[Officium]
Dominica II. Post Pentecosten infra Octavam Corporis Christi

[Officium] (rubrica 196 aut rubrica 1955)
Dominica II Post Pentecosten

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople
!60th Homily to the people of Antioch
His Word saith: “This is My Body.” This we confess, and believe, and, with spiritual eyes, do see. Christ hath not left unto us Himself in such form as that we can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste Him and yet hath He left Himself unto us in things which we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste, and which all men may understand. Thus also is it in baptism by mean of water, which men perceive outwardly, is given unto them a gift which they can grasp only inwardly, that is, a new birth. If we had no bodies, then would these things be given us without any outward and visible signs, but since we are here made up of souls and bodies, there are given unto our souls gifts which they can grasp, in outward signs which our bodies may perceive. How many there be which say I would that I could see His comely presence, His Face, His garments, even His shoes Behold, thou dost see and touch Him, yea, thou dost feed upon Him. And wouldest thou behold His raiment Lo, He hath given unto thee not only to behold it, but to feed upon it, and handle it, and take it into thyself.

[Lectio8]
Scriptural dainties, in the very eating, do stir up the keenness of hunger in the mind which they fill, for, the more we taste their sweetness, the better we know how well they deserve to be loved and, if we taste them not, we cannot love them, for we know not how sweet they be. And who can love that whereof he knoweth nothing Hence saith the Psalmist: “O taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Ps. xxxiii. 9,) that is, as it were, “If ye taste not, ye shall not see His goodness but let your heart once taste the bread of life, and then indeed, having tasted and proved His sweetness, ye shall be able to love Him.” But these were the dainties which man lost when he sinned in Eden, and when he had shut his own mouth against the sweet bread whereof if any man eat he shall live for ever, he forsook paradise.