of Jesus Christ crucified; then resumed its ordinary form. Having the woman taken a vase, the holy Ostia went to settle in it. Then the woman, all happy and content, immediately took her to the church of San Giovanni in Grève, where she was placed in a convenient place to be adored. As for the unfortunate one, he was offered forgiveness if he wanted to convert, becoming a Christian; but he was so hardened that he preferred to burn alive rather than become a Christian. However his wife, children and many Jews were baptized.

We cannot listen to all this, my brothers, without trembling. Well! my brothers, this is what Jesus Christ exposes himself to for our love, to what he will remain exposed until the end of the world. What great love, my brothers, of a God for us! To what excesses does love for his creatures lead him!

We say that Jesus Christ, holding the cup in his holy hands, said to his apostles: “A little more and this precious blood will be shed in a bloody and visible way; it is for you that it is about to be scattered; the ardor I have to pour it into your hearts made me use this means. It is true that the jealousy of my enemies is certainly one of the causes of my death, but it is not one of the main causes; the accusations that they invented against me to destroy me, the perfidy of the disciple who betrayed me, the cowardice of the judge who condemned me and the cruelty of the executioners who wanted me to die, are as many instruments which my infinite love uses to prove you how much I love you. " Yes, my brothers, it is for the remission of our sins that this blood is about to be shed, and this sacrifice will be renewed every day for the remission of our sins. See, my brothers, how much Jesus Christ loves us, because he sacrifices himself for us to the justice of his Father with such concern and, even more, he wants this sacrifice to be renewed every day and in all places of the world. What happiness for us, my brothers, to know that our sins, even before being committed, have already been expiated at the moment of the great sacrifice of the cross!

We often come, my brothers, to the feet of our tabernacles, to console ourselves in our pains, to fortify us in our weaknesses. Have we had the great misfortune of having sinned? The adorable blood of Jesus Christ will ask for grace for us. Ah! my brothers, the faith of the early Christians was much more alive than ours! In the early days, a large number of Christians crossed the sea to visit the holy places, where the mystery of our Redemption had been worked. When they were shown the upper room where Jesus Christ instituted this divine sacrament, consecrated to feed our souls, when they were shown the place where he had moistened the ground with his tears and with his blood, during his prayer in the agony, they could not leave these holy places without shedding tears in abundance.

But when they were brought to Calvary, where he had endured so many torments for us, they seemed that they could no longer live; they were inconsolable, because those places reminded them of the time, the actions and the mysteries that had been done for us; they felt the faith and heart burning with a new fire rekindle: O happy places, they cried, where so many wonders occurred for our salvation! ". But, my brothers, without going so far, without taking the trouble to cross the seas and without exposing ourselves to so many dangers, do we not have Jesus Christ among us, not only as God but also in Body and Soul? Are our churches not equally worthy of respect for these holy places where those pilgrims went? Oh! my brothers, our luck is too great! No, no, we can never fully understand it!

Happy people that of Christians, who sees every day the miracles that the Almighty of God worked once on Calvary to save men! Why, my brothers, do we not nurture the same love, the same gratitude, the same respect, since the same miracles happen every day before our eyes? Alas! it is because we have often abused these graces that the good Lord, in punishment for our ingratitude, has taken away our faith in part; we can barely hold on and convince ourselves that we are in the presence of God. My God! what a disgrace for the one who has lost faith! Alas! my brothers, from the moment in which we have lost our faith, we have nothing but contempt for this august sacrament, and all those who reach impiety, deriding those who have the great happiness of coming to draw on the graces and forces necessary to save themselves! We fear, my brothers, that the good Lord will not punish us for the little respect we have for his adorable presence; here is an example of the most terrible. Cardinal Baronius reports in his Annals, that there was a man in the city of Lusignan, near Poitiers, who had great contempt for the person of Jesus Christ: he mocked and despised those who attended the sacraments, jeopardizing their devotion . However, the good Lord, who loves the conversion of the sinner more than his perdition, made him feel many times the remorse of conscience; he was clearly aware that he was acting badly, that those he mocked were happier than he; but when the opportunity arose again, he would start again, and in this way, little by little, he would end up stifling the salutary remorse that the good God gave him. But to better disguise, he studied to earn the friendship of a religious saint, superior of the monastery of Bonneval, who was nearby. He often went there, and boasted of it, and although impious, he showed himself to be good when he was in the company of those good religious.

The superior, who had more or less understood what he had in his soul, said to him several times: “My dear friend, you do not have enough respect for the presence of Jesus Christ in the adorable sacrament of the altar; but I believe that if you want to change your life, it is better for you to abandon the world and retire to a monastery to do penance. You know how many times you have profaned the sacraments, you are covered with sacrileges; if you were to die, you would be thrown into hell for all eternity. Believe me, think about repairing your desecrations; how can you go on living in such a deplorable state? " The poor man seemed to listen to him and take advantage of his advice, since he felt for himself that his conscience was full of sacrileges, but he did not want to make that little sacrifice to change, so that, despite his second thoughts, he always remained the same. But the good Lord, tired of his impiety and sacrileges, left him to himself. He fell ill. The abbot hastened to visit him, knowing in what bad state his soul was. The poor man, seeing this good father, who was a saint, who came to visit him, began to cry with joy and, perhaps in the hope that he would come to pray for him, to help him get out of the quagmire of his sacrileges, he asked abbot to stay with him for a while. When night had come, everyone retired, except for the abbot who remained with the patient. This poor unhappy man screamed terribly: “Ah! my father, help me!

Ah! Ah! my father, come, come and help me! ". But alas! there was no more time, the good Lord had abandoned him in punishment for his sacrileges and his impiety. "Ah! my father, here are two scary lions who want to grab me! Ah! my father, run to my aid! " The abbot, all frightened, threw himself on his knees to ask for forgiveness for him; but it was too late, the righteousness of God had given him over to demons. The patient suddenly changes the tone of his voice and, calming down, starts talking to him, like someone who has no illness and is fully within himself: "My father, he says, those lions that a little while ago they were around, they vanished ".

But while they were talking to each other familiarly, the patient lost his word and seemed to be dead. However the religious, although believing him dead, wanted to see how this sad story ended, so he spent the rest of the night at the patient's side. This poor unhappy man, after a few moments, came to himself, resumed the word as before, and said to the superior: "My Father, now I have been sued before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, and my impiety and my sacrileges are the cause for to which I was sentenced to burn in hell. " The trembling superior began to pray, to ask if there was still hope for the salvation of this unhappy man. But the dying man, seeing him praying, says to him: “My Father, stop praying; the good god will never hear you about me, demons are by my side; they do not wait for the moment of my death, which will not be long, to drag me to hell where I will burn for all eternity ". Suddenly, in terror, he cried out: “Ah! my father, the devil seizes me; goodbye, my father, I despised your advice and for this I am damned ". Saying this, he threw up his cursed soul in Hell ...

The superior went away shedding copious tears on the fate of this poor unhappy man, who had fallen from hell out of bed. Alas! my brothers, how great is the number of these profaners, of those Christians who have lost their faith because of the many sacrileges committed. Alas! my brothers, if we see many Christians who no longer attend the sacraments, or who do not attend them if not very rarely, we are not going to look for other reasons than sacrileges. Alas! how many other Christians are there who, torn by the remorse of their conscience, feeling guilty of sacrilege, await death, living in a state that makes heaven and earth tremble. Ah! my brothers, do not continue beyond; you are not yet in the wretched situation of that wretched wretch we talked about earlier, but who assures you that, before dying, you will not be abandoned by God to your destiny, like him, and thrown into eternal fire ? Oh my God, how do you live in such a scary state? Ah! my brothers, we are still in time, let's go back, go and throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus Christ, placed in the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist. He will again offer the merits of his death and his passion to his Father, in our favor, and thus we will be sure of obtaining mercy. Yes, my brothers, we can be sure that if we have great respect for the presence of Jesus Christ in the adorable sacrament of our altars, we will get everything we desire. Since, my brothers, there are many processions dedicated to the adoration of Jesus Christ in the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist, to repay him for the outrages he receives, let us follow him in these processions, we walk behind him with the same respect and devotion with which the first Christians they followed him in his preaching, when he expanded everywhere, in his passage, all sorts of blessings. Yes, my brothers, we can see, through the numerous examples that history offers us, how the good God punishes the profaners of the adorable presence of his Body and his Blood. It is said that a thief, having entered a church at night, stole all the sacred vessels in which the holy hosts were kept; then he took them to a place, a square, near Saint-Denis. When he got there, he wanted to check the sacred vessels again, to see if there was still any host left.

He found one more which, as soon as the vase was opened, flew in the air, circling around him. It was this prodigy that made people discover the thief, who stopped him. The abbot of Saint-Denis was warned and in turn informed the bishop of Paris of the fact. The holy Ostia had miraculously remained suspended in the air. When the bishop, having rushed with all his priests and numerous other people, arrived in procession on the spot, the holy Ostia went to settle in the ciborium of the priest who had consecrated her. Later she was taken to a church where a weekly mass was instituted in memory of this miracle. Now tell me, my brothers, that you want more to feel in you a great respect for the presence of Jesus Christ, whether we are in our churches or whether we follow him in our processions? We come to him with great confidence. He is good, he is merciful, he loves us, and for this reason we are sure to receive everything we ask of him. But we must possess humility, purity, love of God, contempt for life ...; let's be careful not to let ourselves be distracted ... We love the good God, my brothers, with all our heart, and so we will have our paradise in this world ...