Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Photo©Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used With Permission) "Did you ever consider well, dear Christian soul, that, when the Sacred Host is publicly exposed, Jesus is not on His Eucharistic throne to receive the adorations of the angels and to enjoy the company of the blessed? These He finds in heaven. But He is on His Eucharistic throne to receive your adorations, to listen to your confidences, and to console and alleviate your sorrows and trials. Come, then, and adore that Holy Host. When Jesus is offended everywhere, when His royal dignity is mocked and His sovereignty denied, it behooves noble souls to come and acknowledge publicly that He is our beloved Sovereign and divine King, and that to Him all praise, honor, and glory are due. Come and adore that Host of mercy and peace. Show Him your wounds, tell Him your faults, expose to Him your miseries. You do not insult Him who shed His blood for all the sins of the world, when you tell Him your sins to obtain forgiveness. Whatever their num...

(Image Source: Hands at Mass) "Dear Eucharistic soul: In that hour [of the Last Supper] Jesus thought of you. Have no doubt about it. He thought of you in particular, and had you before His eyes. He understood that, without that small, white, consecrated wafer, which you adore and which you receive every morning, you would feel lonely, very lonely, in your exile here below. He knew that your heart would hunger and thirst for love and be the prey of unmitigated nostalgia for heaven. He knew that on the road through life you would find many a cause for grief and, behind a smiling appearance, would have to conceal many a galling sorrow.  And for your sake, dear soul, lest you be orphaned and without a loyal friend in whose understanding heart you might pour out the overflowing bitterness of your heart, Jesus overlooked all those sacrileges, profanations and ingratitudes and, in that night, instituted the Eucharist for you—understand this well!—just for you. And for your sake He has r...

  "Beloved souls, in suffering and in joy, go to Jesus hidden in the Sacred Host and let the sweetness of His loving gaze fill you. Like the sick who expose their diseased bod ies to the healing rays of the sun, expose miseries, no matter what they are, to the beams of light streaming forth from the Sacred Host." (F rom "The Holy Eucharist" by Jose Guadalupe Trevino)

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) In order to understand what the world of souls would be without the Eucharist, we have only to imagine what the material world would be without the sun that gives it light and life. Without the sun, all things would be wrapped in a dense and unendurable darkness like that of the blind, no seed would ever sprout, no flower would ever bloom, and no fruit would ever ripen.  The Eucharist is the sun of souls. Without it, deprived of light for the spirit and warmth for the heart, souls would promptly lose their vital energy; and the germs of sanctity, the flowers of virtue, and the fruits of perfection would be seared. (From The Holy Eucharist by Father Jose Guadalupe Trevino)

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) Jesus, who knew the human heart so well, could not bear to see us pine [in this valley of tears] till the end of life, without at least a foretaste of heaven. His love for us suffered at the thought of having to delay so long the full and total gift of Himself to us. And so, in order that our exile might be endurable, that we might enjoy already on earth the inebriating perfume of the purity of paradise, that we might begin even in this place of trial to taste the happiness to be found in the possession of God, to satisfy His love and be our consolation, He created an earthly heaven: the Eucharist. (From The Holy Eucharist by Father Jose Guadalupe Trevino)

Photo©Michael Seagriff "He [Jesus] knew that, if He consented to remain alone [in our tabernacles] through the nights, with no more company than the flickering light of a lamp, there would be loving hearts who, rather than allow Him to remain abandoned, would interrupt their sleep, renounce a well-deserved and needed rest, and, like living lamps, illumine many a solitary sanctuary and dissipate the shadows of forgetfulness and abandonment." (From The Holy Eucharist by Father Jose Guadalupe Trevino)