Legends of the Blessed Sacrament : Gathered from the History of the Church and the Lives of the Saints

UNION with God is the secret of the lives of the Saints. They left. all to attain it, and trod in the one only path which leads up to it. We find tbem humbly and pimply seeking Him in the ways He has appointed, most especially affectionate to the Blessed Mother of God, and most fervently devout towards the glorious Sacrament of the Altar. The Saints by this divine onion became themeelves vessels of grace, ofwhich Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the living source. When a believer is worthy to receive Holy Communion-that is, when his soul is in a state of grace-it is not possible to reckon all tbe wonderful operations of grace which the participation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ produces in him. These come from the interior union which takes place therein with J~sus the God-Man. Our Lord has Himself given us to understand this when He says, · Whosoever eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, he dwelleth in Me and I in him' (St. John vi. 57). All bread when it is eaten becomes one with man, becomes a part of his flesb, and of his blood, 'so,' saitb St. John Chrysostom, 'He mingleth Himself with us, we become one existence with Him, whereby we are one whole with Him, being with Him one flesh and one body.' He becometh the Soul of our soul, as it were, and the Life of our life. The man no longer lives of himself; but' Christ liveth in him,' according to St. Paul, and according to our Lord's own words; 'I live, now not I; but Christ