Do This in Memory of Me: Be My LOVE

By: Laura Catherine Worhacz

Dearest Eucharistic Family,   
  
 In God’s perfect design, we are given life, the most mysterious gift, formed in love, created for Heaven in faith, and in hope we live. It is not easy to imagine we will all be gone from this place one day, the inevitable reality of our existence. On the way to Heaven, we are called to love. The birth of Jesus Christ into the world and our lives is a present for us to keep, a keepsake is God’s love. Saint Peter Julian in the reflection below describes the intimacy Mary and Joseph had with Jesus. Mary was blessed to follow and to serve Jesus and to prepare herself for suffering.   ​

Here we are on the eve 23 of the beautiful feast of Christmas, a mystery full of sweetness and love. Here, Jesus shows himself more loveable, so to speak, than on Calvary. Enter into the dispositions of the most Blessed Virgin, waiting for the birth of her divine Son. Increase your fervor and love, remain in recollection, and unite yourself to Mary to prepare well the celebration of this beautiful feast, so that you may serve the Lord, as he wants you to serve him. Through the prophets Mary knew how Jesus would be born, all he would suffer in his lifetime, and she prepared herself to serve him as he would want and to follow him everywhere. Imitate Mary in her dedication and her love. (Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Paris, Friday, December 23, 1859)  

Yet another gift is our Church and its formation to help us live in a pattern of prayer. Mary was the first to show us the way to the heart of Christ through her love. The Eucharist, our glorious Lord in the sacred Host as humble as the baby He came to reveal His life on earth, is our greatest treasure. We are blessed to RECEIVE, to LOVE in response, and to further our devotions in Jesus Christ.   

Prayer changes things!  

I have had this little saying by my Blessed Mother statue for years and every time I read the words, they mean something more. They bring a desire to offer a prayer assured God will hear us. In the silence and conversation, we nourish our relationship with God.     
In our prayer, we desire something to happen, birth, life, gift!  

It seems the faithful, the saints and martyrs of our Church followed in imitation of Christ so intensely that their Cross was expected and their time on earth known to be passing. The embrace of every other situation offered up for the gift in knowing it has a purpose, this changes everything, just like prayer changes things. To live knowing the unknown is in God is a comfort and a place to find joy.   

Praying for souls and the sanctification of ours with theirs is a great mission, a gift for JESUS.   

I am currently caretaking my husband. The wound-care dressing change twice daily is something I did not expect to do when my husband first encountered a septic infection. Months later God brought me to this place of total nurturing, a chance to love and put before myself another. In sickness and in health, the promise of our sacrament of matrimony. We can find many “visitations” in our very own homes, and communities. The contemplation of God’s love can be found in “baby things” in a small-scale. Jesus came to show us the way to humility. Our love for others will manifest a stirring of the Holy Spirit in their lives and give a chance to know JESUS is living in us, and a chance to birth Jesus in someone by the love we offer to them at Christmas.   ​

"Mary set out in those days  
and traveled to the hill country in haste  
to a town of Judah,  
where she entered the house of Zechariah  
and greeted Elizabeth.  
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,  
the infant leaped in her womb,  
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,  
cried out in a loud voice and said,  
"Most blessed are you among women,  
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  
And how does this happen to me,  
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,  
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.  
Blessed are you who believed  
that what was spoken to you by the Lord  
would be fulfilled." 
(Luke 1:39-45)
​

Laura Catherine Worhacz

Laura Catherine Worhacz is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament and author of Consecration to Jesus Through Our Lady of The Blessed Sacrament. She is also the director of Mothers of The Blessed Sacrament. She lives in Trinity, FL, with her husband and their two daughters