Discourse on Repentance

Receive the Body of Christ, Taste of the Source

of immortality (Communion Hymn)

Before you, Christ-named flock, in this Chalice is the divine body and the divine blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you have prepared yourselves through fasting and confession to receive these holy, immortal, and life-giving Mysteries. In order to receive them worthily, each of you is required: First, childlike simple faith, that you are receiving under the form of bread and wine the very most pure body and the very most pure blood of the Savior, that you are receiving the Savior Himself through your lips into your heart, you become one flesh and blood with Him, one spirit, as it is said: “We are members of His body, from His flesh and from His bones” (Eph 5:30); “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56); and “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with the Lord” (1Cor 6:17); because in this particle of the body and blood of Christ God which you receive is found all Jesus Christ, as the soul is in the body. Second, it is required from you absolute, unshakeable trust in the mercy of the Savior, that He, as with divine fire will consume and with His blood cleanse all your sins; therefore each of you, knowing your unworthiness to receive the divine Mysteries, entrust yourself completely to the mercy of the Lord, so that He Himself by His grace will make you worthy of receiving His holy Mysteries; let each one be full of good hope; let no one waver, let no one lose heart, let no one despair, considering your wretchedness, your worthlessness; from the Chalice are given to all the mercy of the Master and great forgiveness and cleansing of sins. Only believe and trust. Third, great, fervent, angelic love is required of those who receive the Savior; to the love of the Lord each of you must respond with love: for tell me, what love of God for us sinners has been shown in the fact that God Himself, having become incarnate for us, having suffered, died, and risen, has given to us as food and drink His divine body and blood, and through this united Himself with us by the closest bond, mingled and mixed Himself with us, making us sharers of His divine nature! What mother, what father has ever loved their children as the Lord has loved us? And why does the Lord unite Himself with us in the holy Mysteries? In order to cleanse us from the filth of sins, from filth than which there is nothing more abominable and deadly, to communicate to us His holiness, His divine life, peace, solace, joy, ease, sweetness, freedom, than which there is nothing more precious or desired in the world; in order to take us, cleansed from sins, changed, renewed, to Himself in the heavens, to eternal life, to eternal blessedness: for with sins, with passions no one can be in paradise: “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” (Jn 6:54).

And so, you who are about to receive the divine Mysteries, inflame your hearts with love for the Savior. Holy Spirit, Comforter, Treasure of good things, pour out Your love in our hearts!

Fourth, a change of heart is required from you. Until now many of you have loved sin, have in any case willingly or unwillingly given yourselves to sin; now strive with all your might to hate it: for sin is the offspring of the devil, resistance to God; strive to change yourselves in the very depths of your soul. You are about to taste the body and blood of the divine Lamb, the meek and gentle Lord Jesus Christ: be yourselves also meek lambs, gentle, patient, submissive to the will of God, the Church, to the will of parents, leaders, and elders. You will receive the body and blood of the Savior, and He is all love, and He is opposed to enmity and malice: let us strive to live in mutual love; forgive offenses, do not repay evil for evil or annoyance for annoyance. You approach the Lord, the King of heaven, to heaven guiding us all; strive to think about heavenly things; strive to acquire heavenly dispositions; abandon attachment to earthly things which are corruptible and enslave and destroy souls; love the heavenly homeland, the heavenly city of Jerusalem, where are the Mother of God and the saints, and to which we all must strive; abandon all uncleanness and sinful passions; let each show change for the better, let each show amendment; let each bring some good fruit of good deeds to the Master; let each produce fruits worthy of repentance. Lord! You Yourself change us, You Yourself renew us!

Finally, for us to preserve this heavenly gift—the most pure body and blood of Christ—fifth, attentiveness to yourself, to your thoughts, to your heart, to all its feelings and inclinations, restraint of its sinful desires and strivings, also temperance in food and drink; abstinence from idle speech, foul language, swearing, and every falsehood; in a word: let each guard yourself from everything that is opposed to Christ, the Savior of our souls; remember that through Communion the Lord deifies you, making you divine; strive to live divinely in all holiness, righteousness, and truth. You are children of God and of Christ: what kind of life is befitting for the children of God?

May the Lord grant all of you to receive the divine Mysteries worthily and fruitfully. “Whoever eats and drinks” the divine Body and divine Blood “in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment upon themselves” (1Cor 11:29), says the holy apostle Paul. And so, with faith and love let us approach, so that we might become partakers of eternal life. Amen.