M
Michael_Howard
Guest
I wrote this in under an hour tonight, it just spilled out of me and I did minimal corrections to it. I hope that it speaks to someone.
The Eucharist is an invitation by Jesus Christ Himself for all those who love and adore Him to enter into his passion and his mercy, to completely and intimately share in the life of our Lord and Savior. At the words of consecration the mystery of Christ’s atonement that spans all of time “once and for all” is truly and completely brought before us in the greatest act of grace and beauty the world and the universe will ever know. “This is my body” and “this is my blood”, the Eucharistic supper is an invitation into the heart of mercy and mystery of redemption. Jesus, the healer, gives Himself in this humble sacrament that defies the wisdom of the wise and the rulers of this age, but the childlike heart receives him with great joy!
It was in the this humble way that Jesus first appeared on earth, as a baby born in a filthy manger, the God of the universe born in Bethlehem, *“the house of bread”. *Like the sacred bread on the alter was the infant Jesus in the manger. The church defines the Eucharist as “the source and summit” of our faith and there remains no greater act of worship and love for our Lord than to partake of Him body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.
It remains essential for us as his children to keep our selves pure just as Christ Himself chose a pure vessel in Mary as His entrance into this world. The heart of Christ is greatly wounded and suffers tremendous pain entering into a heart full of sin, this revelation given by the Lord himself to great saints like St. Faustina. Christ in the eucharist is the purest and most humble act of love and contrition, God humbly entrusting himself to us, freely giving himself to us, even to those who abuse his eucharistic presence and who receive him in a shameful manner. Just as he was scourged and beaten he did no cry out but endured the pain, Jesus endured an intensified form of pain that only the purest of love can understand.
He was tortured without mercy, he allowed himself to be humiliated, spat upon, mocked and mistreated. In a sense these acts are *“once again” *committed anew when our Lord is received in a sinful manner, in an uncaring manner. We must be pure creatures, to allow the Spirit of God of search the very depths of our being, the allow the pure love of Christ to enfold us in His mercy.
Christ in the Eucharist is about love, the greatest love, and this love like the rays of blood and water that pour forth from the pierced heart of Christ is available to us now in the hour of mercy that we may be conformed into the image of the Savior, that we may walk and love as he did, that we as His children might offer His mercy to a world constantly being scourged and whipped with hatred, pain, despair and loneliness, echoes of hell itself. This is the “hour of mercy” and Jesus still offers Himself as the merciful savior, but soon he will come as judge, the time of mercy will end, hell will never know mercy, will never receive the tender caresses of the gentle Savior or the gentle winds of the Spirit, all will be lost.
This Sunday is “Divine Mercy Sunday”, a time to make our amends to the Lord for the violence done against him and to his sons and daughters created in his image, to once again let His tender mercy wash us, to cleanse us in his blood and water, on the alter once again he will lay down his life that others may live. Come Lord Jesus!
The Eucharist is an invitation by Jesus Christ Himself for all those who love and adore Him to enter into his passion and his mercy, to completely and intimately share in the life of our Lord and Savior. At the words of consecration the mystery of Christ’s atonement that spans all of time “once and for all” is truly and completely brought before us in the greatest act of grace and beauty the world and the universe will ever know. “This is my body” and “this is my blood”, the Eucharistic supper is an invitation into the heart of mercy and mystery of redemption. Jesus, the healer, gives Himself in this humble sacrament that defies the wisdom of the wise and the rulers of this age, but the childlike heart receives him with great joy!
It was in the this humble way that Jesus first appeared on earth, as a baby born in a filthy manger, the God of the universe born in Bethlehem, *“the house of bread”. *Like the sacred bread on the alter was the infant Jesus in the manger. The church defines the Eucharist as “the source and summit” of our faith and there remains no greater act of worship and love for our Lord than to partake of Him body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.
It remains essential for us as his children to keep our selves pure just as Christ Himself chose a pure vessel in Mary as His entrance into this world. The heart of Christ is greatly wounded and suffers tremendous pain entering into a heart full of sin, this revelation given by the Lord himself to great saints like St. Faustina. Christ in the eucharist is the purest and most humble act of love and contrition, God humbly entrusting himself to us, freely giving himself to us, even to those who abuse his eucharistic presence and who receive him in a shameful manner. Just as he was scourged and beaten he did no cry out but endured the pain, Jesus endured an intensified form of pain that only the purest of love can understand.
He was tortured without mercy, he allowed himself to be humiliated, spat upon, mocked and mistreated. In a sense these acts are *“once again” *committed anew when our Lord is received in a sinful manner, in an uncaring manner. We must be pure creatures, to allow the Spirit of God of search the very depths of our being, the allow the pure love of Christ to enfold us in His mercy.
Christ in the Eucharist is about love, the greatest love, and this love like the rays of blood and water that pour forth from the pierced heart of Christ is available to us now in the hour of mercy that we may be conformed into the image of the Savior, that we may walk and love as he did, that we as His children might offer His mercy to a world constantly being scourged and whipped with hatred, pain, despair and loneliness, echoes of hell itself. This is the “hour of mercy” and Jesus still offers Himself as the merciful savior, but soon he will come as judge, the time of mercy will end, hell will never know mercy, will never receive the tender caresses of the gentle Savior or the gentle winds of the Spirit, all will be lost.
This Sunday is “Divine Mercy Sunday”, a time to make our amends to the Lord for the violence done against him and to his sons and daughters created in his image, to once again let His tender mercy wash us, to cleanse us in his blood and water, on the alter once again he will lay down his life that others may live. Come Lord Jesus!
