Maundy Thursday: Like Lions Breathing Fire

April 6, 2023 Larry Beane

Let us then return from the [Communion] table like lions breathing fire, having become terrible to the devil; thinking on our Head [Christ] and on the love that He has shown for us.… Our Lord says: ‘I feed you with My own flesh, desiring that you all be nobly born, and holding forth good hopes for your future.… I have willed to become your Brother. For your sake, I shared in flesh and blood, and, in turn, I give you the flesh and the blood by which I became your kinsman.’ This blood causes the image of our King to be fresh within us. It produces beauty unspeakable and prevents the nobleness of our souls from wasting away.… It nourishes our souls and works in them a mighty power. This blood, if rightly taken, drives away devils, and keeps them far from us, while it calls the angels and the Lord of angels to us. For wherever they see the Lord’s blood, devils flee, and angels run together.

St. John Chrysostom (ca 347-407 AD), Archibishop of Constantinople