In the Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden we find many illuminating – and often fascinating – revelations on a range of topics. In Book 4, Chapter 63 of her Revelations, we encounter some words that are particularly pertinent to our times. This chapter details a conversation between Our Lord and a demon who had previously attempted to deceive St. Bridget in order to nullify her faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Below is a sample of this conversation.
A demon with an enormous belly appeared to the bride [St. Bridget] and said: “… Do you not see with your eyes and hear with the ears of your body the sound of the breaking of the material bread of the host? … Even if it is possible for God to be in the mouth of the righteous, how can he stoop to come to the unrighteous whose greed is without limit or measure?”
… The Lord said [to the demon]: “… Did I not say that he who eats My flesh shall have eternal life? And you say that it is a lie and that no one eats My flesh. Hence, my people are [according to the demon] more idolatrous than those who worship stones and trees… Was my body that Thomas touched after my resurrection a spiritual or corporeal body? If it was corporeal, how did it pass through the locked doors? But, if it was spiritual, how was it visible to corporeal eyes?”
The devil answered: “… I state that you were both corporeal and spiritual after rising from the dead. It is because of the eternal power of your Divinity and because of a special privilege of your glorified Flesh that you can enter anywhere and be present everywhere.”
The Lord said further: “Tell Me, when Moses’ staff was turned into a serpent, was it only the image of a serpent or was it completely a serpent both inside and outside? And tell Me again, the leftover bread in those baskets, was it really and wholly bread or just the image of bread?”
The devil answered: “The entire staff became a serpent, what was in the baskets was entirely bread, and it was entirely done by Your power and might.”
The Lord said: “Is it more difficult or more miraculous for Me to perform a similar miracle now than it was then, if I please? Or, if My glorified Flesh could pass through the locked doors then, why can It not be in the hands of the priests now? Does it, perhaps, entail an effort for My Divinity to unite that which is least with that which is heavenly, the earthly with the most sublime? Certainly not. But, father of lies, just as you excel in wickedness, so too my love is and always shall be upon all creatures… I create something out of nothing and a visible thing out of an invisible one. I can reveal something through a visible sign and shape that, however, truly is one thing in what is signified, yet is seen as something else.”
… Then the Son of God spoke once more: “… If you believe that I am in the hands of the priest, even if the priest doubts it, then I am truly in his hands due to the faith of the believers and those present, as well as due to the words that I myself established and uttered. Everyone who receives Me receives both My Divine and Human natures as well as the form [appearance, accidents] of bread.
… What is My humanity if not an active body, the conjunction of God and man, the Head of all Christians?
Therefore, those who believe in God and receive His Body receive the Divine nature as well, for they receive life. They also receive the human nature by which God and man are joined. Again, they receive the form of bread, because the One who is hidden as to his own form is received beneath a different form as a test of faith. Likewise, wicked persons also receive the same divinity but as a stern judge rather than an affectionate friend. They receive his human nature as well, though less easily appeased. They also receive the form of bread, for they receive the truth hidden beneath the visible form, but it is not sweet to them.”
Littlest Souls 