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Thursday 13 November 2014

Perfection Series VII: Eucharistic Love Part VI

I have to deal with something serious and will not be posting until tomorrow. Pray for me, please, for wisdom and prudence.

I can share this.  Fr. Minelli writes of the importance of those moments after Communion. Too often, there is talk and music, when the congregation should be in quiet. Until I can get back to you, read this selection from the book I have been sharing, Jesus Our Eucharistic Love.


With Communion, Jesus enters my heart and remains corporally present in me as long as the species (the appearance) of bread lasts; that is, for about 15 minutes. During this time, the Holy Fathers teach that the angels surround me to continue to adore Jesus and love Him without interruption. “When Jesus is corporally present within us, the angels surround us as a guard of love,” wrote St. Bernard. 
Perhaps we think too little about the sublimity of every Holy Communion, and yet, St. Pius X said that “if the Angels could envy, they would envy us for Holy Communion.” And St. Madeleine Sophie Barat defined Holy Communion as “Paradise on earth.”

All the saints have understood by experience the Divine marvel of the meeting and the union with Jesus in the Eucharist. They have understood that a devout Holy Communion means to be possessed by Him and to possess Him. “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him” (John 6:57). One time St. Gemma Galgani wrote, “It is now night, tomorrow morning is approaching and then Jesus will possess me and I will possess Jesus.” 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?
“You envy,” said St. John Chrysostom, “the opportunity of the woman who touched the vestments of Jesus, of the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears, of the women of Galilee who had the happiness of following Him in His pilgrimages, of the Apostles and disciples who conversed with Him familiarly, of the people of the time who listened to the words of grace and salvation which came forth from His lips. You call happy those who saw Him ... But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you like Mary Most Holy.”

For this reason the saints have desired and longed for Holy Communion with ardent love; for example, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paschal Baylon, St. Veronica, St. Gerard, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Dominic Savio, St. Gemma Galgani ... it is pointless to continue because one would really need to list all the saints.
For example, it happened one night to St. Catherine of Genoa, that she dreamed that the following day she would not be able to receive Holy Communion. The sorrow that she experienced was so great that she cried unceasingly, and when she woke up the next morning she found that her face was all wet from the tears she shed in her dream.
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus has written a little Eucharistic Poem, “Desires near the Tabernacle,” in which, among other beautiful things, she said, “I would like to be the chalice there, where I would adore the Divine Blood. I can however in the Holy Sacrifice, gather It in me every morning. My soul is therefore more dear to Jesus, it is more precious than vessels of gold.” And what was not the happiness of the angelic Saint when, during an epidemic, daily Communion was conceded to her?


St. Gemma Galgani one time was put to the test by a confessor who forbade her to receive Holy Communion. “O Father, Father,” she wrote to her spiritual director, “today I went to Confession and the confessor has said that I must stop receiving Jesus. O my Father, my pen does not want to write more, my hand shakes strongly, I cry.” Dear Saint! Truly a seraphim all on fire with love for the Eucharistic Jesus.
Similarly, St. Gerard Majella, for a false and slanderous report from which he did not wish to defend himself, was punished by being deprived of Holy Communion. The suffering of the Saint was such that one day he refused to go to serve Holy Mass for a priest who was visiting, “because,” he said, “on seeing Jesus in the Host in the hands of the priest, I would not be able to resist taking by force the Host from his hands.” What longing consumed this wonderful Saint! And what a rebuke for us who, perhaps, are able to receive Holy Communion daily with ease and we do not do it. It is a sign that we lack the essential: love. And perhaps we are so in love with earthly pleasures that we can no longer appreciate the heavenly delights of union with Jesus in the Host. “Child, how can you feel the fragrance of Paradise which diffuses Itself from the Tabernacle?” asked St. Philip of a young man in love with the pleasures of the flesh, of dances and amusements. The joys of the Eucharist and the satisfaction of the senses are “opposed to each other” (Gal. 5:17) and the “sensual man perceives not these things which are of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14). This is wisdom which comes from God.

St. Philip Neri loved the Eucharist so much that, even when he was gravely ill, he received Holy Communion every day, and if Jesus was not brought to him very early in the morning he became very upset and he could not find rest in any way. “I have such a desire to receive Jesus,” he exclaimed, “that I cannot give myself peace while I wait.” The same thing took place in our own time to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, since only obedience could make him wait until 4 or 5 a.m. to celebrate Mass. Truly, the love of God is a “Devouring Fire” (Deut. 4:24).

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Finally, let us reflect that in Holy Communion we unite ourselves not only to Jesus but also to all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ, especially to the souls most dear to Jesus and most dear to our heart. It is in Holy Communion that we realize fully the words of Jesus, “I in them ... that they may be perfect in unity” (John 17:23). The Eucharist renders us one, even among ourselves, His members, “all one in Jesus” as St. Paul says (Gal. 3:28). Holy Communion is truly all love of God and neighbor. It is the true “feast of love,” as St. Gemma Galgani said. And in this “feast of love” the soul in love can exult singing with St. John of the Cross, “Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth, mine are men, the Just are mine and sinners are mine. The Angels are mine, and also the Mother of God, all things are mine. God Himself is mine and for me because Christ is mine and all for me.”

Duty


Some Catholics do not understand that it is not only their privilege to become holy, but their duty. Knowing that only the perfect see God and that the Church desperately needs saints are concepts lost on the vast majority of Catholics.

Too often the laity blames the clergy, instead of taking responsibility for the salvation of souls.

That is our duty.

We cannot neglect our duty except at peril of eternal damnation.

This passage is a command from Christ, the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God.

Matthew 28:19Douay-Rheims 

19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Christ did not tell us to do this in peaceful, tolerant countries, or on sunny days only.
We are to teach in good times and in bad times, and we are in bad times. All of us who are confirmed in the Catholic Faith are soldiers of Christ.
Soldiers, do your duty.




Calling In the Outlying People

wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Baddesley_Clinton,_Warwickshire
In Medieval, Renaissance and even the beginnings of modern times, those leaders who held castles and lands, called in the outlying people, pigs, cows, hens and grains before the last great battles. Hundred of farmers, blacksmiths, and others crowded into the castle keep.

Those under the protection of the great lords were thus protected within the castle walls.

This is the time for the leaders of the Church to call in the outlying peoples. Those who are faithful to the Church and the Pope need to be called into a protection which no government can give.

This protection is the Church, and the great gift of the Church, the Eucharist.

Those who follow Christ fully in His teachings, knowing that the Truth of Christ lies within the Catholic Church. must retrench within the walls.

This means prayer, penance, the decision to leave ordinary preoccupations and work while becoming holy.

This is the time for leaders to call the Church to great holiness.

The war has been won by Christ, but some battles may be lost, even with the lost of souls.

Pray, fast, do penance. It is time to come within the walls of the Church.

Gon Out. Backson. Bisy Backson. STM




posting later today....bisy backson!