Through the Glass darkly

Day3    Admonition 1c Of the Lord’s Body. So they who have the Spirit of the Lord, (which dwells in Gods faithful people), they, are the ones who receive the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord.  All others who do not have this same Spirit (and who presume to receive Him), eat and drink judgment to themselves. “O ye human, how long will you be dull of heart?” Why will you not know the truth and “believe in the Son of God?” Behold daily He humbles Himself as when from His “royal throne” He came into the womb of the Virgin.  Daily He Himself comes to us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom of His Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest. Just as He appeared in true flesh to the Holy Apostles, so now He shows Himself to us in the sacred Bread.  The Apostles, by means of their human eyes, saw only His flesh.  Yet when contemplating Jesus with their spiritual eyes, the Apostles believed Him to be God. So today we, seeing the bread and wine with our human eyes, see and firmly believe it to be His most holy Body and true and living Blood.  In this way our Lord is ever with His faithful.  For, as He Himself said: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.”

Through the Glass darkly. St Paul uses these words when he speaks of all things that fail except for Love. He says” 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” Francis speaks of Jesus descending from the bosom of his Father into the womb of the virgin, and this is the same as when he Descends to the Altar at the hands of a priest…    When we do neither see Jesus in the Sacred bread nor contemplate him with Spiritual eyes we do not see God and do not know him to be God…and our eating of his flesh and blood condemns us.    But when we do our knowledge is complete, our vision is clear and we know that Jesus is with us until this world passes away.