1. Suppose that, as you walk through a field, your foot strikes against a hard object. You look down, Pick it up, and discover it to be a piece of rusty iron. You bring it home and bury it in the kitchen fire and watch what happens. Under the transforming action of the fire the rust, little by little, begins to peel off, and the fire communicates to the iron its own substance. It begins to glow, to become red hot so that you dare no longer touch it. Lift it out with the tongs and look at it. All the rust is gone and the iron has taken to itself the qualities of the fire.
This illustrates the action of Jesus Christ on the soul in frequent and fervent Holy Communion. The rust of sin and imperfection cannot stand long against the heat of the furnace which inflames the Sacred Heart, and, according as these fall away, the soul goes on fire with divine love.
This is one reason why the saintly Pius X insisted on "the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that all the faithful should daily approach the Sacred Banquet ... .. The faithful, being united to God by means of this Sacrament will thence derive strength to resist their sensual passions, to cleanse themselves from stains of daily faults, and to avoid those graver sins - to which human frailty is liable. Its primary purpose, accordingly, is not that the honor and reverence due to Our Lord may be safeguarded, nor that the sacrament may serve as a reward of virtue bestowed on the recipients."
Saint John of the Cross has written well that the person who is united to God is feared by the devil as though he were God Himself. Not only need such a person not be unduly afraid of the evil one; he can actually turn the tables and make Satan afraid of him! Why is this? Because in the Blessed Eucharist, the Sacrament of union, Our Lord imparts His own divine strength to the soul. No need to lay stress on the many snares that lie in wait for us, the many seductions to vice that abound, especially in our day. It is a literal fact that the forces arrayed against us are too strong for us; we cannot grapple successfully with them of ourselves.
Therefore we need new strength to sustain us in the fight And Pope Pius X was raised up by God precisely to din into our ears the lesson that the antidote to the evils of our times is frequent and even daily Holy Communion. Here God imparts His own divine strength and we go into the line to fight with assurance of victory.
Suppose a doctor prescribes for a man who is very ill. He pledges his word that the remedy will prove to be an infallible cure. And the sick man, as he walks out of the doctor's house, tears up the prescription in small pieces and scatters them along the sidewalk. What would you say? You would decide at once that the patient has no real desire to be cured. But is not this what many Catholics do when they learn of the infallibly guaranteed remedy provided by the divine Physician?
Unquestionably, it is the ardent desire of the Church that her children should eat this divine food very frequently in order to build up in their souls their powers of resistance.
A capital point in the Pope's decree is that the Blessed Eucharist is not a reward for those who live holy lives, but rather a remedy for those who sin or are grievously tempted. This disposes of the specious excuse that we "are not worthy" to go daily or even weekly to Holy Communion. The only worthiness, strictly required, is freedom from mortal sin. To avoid all venial sin over a long period is impossible without a special grace, and venial sin need not and should not deter a soul from weekly or even daily Holy Communion. In fact, Holy Communion is one of the most effective means of ridding the soul of these lesser faults. When you fling open the shutter, darkness disappears and the glorious sunlight floods into Your room. When you receive Our Lord, divine light dispels your venial sins.
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift! Such a Gift!