Do this in Memory of Me: Gather With Grateful Hearts

By: Laura Catherine Worhacz

“I can see that the storm is setting its thunder rolling over your head, and that your soul is troubled and discouragement would be quickly at your door if God were not protecting the entrance...Serve our Lord for he has a beautiful Heaven for you; but, Love our good Master because he is gracious and because he has a great love for you, because he created you through love and promised forever the mercy of his love...May the good Lord place a little more trust in your heart!” -  (Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Letter To Countess D’ Andigne, Paris 1864)
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Dearest Eucharistic Family,
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The above text will penetrate our hearts with the depths of God’s love. Knowing we are loved changes everything. Every circumstance of life looked at in the light that we are loved brings forth the comfort and security only a father can give. The one who created us brings us up to the high mountain to reveal the light of Heaven that will radiate our existence now and in the fullness of time.
 
The Eucharist is the only place to find true peace through life’s challenges.
 
We are blessed to gather with grateful hearts around the Altar of God to be fed with eternal hope, a place to live in the mystery. Knowing we are created in love gives us value and comfort through every storm of life. We are close to entering into another desert season of Lent. Keeping our eyes fixed on Heaven will inspire us to keep our hands busy upon the earth; there is so much to be done. Together with the faithful, we share in the mystery; the Body of Christ will be working through the dusting of Lent to the reign of Easter. 
 
So many prayer intentions come to me and the mother’s cenacle through the week. Placing them on the Altar in prayer daily helps submit them to God’s Holy Will. I remember when my husband was terminally ill, it was by the grace of the Eucharist and every intercessory prayer that we were able to live in the grace of the present moment. Gathering with a grateful heart in Church, with the community of believers in prayer, changed everything to God’s glory. I recall some days wanting to go to Mass and not talking to anyone lest I would cry. By putting a prayer request out to dear ones, the burden was immediately lifted, and inner strength came by the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s love lifts us. 
 
As we enter into the Passion of Christ this Lenten Season, we may want to dive into the silence to find a voice that will echo, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7).
 
Perhaps we will hear, “You are my beloved one; hear my voice, my child. Gather around the Altar with grateful hearts. Know that I am with you always until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). Work for the Kingdom of Heaven now by the grace of the Eucharist. Call upon the Holy Spirit to guide you. Take tight hold of your mother’s hand and pray with her. Be with her at the Altar and let her behold you. In good time all will be passed, and the journey behind us, as in a journal of faith.”
 
We are blessed, this side of the heavens, to gather with grateful hearts into the Sanctuary on high. Lest we fall, we remember to rise and call upon the name of the Lord, and then, in a breath, grace will be found, and the terror of the fall will be passed. There is imminent merit in stopping to pray; a simple Hail Mary calls forth power beyond our understanding.
 
Mom, the eternal mother of God, is waiting for us always. She is always readily available to bring us to the heart of the Eucharist, where our spiritual life is revealed in its fullness and peace beyond this world to be found. A Prayer to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament also carries me through the day; finding time to light a blessed candle on my knees helps me rise to every occasion with a grateful heart. By the grace of God, let us strive to bring others to the Altar to receive Jesus’ love so God may protect the doors of their hearts from living in discouragement.    

Prayer to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament

Blessed are you, Mary exalted daughter of Sion! 
You are highly favoured and full of grace, 
for the spirit of God descended upon you. 
We magnify the Lord and rejoice with you 
for the gift of the Word made flesh, 
bread of life, and cup of joy. 
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, 
our model of prayer in the cenacle, 
pray for us that we may become what we receive, 
the body of Christ your Son. Amen

​Grateful to be with you in Christ. 
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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.