Wednesday, April 26 : Guigo II the Carthusian

The soul’s bread is Christ, “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6,51) who gives food to his own, by faith here and by vision in the world to come. For Christ dwells in you by faith and faith in Christ is Christ in your heart (Eph 3,17). The measure of your faith in Christ is the measure of your possession of him. Truly Christ is a single loaf, for there is “one Lord, one faith” (Eph 4,5) for all believers, even though some receive more, others less of the gift of that same faith… Just as truth is one, one faith in that only truth guides and nourishes all the faithful and “one and the same Spirit distributes his gifts as he wishes” (1Cor 12,11). And so we all live by the same bread, each of us receiving our share, and yet Christ is wholly there for all of us, except those who rend our unity… In this gift I have received I possess Christ wholly and Christ wholly possesses me just as the member belonging to the whole body likewise possesses the body in its entirety. And so this portion of faith you have received as your share is like the morsel of bread in your mouth. But unless you often devoutly meditate over what you believe, unless you chew over it, so to speak, moving it about and turning it over with your teeth, that is to say with your spiritual senses, it will never enter your throat, in other words it won’t get as far as your understanding. For indeed, how could you understand anything that you reflect over only rarely and carelessly, especially when it concerns something subtle and unseen?… So, by means of meditation, let “the Law of the Lord be ever on your lips” (Ex 13,9) so that a sound understanding may be brought to birth within you. Through a good understanding spiritual food passes into your heart so that you will not neglect what you have understood but will lovingly reflect over it.
maronite readings – rosary,team