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We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our salvation, our life and our resurrection;
through Him we are saved and made free (Gal 6:14).
Love, which becomes visible in the mystery of the Cross presented anew in every celebration of the Eucharist, lays the foundations of our capacity to love and to make a gift of ourselves (cf. Haurietis Aquas, No. 69), becoming instruments in Christ's hands: Only in this way can we be credible proclaimers of his love (Pope Benedict XVI, Letter on the 50th Anniversary of Haurietis Aquas, May 15, 2006).
Behold, behold the glorious wood
Upon which hung our only good;
It bore him up in offering,
The Lamb whose praise the angels sing.
Behold against the black of night,
The doorway to eternal light
Stands open now: the narrow way
Invites us in to endless day.
All glory be to Him who died,
All honor to the Crucified,
Who lives and reigns eternally,
With Father, Spirit: One in Three (Hymn).
Because of His awesome love for us, Jesus chose to give up His life on the cross for us. His offering gave us His Eucharistic Presence! Through His glorious sacrifice He remains with us Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist at every Sacrifice of the Mass, in every Consecrated Host, in every Tabernacle, in every Catholic Church throughout the world! There He awaits our presence day and night, night and day. He yearns to be with us, to comfort, console and cradle us in His Sacred Eucharistic Heart. Jesus is our most attentive soul mate, our best friend, our life, our salvation and resurrection; through Him we are saved and made free!
Christians should be aware that they are not following a character from past history, but the living Christ, present in the today and the now of their lives. ... The encounter with Christ in the Eucharist calls forth a commitment to evangelization and an impulse towards solidarity; it awakens in the Christian a strong desire to proclaim the Gospel and to bear witness to it in the world so as to build a more just and humane society. . . . Only from the Eucharist will the civilization of love spring forth (Pope Benedict XVI, May 13, 2007).
Adoration outside Holy Mass prolongs and intensifies what has taken place in the liturgical celebration and makes a true and profound reception of Christ possible. I . . . warmly recommend, to Pastors and to all the faithful, the practice of Eucharistic adoration (Pope Benedict XVI, June 10, 2007).
My dear young friends, if you take part frequently in the Eucharistic celebration, if you dedicate some of your time to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Source of love which is the Eucharist, you will acquire that joyful determination to dedicate your lives to following the Gospel. At the same time it will be your experience that whenever our strength is not enough, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us, filling us with His strength and making us witnesses suffused by the missionary fervour of the risen Christ (Pope Benedict XVI, World Youth Day 2008 Message).
The Eucharist, The Rosary and Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan
Our Lady of Fatima's last apparition, witnessed by 70,000 people, occurred on October l3th, 1917, culminating with the Miracle of the Sun! This miracle was a manifestation of the great love, mercy and glory of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist! Our Blessed Mother said, I am the Lady of the Rosary, and I desire a chapel built in my honor in this place. During the course of her six apparitions, Our Lady asked that we go to confession, frequently receive and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, daily pray the Rosary, and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. In this her last visit, she was with St. Joseph who held the Christ Child in his arms, as he blessed everyone stressing the importance of invoking his intercession. Mary was dressed as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, wearing the brown scapular, highlighting its importance as a sacramental. Our Lady of Fatima promised My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God. If people do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. My Immaculate Heart will triumph.
All the supreme teachers, the popes, have been unanimous in proclaiming that the devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Rosary are the hope and salvation of the world in our evil and dangerous era. They have endeavored, by word and example, to bring the faithful more closely to Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady's Rosary (The Eucharist and the Rosary: The Power to Change the World, by Louis Kaczmarek).
Start Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in your parish and community today!
The Holy Eucharist is a great means through which to aspire to perfection. (St.Padre Pio)
St. Padre Pio's Reflection From the Book Send Me Your Guardian Angel
Padre Pio had a very special and intimate relationship with his guardian angel throughout his entire earthly life. He instructed his numerous spiritual children Send me your guardian angel. In a letter to one of his spiritual daughters he encourages her not to forget her Guardian Angel:
Oh Raffaelina, what a consolation it is to know one is always in the care of a celestial spirit, who does not abandon us (how admirable) even when we disgust God! How sweet is this great truth for the believer! Who, then, does the devout soul fear who tries to love Jesus, having always close by such a great warrior? Oh, was he not one of the many who, together with the Archangel Michael, defended the honour of God against Satan and against all the other rebellious spirits, and finally reduced them to perdition and bound them in hell?
Well, know that he is still powerful against Satan and his satellites; his charity has not diminished, nor will he ever fail in defending us. Develop the beautiful habit of always thinking of him; that near us is a celestial spirit, who, from the cradle to the tomb, does not leave us for an instant; guides us, protects us as a friend, a brother; will always be a consolation to us especially in our saddest moments.
Know, Raffaelina, that this good Angel prays for you; offers to God all the good words you accomplish; your holy and pure desires. In the hours when you seem to be alone and abandoned, do not complain of not having a friendly soul to whom you can unburden yourself and in whom you can confide your sorrows. For pity's sake, do not forget this invisible companion, always present to listen to you; always ready to console you.
Oh, delicious intimacy, oh blessed company! Oh if all men could understand this great gift that God, in His excess of love for man, assigned to us this celestial spirit. Often remember his presence; you must fix the eyes of your soul on him; thank him; pray to him; he is so refined, so sensitive. Respect him; be in constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze.
Invoke often this Guardian Angel, this benevolent Angel and repeat the beautiful prayer: Oh Angel of God . . . What will be, oh my dear Raffaelina, the consolation when, at the moment of death, your soul will see this Angel, so good, who accompanied you through life and was so liberal in maternal care (Letters I No. 64).
Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Missionary, Sister, (1910-1997), Macedonia died Sept. 5
Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the heroic and active charity of Blessed Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity, who in the poorest of the poor loved Christ, received and contemplated each day in the consecrated Host (September 26, 2005).
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sept. 8
Lord, may your Church, renewed in this Holy Eucharist, be filled with joy at the birth of the Virgin Mary, who brought the dawn of hope and salvation to the world (Communion Prayer).
Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sept. 12 Blessed be the name of Mary!
St. John Chrysostom, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, (344-407), Syria Sept. 13
This Fountain [of the Holy Eucharist] is a fountain of light, shedding abundant rays of truth. And beside it the angelic powers from on high have taken their stand, gazing on the beauty of its streams, since they perceive more clearly than we the power of what lies before us and its unapproachable dazzling rays (St. John Chrysostom).
The Exaltation of the Holy CrossSept. 14
To attract souls and transform them into Himself through love, Christ has revealed His own infinite love, His own Heart inflamed by love for souls, a love that impelled Him to mount the Cross, to remain with us in the Eucharist and to enter our souls and to leave us in testament His own Mother as our Mother (St. Maximilian Kolbe).
Our Lady of Sorrows Sept. 15: Behold your Mother! (Jn 19:27)
Your role before the tabernacle [is to be]: living lamps before Jesus in the Eucharist . . . handmaids of honor of the tabernacle and of its Divine Dweller; angels of the Eucharist who receive and who give; souls who hunger and thirst for the bread of the Eucharist and the water of His grace; hearts that share with their Spouse in the Eucharist His desires, His goals, His self-sacrifice for all . . .; the intimate confidantes of Jesus in the Host, listening to His every word of life and meditating on it in your heart, as Mary did (Bl. James Alberione).
St. Robert Bellarmine, Priest, Cardinal, Jesuit Theologian, (1542-1621), Italy Sept. 17
St. Robert Bellarmine visited Jesus in the Eucharist several times daily while a youth in school. When the reception of our Lord in the Eucharist was under attack he wrote, If the Eucharist be nothing but bread, why has it always been worshipped with such great reverence? Surely the water of baptism, which is so intimately connected with the Holy Ghost, merits greater honour than a piece of bread, which is merely a figure of Our Lord's Body. Yet who ever heard of that water being preserved in golden vessels or invoked or adored? And when were catechumens ever forbidden to look at it, as they were forbidden to look at the Eucharist? (St. Robert).
St. Vincent De Paul, Priest, Servant, (1581-1660), France Sept. 27
Patron of Charitable Societies, St. Vincent, spent his life working to help all who were in need. His zeal was fueled by his intimate union with our Eucharistic Lord. St. Vincent founded groups of priests, religious and laity to care for the poor, sick, aged and orphaned.
Feast of Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Saints Sept. 29
O all ye holy angels, who, by your adoration in our churches, make up for the little love which
your God and our Saviour receives from men, obtain for us the grace to comprehend a little the love of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament (St. Margaret Mary).
St. Therese of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Ptn. of Missionaries, (1873-1897), France Oct. 1
O supreme mystery, Heaven hides in humble bread, for Heaven is Jesus Himself, coming to us each morning. Being consumed near my God in the sanctuary, I would like to burn forever with mystery like the Lamp of the Holy Place . . . . Oh! what happiness . . . I have flames within me,and each day I can win a great number of souls for Jesus, inflaming them with His love (St. Therese of Lisieux).
Guardian Angels Oct. 2
The angel of the Lord is encamped around those who revere Him, to rescue them (Ps 34:8).
St. Francis of Assisi, Deacon, Franciscan Founder, Stigmatist (c. 1181-1226), Italy Oct. 4
[St.] Francis was truly enamoured of Jesus. He met Him in the Word of God, in his fellow man, in nature, but above all in His presence in the Eucharist (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Young People in Assisi, June 17, 2007).
Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher, Religious and Founder, (1811-1849), Canada Oct. 6
Devoted to Jesus Eucharistic and Our Lady, Bl. Marie-Rose delighted in decorating the altar.
Respect Life Sunday Oct. 7
Let us pray before our Eucharistic Lord that all people will be moved to always reverence and respect the gift of human life from natural conception to natural death.
Ann. Our Lady's Apparition at Fatima & the Miracle of the Sun (1917) Oct. 13
On this anniversary Our Blessed Mother appeared with St. Joseph and the Christ Child and said I am the Lady of the Rosary and I desire a chapel built. Our Lady said to go to her Son in the Eucharist and to pray the Rosary daily for the salvation of souls and for world peace.
St. Teresa of Avila, Carmelite Nun, Reformer, Mystic (1515-1582), Spain Oct. 15
St. Teresa opened many monasteries and wrote several books. I felt a great dislike to journeys, especially when they were long. But once I had started, I thought nothing of them, thinking of Him for Whose service they were undertaken and remembering that Our Lord would be praised and the most Holy Sacrament would dwell in the house I was going to found (St. Teresa).
St. Gerard Majella, Religious, Patron of Expectant Mothers (1726-1755), Italy Oct. 16
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, said his mother of St. Gerard after his death. He is known for his great devotion to the Eucharist and miracles.
St. Margaret Mary, Apostle of the Sacred Heart (1647-1690), France Oct. 16
When we pray before the Blessed Sacrament, we should often take time to think about how much Jesus loves us and suffered for us. Jesus holy passion and death should fill us with joy and wisdom to help us love as He did (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Successor of St. Peter, Bishop and Martyr, (c.107), Syria Oct. 17
Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth] the unity of His blood (St. Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians, Ch 4).
Sts. Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf & Companions, Jesuit Martyrs, France Oct. 19
Before coming to bring the faith to North America, St. Isaac Jogues prostrate himself before the Blessed Sacrament and asked our Lord to accept his life as an offering. St. Isaac Jogues and his companions drew their strength from the Holy Eucharist to be faithful witnesses unto death.
St. Paul of the Cross, Priest, Passionist Founder, (1694-1775), Italy Oct. 19
Visit the Blessed Sacrament often; there is your true life (St. Paul of the Cross).
St. Anthony Mary Claret, Missionary Priest, Founder (1807-1870), Spain Oct. 24
Humility, obedience, meekness, and love are the virtues that shine through the Cross and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. O my Jesus, help me imitate you! (St. Anthony Mary Claret).
St. Jude Thaddeus, Apostle, Martyr, Patron of Impossible Cases (d. 67) Oct. 28
Good St. Jude, help of the hopeless, forgotten apostle, please intercede for me before the face of God. Please pray for me to go to Him and seek His presence in my times of need. Amen.
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