Preface
"The
devotion to the Eucharist," St. Pius X, the Pope of the Eucharist,
said, "is the most noble, because it has God as its object; it is the
most profitable for salvation, because It gives us the Author of Grace;
it is the sweetest, because the Lord is Sweetness Itself."
The devotion to the Eucharist,
together with the devotion to the
Blessed Mother, is a devotion of Paradise, because it is the devotion
which the Angels and Saints of Heaven also have. "There is a school in
Heaven," the mystic, St. Gemma Galgani, used to say, "and there one has
only to learn how to love. The school is in the Cenacle; the Teacher is
Jesus; the matter taught is His flesh and His Blood."
The Eucharist is Love Itself,
identical to Jesus. Therefore, it is the
Sacrament of Love, the Sacrament that overflows with charity. It truly
contains the true, living Jesus --- the God Who "is Love," (John 4:8)
and
Who loved us "unto the end." (John 13:1)
All expressions of love, even
the highest and the most profound, are
verified in the Eucharist. Thus, it is a Love that is crucified, a
Love that unites, a Love that adores, a Love that contemplates, a Love
that prays, a Love that delightfully satisfies.
The Eucharistic Jesus is a
Love that is crucified in the Most Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, in which He renews the immolation of Himself for
us. In sacramental and spiritual communion He is a Love that unites,
making Himself one with the person who receives Him. He is a Love that
adores in the holy tabernacle, where He is present as a holocaust of
adoration to the Father. He is a Love that contemplates in His
encounter with souls who love to be "at His feet," like Mary of
Bethany. (Luke 10:39) He is a Love that prays in "always living to make
intercession for us" before the Father. (Hebrews 7:25) He is a Love
that delightfully satisfies in the heavenly exhilarations of nuptial
union with His favored spouses, (virgins of both sexes); whom He draws
to Himself in an exclusive Love, as He drew to Himself St. John the
Evangelist, the virgin Apostle and the only one who "leaned on His
breast" in the Cenacle. (John 21:20)
"To be possessed by Jesus and
to possess Him --- that is the perfect reign
of Love," wrote St. Peter Julian Eymard. The Eucharist achieves this
"perfect reign of Love" in all, who are pure of heart, approach the
Holy Tabernacle and unite themselves to Jesus in the Host with
humility and love. In the Eucharist, Jesus sacrifices Himself for us,
He gives Himself to us, He remains among us with infinite humility and
love.
"For One in such a lofty
position to stoop so low is a marvel that is
staggering," exclaimed the Seraphic Father, St. Francis. "What
sublime humility and humble sublimeness, that the Lord of the Universe,
the Divine Son of God, should so stoop as to hide Himself under the
appearance of bread for our salvation! Behold the humble way of God,
my brothers. Therefore, do not hold yourselves to be anything of
yourselves, so that you may be entirely acceptable to One Who gives
Himself entirely to you".
And St. Alphonsus Liguori adds
with his usual affectionate tenderness,
"My Jesus! What a lovable contrivance this holy Sacrament was --- that
You
would hide under the appearance of bread to make Yourself loved and to
be available for a visit by anyone who desires You!"
May some remembrance of the
priest, who every day gives us Jesus, and of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus our God and all priests, be
always in our affections toward the Most Holy Sacrament; for the
Eucharist, Our Lady, and the priest are inseparable, just as Jesus,
Mary
and St. John the Evangelist were inseparable on Calvary.
Let us learn all this in the
school of the Saints. They lived in a way
that was ardent and sublime, as true seraphims of Love for the
Eucharist. These are the ones, as Vatican II declares (Lumen Gentium,
n. 50), who are the "most safe path" to the Eucharistic God of Love.
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