A Homily on Communion of the Holy Mysteries

Receive the Body of Christ; taste the Fountain of immortality (Communion verse)

Before you, O flock named after Christ, in this Chalice there is the divine Body and the divine Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you have prepared yourselves by fasting and confession to receive these holy, immortal and life-giving Mysteries. — In order to receive them worthily, what is required of each of you is, first, a childlike, wholehearted faith that under the form of bread and wine you are receiving the all-pure Body itself and the all-pure Blood of the Savior—that with your lips you are receiving the Savior Himself into your heart, becoming one flesh and one blood with Him, one spirit, as it is said: We are members of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones[1]; He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him[2]; and — he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord[3]; for in this particle of the Body and Blood of Christ God, which you receive, the whole of Jesus Christ is present, as the soul is present in the body.

What is required of you is, second, complete, unshakable trust in the mercy of the Savior, that He will, like divine fire, burn away and cleanse by His Blood all your sins; therefore, let each of you, conscious of your own unworthiness to receive the divine Mysteries, surrender yourself wholly to the mercy of the Lord, so that He Himself may make you, by His grace, worthy to receive His holy Mysteries; let each be full of good hope; let no one waver, lose heart, or fall into despondency at the thought of his own wretchedness and unfitness; from the Chalice the mercy of the Master is given to all, together with great forgiveness and the cleansing of sins. Only believe and trust.

What is required is, third, a great, ardent, angelic love on the part of the communicants for the Savior; every one of you must answer the Lord’s love with love: for tell me, what love of God toward us sinners was made manifest in this—that God Himself, having become incarnate for us, having suffered, died and risen again, gave us His own divine Body and Blood as food and drink, and through this united Himself to us in the closest of unions, mingled and blended Himself with us, making us partakers of His divine nature! What mother, what father ever loved their children as the Lord has loved us? — And why does the Lord unite Himself to us in the holy Mysteries? — In order to cleanse us from the defilement of sins, from a defilement than which there is nothing more revolting and more deadly;—in order to impart to us His holiness, His divine life, peace, refreshment, joy, lightness, sweetness, freedom, than which there is nothing more precious or more desirable in the world;—in order to take us, cleansed from sins, transformed and renewed, to Himself in the heavens, to eternal life, to eternal blessedness: for no one can be in paradise with sins and passions. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, says the Lord, — and I will raise him up on the last day[4].

Those of you, then, who are about to receive Communion of the divine Mysteries, set your hearts aflame with love for the Savior. O Holy Spirit, Comforter, Treasury of good things, pour Your love into our hearts!

What is required of you, fourth, is a change of heart. Until now many of you have loved sin, and all of you—willingly or unwillingly—have given yourselves over to it; now strive with all your might to hate it: for sin is the offspring of the devil, opposition to God; strive, all of you, to be changed in the very depths of your souls. You are about to partake of the body and blood of the divine Lamb, the gentle and guileless Lord Jesus Christ: be yourselves, then, lambs—gentle, guileless, patient, obedient to the will of God, to the Church, to the will of parents and of elders and superiors. You will receive the body and blood of the Savior, and He is all love, and enmity and malice are repugnant to Him: let us, then, also strive to live in mutual love; forgive offenses, do not repay evil for evil, or vexation for vexation. You are drawing near to the Lord, the King of heaven, who leads all of us to heaven;—strive to set your minds on things above; labor to acquire heavenly ways; leave behind your attachment to earthly things, which are corruptible and enslave and corrupt the soul; love the heavenly homeland, the heavenly city of Jerusalem, where the Mother of God and all the saints dwell, and where we all must strive to reach; leave behind, every one of you, all impurities and sinful passions; let each show a change for the better, let each show amendment; let each bring some good fruit of good works to the Master; let each bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Lord! Change us Yourself, renew us Yourself!

Finally, so that we may preserve this heavenly gift—the all-pure body and blood of Christ—what is required of us is, fifth, attentiveness to ourselves, to our thoughts, to our heart, to all its feelings and inclinations, the bridling of its sinful desires and impulses, and also temperance in food and drink; abstinence from idle talk, from foul language, from oaths and from every kind of falsehood; in a word: let each of you guard himself against everything that is contrary to Christ, the Savior of our souls; remember that through Communion the Lord deifies you, making you divine; strive, then, to live divinely, in all holiness, righteousness and truth. You are children of God and children of Christ: what manner of life, then, befits the children of God?

May the Lord grant all of you to receive the divine Mysteries worthily and with abundant fruit. Whoever eats and drinks the divine Body and divine Blood unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation to himself[5], says the holy apostle Paul. So then, with faith and love let us draw near, that we may be partakers of life eternal. Amen.