Eucharistic Reflection

FOR ONE WHO LOVES

(From Father Mark)

 

When you come into My presence to adore Me, and prefer Me to the other things that solicit your attention and make claims upon your time, I am consoled and glorified.

 

The proof of friendship is the choice of one's friend over all else. I want you to prefer Me, to give Me time that could be given to other persons and things. In so doing, you will show Me your love and offer Me the consolation of a true friendship.

 

I would ask this preferential love of all My priests. Friendship, if it is to thrive, must be practiced. This is as true of friendship with Me as it is of human friendships. I wait for the companionship of My priests.

 

With them I hold My priesthood in common -- and My victimhood. This is what makes the friendship of My priests so precious to My Sacred Heart.

 

With them too I share the purest joy of living in the presence of My Immaculate Mother and of experiencing her maternal care in all the circumstances of priestly life.

Given that friendship is based on treasured things held in common, My friendship with My priests is unlike that with other souls. The more My priests come to Me and linger in My presence, the more can I share with them the secrets and the treasures reserved for them in My Sacred Heart.

 

 

Priests, yes, even My priests, are sometimes fearful of finding themselves silent and alone in My presence. When they come to adore Me and to offer Me the consolation of their company, I do not require that they speak to Me; it is enough that they remain in the radiance of My Eucharistic Face, allowing their hearts to reach out to My Eucharistic Heart.

 

Those who have experienced this movement of the heart to My Eucharistic Heart will know of what I speak. Words are not always necessary. The engagement of the heart, on the other hand, is indispensable.

 

Weariness and fatigue are no obstacle to a fruitful time of adoration. They are incidental; what matters is the desire to seek My Eucharistic Face and to abide in My company.

 

For one who loves, the time in My presence passes quickly, storing up immense treasures of merit for souls. The merits of your adoration I consider as belonging to the neediest and most broken of My priests.

 

You will not see in this life the good done to the souls of My beloved priests by your fidelity to adoration, but in heaven it will be revealed to you, and this revelation will cause you an immense increase of delight in My presence.

 

(From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of a Priest)