We come forward from the Mystical Table to become partakers of the pure Body and precious Blood of the Lord. From Divine Communion the Christian draws spiritual life with its great power. Man cannot imagine a greater happiness than that of participating in this great mystery. What is meant here is not only the best life but what is higher. By Holy Communion we do not receive some gifts from the Holy Spirit but the risen Lord, the great Benefactor, the temple containing all divine graces and gifts. There is no doubt that Christ is present in all the sacraments of our Church. He is present in those who participate in it and gives graces in different ways, but when He leads the believer to the mystery of divine thanksgiving and gives His body spiritual food and His blood, He transforms man. Man remains clay until Communion, but after Communion he is no longer clay. He takes on a royal form, he becomes the body of Christ the King. What greater happiness than that?

Christ, according to the promise he made, dwells in us and we in him through Holy Communion: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). And when Christ dwells in us forever, when he dwells in our hearts, what more do we need? Can we be deprived of any real good? Christ is our dwelling place and dweller. We are happy that we have such a home. We are happy also that Christ has made his home in us. What goods are not within our reach? What spiritual goods are we lacking if we are thus bound to the Lord? When we have attained to this spiritual splendor, can we care for the vanity and corruption of the world? What evil, what crafty thing can stand in the way of the riches of spiritual goods? If Christ is in us, no evil will enter our hearts, if He fills our hearts with His presence, dwells in the depths of our souls, enters them, dominates and surrounds us on every side. He drives out from within us every criminal impulse because He dwells in us. He wants to fill the whole house with Himself, He wants to fill our hearts. In us dwells not a part of Christ but the whole Christ, not a few lights and certain spiritual rays but the whole spiritual sun. We become one spirit with Christ, and through Christ the body and the soul and all the faculties become spiritual. The sublime divine faculties prevail over the base human faculties. What the Apostle Paul says about the resurrection takes place: “that death might be trampled underfoot by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4) or “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

O great mystery, the depth of which is incomprehensible! We are united with Christ in such a union that the mind of Christ becomes our mind, His will our will, His body our body, and His blood our blood. How truly our mind is elevated when it is dominated by the mind of Christ, and how elevated is our will when it submits to His blessed will? How our body, though clay, is purified when it is in the midst of the flame of Christ! Can we achieve such a union with Christ? The apostle Paul answers this because he was able to make his mind the mind of Christ, His will his will, and his life “to us the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), “and seek proof from Christ who speaks in me” (2 Corinthians 13:3), “I believe that I have the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 7:40), “and I long to have Christ in you all” (Philippians 1:8).

It is evident from all this that the Apostle Paul had the will of Christ and he declares this truth in a blatant declaration when he writes and says: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” How great is the mystery of the Holy Eucharist! It leads man to the summit of goodness and constitutes the final word for human elevation because God unites with us through this mystery in a complete and final union.