Eucharistic Reflection - Jesus Is Love

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“Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love”

"These words were addressed to us by our [late] Holy Father [Saint] Pope John Paul II in his first letter entitled On the Mystery and Worship of the Holy Eucharist, April 1980. In speaking of the aim of what the Pope called ‘authentic renewal’ intended by Vatican II, he said, ‘The church and the world have a great need of Eucharistic Adoration. Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration, and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease.’

Jesus waits for us to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament with the same enthusiasm with which the father in the parable of the prodigal son waited for his child to return home: ‘But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him…’

This is the divine enthusiasm which welcomes us in the Blessed Sacrament. No matter if we are the greatest saint or the greatest sinner on earth, Jesus welcomes us with all the divine yearning of His Sacred Heart. Here He gives us a thousand kisses of His grace and mercy. Here He puts a robe of glory on us. For each holy hour we make will leave our soul everlastingly more beautiful in Heaven because Jesus bathes our soul in his own glory for every moment we spend in His Eucharistic Presence. He remains hidden in the Blessed Sacrament because He asks us to come to Him in faith. He strips Himself of glory in order to bathe us with His glory. The ring He puts on our finger is the bond of a deepened friendship with Him. Each holy hour we make increases our union with Him and deepens the personal relationship we have with our Savior. The sandals on our feet are the wisdom and strength which He gives us in this Sacrament to pick up our cross daily and follow in the path of His holy will. The feast is the rejoicing of the angels and saints because you responded to our Lord's call to show your appreciation for the gift of His total Presence in His holy Sacrament where day and night He waits for us to visit Him because His delight is to dwell with the children of men. No matter how alive we are with sanctifying grace, Jesus gives us an influx of His life when we come into His Eucharistic Presence and this life is the life of love that is the very life of the Holy Trinity.

Seldom will we feel all these consolations of our Lord because He wants us to love the God of consolations more than the consolations of God. But in faith He wants us to know, believe and rejoice in the truth of His infinite generosity and excessive love manifested for each of us personally in the Blessed Sacrament…The church teaches us through the documents of Vatican II that ‘the Eucharist contains the greatest love on earth and all the love of Heaven. The Eucharist is Jesus and Jesus is love’.”

 (From Come to Me in the Blessed Sacrament)