[Sermones de eucharistiae sacramento]

Lamentations 3.

Regarding the first: Lamentations 3, "Remember my poverty and my transgression," that is, my utmost humiliation, "the wormwood and the gall," that is, the bitterness of the passion. Ezekiel 9: "Mark a thau a cross-shaped mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the city." The thau is a figure of the cross, that is, of the passion of the Lord, which must always be borne in the mind by the good. Regarding the second: Psalm, "Know you that the Lord he is God," as if to say: remember that the Lord is God, filling all things, whence he is present, seeing all things; hence he says, "I set the Lord always in my sight." Ecclesiasticus 39: "The works of all flesh are before the Lord, and there is nothing hidden from his eyes." Canticles 2: "Behold, he stands behind our wall," that is, clothed in the wall of our flesh, "looking through the lattices," because although dwelling within, while he cannot be seen by us as hidden, yet he watches everything of ours. Regarding the third: Isaiah 30: "Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, his fury is burning and heavy to bear, behold he comes," that is, pay attention because he will soon come to strict judgment. Mark 13: "Watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come." Apocalypse 20: "I saw a great white throne and one sitting upon it," that is, I have always kept the Lord before the eyes of my mind as soon coming to strict judgment, from whose face heaven and earth fled, etc.; "and I saw the dead," that is, the sinners, "small and great, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Therefore, whether I eat or drink or anything, etc., regarding all three together: Psalm, "He has made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and compassionate Lord; he has given food to them that fear him." The Lord has given us food, namely himself, for the remembrance of wonderful things: of the past, that he redeemed us; of the present, that he watches all our things; of the future, that he will strictly judge at last. Thirdly, it is asked to what end the remembrance of the Savior is useful, and it must be said: to three things. For the remembrance of the first thing, namely the Lord's passion, is useful for inflaming our heart with the love of Christ. The remembrance of the second thing, namely his continuous inspection, is useful for guarding us from sin. The remembrance of the third thing, namely the strict judge, is useful for exciting us so that we may prepare ourselves against the future judgment. The first makes us love the good; the second makes us hate evil; the third makes us provide against imminent danger. Regarding the first: Luke 12, "I am come to send fire on the earth," etc., that is, the Lord sent the cause of love into the world by the benefit of his passion, which if piously reconsidered, inflames the heart with great love. Psalm: "My heart grew hot within me," etc. Bernard: "Above all things, good Jesus, the cup which you drank, the work of our redemption, makes you lovable to me." Also, the more vile the Lord was made for me, the more dear he became to me. Regarding the second: Proverbs 8, "The fear of the Lord hates evil." Fear is that by which the mind always attends to God as present and seeing all things, and guards it from sin. Hence also...