June 15 Thu
On the Eucharist, St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: It signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”
St. John Chrysostom: “It is not the man who is responsible for what is happening on the altar, as the bread and the wine become Christ’s Body and Blood. It is Christ himself, who was crucified for us. The looks of the standing figure belong to the priest, who speaks these words. The power and the grace belong to God. ‘This is my Body,’ he says. And these words transform the offerings.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe: “If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”
St. John Vianney: “I throw myself at the foot of the tabernacle like a dog at the foot of his master.”
St. Pio of Pietrelcina: “A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly receiving communion and talking to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
St. Josemaria Escriva: “Think of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet are forced to part. They would like to stay together forever, but duty — in one form or another — forces them to separate. They are unable to fulfill their desire of remaining close to each other, so man’s love — which, great as it may be, is limited — seeks a symbolic gesture. People who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a photograph with a dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that piece of paper. They can do no more, because a creature’s power is not so great as its desire.
“What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man, leaves us, not a symbol, but a reality. He himself stays with us. He will go to the Father, but he will also remain among men. He will leave us, not simply a gift that will make us remember him, not an image that becomes blurred with time, like a photograph that soon fades and yellows, and has no meaning except for those who were contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he is really present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity.”