Vigils Reading

THE GREAT SUPPER

From a sermon by John Tauler3

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“A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make excuse…”

St. Gregory says that we may understand this supper, to which we are all invited, as a most interior self-knowledge, a most clear knowledge of that inmost depth of our soul which is God’s kingdom. And also the very taste of how it is that God dwells and works there, experiencing the same knowledge and love. In another sense, this supper means the holy Sacrament. In yet another meaning it is eternal happiness, which is the true supper of our souls, and compared with which all banquets of soul or body which the whole world could set before us, would be no more than a single morsel of bread… The second supper is that of the holy Sacrament, bringing such grace and joy as no words can explain. And we should be all the more gratified for it because it is a holy feast that we can enjoy every day.

One might enquire how it happens to be necessary that we should daily renew in the Eucharist the commemoration of our Lord’s death, since on Good Friday our Lord was offered up once for all, and for all the world, and, if it were needed, for a thousand sinful worlds besides. The answer is that our Savior devised this blessed way of daily renewing His death, out of pity for our human weakness and our daily necessity. He would give us His adorable sacrifice of Calvary newly offered up every day for the sins and miseries of mankind. It is thus that St. Thomas teaches: “All the fruitfulness, all the benefit that God granted us the day He died, is found every day in every mass that is celebrated; and all this grace is received by every man each time he worthily receives the Lord’s body and blood.”

This holy Sacrament banishes sin. It puts sin to death, and causes a man to grow strong in a virtuous life, imparting new graces. It safeguards him from future dangers, and from the snares of the enemy, snares incessantly being laid for us. Without its strong help one may easily fall, either by inner or outer sinfulness. Besides this, the holy Sacrament is a great grace when offered for the souls in purgatory; many souls would suffer there till the last day were it not for holy mass… Each one should assist at mass with deep longings of spirit, uniting his fervent intention with every mass offered in the whole world, especially remembering those who are dear to him, whether living or dead. We thus feel ourselves present not only at the mass being celebrated before us, but at all the masses being said in the whole world…

Whosoever will experience these benefits, must journey out of the land of Egypt and out of the land of darkness, <before> he can eat the bread of heaven, whose sweetness is proportioned to our heart’s desires. The bread of heaven was not given to the chosen people, as long as the flour lasted that they had brought with them out of Egypt. But when that was gone, the manna came to them, full of every sweetness their hearts desired. So it happens to us…

All who would interiorly receive the fruits of Communion will not allow the world, creatures or their own weakness to cleave to their souls. They will not approach the Sacrament trusting to their own perfection, but rather to strengthen their weakness. They feel as weak as a man reduced so low by illness that his life is despaired of—who, if he were able, would purchase the medicine needed for his recovery with an immense amount of gold and jewels… The wise Christian does not receive Communion for the joy of it, but out of dire necessity, so that his very life may be preserved