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Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
“Indeed, this is the will of my Father,” Jesus said, “that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him,” as we do when we look upon the Blessed Sacrament and believe that it is truly Jesus, “ shall have eternal life” and Jesus promised: him I will raise up on the last day.” The glorious resurrection of Our Lord continues in the glory of this most Blessed Sacrament because this is where our risen savior dwells, pouring out His life, His light, and His love to all who come into His presence. (“Come To Me” from us). Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep! Thy true flock in safety keep. Living Bread! Thy Life supply: Strenghten us, or else we die; Fill us with celestial grace; Thou, who feedest us below! Source of all we have or know! Grant that with Thy Saints above, Sitting at the Feast of Love We may see Thee face to face. Amen.
.... Corpus Christi reminds us first of all of this: that being Christian means coming together from all parts of the world to be in the presence of the one Lord and to become one with him and in him.... Each one can find his own way if he encounters the One who is the Word and the Bread of Life and lets himself be guided by his friendly presence. Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way . . . . Adoring the God of Jesus Christ, who out of love made himself bread broken, is the most effective and radical remedy against the idolatry of the past and of the present. Kneeling before the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: those who bow to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate themselves before any earthly authority, however powerful. We Christians kneel only before God or before the Most Blessed Sacrament because we know and believe that the one true God is present in it, the God who created the world and so loved it that he gave his Only Begotten Son (cf. Jn 3: 16). We prostrate ourselves before a God who first bent over man like the Good Samaritan to assist him and restore his life, and who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet. Adoring the Body of Christ, means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, Christ is really there, and gives true sense to life, to the immense universe as to the smallest creature, to the whole of human history as to the most brief existence. Adoration is prayer that prolongs the celebration and Eucharistic communion and in which the soul continues to be nourished…. Divine Mercy: They practice mercy, that beautiful virtue of which it’s said, “ Mercy is the distinctive feature of God.” We practice it, too, and must do so all our lives: corporal mercy, spiritual mercy, mercy in rural areas and in the missions by hastening to meet the needs of our neighbor. (St. Vincent De Paul) PRAY for all who have Coronovirus, those who care for them, their protection and safety. Pray for a cure for this disease, for all who are in need of food, shelter, clothing, or help of any kind. Take good care of yourself. Eucharistic Miracle: Reunion Island, Indian Ocean (Property of France)—1902 At St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Fr. Lacombe exposed the Blessed Sacrament for 40 hours devotion and looked up to behold the face of Christ in Agony. Fearing an optical illusion, he said nothing, but could not banish the image from his thoughts. He sent a man to look at the Host. The man hurried back, crying that he has seen the face in the Monstrance. Altar boys returned in amazement with the same reports. A girl, who also saw the face, said, “I cannot forget what I have seen, I will always remember the Face of Our Lord... it has made an indelible mark on my life.” Word spread quickly. People flocked to the Church. Around 2:00 p.m. the image of Christ in the Host changed to a crucifix. Crowds gathered to adore Our Lord, and as they were singing “Tantum Ergo” the image disappeared. St. John Paul II, Poland, Apostle of the Eucharist & Adoration (1920-2005) Ann. of Death—April 2 Pope St. John Paul II wrote, “Through adoration, the faithful can enjoy a particular experience of ‘abiding’ in the love of Christ (see John 15:9), entering ever more deeply into His filial relationship with the Father.” “May we dwell long and often in adoration before Christ in the Eucharist. May we sit at the ‘school’ of the Eucharist.” (Letter to Priests, Holy Thursday, 2000) (A St. John Paul II prayer card is available through us.) Palm Sunday—April 5 “Lay people must join priests so that together we point to the Lamb, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as the answer to all the ills of the Church and human society. From the Lamb flows the river, crystal clear, which provides healing and medicine for all the nations (Rev 22:1-2). The Lamb on the throne will shepherd us and lead us to springs of life-giving water (Rev 7:17). The lamp is the Lamb whose light casts out the darkness (Rev 21:22-24) . . . . The Lamb is victorious because He is ‘Lord of lords and King of kings’” (Rev 17:14). -From the A-5 pamphlet “Worthy Is the Lamb,” available through us Monday, Bl. Pierina Morosini, Virgin, Martyr, Italy (1931-1957)—Feast, April 6: “I can’t be a day without receiving Jesus ... When I receive him in the morning, I am no longer afraid. I feel stronger” (Bl. Pierina). Bl. Pierina was one of eight children, in a poor family, and took a private vow of chastity. She stayed at home to help her mother with the small children, visited the Blessed Sacrament during her lunch break daily and prayed the Rosary on the way to work. She was the youngest member of Catholic Action at her parish and taught Catechism. One day, on her way home from work, a man tried to rape her. She died in defense of purity. Bl. Pierina, pray for our youth! Holy Thursday—April 9: “The Holy Eucharist is the center of the Church and must be the center of our being Christians and of our priestly life.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Feb. 5, 2011, Homily) Pope Benedict XVI reflected that Holy Thursday “ends with Eucharistic adoration, in memory of the Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane . ... Aware of his imminent death on the cross, he felt a great sorrow.” (April 20, 2011, General Audience) “If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.” (St. Angela of Foligno) Good Friday—April 10: “One cannot love without suffering. He [Jesus] showed us this very clearly upon the cross, where He was consumed for love of us. And it is still the same every day in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.” (St. Margaret Mary)
“Oh! If man but understood the love of the Eucharist! During His Passion Jesus was bound; He lost His liberty. In the Eucharist He is the One that binds Himself. He has chained Himself with the unconditional and perpetual chains of His promises. He has chained Himself to the Sacred Species to which the sacramental words bind Him inseparably. In the Eucharist as on the Cross or in the Tomb He has no movement, no action of His own, although He possesses within Himself the fullness of the risen life. “He is fully dependent on man like a Prisoner of love. He cannot break His bonds, or leave His Eucharistic prison; He is our Prisoner to the end of time. He pledged Himself to this; His contract of love goes as far as that.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard) Holy Saturday—April 11: “I am just a speck of dust,/But I want to make my dwelling/In the shadow of the sanctuary/With the Prisoner of Love./Ah! my soul longs for the host./I love Him and want nothing more./It is the hidden God who attracts me. Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord—April 12: “The Eucharist is source and pledge of blessedness and glory, not for the soul alone, but for the body also.... In the frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the immortal body of Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one day must germinate.” (Pope Leo XIII) Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday—April 19: “Behold, for you I have established a throne of mercy on earth—the tabernacle—and from this throne I desire to enter into your heart. You can come to me at any moment, at any time; I want to speak to you and desire to grant you grace.” “O Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament...with the trust and simplicity of a small child, I give myself to you today.” (St. Maria Faustina, Divine Mercy Diary) St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Church Doctor, Patroness of Italy (1347-1380)—April 29 Prayer for Priests by St. Catherine of Siena: I beseech You, direct the hearts and wills of the servants of Your Bride, the Holy Church, unto Yourself so that they may follow the poor, bleeding, humble, and gentle Lamb of God on the way of the Cross. Make them angels in the shape of men; for after all, they have to administer and distribute the Body and Blood of Your Only Begotten Son! Amen. St. Joseph the Worker—May 1 “Faith, humility, purity, and love—these were the keynotes of his [St. Joseph’s] adoration. No saint ever vibrated with a more ardent faith or bowed down in deeper humility; no angel ever glistened with brighter purity; and as for his love, neither saint nor angel ever has or ever will come within range of his burning charity which expressed itself so fully in devotedness.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard). St. Joseph, pray for us! Order our St. Joseph prayer card today! Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations—May 3: Pope Benedict XVI’s Prayer for Vocations: O Father, raise up among Christians abundant and holy vocations to the priesthood, who keep the faith alive and guard the blessed memory of your Son Jesus through the preaching of his word and the administration of the Sacraments, with which you continually renew your faithful. Grant us holy ministers of your altar, who are careful and fervent guardians of the Eucharist, the sacrament of the supreme gift of Christ for the redemption of the world. Call ministers of your mercy, who, through the sacrament of Reconciliation, spread the joy of your forgiveness. Grant, O Father, that the Church may welcome with joy the numerous inspirations of the Spirit of your Son and, docile to His teachings, may she care for vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life. Sustain the Bishops, priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, and all the baptized in Christ, so that they may faithfully fulfill their mission at the service of the Gospel. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us. May 10 – Mother’s Day – Honor your Mother, love her, pray for her! Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Fatima—May 13 “Every Catholic devotion, when stripped down to its bare elements, is directly or indirectly aimed at finding the Child with Mary his mother (cf. Lk 2:12). These two are inseparable, the two hearts are intimately allied. This explains why Our Lord, as Lucia of Fatima was instructed to tell us, wishes his own Eucharistic Heart and that of his mother to be placed alongside each other and jointly honoured. In this way it comes about that we meet the alliance of hearts in all Marian sanctuaries. There, along with God’s mother, we offer our homage and adoration to him who was the fruit of her shining faith as much as of her womb. . For she is called blessed because she believed (Lk. 1:45). And now in turn Mary helps pilgrims to believe ever more strongly—especially in the sacrament of her Son’s loving presence.” (Fr. Richard Foley, S.J.)A pamphlet, prayer card, CDs, posters, and medals of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Fatima prayer card are available through us. St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest and Patron of Advertisers, Italy (d. 1444)—May 20 St. Cristobal Magallenes, Priest, and Companions, Mexican Martyrs—Feast, May 21 Between 1926 and 1929, 90,000 people were killed during a Catholic persecution in Mexico. 35 martyrs were canonized, and 15 others recently declared blessed. The martyrs included several priests, Knights of Columbus, and a 15 year old boy, Jose Sanchez del Rio—who was tortured and killed. St. Cristobal Magallenes was arrested on his way to offer Mass at a farm. He gave his possessions to his executions and provided them with absolution. St. Cristobal and St. Agustin Caloca were martyred together, without trial. St. Crisobal’s last words were “I die innocent, and ask God that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren.” The martyrs drew their strength to give witness from Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, in Mass and Adoration, and devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary. The Ascension of the Lord—May 21 (or 24), depending on the area “Ascending once again to the Inaccessible Light . . . You remain still in the ‘valley of tears,’ hidden beneath the appearances of a white host.” (St. Thérèse) A new book on St. Thérèse is available through us. Order today! St. Rita of Cascia, Wife, Mother, Nun, Patroness of Impossible Cases, Italy (1381-1457)—May 22 Many prayers invoking the intercession of St. Rita extol her love of Our Lord in the most Blessed Sacrament. One of the prayers in her litany says, “St Rita, in ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.” St. Rita lived on the Holy Eucharist alone for four years. She became a widow and, soon after, her two sons died. Rita became an Augustinian nun and spent hours with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration daily. She was a stigmatist and suffered Christ’s passion for the last 15 years of her life. St. Rita’s incorrupt body is preserved in a shrine in Italy. St. Rita is a powerful intercessor and many miracles are attributed to her patronage. St. Philip Neri, Priest, Patron of Rome, Oratory Founder, Italy (1515-1595)—May 26 “Can you feel the fragrance of Paradise which diffuses Itself from the Tabernacle?” (St. Philip) Pentecost —May 31 “The Eucharist is like a beating heart giving life to the mystical Body of the Church, which is a social organisation entirely founded on its spiritual yet tangible bond with Christ....Without the Eucharist the Church would simply cease to exist....The Holy Spirit, which transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, also transforms those who receive it with faith into limbs of Christ’s Body” (Benedict XVI, June 26, 2011, Angelus) The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church—June 1 “The most compelling reason for exposition [of the Holy Eucharist] is that the Holy Spirit asks for it. During His “Mary went to help her cousin Elizabeth who was with child. While still in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist recognized Jesus hidden in the womb of Mary, the first tabernacle of the Lord. We now recognize Jesus hidden in the Eucharist. With each Hail Mary we pray—for charity, to love God and others.” (From our pamphlet, “The Eucharist Rosary,” available through us.) Trinity Sunday— June 7 HEAVENLY FATHER: Lord of the harvest, we earnestly ask you to bless our diocese and our world with many priests who will love you fervently, and gladly and courageously spend their lives in service to your Son’s Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We pray that their lives may be always centered on our Eucharistic Lord, that they may be always faithful to the Holy Father, and that they may be devoted Sons of Mary, our mother, in making you known and loved; and that all may attain heaven. St. Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church, Patron of the Poor, Italy (1195-1231)—June 13 St. Anthony was a defender of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. He explained, “Upon the Altar there takes place the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. That Body which the Virgin begot, which hung upon the Cross and was placed in the sepulchre, which rose again the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, this Body the Church today and everyday presents and distributes to her faithful. When the priest speaks the words: This is My Body, the essence of the bread is changed into the Body of Christ.” Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ—June 14: Adore Jesus in the Holy Eucharist! “The Bread of Life will help the body as well as the soul, if we but touch the hem of His garment . . . and how much more have we than that! We can find Him, at every moment, on the altar. Be with Him there. Better than all books! Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift. Rest in His presence.” (Edel Quinn, Legion of Mary) The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus—June 19 “How I have longed to see you and spend some quiet time with you, communing with you ‘heart to heart’ as best friends do. I know you are tired and weary from life’s travails, toils and troubles, and those of the world. Dear One, I want you to tell Me about them—everything. All that concerns you concerns Me. I am a good listener and have all the time in the world. Stay with Me and rest awhile. Let Me fill you with love, joy and peace. I alone can give true peace, a peace that the world cannot give. Tell Me about your needs and desires. Tell Me about your loved ones, how they are doing and their needs, they are My loved ones too.” (“How to Make a Holy Hour,” available from us.) Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary—June 20 “What is Our Lady’s peace plan from Heaven? Stop offending God with sin. Pray the Rosary daily. Offer prayers and sacrifices of reparation, including the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Wear the Brown Scapular as a sign of this consecration.” (From the book The Golden Century, available through us). Happy Father’s Day June 21 Honor your father, love him, pray for him! Sts. John Fisher (1469-1535) & Thomas More, England (1478-1535), Martyrs—June 22 St. Thomas was a husband, father, lawyer and Chancellor of England. He refused to pass a law making King Henry VIII head of the Catholic Church in England, so King Henry could divorce and remarry. Strengthened by daily reception and adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, St. Thomas upheld his Faith, the Pope, and the Church even though it cost him his life by martyrdom! St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, pray that the faithful may always uphold and be true to the Faith and not succumb to the great apostasy! Sts. Peter and Paul—June 29 “St. Paul gave witness to these words of Christ: ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’” (1 Cor. 11:26) We wish you a Happy and Blessed Easter Season! Prayer Intentions: Please send us the names of your family, loved ones, priests, religious, suffering, dying & other intentions you would like us to pray for in our daily masses, and Holy Hours throughout the Easter Season before Jesus, Our Eucharistic King, Lord and Savior! Please be generous with your donations. Remember us when you receive your tax refund. Gifts of $100.00, $50.00, $25.00, $10.00, or more will help us spread the news about His Eucharistic Presence and Adoration! We need your prayers and financial help more urgently than ever to continue this important ministry! Help us spread Eucharistic Adoration, please be generous. (Visa / MC accepted) M.B.S., P.O. 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