Eucharistic Reflection - Does Jesus Live Within You?

“The holy Gospels tell us again and again that while the Savior was visibly with us on earth He healed the sick by His mere passing by; and with an only word He raised the dead to life. If such were His active goodness then – and who would venture even to think of doubting it? – what works of charity must He do now, in His Eucharistic life! Oh, He does not merely pass before me now, He does not only speak to me – nay, He actually enters under my roof and transforms me into Himself. 

It is not enough for Jesus to increase in me the life of grace in Holy Communion. No; He gives me even His own life. And so it appears that it is no longer I that live, but Jesus that lives within me. And therefore, it is that in the eyes of God every action of mine appears clothed in all the beauty and adorned with all the worth of the actions of Jesus. 

Hence, if my Communion is truly holy and worthy, if Jesus does not find in me the obstacle of sin, He, in a certain sense, deifies me and all my works…then everything – even things that would otherwise have no value whatsoever – become of infinite and supernatural value within me, thanks to Holy Communion. So for instance, my recreations, my work become the recreations and the work of Jesus; the breath I take at rest and in toil becomes the breath of Jesus. When I come and go, Jesus comes and goes; when I sit at table, Jesus sits at table. In short, no matter what I do it is Jesus who does it.

Oh, what a consoling thought this is! I can lead a humble life, a life hidden from the eyes of men, unknown, apparently useless, even despised; and at the same time I may rest assured that it is the opposite in the eyes of the omnipotent God, that it is holy and, therefore, most useful and abounding in the blessings for the whole human race – for Jesus lives in me! What greatness! What honor! What a consolation for the poor and despised!...The trouble is that I do not sufficiently realize this, I do not think of it. But is nevertheless true…” 

(EucharisticWhisperings, Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S)