Thought for the Day – 24 August – Holy Viaticum, Part One

Thought for the Day – 24 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Holy Viaticum

“When the Prophet Elias was afraid and discouraged because the chosen people had abandoned God and slain all the other Prophets, he fled into the desert.
One day he was tired and dejected and lay down to sleep in the shade of a Juniper tree.
He was awakened suddenly by an Angel of the Lord, who showed him, on two successive occasions, a hearth cake which he pressed him to eat.
The Prophet ate and drank “and walked in the strength of that food, forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God” (Cf 3 Kings 19:4-8).

Some commentaters see, in this bread which Elias ate, an image of the Blessed Eucharist and, in his journey to the mount of God, our own voyage through life to eternity.

Sometimes, we too feel tired along the way and it seems to us that God has abandoned us.
Often we are troubled and sorrowful, humbled by our many lapses into sin, despairing of ever becoming holy.
On such occasions, like Elias, we need nourishment, the nourishment of the Blessed Sacrament.
This spiritual food which contains the Real Living Jesus, the Author of Grace, is all that can give us the courage and strength, to continue our journey and to overcome the obstacles which we encounter on the way.

Let us have frequent recourse to this wonderful means of sustenance, through which, Jesus supplies us with the supernatural strength which we need.
Then we shall be able to repeat the words of St Paul: “I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13).”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci