LIFE IN CHRIST: chap. 4, part 2

Lent with Fr Harton

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CHAPTER 4: THE BREAD OF LIFE (part 2)

If Christ is the food of the Christian it is clear that He intends His Sacrament for all and not for some; He is esca viatorum not sanctorum, the food of all His children who desire to follow Him in their pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem, not only of saints. The occasionally heard objection of the non-communicant that he is not good enough to receive our Lord therefore falls to the ground, not because nobody is good enough, though that is of course true, but because the Blessed Sacrament is intended for our food and not for our reward. If a man has fallen into mortal sin he needs the cleansing of absolution before he can rightly approach the most Holy, but he needs the most Holy that he may rise above his temptations into newness of life. He needs that food all the more because he is weak, that by it he may be made strong.