Eucharistic Reflection - O Jesus Hidden God

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

“O Jesus hidden God, I come before You, earnestly imploring that You would enliven my faith so that I may realize what Your Presence on this altar means. I believe with all my heart and soul that You are here, but without Your special grace my faith is dull, and moves me not as it ought to love You. I picture You as You did appear to Your disciples and friends on earth, and I think how sweet it would have been to kneel at Your Sacred feet, to kiss your Sacred hands, to tell You all my wants, my troubles, and my failings. How sweet it would have been even to linger near You, hoping for a look from Your compassionate eyes – one glance from which left Peter heartbroken for his fault against You!

O dear Lord, if my faith were more vivid, I would see that this happiness is virtually mine. I can speak to You here, knowing that You are close to me, that You are looking at me, that You are listening to me, just as You did when among those friends who pressed You here on earth, gaining strength of body and soul from Your gracious Presence.

Help me dear Lord, to address You with same love and confidence as if I really saw You. I know that all my concerns, spiritual and temporal, are of deepest interest to Your loving Heart; and that You are willing and anxious to help and to console me. There is no cross so great that I should not feel relief after speaking of it to You, no annoyance too trivial to be unworthy of Your sympathy. How many difficulties would be cleared away, how many unkind and angry thoughts would vanish, how much slighter my daily troubles and worries would appear, if I would only come and tell You of them. 

Give me, then, Lord, this ardent faith and loving confidence. As St. John, with love-quickened eyes, recognized You through the dim mists of the dawn on the shores of the lake, so may my heart, each time I enter Your Sacred Presence, echo his cry of joy: ‘It is the Lord.’ Thus will Your sanctuary become for me a haven of rest and consolation, where I may gain strength to continue my journey; until the dawn of that happy day, when, purified and sanctified by Your sufferings and merits, I shall joyfully enter Your heavenly kingdom, there to behold forever Your unveiled glory. Amen.”

(From An Hour With Our Savior)