Eucharistic Reflection - He Listens to Everything

"[Jesus] He listened to everything. To the petition made in faith and spoken from the heart by the woman with a hemorrhage, to Zacchaeus, to the blasphemous shouts in the Praetorium, to the triumphant Hosanna, and to the false testimony, to the silent weeping of the penitents and to the evil thoughts of His enemies. He listened to everything!

He continues living in this way in the Tabernacle: listening to everyone and to everything. But there's a big difference between His way of listening and the way man listens. Man is wont to listen only with his ear - sometimes, maybe, with his mind. Jesus in the Tabernacle listens with His ear and with his mind, that is, with understanding. He also listens with His heart because He loves us.

And to think that there are tabernacles where there is no one present to talk to Him. He Who is so good! Immaculate Mother, angels of the Tabernacle, speak to the ear of your Jesus in those tabernacles where there is so much painful silence." 

(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)

 

Book Review - The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle – St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia By Victoria Scheider

The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle – St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia is a must read for every Catholic, especially in these times of Eucharistic Revival, where so few of us still believe Jesus is really, substantially and physically present in the Eucharist.

Thank you to the author, Victoria Schneider, who took the time to translate and make the good Bishop’s words known to the English-speaking world. She has done a great service to all souls.

Bishop Manuel Gonzalez “was outraged by the indifferent attitude towards the Eucharist that he observed in the Church during his lifetime” (1877-1940). “What would he say today?” is the poignant question Father Sean Davidson, MSE poses in the Forward to this book. In the Preface, Father describes both the anguish in the good Bishop’s heart and the purpose of this book:

“Though the Sacred Eucharistic Heart of Jesus trembles with love for us in the tabernacle, our hearts are often indifferent to His love, sadly enough. The heart of Christ is as pierced and rejected today as it was on Calvary two thousand years ago. Love is not loved! The tabernacles are abandoned. St. Manuel would spend himself to correct this injustice. May we all follow his example.”

Restoration of belief in our Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist must be the Catholic Church’s priority.

Contemplating his death and the importance of this effort, Bishop Gonzalez wrote this:

“I ask to be buried next to a tabernacle, so that my bones, after death, as my tongue and my pen during life, can say to those who pass by: Jesus is there! There He is! Do not leave Him abandoned.”

Share this book with friends and family. Let everyone know that Jesus is in every Tabernacle of every Catholic Church! Let us no longer abandon Him! Visit Him! 

Eucharistic Reflection - And The Other Nine?

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

"How sad as well as how impossible it is to count the number of backs that are turned away from Me at every minute! I cannot ask, as I did in the Gospel [when I cured 10 lepers], 'And the other nine?' The number is not nine anymore, but countless! Here, let me say a word of thanks to you. To you who visit Me where no one else comes to visit: In gratitude to you, I allow Myself to be present in many tabernacles.

When you come, then I have somebody to ask: 'Where are the others?'

And to that question that I ask of you, without the sound of words, you answer Me with your love, your reparation, but without words. I hear you speaking to Me with your tears, 'I am here for them'."

(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)

Eucharistic Reflection - Bring The Afflicted To The Tabernacle

“From My tabernacles abandoned by my children, I see so many of them passing by My churches everyday. They don't look at Me but I look at them. I follow them that with My gaze everywhere just in case, by chance, they will turn to look at Me, encountering My gaze.

(Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash)

Poor children! I see in their faces the weariness of carrying the heavy crosses. Even in the faces of those who pass by smiling, I can see the same weariness. The cross is very heavy! The incurable illnesses, lack of economic resources, the burden of debts, the suffering of family members, the torture of slander and false accusations, the passions, the remorse for their sins, and the thousands of difficulties of human life place much weight on such weak shoulders! Poor children! And when I see them pass by so overwhelmed, I say to Myself, ‘If they would see Me! If they could just see Me! How well we would understand each other.’

I would pick up the anxiety of their looks as a prayer, and I would take it to the celestial Father, who always says 'Yes' to Me. Then, how well paid they would be by the look I would give them.

But be careful! I will not always take away the cross that they carry. Their sinful flesh and arrogant spirit need the cross in order to gain My kingdom, which is the kingdom of the humble and purified. But without taking the cross away from them, how I would make it lighter, happier, fruitful and sanctifying. If my weary and overwhelmed children would decide to turn their eyes towards my Tabernacle every morning as they take up again their daily cross, they would receive great encouragement. They would hear, without sounds of words, but with an emphasis that would pierce their souls, My question to them from the Gospel: ‘Are you able…?’ And they would have the strength to reply. ‘We are’ (Mt 20:22).

Adorers, please have compassion toward them and toward Me and bring the afflicted to the Tabernacle.

(From the Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle- St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia)

Eucharistic Reflection - Go To The Tabernacle

"Very often I hear questions coming from wounded priestly and apostolic hearts. These questions are as follows: What can be done to turn those who are Christians merely in name into real Christians? How can we make them live their Christian faith and morals? What can be done to make them come back to a holy and fruitful Christian austerity? In a word, how can we convert this world which after twenty centuries of Christianity is obstinately going back to the most corrupt and degrading paganism?

The answer to these heartfelt questions can be found in one word: Go to the Tabernacle! Priests go to the Tabernacle! Let us draw power from the Tabernacle! Nobody goes to the Father except through His Son, Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do not journey along this Way, this Truth and this Life of God merely by speculative intellectual studies of Jesus, but by living faith in Him, by constant contact with Him in His present state on earth, which is His sacramental state: the Real Presence.

Is there a disoriented piety, coldness in charity, an absence of justice? That means the Eucharist is unknown and untasted. Are there errors, darkness, doubts, ignorance, lack of knowledge? That means that people are not being guided by the sanctuary light of the Tabernacle. It is the most clear and illuminating light of all the lights on earth! Is there spiritual anemia, agony, death, and souls who are wasting away? That means they are poorly fed or poorly ‘digesting’ the Eucharist !”

(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)

Eucharistic Reflection - He Looks At Me

"The Heart of Jesus in the tabernacle looks at me. He looks at me always. He looks at me everywhere. He looks at me as if He doesn't have anyone else to look at but me. Why?

Because He loves me. When two people love each other they yearn to look at each other. Inquire of the mother who, without talking and barely breathing, spends hours next to her son as he sleeps. Why does she do this? She will answer, 'I just want to look at my son.'

Why? Because she loves him with all her heart, and her love prevents her from getting tired of looking at him...

The Heart of Jesus loves us. He loves me and everyone with a love as great as His power, and His power does not have limits! It is an omnipotent love!

Yes, He follows me with His gaze, as my mother would do if she could. Soul, stop for a moment and ponder these words: 'The Heart of Jesus is always looking a me'.

How does He look at me? In the world there are looks of fear, of persecution, of vigilance, of love. How does the Heart of Jesus look at me from His Eucharist?

Above all, I tell you that His look is not that of a judging eye, the eye of Cain, the bad brother. It is not the frightened look, of remorse without hope, or of constant judging. No, that isn't how He looks at me now.

How, then, does He look at me? The Gospel gives me the answer: There are three looks of the Lord. One is a look upon the friends who have never fallen away. Another one is for the friends who are falling or who have just fallen away but who want to rise. The third one is for the ones who have fallen and will not rise because they do not want to."

(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)

Monday Musings - Go There and Receive His Gift For You!

Some very wise advice:

"Believing soul, you can read books that enlighten and give you knowledge; you can look for preachers and counselors who, with their words, can illumine and prepare you for the way of your sanctification. But more than the word or the book of man, search and look for the Word that is just for you. Jesus in your tabernacle has it reserved in His Heart for each circumstance of your life.

Go there to receive His gift for you. Sometimes it will be a word from Sacred Scripture or from the saints that you already know, but it will have a new meaning. Other times it might be a warning, an impulse, a direction, a correction. The only thing you have to do is to say these two words from the depths of your heart: 'Speak, Master'."

(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)