​Dearest Eucharistic Family,

One of my favorite images on the walls of my home depicts Saint Ann, our Blessed Mother, Saint John the Baptist, and Jesus (above photo). The imagery of the cousins looking to one another and Jesus with hand raised, seemingly to bless his little loved one, holds the warmth of love. This love gave birth to John the Baptist and empowered him to die, to live for Christ.  

What empowers us to live?
 
Each of us will have a different response, yet rooted in the one source of life, Christ, is the only actual existence that will bring us to eternity. 

John the Baptist preached the truth. His voice was heard loud and clear to bring light into the darkness. He certainly shared in the Cup of Christ's Blood even before it was poured out. He preached for the love of our Messiah. Saint John the Baptist shared an intimacy with Christ and deep-rooted love that led John into the desert of his soul. He lived in the Kingdom of Heaven while on earth and saw nothing for himself as a benefit. All for Christ. He loved Jesus. The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist came to us from activity in the womb of Saint Elizabeth to a dynamism of life in the Spirit, THE HOLY SPIRIT.

We have a purpose in Christ to share in His love. Our baptism births us into the Kingdom of God as His beloved children. We hold the gift to pass on to the generations by teaching our faith, catechizing into the knowledge of everlasting life.
 
In high school, a very dear friend was killed in a car crash; I was about 17 years old, and she was 19. I was asked to sleep over at her home the night of the accident and chose to go home knowing my parents had a curfew for me. In God's mystery of love, it was my friend's time to leave this world. It was and will forever be a cup of suffering for her loved ones. We lost her life in this time and place. However, it held a reason beyond our human understanding. The experience sailed with me forever and will continue; it never left me. I often wondered what I would be if I did not have a fear for my parents. Fear of the Lord is love and sharing in the Cup of suffering through obedience to what is asked of us, true love. Love for our parents and respect holds the same sentiment as our love for our Creator; it is entwined with our love of God.

The suffering, the Cup of Christ’s Blood makes it possible for us to have fortitude in this life. We are living for heaven now in our Eucharistic lives.
 
Saint John the Baptist had no fear except for fear of not loving to the extreme purpose of proclaiming Jesus as Messiah. He lived in the freedom of spirit, hoping to make a difference, to change the wrongs of life into the right way of living. He cried out! He humbled himself, holding to the life he shared from the blessing he received at the Visitation.
John answered and said, 

​Voices proclaiming the Word of God to all we meet may change the life of another.  

What will we be? 
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Witnesses to Christ's love? With the hand of the Lord upon us, strong in the spirit, the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of our dedication to life in Christ will aid us to the Incarnation. 

“May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.”

When we love Jesus and see Him abused in the Blessed Sacrament, how it hurts our hearts! Yet, how often are we tempted to make justice by taking matters into our own hands? How great is the temptation to think we know better how God wants things to go?

The suffering we experience when we see Jesus willingly give Himself on the Cross, and now in the Blessed Sacrament, becomes our offering of love. We offer this in atonement… we suffer with Him for love. For love of Him, and love of others… for He wants His mercy to overflow to all.
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We know we have in Our Blessed Mother the perfect model and example of how to adore God. Let us picture her at the foot of the Cross. That is where we find ourselves when we witness sacrileges, abuses, and all sorts of indignities towards the Blessed Sacrament. We are witnessing the free will offering of the Son. Mary stayed with Him and suffered with Him. In contrast, let us look at what Peter did when Jesus was betrayed by Judas… he took out his sword.

Jesus wants to drink the cup… all the way to the last drop. 

Jesus is not someone who needs us to defend Him. He just wants our love.

This is where we worship Him in Spirit and Truth (cf. John 4:24). It is not the beauty of the building, or the vestments, or the music, but the beauty of a meek and humble heart willingly suffering as an offering with the Son. 

​This coming July 4, it will be the 5th anniversary of the passing of a very dear friend and colleague. His passing from a car accident was a big shock for me, and I still think about it often. Who wakes up in the morning and thinks this is the day someone close to them will die? I am sure it happens to some of us, because we may have someone suffering from ill health. But really, we do not think about the healthy ones being the ones that will go, not the ones "before their time." But what is our time? Is there anything that tells us we are guaranteed a certain amount of time? We do not know either the day or the hour.

​My dear friend taught me many things over the 20+ years I knew him. He was faithful and courageous, always willing to listen and encourage, but also tough and self-assured enough to tell me when I was wrong... and I was wrong a lot. His admonishments and teachings helped turn me around to become a better man, father, husband, and son. Among the many things he said to me, I held on to this one that I will always cherish, "Remember that at the end of the day, it is not necessarily about you, but about what you can do for others; love like this is your last day on earth," and he did love that way.

When I think of Our Lord Jesus, I think of the many things we are to emulate. Our Lord's teachings tell us to embrace love and compassion and reject the things that affect our love and charity, and many things affect our love and charity. When we go out to lash out and spew hate into the world, we do great violence upon our charity. We are, in fact, rejecting Christ's teachings. 

In my youth, I used to be quite an angry person. My friend used to look at me and tell me, "I've done the anger thing. It is not worth your time. Feel it, acknowledge it, let it go, and move on." For many years I did not fully understand the hold anger can keep on our hearts and minds. I thought repressing it was the way to go, but that is not what my friend told me. It is not what Jesus tells us, either. Anger is a feeling, and it is ok to feel it. 

We are to acknowledge our feeling, understand that we are human beings with human faults and frailties, and then move on. We do not stay and live in that feeling. We do not want to entertain negative thoughts and actions that compromise our love and charity, for our anger can and does open the door to sin. With self-awareness and humility, we must go and offer our suffering from these negative emotions and bring them before God for healing. We pray for release from that which chains us, that we may move forward, and that our love and charity be increased. Like my friend used to say, "It is not necessarily about you... Let it go..."
 
I find that going to the Chapel and sitting before Christ Eucharistic helps all my negativism to abate, allowing my anger to melt bit by bit in His presence. I visualize Christ at the Cross and see that injustice... He could have been angered, but instead, He accepted the burden and brought forward His charity: 

To let go of anger requires us to recognize and acknowledge it. From there, and asking for God's help, we can consciously feel it, accept that it is there, and let it go. We earnestly pray that we can move on. We do not want to do great violence to our love and charity but instead embrace these virtues by the way we respond to our feelings in Christ. Let us choose to be more like Jesus...
 
I remember being angry and sad when I found out about my friend's passing. All I could think of was that it was such a waste to lose someone like him, but then I remembered the many things he taught the many and that it was neither about him nor me but about us. My anger turned to gratitude for the time we shared together.
 
I am grateful for the many of you who know and exercise the true charity of Christ. If I may ask you all for a favor, please pray for an increase in love, understanding, and charity. Please pray for the eternal rest of the souls of the many who have passed, that their gifts of charity and love toward us may continue multiplying through the graces of our Lord, forever and ever. Let us be the love of God present here in the now, for tomorrow is not assured.
 
Let us pray: Lord, help us to love more like You. Increase our love, understanding, and charity. Help us repel the spirit of anger so that we may live our lives closer to Your example. Amen.
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