Heaven In Faith

 

18.  "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in Me and I in Him." "The first sign of love is this; that Jesus has given us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink."  The property of love is to be always giving and always receiving.  Now the love of Christ is generous.  All that he has, all that He is, He gives; all that we have, all that we are, He takes away.  He asks for more than we of ourselves are capable of giving.  He has an immense hunger which wants to devour us absolutely.  He enters even into the marrow of our bones, and the more lovingly we allow Him to do so, the more fully we savor Him.  He knows that we are poor, but He pays no heed to it and does not spare us.  He himself becomes in us His own bread, first burning up, in His love, all our vices, faults and sins.  Then when He sees that we are pure, He comes like a gaping vulture that is going to devour everything.  He wants to consume our life in order to change it int His own; ours, full of vices, His, full of grace and glory and all prepared for us.  If only we will renounce ourselves.  even if our eyes were good enough to see this avid appetite of Christ who hungers for our salvation, all our efforts would not prevent us from disappearing into His open mouth.  Now, this sounds absurd, but those who love will understand.  When we receive Christ with interior devotion, His blood, full of warmth and glory, flows into our veins and a fire is enkindled in our depths.  We receive the likeness f His virtues, and He lives in us, and we in Him.  He gives us His soul with the fullness of grace, by which the soul persevere in love and praise of the Father.  Love draws its object into itself; we draw Jesus into ourselves; Jesus draws us into Himself.  Then carried above ourselves into love's interior, seeking God, we go to meet Him, to meet His Spirit, which is His love, and this love burns us, consumes us, and  draws us into unity where beatitude awaits us.  Jesus meant this when he said: "With great desire have I desired to eat this pasch with you."