The Eucharistic Life
1. The Eucharist in our spiritual life could be compared to the sun in
the physical life of the world. The sun gives light, heat and life. We
can imagine what a terrible thing it would be if the sun set one evening
and never rose again! Darkness would envelop the earth once more as at
the beginning of creation. The cold would become relentless and life
would be gradually extinguished
everywhere. Men could for some time depend on their reserves of
artificial light to illuminate their creeping agony, but life would
slowly decline until it ended in death for everything and for everybody.
Such would be the spiritual life without Jesus, especially without
Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist, Who lives amongst us as our only true
Friend, Who hears, helps and nourishes us.
He is the sun of our
souls, the source of our enlightenment, fervour and consolation. Are we
weary and discouraged beneath the weight of our daily cross and of our
sins? Let us go to Jesus and He will help us to carry our cross. He will
wash away our sins and give us the supernatural strength never to sin
again.
Let us unite ourselves to Jesus by frequent Communion,
by a daily visit to Him in the Tabernacle, and by making a spiritual
Communion whenever we cannot receive Him in the Blessed Eucharist. Let
us make fervent ejaculations whenever we find our cross too heavy for us
or when we are strongly tempted.
Many people go on long
pilgrimages to famous Sanctuaries, such as Lourdes, Fatima and the Holy
Places of Palestine. These are certainly worth while, but we should not
forget that the greatest sanctuary of all is close at hand. It is in
every church which contains Jesus in the Tabernacle. Here we have Jesus
Himself, really present and anxious to listen to us and to help us. The
Saints could find no greater joy on earth than to pray before the
Blessed Sacrament.
2. The Eucharistic life, which is the life
of union with Jesus especially by means of daily Communion, transforms
us and makes us holy. It preserves and increases in us the grace which
is the supernatural life of the soul. The Eucharist of itself does not
bestow grace, because it is a Sacrament of the living. It is our food,
and food is not given to the dead, but to the living. For this reason we
should receive Holy Communion free from the stain of sin. The
Eucharist, moreover, remits venial sins, strengthens us in our
resolutions, and increases our charity. Venial sin is a sickness of the
soul. Just as natural food banishes listlessness and vulnerability to
disease, our Eucharistic nourishment has the same effect on our
spiritual life.
It is because the Blessed Eucharist increases
our love for Jesus that it weakens our evil inclinations. The Eucharist
and sin are mutually exclusive of one another, because the Eucharist is
Jesus and sin is the devil. Our Eucharistic food, moreover, produces in
our souls a spiritual consolation which is a foretaste of the happiness
of Heaven. Let us listen to Jesus living within us. He will enable us to
forget our worldly cares and will raise us to a higher plane where by
God's infinite goodness we shall continue to grow in virtue.
3. May the Most Blessed Sacrament be for ever praised and adored.
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