“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you.” (Is 60:1-4)

"Present on the altar is the One whom the Magi saw lying in the manger: Christ, the living Bread who came down from Heaven to give life to the world, the true Lamb who gives His own life for the salvation of humanity." (Pope Benedict XVI)

The Holy Eucharist is the continuation of Christ’s incarnation on earth. The mystery of the Eucharist gives us the joy of having Christmas everyday. When we come to the Blessed Sacrament we come to Bethlehem, a name which means ‘house of bread.’ Jesus chose to be born in Bethlehem because He would dwell with us forever as the “Living Bread” come down from heaven. When the shepherds and Magi came to adore Him, they brought Him so much joy with their humble visit to Bethlehem that their visit has been praised and retold down through the centuries. God has never stopped honoring them for honoring His Son in Bethlehem. So, too, your humble visit today to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament brings Him so much joy that it will be retold for all eternity and bring the world closer to His promise of peace on earth. We are privileged in being called to adore Him today as were Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and Magi then, because here Jesus continues His incarnation on earth. The Eucharist is Divine Love made visible in the Sacred Host! This is why the angels continue to sing to Him here as they did in Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good will.” COME LET US ADORE HIM for here Jesus continues to come to us “filled with endearing love” as the Word becomes flesh in the Holy Eucharist and makes His dwelling among us. (From our book Come to Me in the Blessed Sacrament)

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

"Called to continue before the Most Blessed Sacrament the Magi's adoration at the Crib of Bethlehem, we ought to make ours the thought and love which guided and sustained them. They began at Bethlehem what we are doing in the presence of the Sacred Host.... The adoration of the Magi was a homage of faith and a tribute of love to the Incarnate Word; such ought to be our Eucharistic adoration.... How fortunate we are to be able to share, through the Eucharist, the happiness of Mary, of the Magi, and of the first disciples who offered gifts to Jesus Christ! In the Eucharist we still have the poverty of Bethlehem to relieve. Oh! Yes! All the good things of grace and of glory come to us through the divine Eucharist. Their fountainhead is at Bethlehem, which became a heaven of love; they gathered volume all through the life of the Savior; and all these rivers of grace, virtue, and merit empty into the ocean of this adorable Sacrament, in which we possess them in all their fullness.... The Magi are our models, the first adorers. Let us be worthy of their royal faith in Jesus Christ. Let us be heirs to their love, and one day we will be heirs to their glory. Amen." (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

Prayers to the Holy Infant Jesus

“O Divine Child Jesus! As You called the shepherds to Your crib by Your holy angels, and the wise men by a wonderful star, so You called me today to the adoration of Your Divinity and Humanity, to the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” “The three holy kings offered gold, incense and myrrh; I, however, offer You to Your Heavenly Father (for You are mine), through the hands of the priest, just as You offered Yourself to Him lying in the crib, a poor helpless Child.”

START PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION IN YOUR PARISH TODAY!

“[It is] the mother of Jesus who brings us to know, love and adore the Son of God, made man. Allow her, therefore, to accompany us ... with sincerity of heart and openness of spirit to recognize in the Child of Bethlehem the Son of God, Who came to earth for our redemption.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Dec. 11, 2005).

“As Mary presented and consecrated Jesus in the temple, we ask her now to consecrate and present us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.... Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus being rejected continues in our age, as the Holy Eucharist is an embarrassment to the proud today, just as His Incarnation, the Eucharist, and His Cross were a stumbling block to those not open to God’s plan of salvation 2000 years ago.... This is why your visit to Him today is so important. You console Him for those who turn away from His Eucharistic love just as much as His friends consoled Him.... Simeon’s joy is our joy today as in the Blessed Sacrament we behold what Simeon proclaimed at the Presentation: ‘My eyes have seen the salvation... for all peoples to see: a revealing light to the Gentiles, the glory of Your people’” (Lk 2:30-32). Mary helps us “to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus” (Heb 12:2). so that rejoicing in Him may be our strength, as His Eucharistic love consumes all our miseries and repairs for all our deficiencies. Jesus says: If you believe in My love, if you really believe in My love, then you shall see miracles of My love (Words of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary). Jesus dwells with us because we are so dear to His Heart. Here He cherishes us and longs for us to cherish Him. Here He says to us: “Child give Me your heart” (Prov 23:26). We become sad in being preoccupied with ourselves. “Look to Him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame” (Ps 34:6). We become happy looking at the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, for each moment we look at Him repairs for what is wrong within us and deepens our union with Our Divine Lord. That is why we can accomplish incomparably more for our spiritual life by looking at His infinite goodness rather than by being preoccupied with our miseries. When we give all to Jesus through Mary, everything--the good as well as the bad--is transformed to the glory of the Father, for “ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD” (Rom 8:28). (From our book Rosary Meditations from Mother Teresa: Loving Jesus With the Heart of Mary) “Jesus is your authentic friend and Lord.” “If you do not know how to pray, ask him to teach you and ask his heavenly Mother to pray with and for you.” “The prayer of the rosary can help you to learn the art of prayer with the simplicity and depth of Mary.” “He knocks.” “He knocks on the door of your heart to give you his grace.” “Go out to meet him in the holy Eucharist, worship him” (Pope Benedict XVI, Nov. 27, 2005).

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God & World Day of Peace—Jan. 1 “O most pure Mary, golden censer that became the tabernacle of the undivided Trinity; in thee the Father was well pleased, in thee the Son abode, and the Holy Ghost, overshadowing thee, declared thee, Maiden, Mother of God” (Byzantine Horologian). “We cannot find a better way to adore and love Jesus . . . than by making our dispositions agree with those of the Mother of God, making our own the same sentiments of adoration and love that She showed toward Her Divine Son Jesus enclosed under Her Immaculate Heart. It can be helpful in achieving this, to recite meditatively the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary” (Fr. Stephano Manelli, O.F.M.).

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus—Jan. 3 “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised!” (Ps 113:3). “I will lift up my hand and call on Thy name” (Ps 63:4). We are called to adore Jesus perpetually in the Holy Eucharist, if we are to truly praise and glorify His name.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Widow, Mother, Religious, U.S. (1774-1821)—Jan. 4 “There is a mystery, the greatest of all mysteries-not that my adored Lord is in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar-His word has said it, and what so simple as to take that word which is truth itself?-but that souls of His own creation, whom He gave His life to save, who are endowed with His choicest gifts in all things else, should remain blind, insensible, and deprived of that light without which every other blessing is unavailing!” (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton).

St. John Neumann, Redemptorist Priest, Bishop, Bohemia (1811-1860)—Jan. 5 Promulgator of 40 Hours in the U.S., St. John wrote: “How much I love You, O my Jesus! I wish to love You with my whole heart; yet I do not love You enough. My lack of devotion and my negligence still haunt me. I have one desire, that of being near You in the Blessed Sacrament. You are the sweet bridegroom of my soul. My Jesus, my love, my all, gladly would I endure hunger, thirst, heat and cold to remain always with You in the Blessed Sacrament.”

Bl. Br. Andre Bessette, Brother, Miracle Worker, Canada (1845-1937)—Jan. 6 “What would your wife say if you were a whole month without showing her any marks of affection? She would say that you do not love her. You would cause trouble in your home. Well, when you do not receive Communion God says to Himself that you do not love Him. And there is trouble in your soul” (Bl. Br. Andre Bessette). So great was Bl. Br. Andre’s love of the Blessed Sacrament that he made a window in his bedroom wall, which was located in the upstairs of the original St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, so that he might look out and adore Jesus in the Holy Eucharist throughout the night.

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord—Jan. 9 “The Eucharist is the center and summit of the whole of sacramental life, through which each Christian receives the saving power of the Redemption, beginning with they mystery of Baptism, in which we are buried into the death of Christ, in order to become sharers in his Resurrection, as the Apostle teaches (cf. Rom 6:3-5). In the light of this teaching, we see still more clearly the reason why the entire sacramental life of the Church and of each Christian reaches its summit and fullness in the Eucharist” (Pope John Paul II).

St. Francis de Sales, Priest, Bishop, France (1567-1622)—Jan. 24 St. Francis’ deep Eucharistic union bore much good fruit in his zeal for the faith, writings, and leading many souls to a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Sacraments.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor, Patron Catholic Schools, Italy (1226-1274)—Jan. 28 Of the Holy Eucharist, St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift.”

St. John Bosco, Priest, Salesian Founder, Italy (1815-1888)—Jan. 31 “Our Lord is present in this sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist] in which the martyrs and virgins received fervor, and the saints received fortitude” (St. John Bosco).

The Presentation of the Lord—Feast, February 2 “Simeon gave back Jesus to His Mother, he was only suffered to keep Him for one moment. But we are far happier than Simeon. We may keep Him always if we will. In Communion He comes not only into our arms but into our hearts” (St. John Vianney).

St. Josephine Bakhita, Religious, Africa (1869-1947)—Feast, February 8 Converted to the Catholic faith and became a religious sister after her release from slavery, St. Josephine spent much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and in service of others.

St. Scholastica, Benedictine Nun, Abbess, Italy (480-547)—Feast, February 10 `St. Benedict’s twin sister, Scholastica, was the first abbess of the order of nuns he founded in Monte Cassino. She devoted her life to prayer and adoration of Jesus Eucharistic!

Our Lady of Lourdes, (France)—Feast, February 11 The First Procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament at Lourdes in 1888

Since the National Pilgrimage of 1888, the great pilgrimages of Lourdes have presented a peculiar characteristic: it is a Eucharistic demonstration in which the Divine Sacrament causes Its glory and Its power to shine more strikingly. Of course Jesus the Savior was never forgotten amidst the pious homage tendered by the crowds to His most holy Mother. It must also be remembered that if Mary worked miracles upon souls and bodies, it was always through the omnipotent virtue of her Son, whose Real Presence dominates the blessed Grotto—who is God the sole Author of all these wonders. But that year, as the Journal de Lourdes remarks: “It has pleased our good Mother to efface herself that her Divine Son might shine forth in the Eucharist.” The 21st of August, 1888, was for the National Pilgrimage a day of trial: there were few cures, and towards evening a terrible storm prevented the torch-light procession from taking place. At the sight of the saddened, though not discouraged, pilgrims an inspiration from Heaven had suddenly dawned in the heart of a pious ecclesiastic. Why should not the Blessed Sacrament receive a triumphant ovation? And as the God of the Eucharist was being carried among the sick, why should not the multitude address Him with the same acclamations, the same prayers which in the days of yore had obtained the miracles which occurred during the mortal life of the Savior? This plan was, of course, favorably accepted. The next day, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus Hostia was leaving the Basilica preceded and followed by a great number of the Faithful bearing tapers in their hands. After Benediction, given in the Grotto, the invocations began, with an animation, a stress, an enthusiasm quite indescribable. A spirit of Heaven-sent rapture descended upon the crowd. From all the pallets, from all the beds, from all the vehicles where human infirmity lay prone and suffering, something heart-rending, supplicating, came forth; and as though by a unanimous impulse, the crowd called upon the Son of the Immaculate, as of yore did the paralytic and the blind man of Jericho, “Lord! If Thou wilt, Thou canst heal me!” But now, behold! in front of the Grotto eight of the sick have arisen. How describe such things? When the Magnificat was intoned, triumphant, prodigious, no one could restrain his tears. And ever since, every year in numberless processions that unwind themselves near the blessed Grotto, the same enthusiastic faith bursts forth; the same ardent prayer on the part of the Faithful, the same prodigies of merciful power on the part of Jesus Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament take place. It is Mary at Lourdes who has really prepared the Eucharistic triumph of her Son. (Les Miracles historiques du Saint Sacrement, par le P. Eug. Couet.) St. Gabriel Possenti, Patron of Clerics & Youth (Italy) 1838-1862—February 27 “There is more sweetness in one hour of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament than in all the world's crowded theaters, and brilliant drawing rooms, and giddy diversions, and social gatherings” (St. Gabriel Possenti). Please note that our newsletter is now bimonthly. In an effort to distribute the newsletter to you in a more timely manner we are now sending it out every other month. We have ongoing challenges of being short of staff, short of time and short of funds, hopefully this new process will help a little. If you have not sent in your subscription for this new year please renew it today! The cost is $12.00 a year. Thank you very much . May God bless you! Jan./Feb. Intentions: Send us the names of loved ones you would like us to pray for during January and February, before Jesus Eucharistic-our Divine Love!

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