My Lord and My God
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May 29, 2016. Solemnity
of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
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Father Timothy
Mulcahey, LC
Luke 9:11-17
Jesus received the
crowds and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who
needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached
him and said, "Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding
villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted
place here." He said to them, "Give them some food
yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we
have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people." Now the
men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of (about) fifty." They did so and
made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and
looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave
them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were
satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve
wicker baskets.
Introductory Prayer: Oh Sacrament most holy, oh Sacrament divine,
all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine!
Petition: Lord give me the Bread of Life so that I may
never hunger again. Make me worthy to receive You today and every day of my
life. I want my life to be melted into Yours. Just as bread is made from
wheat grain that dies and is ground into flour to be kneaded into a mass of
dough, shaped, and passed through fire, so I want my life to be part of
Yours. Grant me the grace to receive You often in this sacrament.
1. Give Them Some
Food Yourselves: The
Apostles are incapable of doing what Jesus did for the crowd. They could
never meet this challenge. Christ wants them to feel their helplessness in
order to illustrate his power and his care for the multitude. How often we
try to fix all of life’s problems on our own! We think that we are so
powerful until we come across a great obstacle such as the one facing the
apostles. They wondered in that moment what they could possibly give. We have
received so much from God that we can become spoiled by his gifts. He
lovingly has given us the ability to solve many problems in this life –
whether our own or those of others. But sometimes we are faced with the
impossibility of independently reaching a solution; here we can become proud
and disgruntled. We often don’t know how to put this type of problem in God’s
hands.
2. They All Ate and
Were Satisfied: Christ
feeds us with the living bread. No one has a better solution to our problems
than Christ. The Apostles were thinking on a much smaller scale. Anything they
could come up with would be very small and incomplete. Christ has an abundant
solution. He feeds the multitude until they are completely satisfied. There
is so much bread left over that it fills twelve baskets – one for each
apostle. Was this perhaps a personal sign to each of them of Christ’s ability
to do what they couldn’t? One day they would also provide living bread
through their priesthood. It would still come from Christ but would be
distributed through their hands. This gift comes down to our age too. Christ
has commissioned many apostles to provide the living bread to the multitude
of the members of the Church. Today we celebrate this great sacrament as the
continuing presence of Christ among us. He continues to give himself to us as
our daily Bread.
3. Living Bread for
the Living Body: The
sequence written for today’s Mass reminds us of a reality: the Eucharist is
food for the living only. Those who would approach his altar unworthily do
not receive his love but condemnation. It seems odd that this longstanding
teaching held zealously for centuries is so hotly contested today by public
figures who, while giving complete support to intrinsically evil acts
(abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, etc.), claim to be
faithful in their love to Christ, thus having the “right” to receive Him in
Communion. We need to convert our lives and approach him in the sacrament of
penance before approaching him as the “true bread of his sons and daughters
that should never be given to dogs.”
Conversation with
Christ: Lord Jesus, You
revealed Yourself to Your Apostles through the wonders of Your miraculous
love. Help me to see You with eyes of faith, to know you in the great works
You do for me and for others through me. Teach me as You taught Your Apostles
to unite myself to You in living my life for others. I pray that You may use
me as You used them to touch the lives of many. Help me be humble and
confident in Your presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
Resolution: I will visit the Lord in the Eucharist this
week. I will try to spend some time before him in adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament, thanking him for the gift of himself in this sacrament and asking
him to make me his apostle.
Excerpts from the
DIARY of Saint Faustina Kowalska
91 O my Jesus, You
alone know what persecutions I suffer, and this only because I am being
faithful to You and following Your orders. You are my strength; sustain me
that I may always carry out what You ask of me. Of myself I can do nothing,
but when You sustain me, all difficulties are nothing for me. O my Lord, I
can see very well that from the time when my soul first received the capacity
to know You, my life has been a continual struggle which has become
increasingly intense.
Every morning during
meditation, I prepare myself for the whole day's struggle. Holy Communion
assures me that I will win the victory; and so it is. I fear the day when I
do not receive Holy Communion. This Bread of t lie Strong gives me all the
strength I need to carry on my mission and the courage to do whatever the
Lord asks of me. The courage and strength that are in me are not of me, but
of Him who lives in me - it is the Eucharist.
O my Jesus, the
misunderstandings are so great; sometimes, were it not for the Eucharist, I would
not have the courage to go any further along the way You have marked out for
me.
107 O my God, I have
come to know that I am not of this earth; You, O Lord, have poured this
profound awareness into my soul. My communion is more with heaven than with
earth, though I in no way neglect my duties.
115 + When a soul
has come out of these tribulations, it is deeply humble. Its purity of soul
is great. It knows better without need of reflecting, as it were, what it
ought to do at a given moment and what to forbear. It feels the lightest
touch of grace and is very faithful to God. It recognizes God from afar and
continuously rejoices in Him. It discovers God very quickly in other souls
and in its environment in general. The soul has been purified by God himself.
God, as Pure Spirit, introduces the soul to a life which is purely spiritual.
God himself has first prepared and purified the soul; that is, He has made it
capable of close communion with himself. The soul, in a state of loving
repose, communes spiritually with the Lord. It speaks to God without the need
of expressing itself through the senses. God fills it with His light.
The enlightened mind sees clearly and distinguishes the various degrees of the spiritual life. It recognizes [that state] when its union with God was imperfect: where the senses were involved, and the spirit was linked with the senses in a manner-exalted and special, to be sure but not yet perfect. There is a higher and more perfect union with God; namely, intellectual union. Here, the soul is safer from illusions; its spirituality is purer and more profound. In a life where the senses are involved, there is more danger of illusion. Both for the soul and for its confessor, prudence must play a greater part. There are moments when God introduces the soul to a purely spiritual state. The senses dim and are seemingly dead. The soul is most closely united to God; it is immersed in the Deity; its knowledge is complete and perfect, not sporadic as before, but total and absolute. It rejoices in this. But I want to say more about those moments of trial; at those times the confessor must have patience with such a soul. But the soul must have even greater patience with itself.
136 And the Lord
gave me to know that the whole mystery depended on me, on my free consent to
the sacrifice given with full use of my faculties. In this free and conscious
act lies the whole power and value before His Majesty. Even if none of these
things for which I offered myself would ever happen to me, before the Lord
everything was as though it had already been consummated.
At that moment, I realized I was entering into communion with the incomprehensible Majesty. I felt that God was waiting for my word, for my consent. Then my spirit immersed itself in the Lord, and I said, "Do with me as You please. I subject myself to Your will. As of today, Your holy will shall be my nourishment, and I will be faithful to Your commands with the help of Your grace. Do with me as You please. I beg You, O Lord, be with me at every moment of my life."
156 +Once, l desired
very much to receive Holy Communion, but I had a certain doubt, and I did not
go. I suffered greatly because of this. It seemed to me that my heart would
burst from the pain. When I set about my work, my heart full of bitterness,
Jesus suddenly stood by me and said, My daughter, do not omit Holy
Communion unless you know well that your fall was serious; apart from this,
no doubt must stop you from uniting yourself with Me in the mystery of My
love. Your minor faults will disappear in My love like a piece of straw
thrown into a great furnace. Know that you grieve Me much when you fail to
receive Me in Holy Communion.
160 +The crusade
day,[54] which is the fifth of the month, happened to fall
on the First Friday of the month. This was my day for keeping watch before
the Lord Jesus. It was my duty to make amends to the Lord for all offenses
and acts of disrespect and to pray that, on this day, no sacrilege be
committed. This day, my spirit was set aflame with special love for the
Eucharist. It seemed to me that I was transformed into a blazing fire. When I
was about to receive Holy Communion, a second Host fell onto the priest's sleeve,
and I did not know which host I was to receive. After I had hesitated for a
moment, the priest made an impatient gesture with his hand to tell me I
should receive the Host. When I took the Host he gave me, the other one fell
onto my hands. The priest went along the altar rail to distribute Communion,
and I held the Lord Jesus in my hands all that time. When the priest
approached me again, I raised the Host for him to put it back into the
chalice, because when I had first received Jesus I could not speak before
consuming the Host, and so could not tell him that the other had fallen. But
while I was holding the Host in my hand, I felt such a power of love that for
the rest of the day I could neither eat nor come to my senses. I heard these
words from the Host: I desired to rest in your hands, not only in
your heart. And at that moment I saw the little Jesus. But when the
priest approached, I saw once again only the Host.
177 +Renewal of
vows. From the moment I woke up in the morning, my spirit was totally submerged
in God, in that ocean of love. I felt that I had been completely immersed in
Him. During Holy Mass, my love for Him reached a peak of intensity. After the
renewal of vows and Holy Communion, I suddenly saw the Lord Jesus, who said
to me with great kindness, My daughter, look at My merciful Heart. As
I fixed my gaze on the Most Sacred Heart, the same rays of light, as are
represented in the image as blood and water, came forth from it, and I
understood how great is the Lord's mercy. And again Jesus said to me with
kindness, My daughter, speak to priests about this inconceivable
mercy of Mine. The flames of mercy are burning Me-clamoring to be spent; I
want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don't want to believe in
My goodness. Suddenly Jesus disappeared. But throughout that whole
day my spirit remained immersed in God's tangible presence, despite the buzz
and chatter that usually follow a retreat. It did not disturb me in the
least. My spirit was in God, although externally I took part in the
conversations and even went to visit Derdy.[59]
183 One morning
after Holy Communion, I heard this voice, I desire that you accompany
Me when I go to the sick. I answered that I was quite willing, but
after a moment of reflection I started wondering how I was going to do so;
the sisters of the second choir[61] do
not accompany the Blessed Sacrament. It is always the sister-directresses who
go. I thought to myself: Jesus will find a way. Shortly afterwards, Mother
Raphael sent for me and said, "Sister, you will accompany the Lord Jesus
when the priest goes to visit the sick." And all through the time of my
probation I carried the light, accompanying the Lord and, as a knight of
Jesus, 1 always tried to gird myself with an iron belt,[62] for
it would not be proper to accompany the King in everyday dress. And I offered
this mortification for the sick.
God and Souls. An
Act of Oblation.
309 Before heaven and earth, before all the choirs of Angels, before the Most Holy Virgin Mary, before all the Powers of heaven, I declare to the One Triune God that today, in union with Jesus Christ, Redeemer of souls, I make a voluntary offering of myself for the conversion of sinners, especially for those souls who have lost hope in God's mercy. This offering consists in my accepting, with total subjection to God's will, all the sufferings, fears and terrors with which sinners are filled. In return, I give them all the consolations which my soul receives from my communion with God. In a word, I offer everything for them: Holy Masses, Holy Communions, penances, mortifications, prayers. I do not fear the blows, blows of divine justice, because I am united with Jesus. O my God, in this way I want to make amends to You for the souls that do not trust in Your goodness. I hope against all hope in the ocean of Your mercy. My Lord and my God, my portion-my portion forever, I do not base this act of oblation on my own strength, but on the strength that flows from the merits of Jesus Christ. I will daily repeat this act of self-oblation by pronouncing the following prayer which You yourself have taught me, Jesus: "O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You!" S. M. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament Holy Thursday, during Holy Mass, March 29, 1934.
360 Jesus likes to
intervene in the smallest details of our life, and He often fulfills secret
wishes of mine that I sometimes hide from Him, although I know that from Him
nothing can be hidden.
There is a custom
among us of drawing by lot, on New Year's Day, special Patrons for ourselves
for the whole year. In the morning during meditation, there arose within me a
secret desire that the Eucharistic Jesus be my special Patron for this year
also, as in the past. But, hiding this desire from my Beloved, I spoke to Him
about everything else but that. When we came to refectory for breakfast, we
blessed ourselves and began drawing our patrons. When I approached the holy
cards on which the names of the patrons were written, without hesitation I
took one, but I didn't read the name immediately as I wanted to mortify
myself for a few minutes. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my soul: I am
your patron. Read. I looked at once at the inscription and read,
"Patron for the Year 1935-the Most Blessed Eucharist." My heart
leapt with joy, and I slipped quietly away from the sisters and went for a
short visit before the Blessed Sacrament, where I poured out my heart. But
Jesus sweetly admonished me that I should be at that moment together with the
sisters. I went immediately in obedience to the rule.
Holy Trinity, One
God,
385 With joy and
longing I have pressed my lips to the bitterness of the cup which I receive
each day at Holy Mass. It is the share which Jesus has allotted to me for
each moment, and I will not relinquish it to anyone. I will comfort the most
sweet Eucharistic Heart continuously and will play harmonious melodies on the
strings of my heart. Suffering is the most harmonious melody of all. I will
assiduously search out that which will make Your Heart rejoice today!
The days of my life
are not monotonous. When dark clouds cover the sun, like the eagle I will try
to brave the billows and make known to others that the sun is not dying out.
1037 + I find myself
so weak that were it not for Holy Communion I would fall continually. One
thing alone sustains me, and that is Holy Communion. From it I draw my
strength; in it is all my comfort. I fear life on days when I do not receive
Holy Communion. I fear my own self. Jesus concealed in the Host is everything
to me. From the tabernacle I draw strength, power, courage and light. Here, I
seek consolation in time of anguish. I would not know how to give glory to
God if I did not have the Eucharist in my heart.
1393 Jesus, delight
of my soul, Bread of Angels, My whole being is plunged in You, And I live
Your divine life as do the elect in heaven, And the reality of this life will
not cease, though I be laid in the grave.
Jesus-Eucharist,
Immortal God, Who dwell in my heart without cease, When I possess You, death
itself can do me no harm. Love tells me that I will see You at life's end.
Permeated by Your
divine life, I gaze with assurance at the heavens thrown open for me,
And death will
shame-facedly go away, empty-handed, For Your divine life is contained within
my soul.
And although by Your
holy will, O Lord, Death is to touch my body, I want this dissolution to come
as quickly as possible, For through it I am entering eternal life.
Jesus-Eucharist,
life of my soul, You have raised me up to the eternal spheres, And this, by
Your agony and death midst terrible tortures.
Third Day.
1768 My
daughter, in this meditation, consider the love of neighbor. Is your love for
your neighbor guided by My love? Do you pray for your enemies? Do you wish
well to those who have, in one way or another, caused you sorrow or offended
you?
Know that whatever
good you do to any soul, I accept it as if you had done it to Me.
1769 Application: O
Jesus, my Love, You know that it has only been for a short while that I have
acted toward my neighbor guided solely by Your love. You alone know of my
efforts to do this. It comes to me more easily now, but if You Yourself did
not kindle that love in my soul, I would not be able to persevere in this.
This is due to Your Eucharistic love which daily sets me afire.
Second Meditation.
1770 Now you
shall consider My love in the Blessed Sacrament. Here, I am entirely yours,
soul, body and divinity, as your Bridegroom. You know what love demands: one
thing only, reciprocity...
1771 Application: O
my Jesus, You know that I desire to love You with a love that no soul has
ever before loved You with. I would like the whole world to be transformed
into love for You, my Betrothed. You feed me with the honey and milk of Your
Heart. From my earliest years, You reared me for Yourself alone, so that I
would know how to love You now. You know that I love You, because You alone
know the depth of the sacrifice I offer You each day.
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-91, 107, 115, 136, 156, 160, 177, 183)
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-309, 360, 385)
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1037)
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-V-1339)
(Diary of Sister
Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1768-1771)
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