Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there is one Flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons.
— Saint Ignatius of Antioch (First Century)
I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed from the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.
— Saint Ignatius of Antioch (First Century)
Be what you see; receive what you are.
— Saint Augustine (354-430)
In the night of humility into which God asks us to enter, we can encounter the burning power of his Love. And how much more profoundly is his tenderness that pushes himself to give himself to us in the Eucharist. Each time it is like an embrace that pulls us to his heart, at one at the the same time crucified and glorified.
–Charles Journet (1891–1975)
Feed yourself on Jesus. Drink his Precious Blood. Quench your thirst from the chalice of Jesus. Yet, the more you drink, the more you will thirst.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
So, since Christ died for us, out of love, it follows that when we offer the sacrifice in commemoration of his death, we are asking for love to be given us by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We beg and we pray that just as through love Christ deigned to be crucified for us, so we may receive the grace of the Holy Spirit; and that by that grace the world should be a dead thing in our eyes and we should be dead to the world, crucified and dead.
–Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (Fifth — Sixth Century)
