In a sermon on preparing to receive the Lord, Saint John of Avila exclaims: “How joyful a man would leave this sermon if he were told: ‘The king is coming to your house tomorrow to bestow great favors upon you!’ I believe he would neither eat out of joy and care, nor sleep all night, thinking: ‘The king is coming to my house, how shall I prepare a lodging for him?’. Brothers, I tell you on behalf of the Lord that God wants to come to you and that He brings a kingdom of peace”7. It is a very great reality! It is news to be filled with joy!
Christ Himself, who is glorified in Heaven, comes sacramentally to the soul. “With love He comes, receive Him with love”8. Love implies desires for purification—frequenting Sacramental Confession when necessary or even convenient—aspiring to spend as much time as possible with Him.
Jesus desires to be with us, and repeats for each one of us those memorable words from the Last Supper: *With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you…*9. “The lodging He desires is the soul of each one; there He wishes to be lodged, and that the lodging be well adorned, very clean, detached from everything of this world. There is no reliquary, there is no monstrance, however rich it may be, however many precious stones it may have, that equals this lodging for Jesus Christ. With love He comes to lodge in your soul, with love He wishes to be received”10, not with lukewarmness or distraction. It is the greatest event of the day and of life itself! The angels are filled with wonder when we approach to receive Communion. The closer that moment is, the more vivid our desire to receive Him must be.
Along with the dispositions of the soul come those of the body: the fast that the Church has established as a sign of respect and reverence, the postures, the attire, which lead us to present ourselves as worthy children at the banquet that the Father has prepared with so much love. And when He is in our heart we will say to Him: Lord Jesus, Good Pelican, cleanse me, unclean as I am, with your Blood, of which a single drop can free the whole world from all crimes.
Jesus, whom I now see hidden, I pray that what I so ardently long for may be fulfilled: that beholding your face no longer veiled, I may be happy seeing your glory11.
Our Lady the Virgin will teach us how to give a good welcome to her Son in those moments when we have Him with us. No creature has known how to treat Him better than She.
HCD