Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis
de Ponte SJ
Chapter 2 Section 4.1 – GIVE US this day our daily bread
Lest thou should imagine all these divine riches to be
invisible, listen to the 4th excellence of prayer, namely, that it
is a means of obtaining daily bread for both body and soul. For it is the word
of Christ our Lord himself that to one who asks of a friend 3 loaves of
bread shall be liberally granted whatever he stands in need of [cf St Luke
xi, 8].
But what are these loaves but food for the body, soul,
and spirit?
For prayer obtains the spiritual bread of grace and
devotion, which sustains and fortifies the spirit. The 2nd loaf
represents the sacramental bread in which is hidden Christ Himself, that living
bread which comes down from Heaven and nourishes him who eats it; the 3rd
loaf is the corporal bread which is necessary for the sustenance of our bodily
life.
But the eminence and superiority of prayer goes yet farther.
St Thomas [S. Th., II-II, Q. lxxxiii, art. 13] teaches
that it has the power to become itself the food of the soul, and that with
great abundance and delight….it provides us with 3 excellent loaves;
1.
the bread of truth to nourish the mind in
holy meditation;
2.
the bread of charity to sustain the will by
fervent affections;
3.
and the bread of fortitude by which the weakness
of flesh is overcome.
From what is left over, says St Bernard [Serm. De trib. Panib.
In Rogationibus], the spirit makes for itself a repast from which it arises
full of energy and vigour, ready to undertake all that belongs to the service
of the Lord.
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