Prayer Thread - The Eucharistic Jesus

O Light of Heaven
come down to earth,
come down in the guise
of translucent white bread
held in the hands of your priest,
lovingly
for all your children to see,
those who believe,
those who deny,
but reality is what it is.

If they could but see,
my Jesus,
the light cascading out,
like a supernova
pulsating
with tidings of peace and hope
and healing,
see the angel host
bowing down to the ground,
flashing their wings
in homage
and love
and overwhelming joy.

O Lord,
like a true lover
you come to us
vunerable,
fragile,
open,
waiting to be loved in return.

Fill our hearts with that radiant fire,
that joy that only comes from heaven,
until we, too,
blissfully,
happily,
fall to our knees,
and in response to our Lover's call,
our souls whisper,
Adoro te,
Amo te,
latens Deitas!

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Eucharist

(Gr. eucharistia, thanksgiving).

The name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of Mass, and in which Jesus Christ is truly present under the bread and wine. Other titles are used, such as "Lord's Supper" (Coena Domini), "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini), the "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini), and the "Holy of Holies" (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: "Agape" (Love-Feast), "Eulogia" (Blessing), "Breaking of Bread", "Synaxis" (Assembly), etc.; but the ancient title "Eucharistia" appearing in writers as early as Ignatius, Justin, and Irenæus, has taken precedence in the technical terminology of the Church and her theologians. The expression "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar", introduced by Augustine, is at the present day almost entirely restricted to catechetical and popular treatises. This extensive nomenclature, describing the great mystery from such different points of view, is in itself sufficient proof of the central position the Eucharist has occupied from the earliest ages, both in the Divine worship and services of the Church and in the life of faith and devotion which animates her members.

The Church honors the Eucharist as one of her most exalted mysteries, since for sublimity and incomprehensibility it yields in nothing to the allied mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation. These three mysteries constitute a wonderful triad, which causes the essential characteristic of Christianity, as a religion of mysteries far transcending the capabilities of reason, to shine forth in all its brilliance and splendor, and elevates Catholicism, the most faithful guardian and keeper of our Christian heritage, far above all pagan and non-Christian religions.

The organic connection of this mysterious triad is clearly discerned, if we consider Divine grace under the aspect of a personal communication of God. Thus in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, by virtue of the eternal generation, communicates His Divine Nature to God the Son, "the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father" (John, i, 18), while the Son of God, by virtue of the hypostatic union, communicates in turn the Divine Nature received from His Father to His human nature formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary (John, i, 14), in order that thus as God-man, hidden under the Eucharistic Species, He might deliver Himself to His Church, who, as a tender mother, mystically cares for and nurtures in her own bosom this, her greatest treasure, and daily places it before her children as the spiritual food of their souls. Thus the Trinity, Incarnation, and Eucharist are really welded together like a precious chain, which in a wonderful manner links heaven with earth, God with man, uniting them most intimately and keeping them thus united. By the very fact that the Eucharistic mystery does transcend reason, no rationalistic explanation of it, based on a merely natural hypothesis and seeking to comprehend one of the sublimest truths of the Christian religion as the spontaneous conclusion of logical processes, may be attempted by a Catholic theologian.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05572c.htm

http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/eucha3.htm

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

by Frank J. Sheed

The Blessed Eucharist is the Sacrament. Baptism exists for it, all the others are enriched by it. The whole being is nourished by it. It is precisely food, which explains why it is the one sacrament meant to be received daily. Without it, one petition in the Our Father-"Give us this day our daily bread"-lacks the fullness of its meaning.

Early in his ministry, as St. John tells us (ch 6), Our Lord gave the first promise of it. He had just worked what is probably the most famous of his miracles, the feeding of the five thousand. The next day, in the synagogue at Capernaum on the shore of the sea of Galilee, Our Lord made a speech which should be read and reread. Here we quote a few phrases: "I am the Bread of Life"; "I am the Living Bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world"; "He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him"; "He that eats me shall live by me."

He saw that many of his own disciples were horrified at what he was saying. He went on: "It is the spirit that quickens: the flesh profits nothing." We know what he meant: in saying they must eat his flesh, he did not mean dead flesh but his body with the life in it, with the living soul in it. In some way he himself, living, was to be the food of their soul's life. Needless to say, all this meant nothing whatever to those who heard it first. For many, it was the end of discipleship. They simply left him, probably thinking that for a man to talk of giving them his flesh to eat was mere insanity. When he asked the Apostles if they would go too, Peter gave him one of the most moving answers in all man's history: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" He had not the faintest idea of what it all meant; but he had a total belief in the Master he had chosen and simply hoped that some day it would be made plain.

There is no hint that Our Lord ever raised the matter again until the Last Supper. Then his meaning was most marvellously made plain. What he said and did then is told us by Matthew, Mark, and Luke; and St. Paul tells it to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10 and 11). St. John, who gives the longest account of the Last Supper, does not mention the institution of the Blessed Eucharist; his Gospel was written perhaps thirty years after the others, to be read in a church which had been receiving Our Lord's body and blood for some sixty years. What he had provided is the account we have just been considering of Our Lord's first promise.

Here is St. Matthew's account of the establishment: "Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said, Take ye and eat: This is my body. And taking the chalice he gave thanks: and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins."

Since they deal with the food of our life, we must examine these words closely. What we are about to say of "This is my body" will do for "This is my blood" too. The word is need not detain us. There are those, bent upon escaping the plain meaning of the words used, who say that the phrase really means "This represents my body." It sounds very close to desperation! No competent speaker would ever talk like that, least of all Our Lord, least of all then. The word this, deserves a closer look. Had he said, "Here is my body," he might have meant that, in some mysterious way, his body was there as well as, along with, the bread which seems so plainly to be there. But he said, "This is my body"-this which I am holding, this which looks like bread but is not, this which was bread before I blessed it, this is now my body. Similarly this, which was wine, which still looks like wine, is not wine. It is now my blood.

Every life is nourished by its own kind-the body by material food, the intellect by mental food. But the life we are now concerned with is Christ living in us; the only possible food for it is Christ. So much is this so that in our own day you will scarcely find grace held to be Christ's life in us unless the Eucharist is held to be Christ himself.

What Our Lord was giving us was a union with himself closer than the Apostles had in the three years of their companionship, than Mary Magdalen had when she clung to him after his Resurrection. Two of St. Paul's phrases, from 1 Corinthians 11 and 10, are specially worth noting:

"Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord"; and "We, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread"- a reminder that the Eucharist is not only for each man's soul but for the unity of the Mystical Body.

I can see why a Christian might be unable to bring himself to believe it, finding it beyond his power to accept the idea that a man can give us his flesh to eat. But why should anyone to escape the plain meaning of the words?

For the Catholic nothing could be simpler. Whether he understands or not, he feels safe with Peter in the assurance that he who said he would give us his body to eat had the words of eternal life. Return again to what he said. The bread is not changed into the whole Christ, but into his body; the wine is not changed into the whole Christ, but into his blood. But Christ lives, death has no more dominion over him. The bread becomes his body, but where his body is, there he is; the wine becomes his blood but is not thereby separated from his body, for that would mean death; where his blood is, he is. Where either body or blood is, there is Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity. That is the doctrine of the Real Presence.

Mother Teresa on the Eucharist

* “Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.”
* “Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist...fix your eyes on Him Who is the light; bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart; ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him, the love of loving Him, the courage to serve Him. Seek Him fervently.”
* “Through Mary the cause of our joy you discover that no where on earth are you more welcomed, no where on earth are you more loved, than by Jesus, living and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament... He is really there in Person waiting just for you.”
* “We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do, something breaks. People ask, ‘Where do the sisters get the joy and energy to do what they are doing?’ The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ. He says, ‘ Come to Me.’ He is hungry for souls.”
* “It was not until 1973, when we began our daily Holy Hour that our community started to grow and blossom... In our congregation, we used to have adoration once a week for one hour, and then in 1973, we decided to have adoration one hour every day. We have much work to do. Our homes for the sick and dying destitute are full everywhere. And from the time we started having adoration every day, our love for Jesus became more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, our love for the poor more compassionate, and we have double the number of vocations. God has blessed us with many wonderful vocations. The time we spend in having our daily audience with God is the most precious part of the whole day.”
* “Our hours of adoration will be special hours of reparation for sins, and intercession for the needs of the whole world, exposing the sin-sick and suffering humanity to the healing, sustaining and transforming rays of Jesus, radiating from the Eucharist.”
* “Our holy hour is our daily family prayer where we get together and pray the Rosary before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, the first half hour, and the second half hour we pray in silence.”

http://ethnonet.gold.ac.uk/illustrations/ch7illustrations/73livingwaters/Faith/quotes_from_mother_teresaon_the_.htm

April 5th - St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vincent never came near the tabernacle unless he felt interior purity and was spotlessly clean on the outside.

April 7th - St. John Baptist de la Salle

"Be convinced that there is in your life no more prcious time than that of Holy Communion and the moments following, during which you have the happiness to be able to speak face to face, heart to heart, with Jesus."

April 8th - St. Julie Billiart

Julie suffered a nervous disorder which affected her limbs, producing a paralysis which lingered for thirty years. She heroically offered the sufferings she encured to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the sins of the world, especially those committed against the Holy Eucharist.

April 11th - St. Gemma Galgani

"It is not possible to have a union of love more profound and more total: He in me and I in Him; the one in the other. What more could we want?"

April 16th - St. Joseph Benedict LaBre

Known as "The Beggar Saint of Rome," St. Joseph spent his nights sleeping in the open arches of the Colosseum and his days praying in churches. While in the presence of The Blessed Sacrament, he would have a luminous glow on his face revealing the intense fire of love for The Blessed Sacrament. Spending five to six hours at a time before the tabenacle, his face, normally colorless, glowed with a rosy hue all the while.

September 13th: St. John Chrysostom: (347 - 9/14/407)

Called "The Doctor of the Eucharist", in one of the most forceful passages in his writings, said: "How many in these times say: would that I could gaze upon His form, His figure, His garment, His shoes! Lo! Thou seest Him, touchest Him, eatest Him. He gives Himself to thee, not merely to look upon, but even to touch, to eat, and to receive within... Consider at Whose table thou eatest! For we are fed with that which the angels view with trepidation and which they cannot contemplate without fear because of Its splendor. We become one with Him: we become one Body and one Flesh with Christ."... "Jesus, for the burning love He bore us, wished to unite Himself so closely to us that we should become one and the same with Him for such is the dream of true lovers."... "Holy Communion makes us eager for virtue and prompt to practice it, at the same time imparting deep peace, and thus rendering sweet and easy the road to holiness."

September 15th: St. Catherine of Genoa (1447 - 9/15/1510)

Wishing to enter the religious life at the age of 13, it was decided that she was too young to do so. After her father's death, she married (at the age of 16) and was quite unhappy. She tried to find consolation in the gaieties and recreations of her world. She had, however, not lost her trust in God. While kneeling for a blessing before the chaplain at her sister's convent, she was suddenly overcome by a great love of God and a realization of her own unworthiness. Within the next day or two she had a vision of our Lord carrying His cross which caused her to cry out: "O Love, it it be necessary I am ready to confess my sins in public!" Then she made a general confession of her whole life with such sorrow 'as to pierce her soul'. On the feast of the Annunciation she received Holy Communion, the first time with fervor in ten years, and shortly after became a daily communicant, so remaining for the rest of her life. Soon, she and her husband changed their lives and devoted them to the care of the sick.

October 1st: St. Therese of Lisieux

"The best means to reach perfection is through receiving Holy Communion frequently. Experience sufficiently proves it in those who practice it."

October 1st: Feast of our Guardian Angels

Remember that every time we are in the Presence of our Eucharistic Lord, our Guardian Angels are there along with us Adoring The Lord and protecting us at the same time. There is no need to fear.
October 4th: St. Francis of Assisi

"Everything in man should halt in awe," said St. Francis: "Let all the world quake and let Heaven exult when Christ the Son of the living God is there on the altar." St. Francis used to spend entire nights before The Blessed Sacrament burning with love for Jesus, saying over and over all night long, "My Lord and my God.".

October 7th: Feast of Our Lady of The Rosary

Our Lady as The Living Monstrance is indeed a "House of Gold" containing a "Tower of Ivory". She is also the real "Ark of The Covenant".
October 15th: St. Teresa of Avila

"There is no greater aid to holiness than frequent Communion. How marvelously the Lord shows His power therein."St. Teresa said that in this world it is impossible for all subjects to speak to the king, and they must do so by way of a third party. "But to speak with Thee, O King of Heaven, there is no need of a third person - for everyone that wishes can find Thee in the most Blessed Sacrament."

October 16th: St. Gerard Majella

Fr. Tannoia, who wrote the life of St. Gerard, tells us one day he saw St. Gerard praying before the taberacle. Suddenly Gerard cried out, "Lord, let me go, I pray Thee! I have work that I must do!" In his short life of only 29 years, he became the most famous wonder-worker of the eighteenth century. His mother testified after his death, "My child's only happiness was in church on his knees before The Blessed Sacrament. He would stay there till he forgot it was dinner time. He was born for Heaven."

October 19th: St. Margaret Mary Alocoque

To St. Margaret Mary, Jesus said: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself, to prove to them Its love. And in return I receive nothing but ingratitude, by the contempt, irreverence, sacrileges, and coldness with which they treat Me in the Sacrament of Love."

October 24th: St. Anthony Mary Claret

St. Anthony had always been especially attracted by devotions honoring The Blessed Sacrament. During his school days he had been so captivated by a book his father gave him, "The Goodness of Our Sacramental Lord", that he had committed it to memory! Kneeling before The Blessed Sacrament, he would pray: "Oh my God, grant me a place by the gates of hell, that I may stop those who enter there, saying: Where are you going, unhappy one? Back, go back! Make a good confession. Save your soul! Don't come back here to be lost forever."

November 14th: St. Joseph Moscati

When this busy doctor was asked how he managed to cope with his demanding schedule, he replied: "By the daily reception of Jesus in the Sacrament of The Holy Eucharist."

November 16th: St. Gertrude

St. Gertrude once said: "Each time a person receives Holy Communion, their place in Heaven becomes greater and their stay in purgatory is shortened." While she was meditating on The Blessed Sacrament and wondering how our Lord could bring Himself so low as to live on our altars in the form of bread, Jesus Himself told her this story. A little prince, living in a huge palace filled with toys and games of all kinds, looked out of the window one day and saw some poor children playing in the street. Noticing the little boy looking out, his tutor asked him: "Would you like to stay in the palace today or go out and play with those children in the street?". "I would love to go out and play with them," answered the prince. Permission was granted, the prince put on the oldest clothes he had and played all day with the poor children in the street.It was one of his happiest days.Then our Lord said to St. Gertrude: "I am like that little prince, I like to be with you men and women.Whoever keeps people away from Communion deprives Me of a great joy."

http://members.aol.com/saint35/4-a.htm

Eucharistic Miracle
Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy

In 1263 a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina (located in the church named for this martyr), he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal.

The priest was immediately confused. At first he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where Pope Ur ban IV was then residing.

The Pope listened to the priest's account and absolved him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.

It is said that Pope Urban IV was prompted by this miracle to commission St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Proper for a Mass and an Office honoring the Holy Eucharist as the Body of Christ. One year after the miracle, in August of 1264, Pope Urban IV introduced the saint's composition, and by means of a papal bull instituted the feast of Corpus Christi.

After visiting the Cathedral of Orvieto, many pilgrims and tourists journey to St. Christina's Church in Bolsena to see for themselves the place where the miracle occurred. From the north aisle of the church one can enter the Chapel of the Miracle, where the stains on the paved floor are said to have been made by the blood from the miraculous Host. The altar of the miracle, which is surmounted by a 9th- century canopy, is now situated in the grotto of St. Christina. A reclining statue of the saint is nearby.

In August of 1964, on the 700th anniversary of the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass at the altar where the holy corporal is kept in its golden shrine in the Cathedral of Orvieto. (His Holiness had journeyed to Orvieto by helicopter; he was the first pope in history to use such a means of transportation).

Twelve years later, the same pontiff visited Bolsena and spoke from there via television to the 41st International Eucharistic Congress, then concluding its activities in Philadelphia. During his address Pope Paul Vl spoke of the Eucharist as being ". . . a mystery great and inexhaustible."

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/bolsena.html

Adore Te Devote,
written by St. Thomas Aquinas for the first Feast of Corpus Christi.

Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee,
Truly present underneath these veils:
All my heart subdues itself before Thee,
Since it all before Thee faints and fails.

Not to sight, or taste, or touch be credit,
Hearing only do we trust secure;
I believe, for God the Son hath said it--
Word of Truth that ever shall endure.

On the Cross was veiled Thy Godhead's splendor,
Here Thy manhood lieth hidden too;
Unto both alike my faith I render,
And, as sued the contrite thief, I sue.

Though I look not on Thy wounds with Thomas,
Thee, my Lord, and Thee, my God, I call:
Make me more and more believe Thy promise,
Hope in Thee, and love Thee over all.

O Memorial of my Saviour dying,
Living Bread that givest life to man;
May my soul, its life from Thee supplying,
Taste Thy sweetness, as on earth it can.

Deign, O Jesus, pelican* of heaven,
Me, a sinner, in Thy Blood to lave,
To a single drop of which is given
All the world from all its sin to save.

Contemplating Lord, Thy hidden presence,
Grant me what I thirst for and implore,
In the revelation of Thine essence
To behold Thy glory evermore.

In latin:

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Que sub his figuris vere latitas:
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans, totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur:
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius,
Nil hoc verbo Veritatis verius.

In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
At hic latet simul et humanitas:
Ambo tamen credens, atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro poenitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor,
Deum tamen meum te confiteor:
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini,
Panis vivus vitam praestans homini:
Praesta meae menti de te vivere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie pellicane, Jesu domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud, quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae. Amen.

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