ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
By: Ivonne J. Hernandez
We never know when or how God is going to lift the veil and make Himself known to us… but when He does, the memory is etched forever in our soul. The year was 1998 (as best I can recall). We had just moved to a new city. I was staying home with two young boys and did not know anyone. I saw an announcement on the parish’s bulletin about a prayer group meeting that week, so, desperate for some friends, I decided to go. I walked into the chapel and sat in one of the pews up front. I don’t remember much about the meeting, other than a woman was singing and she had a beautiful voice. I remember I closed my eyes to listen when something started to fill me up. I remember this sense of peace and joy overtaking me, and my mouth, involuntarily, turned into a smile. As I left that night and went back home, I could not wipe the silly grin from my face. When I arrived home, Rick asked me why I was smiling like that, and I don’t remember what I said… I think I tried to explain, but I couldn’t find the words. I just remember feeling like I was on a cloud, and it lasted for about three days. When the feeling wore off, I was determined to find it again, and so my search began. I would spend the next few years searching, seeking, for that fragrance; I knew I was searching for God.
This encounter with the Holy Spirit was a pivotal moment in my relationship with God. Experiencing Love Personified changes you forever. Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom… The Spirit of Truth, being welcomed, makes Himself known in your soul. A longing, a thirst, a hunger develops and grows. It leads from within. It wakes up the conscience… you become aware of the battle for your soul.
The Holy Spirit is not a bird, is not fire, is not water… He is a Person; He is God.
The Holy Spirit had always been with me, but I did not know Him. It was that same Spirit who led me to that little Chapel, for it was there, by the light of the Tabernacle, where He wanted to reveal to me His glory, so that, when that memory resurfaced, it would have a name, a place, a sound, a smell… it was a tangible experience of the Presence of God.
That evening back in 1998, I entered that little chapel looking for friendship and left filled with the Spirit of God. A group of pilgrims welcomed me, a stranger, and allowed me to find my way home.
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Often, when I am in Adoration at the Chapel, I feel small, young, malleable, open... I often get transported in memory to my childhood, when I would offer my help and presence to whoever needed it. I could only help a little, for I was little, but it was a true offer of self to the best of my abilities at the time. Yet, that little help could make a difference to someone. Even In the smallness of the offering, there was purity of intent, as it was given without expectation. I see that same smallness in the Host, in which I see Christ in all His Glory, yet hidden to those of us who only attempt to see with our eyes. In the hidden reality, the humble Host is neither little nor small. It is the King of Mercy disguised as bread, offering the fullness of his love and help to us, and with an even greater purity of intent than the child I remember.
Throughout life, we continue to grow, and even in our simplicity, we reach higher tiers of life. We are called to grow bolder in love, hope, and faith and gain greater knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. That wisdom which we glean from our Eucharistic life tells us that we are indeed small and that if we just embrace this, we can grow in humility and selflessness in imitation of Christ. Oh, that we may do all little things with great love, pure offerings to the Eucharistic King!
That smallness and simplicity in the almost routine things we do with love guide our steps, traversing slowly but surely on the way to Heaven.
I am given a glimpse of Heaven whenever my children do these small kind things, giving of themselves to others without expectation and with great love. I grow thankful to Our Lord for this gift of recognition when I see His guiding hand act upon my loved ones, littleness giving back the gift of great love... which is not so little at all, for love of God and neighbor reigns supreme over all virtues.
In my heart, often, while witnessing the routine and the mundane, I feel the hand of God operating freely in my life, His love and peace showing the way… I look up at my wall and at the Crucifix that adorns it…
At every Mass, during the moment of consecration, there is a Cross and a Host... The Cross reminds us how much Jesus loved us then… The Host reminds us how much he loves us now... today… Death and life, sacrifice and gift, sacrificial love and nurturing gift... then and now, and for all time, even beyond time.
How can we not adore Him who humbled Himself this way for us? How can we not accept this gift given to us as nourishment for the journey home?
Let us make God’s Love our vocation so that His Love may be shown to the world through our actions in life. Let us pray for vocations to the Priesthood that we may continue to celebrate the humility of Christ and His smallness in the Host, in the greatness of the Eucharist. May we learn to live Christ’s example, that in our simpleness and smallness, with love and humility, we may live our thanksgiving fully, while we continue our journey home to Heaven. Let us pray: Lord of all Creation, please help us to understand the importance of our every single task, that in the humility of daily living, we may lovingly offer you our simple, small, and humble efforts, that our vocation of love may be a good imitation of Your never-ending Love. Amen.
By: Laura Catherine Worhacz
Dearest Eucharistic Family, Incredible reflection from Saint Peter Julian, Christ, “personified in us, he makes us participants of the divine fruits of Redemption.” Jesus’ gift is to make us fully human by the divine life within. How do we find the Divine Life within? The desire to love will help us find the way to the Divine through our vocation and service to the Church. When my daily Mass participation began, I had a burning desire to read and read, to learn and educate myself in the life of our Church. It is interesting that immediately, my apostolic life kept me busy in our Lord. The more I received the Eucharist, the more my desire to serve was enhanced. Jesus led me to “the unique purpose of His Incarnation.” We are the happiest even now through our conformity to Jesus Christ. Serving our families, those in our communities, and all God has entrusted to us makes us fully human. Caring for others and sharing by our identification conforms us to Christ. To humble ourselves in the Sacrament of Reconciliation conforms us to Christ. To forgive as we have been forgiven conforms us to Christ. To live in Mary’s heart conforms us to Christ. Letting go of the world conforms us to Christ to live in Jesus’ love, which will come from our union with Him. In our desire, consent, and participation in the great mystery of the Cross and Resurrection, we have the blessings as Catholics to RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION. Our conforming to Christ can only come by Him as we are purified into His existence, a life-long process. We can remain in Jesus’ love by the living Word, following all He has commanded of us, and by loving as He has loved, placing others before ourselves, and washing the feet of another. Jesus said to his disciples:
In John’s Gospel 15:18-21, Jesus speaks of the world’s hate and even the world hating him first. Jesus has called us out of the world to be in His love; the world may not know us, for it does not know what it is to conform to in the gift of love. To exemplify Christ’s passion is to do what He has commanded us to do, “to love one another.”
Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, is the surest way for us to follow the Lord Jesus on our pathway of life. In the hymn Immaculate Mary, “And bless, HOLY MARY, THE LAND OF OUR BIRTH.” The land of our birth, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary, birthed Christ into the world to save us from ourselves, from our sins. In Mary’s “Yes,” we may imitate and find our own “FIAT” to God’s will for us, to help us be imitators of Jesus Christ and in conformity with Him, will lead us to everlasting life. It will be upon our day of judgment that we will find the “gage of our happiness in heaven” to be among the angels and saints and all those who have gone before us. In John 15:18-21, Jesus said to his disciples:
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AuthorsWe are Ivonne J. Hernandez, Rick Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, Lay Associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and brothers and sisters in Christ. |