Ave Maria Meditations
Our heart is an altar. The victim placed on this altar is our evil inclinations. The sword destined to slay this victim is the spirit of sacrifice and immolation. The sacred fire, which must burn night and day on the altar of our heart, is the love of Jesus Christ. The fruitful, invigorating breath that inspires and nourishes this sacred ~ is the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is a sacrament of the living. As a sacrament of the living, it bestows supernatural life and sanctifying grace. Apart from this property, which it shares with the other sacraments, the Eucharist has a special virtue of its own, expressed in the words of Christ: “My flesh is real food; and my blood is real drink” – words that the Council of Trent explains thus: “All the effects that food produces materially in our bodies, the Eucharist produces spiritually in our souls.”
Thus, food strengthens our bodies and, up to a given age, makes them grow; the Eucharist gives strength against temptations, and makes the soul grow in virtue and justice. The richer the material food, the more discriminating the palate and the sense of taste, the delicious it is; the purer the heart, and the better prepared the soul, the sweeter the Eucharist. It is through the Eucharist that the God of glory inaugurates His bliss in the midst of our misery; it is the source of all devotion, of all greatness, and of all holiness.
The Eucharist has a double foundation. It is, first of all, one of the seven sacraments of the New Law, in which Jesus Christ, present under the species of bread and wine, is offered for our adoration and offers Himself as food. It is, in addition, a sacrifice, in which the spotless Lamb renews the memory of His Passion and death and is truly immolated.
Fr. Charles Arminjon (The End of the Present World)
