In Last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus continues His teaching on the Eucharist. Holy Communion is a foretaste of Heaven and a guarantee of reaching it.
In the first reading, Isaiah reminds us that the people of Israel were just the first phase of the Lord’s desire to be the God of all nations. For He desires that all be saved. Even in Jesus’ time, in the Temple of Jerusalem there was the Court of the Gentiles. In that court, they could pray and observe, but not participate more closely in worship.
St Paul in the second reading teaches that when a person’s life is coherent with his or her Faith, true wisdom is the result. This then leads one to make the most of one’s time on earth, using every moment and situation to give glory to God.
We should also make up for lost time, by sacrificing when the need arises, present interests, in favour of eternal ones, thereby purchasing eternity with the coin of time (cf. St Augustine, Sermon 16,2).
Time is a treasure that melts away. St Paul warns against drugging oneself with wine, which is dissipation. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit and practice the virtue of temperance, which makes one’s soul sober, modest and understanding. It implies greatness of soul. Continually thank God for Creation, Redemption and Sanctification, offering back to the Lord all his wonderful works by doing the rounds in His Will.
In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that:
if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life within you. ..He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him…..Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.
Jesus stresses very forcefully that it is necessary to receive him in the Blessed Eucharist, in order to share in the divine life and develop the life of grace received in Baptism. So, receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace, gives us an increase of grace and the gift of eternal life. The Eucharist is a pledge of eternal life and a guarantee of the resurrection of the body. Jesus desires us to receive him in Holy Communion because love sighs for, and tends to a union, with the object beloved. The love of God for us is immense and He desires for us to possess him not only in Heaven, but also here below, by the most intimate union under the appearance of bread in the Eucharist. In the same way, as bodily food is necessary for life on earth, Holy Communion is necessary for maintaining the life of the soul. This is why the Church encourages Mass attendance not only on Sundays and Holy Days but on weekdays as well. Holy Communion helps us combat inclinations to evil and helps preserve us from mortal sin. It is like an advance on the life to come. The Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist beats with love for us.
This reminds me of a couple of Eucharistic Miracles (yet to be formally approved). The first one was in Guadalajara, Mexico in July 2022. During Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the Sacred Host in the Monstrance on the Altar began to pulsate. Adorers with mobile phones took videos of the miracle and this phenomenon went on for 20-30 seconds. Doctors later examined the video footage and said the pulsating Host exactly emulated the beating of a human heart.
Then again only last week on the 10th August 2024, this time in Bogato, Columbia, While people were in the Church during Adoration and were praying for peace in Venezuela, suddenly the Sacred Host in the Monstrance started palpitating and this phenomenon lasted for 20 minutes. Some of three hundred Adorers who saw this also took videos on their phones and some of these have now been posted on YouTube.
The frequence of the Eucharistic miracles are to strengthen faith in the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus in the Sacrament of Love. They also remind us that he is always with us, to the highest degree, present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. As He said:
..I am with you always, even to the end of the world (Mt 12:20).
What great love, humility and purity we should have when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. The Eucharistic miracles also remind us that when we come before Him in adoration, we come before the beating Sacred Heart of our Savior. Let’s hunger for Jesus in Holy Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration and ask Him to give us the strength to travel with human and supernatural dignity along our way upon this earth, our eyes fixed firmly on Heaven. Praise be Jesus, truly present in the Sacrament of Love.