THE MYSTERY OF THE LAST SUPPER - EUCHARIST
The devout person receives from Jesus the incomparable and excellent means for living his life and for being intimately united to him: namely, the giving of his own Body as food in the Eucharist.
Toward the end of your life
in the sacred institution
of this holiest of sacraments,
you can teach me
more wonders
than my mind can grasp
or my tongue
or pen can describe
or explain.
Just as this Holy Eucharist,
the mystery you instituted
on the eve of your death,
is the sacrament of sacraments,
the sacrifice of sacrifices,
the love of loves,
the miracle of mysteries,
so too,
does it resume in itself
the perfection
of your teaching
and the sublime virtues
of your life.
Oh,
if I were enlightened by your wisdom
when I contemplate
this sacrament,
what nobility,
greatness
and holiness
would I not discover
in this divine nourishment.
In truth the Holy Eucharist
is the fulfillment
of your self-emptying.
It is the memorial
of your wonders,
and the place
where your greatest virtues
manifested continually
and most brilliantly
in this mystery,
are gathered together,
spread before us
and practised.
However wonderful
your humility,
patience,
gentleness,
and charity,
in a word, all your virtues,
may have seemed to us
during your life,
and even at the hour of your death,
their practice seems to me
more sublime
and more perfect
in this one sacrament.
Also, it is singularly
in and through
this sacrament
that you have shown
your ardent desire
to unite yourself to us,
to live in us,
to abide with us
and to transform us
into your divine life.
O Jesus,
by this miracle of mysteries,
effect in me
a miracle of love.
And as in the hands of the priest
your all-powerful word
changes
the substance of bread and wine
into your Body and precious Blood,
grant that when I have
the happiness
to partake of this sacrament,
your grace
may change
my life
into Your life.
In making me die to the flesh,
to self-love,
and to all my countless faults,
may it fill me
with your divine Spirit,
with the purity of divine love,
and with all the sublime virtues -
in a word,
with your entire self.
In this way,
it will confirm
the loving promise
of your divine word
that whoever eats your Flesh
and drinks your Blood
abides in you
and you in him/her.
Doubtless
this is so that you may be the soul
of his/her soul
and
the true principle
of all his/her supernatural actions."
(Writings of Jean-Pierre Médaille, SJ, pp. 121 - 122)