r
Lord, "is my flesh for the life of the world ... unless you eat of this
bread you cannot have life in you ... and he that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the
last day."(21)

In order, then, to sustain our spiritual life on earth and to make us
strong for our daily conflicts, our heavenly Shepherd has left us a food
which is none other than His own body and blood. What a prodigy of love!
What could He do for us that He has not done? But, besides giving us
strength, He had another purpose in becoming our food. Since He has chosen
us for Himself, and has provided, in another world, eternal mansions for
our souls,(22) He wishes to make certain, not only the happy issue of our
lives, but our ever-increasing resemblance to Himself. He is therefore
preparing us, He is fitting us, through communion in the Holy Eucharist,
for our celestial home, and for visible companionship with Himself.
Intercourse, communion, intimate relationship produce likeness, even here
on earth, and it is a singular effect of Holy Communion that, unlike
earthly food, it changes into itself all those who partake of it.
Material, natural food becomes the substance of our flesh and blood, but
frequent participation in the heavenly nourishment of Christ in the
Eucharist transmutes our whole being--our lives and thoughts and
actions--into its own supernatural character.

Thus by living much with Christ on earth, by intimate converse with Him,
by allowing Him to enter into our lives and thoughts, and shape our
conduct and actions; and above all, by frequent and fervent communion with
Him in the sacrament of His love, we become like unto Him, even here in
our state of exile. And this likeness to Christ, which His faithful
servants assume here below, is a forestate of future blessedness; it is a
preparation for the great reunion and the eternal banquet which await us
in Heaven. Already we are led beside the waters of rest; we are directed
to pastures of sweetest nourishment; and through the calm and vigor that
reign in the soul we experience even now a taste of joys unseen.

V. HE RESTORETH MY SOUL.

Throughout the pastoral country of the Orient there are numerous places of
great peril for sheep. There are also, here and there, private fields and
vineyards and gardens into which, if a member of a flock should stray and
be caught, it is forfeited to the owner of the land. Strange as it may
s