Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with them and their followers . Draw Near! (Originally posted on January 1, 2019) "...draw near to this great Mystery, to your Lord and Savior in the most Blessed Sacrament. Imitate the Saints who laid before the Sacramental Throne all their cares of body and soul, all their desires and petitions, all their hopes and fears. Each time they did so, they received help and grace in richest measure. By renewed fervor, show that you appreciate our Savior's excess of love! Show it by visiting Him frequently and keeping Him company in adoration, thanksgiving, love and petition. Say not that you have no time. Place your hand on your heart and answer truly: Can you not sacrifice one short quarter of an hour for your Lord and God? Suppose, however, you are really unable to do so; you can...

"Whoever disregards this wonderful Gift of God [the Holy Eucharist] forgets and ignores the fact that, in the Tabernacle, the same God is present who once in human form walked upon earth and brought to us glad tidings of salvation, who comforted the sorrowing, healed the sick and raised the dead to life. The white Host conceals the God who once lay in the crib. From the altar, that Divine eye looks upon us whose look on the Day of Judgment will fill the blessed with delight and strike terror into the wicked. (Photo©Michael Seagriff) God, by an act of purest, most glowing love, has given us the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. One who loves naturally expects a return of love. Our Savior loves immeasurably, and from the 'Memorial of all His wonderful works of love'- the Blessed Sacrament - He unceasingly calls out, 'Come! See how much I love you!' And what does He ask of us? Only a return of love ! 'My son, give me your heart!' (Proverbs 23:26)...

"...draw near to this great Mystery, to your Lord and Savior in the most Blessed Sacrament. Imitate the Saints who laid before the Sacramental Throne all their cares of body and soul, all their desires and petitions, all their hopes and fears. Each time they did so, they received help and grace in richest measure. By renewed fervor, show that you appreciate our Savior's excess of love! Show it by visiting Him frequently and keeping Him company in adoration, thanksgiving, love and petition. Say not that you have no time. Place your hand on your heart and answer truly: Can you not sacrifice one short quarter of an hour for your Lord and God? Suppose, however, you are really unable to do so; you can at least dedicate all your prayers and works to our Eucharistic God in the morning, and during the day make frequent acts of adoration by directing your mind to the Tabernacle. 'Think of Me and I will think of thee,' said Our Lord to St. Catherine of Siena."...

Souls who are well grounded in faith on earth should bear a close resemblance to the Blessed in Heaven. What the blessed in Heaven behold unveiled, the same we will behold on earth in the light of faith, if we are penetrated with a lively sense of the presence of God. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Lack of a lively faith in the Holy Eucharist is the reason why lukewarm Catholics lose their faith and turn their backs upon the Church. We shall never be able to lead a spiritual life and attain  to familiarity with God, nor draw abundant fruits from Holy Communion, if the virtue of faith is wanting. And alas, how many are lacking in a firm, lively faith!  O Faith, thou marvelous virtue! O sublime virtue, how little are thou known! Oh, let us pray for a most fervent, lively faith! Then will the Holy Eucharist be our life and our All, and our souls will be enriched with heavenly treasures. The just man lives by faith. Experience has  proved that lukewarmness ...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "Streams of graces and blessings flow from the living and personal presence of our Divine Savior in the holy Tabernacle into the hearts of those who approach Him with humility and confidence...Never does a soul that is penetrated with a lively faith approach Jesus and go away without being enriched. If we ourselves did not sow many weeds in the garden of our soul, He would soon have it covered with the treasures of grace...Nothing, not even the sense of our unworthiness and sinfulness, should deter us from appearing before Him: Yea, the poorer we are, the more often should we hasten to the Divine Treasury that we may become enriched. The weaker we are, the more frequently should we approach the Divine Fountain of Grace, that we may be revived and strengthened.   Here, in the holy Tabernacle, is the wonderful pool of Bethsaida , that is, the 'house of mercy' or 'place of healing,' in which the Divine waters of grace are c...

Were our Savior not present in His Adorable Sacrament, where could we find Him? In His Holy Scriptures? Yes, but in these He speaks from afar, and the past cannot satisfy us. Contemplating Him in His glory in Heaven would but increase our longing. We cannot live on meditation and desires alone. But, oh, mercy and love of our Savior! He foresaw all this and for that reason instituted this Miracle of Love, the Holy Eucharist. (Image Source - Wikimedia Commons ) When Jesus gives Himself to us in this Sacrament, we possess Him as holy Simeon did when he held Him as an infant in his arms; as Magdalen did when she caressed and kissed His feet; as St. John did when he reposed on His Heart. Jesus has unweariedly followed us from the Crib to Calvary; from Calvary to the Tabernacle; from the Tabernacle to the hands of the priest; from the hands of the pries to our heart. (Father Lukas Etlin, O.S.B. from The Holy Eucharist - Our All )

In the first ages of the Church, as Justin, Tertullian and other spiritual writers relate, the faithful were permitted to take the Sacred Hosts with them to their homes, so that if captured for martyrdom, they might yet communicate. Even on their journeys these faithful Christians did not wish to be separated from their Lord, and for this reason they carried the Holy Eucharist with them, so that although far from a priest or church, they could still venerate the Blessed Sacrament. (Photo©Michael Seagriff) Interesting anecdotes could be mentioned of the hermits who took the Holy Eucharist with them into the desert. And nowadays, alas, so many Christians who live near the church do not find a moment's time to pay a visit to their Lord! But they have plenty of leisure for worldly visits, for useless conversations or harmful reading. To them apply the words which St. John Chrysostom addressed to his people. 'What excuse shall we have, or how shall we obtain pardo...