Quod Corpus Christi, et sacra Scriptura sunt animæ fideli necessaria.

The Soul's Sweet Banquet with Christ

The devout soul feasts on Christ alone at the Eucharistic table, longing for deeper compunction yet finding consolation in his hidden sacramental presence.

Sweetest Lord Jesus, how great is the sweetness a devout soul feasts on when it banquets with you at your table. Where no other food is set before her to be eaten — only you, her one beloved, desirable above every desire of her heart. And indeed it would be sweet for me to pour out tears from the depths of my heart in your presence, and with devout Magdalene to wash your feet with tears.^✦ But where is this devotion? Where is the abundant outpouring of holy tears? Surely in your sight and in the presence of your holy angels my heart ought to burn — and to weep for joy. For I have you truly present in the Sacrament, though hidden under an outward form that is not your own.

Christ Hidden for Our Weakness

Because no mortal can endure God's unveiled glory, Christ mercifully hides himself under the Sacrament, and the faithful walk by faith toward the day when sacraments will cease in the beatific vision.

For in your own divine brightness my eyes cannot bear to look upon you, nor could the whole world endure the radiance of the glory of your majesty. In this, then, you provide for my weakness — that you hide yourself under the Sacrament.¹ I truly hold and adore the one whom the angels adore in heaven; but I do so while still living in faith, whereas they behold him face to face, without any veil.^✦ I must be content to walk in the light of true faith, and to journey within it, until the day of eternal brightness dawns and the shadows of figures pass away.^✦² "When that which is perfect has come," the use of the Sacraments will cease, because the blessed in heavenly glory have no need of sacramental remedy.^✦³ For they rejoice without end in the presence of God, beholding his glory face to face, and transformed from brightness into brightness out of the abyss of the Deity, they taste the Word of God made flesh — as he was from the beginning and remains for eternity.^✦^✦⁴

Patience in Longing and the Saints' Example

Weighed down by the absence of Christ's unveiled glory, the soul finds no comfort in any creature, submits in patience to God's timing, follows the faith of the saints, and receives holy Scripture and Christ's Body as twin remedies.

Mindful of these wonders, I am weighed down with weariness — even by any spiritual comfort whatsoever — and as long as I don't see my Lord openly in his glory, I count everything I perceive and hear in this world as nothing.⁵ You are my witness, my God, that nothing can comfort me, no creature can give me rest — except you, my God, whom I long to contemplate for eternity. But this isn't possible while I remain in this mortality, and so I must place myself in great patience and submit myself in every desire to you.⁶ For your saints, Lord, who now exult with you in the kingdom of heaven, awaited the coming of your glory in faith and great patience while they lived. What they believed, I believe; what they hoped for, I hope for; where they've arrived, I trust by your grace that I too will come. Meanwhile I'll walk in faith, strengthened by the examples of the saints. I also have holy books for comfort and as a mirror of life, and above all these things, your most holy Body as a singular remedy and refreshment.

Two Necessary Tables: Word and Sacrament

The prisoner of this body needs both food and light, which Christ provides as the bread of life and the lamp of his word—two tables set in the treasury of holy Church.

There are two things I find absolutely necessary in this life — without which this wretched existence would be unbearable to me. Held prisoner in this body, I confess I need two things: food, that is, and light. And so you have given me, in my weakness, your holy Body for the refreshment of mind and soul, and you have set a lamp to my feet — your word.⁷ Without these two I could not live well: for the word of God is the light of my soul, and your Sacrament is the bread of life.^✦ These two can also be called tables, set on either side in the treasury of holy Church. One table is that of the holy altar, holding the holy bread — that is, the precious Body of Christ. The other is the table of divine law, containing holy teaching, instructing us in right faith, and leading us firmly even to the inner places of the veil, where the Holy of Holies is.^✦⁸

Thanksgiving for Christ's Great Supper

The soul gives thanks for the table of sacred teaching through prophets and apostles, and for Christ's great supper of his most holy Body and Blood, where angels and faithful feast together.

Thanks be to you, good Jesus, light of eternal light, for the table of sacred teaching you have set before us through your servants the prophets, the apostles, and other teachers.⁹ Thanks be to you, Savior and Creator of humankind, who to declare your love to the whole world have prepared a great supper, in which you set before us — not the figurative lamb, but your most holy Body and Blood to be received for our joy: gladdening all the faithful at the sacred feast, and filling them with the saving cup, in which are all the delights of Paradise; and the holy angels feast with us, but with a sweeter joy.^✦^✦^✦¹⁰¹¹

The Dignity and Purity of Priests

The priest who consecrates, holds, and receives Christ's Body must possess pure hands, mouth, eyes, heart, and speech, for holiness is required of those who serve the Author of purity.

O, how great and honorable is the office of priests, to whom it has been given to consecrate the Lord of majesty with sacred words, to bless with their lips, to hold with their hands, to receive with their own mouth, and to minister to others. O, how clean those hands ought to be, how pure the mouth, how holy the body, how unblemished the heart of the priest, into whose presence the Author of purity enters so often.¹² From the mouth of the priest there ought to proceed nothing but what is holy, nothing but what is honorable and useful, he who so often receives the Sacrament of Christ.¹³¹⁴ His eyes are pure and chaste — eyes accustomed to gazing upon the Body of Christ. His hands are pure and lifted up to heaven — hands accustomed to touching the Creator of heaven and earth.¹⁵ To priests especially it is said in the Law: <quote>Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.</quote>^✦¹⁶

A Prayer for Worthy Service

The chapter closes with a humble prayer that God would grant priests the grace to serve with purity and good conscience, or at least the grace to weep for their failures and serve more fervently.

May almighty God help us by your grace, so that we who have taken on the priestly office may be able to serve you worthily and devoutly, with all purity and a good conscience.¹⁷ And if we cannot live with the great innocence of life that we ought, grant us at least the grace to grieve worthily for the evils we have committed, so that in a spirit of humility and with a firmly resolved good will, we may be able to serve you more fervently from now on.¹⁸¹⁹

Read the original Latin

Dulcissime Domine Jesu, quanta est dulcedo devotæ animæ tecum epulantis in convivio tuo. Ubi ei non alius cibus manducandus proponitur nisi tu unicus dilectus ejus, super omnia desideria cordis desiderabilis. Et mihi quidem dulce foret in præsentia tua ex intimo affectu lacrymas fundere, et cum pia Magdalena pedes tuos lacrymis irrigare. Sed ubi est hæc devotio? Ubi lacrymarum sanctarum copiosa effusio? Certe in conspectu tuo et sanctorum Angelorum tuorum cor meum ardere deberet et ex gaudio flere. Habeo enim te in Sacramento vere præsentem, quamvis aliena specie occultatum.

Nam in propria et divina claritate te conspicere oculi mei ferre non possunt, sed neque totus mundus in fulgore gloriæ majestatis tuæ subsisteret. In hoc ergo meæ imbecillitati consulis, quod te sub Sacramento abscondis. Habeo vere et adoro, quem Angeli adorant in cælo; sed ego interim adhuc in fide, illi autem in specie et sine velamine. Me oportet contentum esse in lumine veræ fidei, et in ea ambulare, donec aspiret dies æternæ claritatis, et umbræ figurarum inclinentur. Cum autem venerit, quod perfectum est, cessabit usus Sacramentorum, quia Beati in gloria cælesti non egent medicamine sacramentali. Gaudent enim sine fine in præsentia Dei, facie ad faciem gloriam ejus speculantes, et de claritate in claritatem abyssi Deitatis transformati, gustant verbum Dei, carnem factum; sicut fuit ab initio et manet in æternum.

Memor horum mirabilium, grave mihi fit tædium, etiam vel quodlibet spirituale solatium, et quamdiu Dominum meum aperte in sua gloria non video, pro nihilo duco, omne quod in mundo conspicio et audio. Testis es, mi Deus, quod nulla potest me res consolari, nulla creatura quietare, nisi tu, Deus meus, quem desidero æternaliter contemplari. Sed non est hoc possibile durante me in hac mortalitate: et ideo oportet ut me ponam ad magnam patientiam, et meipsum in omni desiderio tibi submittam. Nam et Sancti tui, Domine, qui tecum jam in regno cælorum exultant in fide et patientia magna, dum viverent, adventum gloriæ tuæ expectabant. Quod illi crediderunt, ego credo; quod illi speraverunt, ego spero; quo illi pervenerunt, per gratiam tuam me venturum confido. Ambulabo interim in fide, exemplis confortatus Sanctorum. Habeo etiam libros sanctos pro solatio et vitæ speculo, atque super hæc omnia sacratissimum Corpus tuum pro singulari remedio et refrigerio.

Duo namque mihi necessaria permaxime sentio in hac vita, sine quibus mihi importabilis foret ista miserabilis vitia. In carcere corporis hujus detentus egere duobus fateor, cibo scilicet, et lumine. Dedisti itaque mihi infirmo sacrum Corpus tuum ad refectionem mentis et corporis, et posuisti lucernam pedibus meis verbum tuum. Sine his duobus bene vivere non possem: nam verbum Dei lux est animæ meæ, et Sacramentum tuum panis vitæ. Hæc possunt etiam dici mensæ duæ, hinc et inde in Gazophylacio sanctæ Ecclesiæ positæ. Una mensa est sacri altaris, habens panem sanctum, idest Corpus Christi prætiosum. Altera est divinæ legis continens doctrinam sanctam, erudiens fidem rectam, et firmiter usque ad interiora velaminis, ubi sunt sancta sanctorum, perducens.

Gratias tibi, bone Jesu, lux lucis æternæ, pro doctrinæ sacræ mensa, quam nobis, per servos tuos Prophetas, et Apostolos aliosque Doctores ministrasti. Gratias tibi, Salvator et Creator hominum, qui ad declarandam toti mundo charitatem tuam cœnam parasti magnam, in qua non agnum typicum, sed tuum Corpus sanctissimum, et Sanguinem proposuisti ad manducandum: lætificans omnes fideles convivio sacro, et calice inebrians salutari, in quo sunt omnes deliciæ Paradisi; et epulantur nobiscum Angeli sancti, sed suavitate feliciori.

O, quam magnum et honorabile est officium Sacerdotum, quibus datum est Dominum majestatis verbis sacris consecrare, labiis benedicere, manibus tenere, ore proprio sumere, et cæteris ministrare. O, quam mundæ debent esse manus illæ, quam purum os, quam sanctum corpus, quam immaculatum cor Sacerdotis, ad quem toties ingreditur Auctor puritatis. Ex ore Sacerdotis non nisi sanctum, nisi honestum et utile procedere debet verbum, qui tam sæpe Christi accipit Sacramentum.

Oculi ejus simplices et pudici, qui Christi Corpus solent intueri. Manus puræ et in cælum elevatæ, quæ Creatorem cæli, et terræ solent contractare. Sacerdotibus specialiter in Lege dicitur: Sancti estote, quoniam ego sanctus sum, Dominus Deus vester.

Adjuvet nos gratia tua omnipotens Deus, ut qui officium sacerdotale suscepimus, digne ac devote tibi omni puritate et conscientia bona famulari valeamus. Et si non possumus in tanta innocentia vitæ conversari ut debemus, concede nobis tamen digne flere mala quæ gessimus, ut in spiritu humilitatis ac bonæ voluntatis proposito tibi ferventius de cætero deservire valeamus.

Scripture echoes

↩Luke.7.38;John.12.3 — and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. John.12.3 — Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
↩1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
↩Heb.8.5 — They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was instructed when he was about to complete the tent: "See," He says, "that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
↩1Cor.13.10 — But when the complete comes, the partial will be done away.
↩2Cor.3.18 — And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
↩1John.1.1-1John.1.2 — What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we gazed upon and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life— 1John.1.2 — and the life was made visible, and we have seen it, and we testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made visible to us—
↩John.6.35 — Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will not hunger, and the one who believes in me will never thirst."
↩Exod.26.33;Heb.9.3 — And you shall hang the veil beneath the clasps, and bring in there, inside the veil, the Ark of the Testimony; and the veil shall separate for you between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Heb.9.3 — And behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies,
↩Luke.22.19-Luke.22.20;1Cor.11.23-1Cor.11.26 — And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' Luke.22.20 — In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." 1Cor.11.23 — For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 1Cor.11.26 — For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
↩Ps.23.5 — You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
↩Rev.19.9 — And he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
↩Lev.11.44 — For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Notes

1 ↩Consulis (from consulere) carries the sense of looking after, providing for — Christ accommodates human frailty by veiling his glory in sacramental form.
2 ↩The italicized spans mark a candidate scriptural quotation: 'donec aspiret dies' echoes Song of Songs 4:6 or Malachi 4:2 ('the sun of righteousness shall arise'), and 'et umbræ figurarum inclinentur' echoes Hebrews 8:5 ('a shadow of the good things to come'). Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
3 ↩The italicized span marks a direct quotation: 'Cum autem venerit, quod perfectum est' quotes 1 Corinthians 13:10.
4 ↩De claritate in claritatem echoes 2 Corinthians 3:18 ('from glory to glory'), describing the soul's progressive transformation by divine light.
5 ↩vel quodlibet: the connective vel may function here as scalar ('even') rather than strictly alternative ('or'), yielding 'even any spiritual comfort whatsoever.'
6 ↩ut after oportet introduces a purpose/result clause: 'I must… place myself… and submit.'
7 ↩The phrase 'a lamp to my feet' echoes Psalm 119:105 (Vulgate 118:105): 'Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum.' Candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.
8 ↩'Interiora velaminis' and 'sancta sanctorum' evoke the Old Testament Holy of Holies behind the temple veil, here applied to the interior life of faith under divine teaching.
9 ↩Gratias rendered 'thanks be to you' to preserve the prayerful tone of direct address. Doctrinæ sacræ mensa rendered 'table of sacred teaching' — the 'table' is the second of the two tables mentioned in the previous section (Scripture and the altar), here the table of sacred doctrine.
10 ↩Charitatem rendered 'love' per charitas policy (theological-virtue context). Agnum typicum rendered 'figurative lamb' to preserve the typological contrast with the Eucharistic Body. Proposuisti ad manducandum rendered 'set before us to be received for our joy' — the gerundive ad manducandum carries a sense of purpose/destiny ('to be eaten'), rendered here with Eucharistic gravity. Inebrians rendered 'filling' rather than 'inebriating' to avoid misleading connotations while preserving the scriptural echo of the overflowing cup (cf. Psalm 23:5). Suavitate feliciori rendered 'with a sweeter joy' — the ablative of comparison is implicit in the comparative feliciori.
11 ↩The passage moves between the historical Last Supper and the ongoing Eucharistic celebration. The shift from past tense (parasti, proposuisti) to present participles (lætificans, inebrians) and present indicative (sunt, epulantur) reflects this sacramental timelessness.
12 ↩ad quem toties ingreditur Auctor puritatis — the Latin is ambiguous whether 'enters into' the priest (spiritually) or 'comes into the presence of' the priest. Rendered as 'into whose presence' to preserve both senses.
13 ↩Sacramentum rendered as 'Sacrament' (capitalized) per Book 4 Eucharistic specificity policy.
14 ↩non nisi sanctum, nisi honestum et utile — the repeated nisi functions as a correlative 'nothing but' construction, intensifying the demand for holiness, fitness, and usefulness in the priest's speech.
15 ↩contractare: the gloss suggests 'to touch/handle reverently'; the translation uses 'touch' to convey reverent handling of the Creator in the Eucharistic context.
16 ↩Quotation from Leviticus 11:44 (Vulgate) or Leviticus 19:2. Final resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
17 ↩famulari rendered 'to serve' captures the sense of devoted, servant-like ministry; the Latin carries a tone of humble attendance.
18 ↩de cætero rendered 'from now on' (lit. 'for the rest / henceforth'); conveys forward-looking resolve.
19 ↩bonæ voluntatis proposito — 'a good will firmly resolved' — captures the Latin compound of good will (voluntas) joined with purpose/propositum, suggesting not mere feeling but settled intention.