7 Secrets of the Eucharist
Posted On December 8, 2007
Greetings & blessings!
December 8 has always been a special day to me; first because it’s the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and also because it’s my birthday. This year, Our Lady gave me a surprise birthday gift: my new book, 7 SECRETS OF THE EUCHARIST arrived from the printer several days ahead of schedule.
So, in this post, I’d like to share with you a short excerpt from the book.
THE EUCHARIST IS ALIVE
“When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, my hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul, but souls do not even pay attention to me. They leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things. … They treat me as a dead object” (St. Faustina, Diary, 1385).
The Eucharist is alive. If a stranger who knew nothing about the Eucharist were to watch the way we receive, would he know this? When you and I approach the Eucharist, does it look like we believe we are about to take into our bodies the living person, Jesus Christ, true God and true man?
How many times, Lord, have I forgotten that the Eucharist is alive! As I wait in line to receive you each day, am I thinking about how much you want to unite yourself with me? Am I seeing your hands filled with graces you want to give me? Am I filled with awe and gratitude that you love me so much as to actually want to come to me in this incredibly intimate way?
Or am I distracted, busy with other thoughts, preoccupied with myself and my agendas for the day? How many times, Jesus, have I made you sad, mindlessly receiving you into my body, into my heart, with no love and no recognition of your love? How many times have I treated you as a dead object?
The Host that we receive is not a thing! It’s not a wafer! It’s not bread! It’s a person – and He’s alive!
… This is not the dead Christ locked in a moment of time on the cross. This is the complete and eternal Christ, the Christ who was born of the Virgin, who came into our midst, suffered, died, was raised from the dead, and is now fully alive in heaven, where He reigns in glory.
“The flesh of the Son of Man, given as food,” explains Pope John Paul II, “is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #18).
… And the Catechism of the Catholic
Church adds: “Under the consecrated species of bread and wine, Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner” (#1415).
It is this living and glorious Christ who complains to St. Faustina:
“Oh, how painful it is to me that souls so seldom unite themselves to me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls and they are indifferent toward me. I love them tenderly and sincerely and they distrust me. I want to lavish my graces on them and they do not want to accept them. They treat me as a dead object, whereas my heart is full of love and mercy” (St. Faustina,, Diary, 1447).
The Eucharist is not a thing. It is not a dead object. It is Christ, and He is fully alive. Receiving Him with this awareness, we become more fully alive, so that we can say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20 RSV).
“I am the living bread. … Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
…
Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” (Jn 6: 51, 57).
“My heart is drawn there where my God is hiding. It is my living God though a veil hides Him” (St. Faustina, Diary, 1591).
I hope you enjoyed this little excerpt and that our “hidden” Lord will Lead you closer and closer to His Eucharistic Heart during this Advent and Christmas season.