Eucharistic Reflection - He Is With Us

(St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, NYC)

"Once again we are in Advent, which reminds us vividly, beautifully of Christ's first Advent in time. Even while He is coming, He is also with us now in many ways. He is with us in the Tabernacle. Incredible love that He is, He could not separate Himself from us. He also walks among us and all his priests. Through their hands, He multiplies Himself in the hosts so that they can feed us with the Bread of Life – Himself. How immense must be His love for us.

Think for a moment. Allow a few moments of silence to interrupt your reading of this page. Try to comprehend the lavishness of God's love for us. Daily millions of Hosts are given in Holy Communion to the faithful throughout the world. And each Host is Christ, coming in tremendous love to be united to each and all. Think about it now!

Let every day be the day of beginning again of loving Christ a little more, of hungering for Him a little more, of turning our face to Him. To accomplish this, all we need to do is to look at the person next to us. We must never forget that we shall be judged on love alone. And there is only one way to love God and “prove it” to Him: by loving our “neighbor,” the person next to us in any given moment.

I repeat, turning our face and heart to Christ simply means turning to the one who is next to us at this particular moment in our life. If we do that, dearly beloved, we shall be saints."

(Servant of God Catherine de Heuck Doherty from Donkey, Bells, Advent and Christmas)