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By: Laura Worhacz Mary the Dispensatrix of Eucharistic Graces While the Apostles went to preach the Gospel, thou didst remain close to the tabernacle, supplicating for them the goodness of the Savior, and thy prayer obtained for them the grace to convert the world! (Novena to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament day nine) Dearest Eucharistic Family, The Assumption of Mary and the Coronation of Our Lady are intense mysteries of the holy rosary. This Saturday falls in between these two glorious days. Mary is our mother and assumes an intimate interest in our lives. She identifies with our miseries; she takes with her to Heaven all our needs, joys and sorrows. All that we have, all that we offer, is given to Mary as the Dispensatrix of all graces. Mary is overlooking the world as our good mother. She is enlightened to the needs of all. My second child was conceived on the Assumption of Mary. This day holds for me the reality of the creator of all life blessing me with the gift of pregnancy. So it is with our prayers; they are carried by God, given to birth in His “due” time. The power of prayer taps on the cloak of Jesus, He who holds the keys to the kingdom and Eucharistic graces. I recall the time when my family moved to Florida and I was agonizing saying, “O Lord, where am I?” It was quite a few years before I was truly adjusted to the change of living in a new state. I remember praying in front of the statue of the Assumption of Mary that my husband gave me as a reminder of my daughter’s life, shedding a few tears. Peace came over me in the realization that our suffering is assumed with Mary and a crown of glory is being prepared through our purification. St. Peter Julian reminds us that Heaven exists now in the Eucharist. It is true. I think of the Eucharistic family that was already here in the midst of my move. Mary saw where I was, “O Lord, where am I?” She let me enter the view from the Heavenly banquet. I am forever grateful to where the Lord has taken me and the people that I have been blessed to meet. Prayer changes things according to God’s plans. In our prayer we hope, in our prayer we long. We can depend on God, and the confidence in this transforms our existence. Our prayer can obtain the grace to convert the world. Let us help one another remember the power of prayer, the gift it is to offer prayer, and Mary, the Dispensatrix of all graces gathered for Jesus.
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By: Ivonne J. Hernandez  I was checking my Facebook account this week, when I came upon a post that really touched my heart. It was a picture of a little girl sitting on the living room floor of her house, staring at the front door. The caption read: “This is what Vivian does as soon as I tell her Carolyn is coming over. She sits and waits… anxiously and with excitement. I love this. I love watching how they hug the minute the door opens.” I immediately thought, this is probably what Jesus meant when He said, “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival” (Lk 12:37). He wants us waiting for Him, waiting with love. “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:30). When I think of this little girl waiting, not only do I think of the innocence of a child, but I also think of Our Lady. Little Vivian trusted that the words spoken to her were true, and she waited anxiously and with excitement. We know of another young lady, who believed the words an angel spoke to her, and she eagerly waited. “Blessed is she who believed” (Lk 1:45). One of the closing prayers of the Rosary says: "O, God, Whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen." This week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We remember that Our Mother is indeed in Heaven, and she is anxiously and with excitement waiting for us to join her and her Son. We look to her childlike trust in the Father and ask for the grace to imitate her. We ask Mary, Seat of Wisdom, teach us the wisdom of love.
By: Laura Worhacz “Oh, what sighs, what prayers for the Eucharistic reign of Jesus issued from Mary’s heart in the Cenacle! The Eucharist spreading and the love of Jesus triumphing everywhere. At last, Jesus will be loved, His Eucharist will find everywhere sympathetic hearts; Its fire will envelop the world and by so doing will completely renew it.” - St. Peter Julian Eymard, (Library Volume 7, page 144) Dearest Eucharistic Family, Yesterday was a very special day to the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, the memorial of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, a feast day for the congregation. In thanksgiving I was reminiscing about my encounter with this holy priest, saint of our Catholic Church and intense lover of the Eucharist. It was when I began my daily Mass journey that the library (nine volume of books) of his retreat notes and writings came to me. Attracted to his spiritually I could never retire without reading something from this holy saint. The spiritual attraction certainly came from Saint Peter Julian's love for the Eucharist. He had an intimacy with our Lord that nurtured my own relationship with Jesus. Saint Peter Julian is a director to the souls that come to him. It seemed that whatever I was going through, the answer to my need would be found in his writings, particularly what I would open to each evening. In the Eucharist the saints are alive, well and with us. We are blessed by these friends of heaven interceding for us, especially our Blessed Mother. Saint Peter Julian beheld Mary as his mother, she guided him into the Priesthood. The title Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament came through Saint Peter Julian’s love for our mother. In the above excerpt we hear that the eucharistic fire will envelop the whole world and completely renew it. Our friends in heaven walk with us now. Sympathetic hearts are found in the love of God. Those who fall in love with Jesus and recognize the reality of His dying and rising for every person. These souls want to be like the one whom they love. They live among us here and now. Opening the eyes of our hearts finding the good in every person and recalling our loved ones is where we may find many aspiring to be saints. Good souls who long to guide and nurture us, friends of heaven on earth. Take some time today to think of all the people who have blessed your life. Those who have shared the faith of God with you, thosewho made you feel loved. By: Ivonne J. Hernandez  I remember the days of my youth, when summertime meant freedom; freedom from schoolwork and busy schedules, freedom for rest and relaxation. I remember waking up with nothing on my schedule but calling up my neighbor and inviting her to go outside and play. I remember spending hours lying down on our driveway, staring at the clouds in the sky, watching as they formed recognizable silhouettes that slowly drifted away. We would come up with all sorts of games and just enjoy spending time together with friends. Those were the days!
Summertime now is much different. As a mother in charge of others, I don’t get to wake up with nothing to do but play, even in July. Yet, the need for rest is still there. I was hoping we could escape to the mountains for a couple of weeks this summer, but so far, we have not been able to get away. As the weeks pass on by and the “Back to School” ads start to popup, I catch a restlessness creeping in; the thought that I will not get the rest I desire. What amazes me is that, when I remember watching the clouds go by, when I place myself in that moment of my childhood, I feel peace, and my weary soul finds rest. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). The peace I feel points to the reality that there was something greater than some random clouds on a summer day, and through the gift of memory, the grace of that moment is available to me today. “Come away to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk 6:31). We might not always be able to go physically to a deserted place (as much as we would often love to!), but we can always enter into our inner room, deserted from all external influences, and rest a while. It is in this place where God will speak to our hearts and will remind us of all the moments of grace available to us. He is the Alpha and the Omega; in Him there is no time. In that place the silhouettes of our burdens will disappear like the clouds, and the sun will shine through. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). By: Laura Worhacz  “The Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit sanctified Mary in order to make her a worthy tabernacle for the Divine Word: for this, it was necessary to create another heaven; Mary had to be Immaculate in order to receive the Word into her being.” - St. Peter Julian Eymard Dearest Eucharistic Family, I wondered what God would have me do this summer in my spiritual life. Our Lord recently reminded me through prayer of Our Lady’s espousal to the Holy Spirit. Our Mother and the Holy Spirit, one in and through the Body of Christ, wed together, made one... We are the offspring of the spirit of God’s eternal love. Born into our baptized life, into the family of God. We hear our Mother and the fruits and gifts of her spouse if we keep our souls in communion with Jesus. God longs for us to be sanctified, to hear His voice; we are blessed to hear the Word of God, keeping God’s Word close to our hearts, allowing It to create us, like Mary, into “being”. My family continues to live in the grace of the moment, through the intercession of your prayers, with my husband Raymond’s end-stage liver disease. Last week he was on the verge of another hepatic encephalitic episode (when the brain is affected by the toxins in the body). Submission to God’s will is what we must do to keep our hope alive. We are renewed in the abiding presence through the reminder of Our Lady’s espousal to the Holy Spirit of life, which refreshes the security our souls. The words of the Magnificat can be proclaimed in the midst of sufferings, in the midst of tears and the unknown, “My soul doth magnify the Lord!” St. Paul in Romans 8:37-39 magnifies the reality of the Eucharistic life we live in with no fear. “No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have the promise of Our Father in His Gifts of the Holy Spirit. A forceful breath has been gifted to us. Like Mary, we make a worthy Tabernacle for God’s life in our souls, the breadth of God will reign through us. The Merriam Dictionary defines Breadth: 1. Distance from side to side: width the height, breadth, and depth of each piece. 2. Something of full width begins with a breadth. Convinced of the love of Christ Jesus by the breadth of the Holy Spirit sanctify our lives. Amen By: Ivonne J. Hernandez  I was pondering today on the greatness and vastness of the universe, on how it is like a giant playground for human ingenuity and imagination; how it pulls us through its mystery and invites us to explore and learn more about it, and through that, learn more about ourselves…and about God. When I look at this glorious creation, and how, even every hidden detail is meticulously, and lovingly, crafted, I can only think of the loving hand behind it all. Like an Art student who learns to discern the artist’s invisible fingerprint on every work of art created, we can learn to see God’s hand in everything He created. When I look at a diagram of the known universe, and at the tiny dot our world is within it, I can’t help but wonder if it is all created just for us.
I am a big sci-fi fan and have enjoyed many hours of great imaginative shows of other worlds and civilizations in the far recesses of this universe; yet, the more I ponder the more I wonder. God’s love is so extravagant. The same God who upholds every corner of this vast universe, knows when I sit and when I stand, and understands my thoughts from afar (Ps 139:2). The same God who created the stars we see, meticulously created a tiny flower, hidden in a valley, who no one else but He would ever see; yet I can’t help but think, He made it just for me. Because if I know He created that flower, who’s beauty and fragrance would only please Him, then I can know that my innermost heart, was also made just for Him. And this universe so vast, so extravagant so perfect, then perhaps fulfills its purpose when it makes me think of Him. Like a lover leaving clues for His loved one to pursue, everywhere I look I hear Him say, “Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come!” (Song 2:10). Come and see how much I love you. Come and see what I have done for you. By: Laura Worhacz The first fruit of contemplation is the recollection of the soul in our Lord, in which it discovers the mystery of His perfections and the love of this ineffable Gift of the Eucharist. Saint Peter Julian Eymard (Eymard Library Volume 7, page 123) Dearest Eucharistic Family, Heaven exists in our souls through the reception of holy Communion. We may be tempted to look out to seek love, to find God, to grasp the tangible gifts of the world. The fulfillment of our heart’s desire lives within us. Summer time is a wonderful time to go with God into our souls and find the “mysteries of his perfections” like Saint Peter Julian is reminding us of in the above excerpt. Contemplation is taken with us in the activities of our lives once we have found the gift of the Eucharist. The relationship we nurture with Jesus Eucharistic provides us security in our existence. God is creating something new in us every moment and by our awareness and participation we receive great grace. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is telling the disciples to not put old wine in new wineskins as the skin will burst and the wine will spill over. The skin will be ruined. “…pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Mt 9:14-17). To discover the contemplation of our souls we pray. We make a conscious effort by forming a routine that sets time aside for God. New wine? Yesterday is no more. The sacred moment in time we live in, we treasure. What is to come will be manifested in our eternal salvation, found now in God by receiving the Eucharist in the freshness of a new day. A heart that is open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit is one that takes the sacredness of “new wine into fresh wineskins”. We bring the contemplation of the Eucharist with us in every breath of our days. Contemplation consumes our whole reality and God is found in every facet of our existence.  By: Ivonne J. Hernandez  Last week, my son decided unexpectedly to clean his room and his bathroom. I was a little confused at first because we have only been asking him to clean his room for the last three months. Why now? I wondered for a second, but I quickly decided to just be happy he was doing it and let it go. Then, a couple of days ago, he asked if he could do some extra chores for money; he is going to an event next month and is a little short on cash. I said yes. I came home to a sparkling clean house; he had cleaned behind the piano and even cleaned the ledge above the kitchen cabinets! Once I paid him his hard-earned money, he smiled and said: “Thanks, mom. I cleaned my room last week because I knew you would not pay me for extra chores if I had not done mine first.” I was glad that he understood how things work around here and that he took the necessary steps to accomplish his goal (not to mention how happy I was to have a clean house!), but this made me think about my own hidden agendas in my relationship with God. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Mt 22:37). The first (and greatest) commandment goes straight to the heart of the matter; “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). When we treasure anything (money, reputation, plans, health, etc.…) over the love of God, we create hidden agendas to try to both serve God and our own personal gods. These agendas are not hidden from God; they are hidden from us. They blur our vision and darken our minds. St. Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Our restless hearts are divided, divided between the world and God, divided between love of self and love of God. “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other” (Mt 6:24). I find that often, even when I think I am serving God, my intentions are often mixed with a little bit (or maybe a lot) of serving self. When we look into the depths of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we see hearts that love God completely; we see undivided hearts. These hearts are full of the fire of the Holy Spirit. We receive this purifying love at Baptism, when we are claimed for Christ. “A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit. Do not drive me from before your face, nor take from me your holy spirit” (Ps 51:12-13). This purifying action it painful, and it is the work of our lifetime. This is why we beg for steadfast spirit, to endure our purification and reach our goal. “Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). By: Laura Worhacz “It is Jesus that has called Himself the Bread of Life! What an unusual name! He alone could give it to Himself. An angel commissioned to name our Lord would have drawn a name in conformity with His attributes: The Word, Lord, etc. But Bread? He would never have dared call his God thus. Bread of Life, that is the real name of Jesus. It expresses Jesus Christ fully, in His life, in His death, and after His resurrection: on the Cross, He will be ground and sifted like flour; after the resurrection, He will be for our souls what material bread is for our bodies; He will truly be our Bread of Life. ” 1 - St. Peter Julian Eymard Dearest Eucharistic Family, Out of this world into Heaven! Tomorrow we celebrate The Solemnity of Corpus Christi. On this day we remember the central reality of what it means to be part of the Mystical Body of Christ. As members, we participate in the offering of our “self” to the humility of God. In the light of the Monstrance, we see Heaven now through the eyes of the heart, through the charity offered in love for others. We are God’s possession, His possession sent into the world. Sitting in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament this week I thought of my soul being totally exposed to the light of truth and our Father loving me anyway. God listens; we absorb His presence in the silence; our relationship is built through our openness and purity of intention. The thought of bringing my listening ear to my family, being present to their concerns, building a genuine love from the depths of our hearts seems like a simple way to return God’s love. Saint Peter Julian Eymard expresses in the above excerpt that perhaps the angels would have named our Lord through His attributes. However, Jesus named Himself from His love, passion, death and rising; from offering His Life to the WORLD! The Bread of Life is food for our souls as material bread is food for our bodies. A life lived for others continues to manifest God’s presence. We live in the world yet are raised to a divine life through the reception of Holy Communion, the Bread of Life. Jesus, conform our souls to Your soul. Grant us life, love, and holy desires so others may see God. Let our attributes glorify the heavenly mystery. May our presence make known to others that there is a living Bread that comes down from Heaven. Let others see through the way we live our lives that You came into the world to suffer and die for us, to absorb the sins of the world. And that You, Jesus, remain with us in The Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist. 1 Excerpt taken from Eymard Library Volume 9: IN THE LIGHT OF THE MONSTRANCE, Page 149 By: Ivonne J. Hernandez 
In the passage above, St. Paul is asking the Father that you and I “may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is a very bold prayer. It reminds me of the words the priest says before the “Our Father” during Mass: “At the Savior's command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say…Our Father…”. We dare to call God our Father. And St. Paul dares to ask that we be “filled with all the fullness of God.” This boldness comes from the same place, divine teaching. It is with this understanding, that St. Paul kneels before the Father, and pleads on our behalf. Before he asks for the ultimate gift for us, the fullness of God, he asks that we “may have strength to comprehend...and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Why would we need strength for this? And why is this strength we need so great that it is to come from His very own Spirit? When I ponder on these questions, I remember the following story about St. Augustine:
Sometimes, in prayer, I get a glimpse of what it means to have the Most Holy Trinity dwelling in me, and it is more than I can take. I sit there for a little while, but then I see my faults, my sin, my unworthiness, and I leave. I fill my mind with all the things I need to do and take care of, and I avert my eyes from the gaze of my Father.
Yes, it takes strength to allow yourself to be seen, to allow yourself to be loved. The enemy of your soul does not want you to remain in that place. He wants you to be filled with fear, rather than with love. Be bold and reject the lies. ‘For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!”’ (Rom 8:15) I have often pondered on the fact that everything I have, every grace I have been open to receive, would not have been if it hadn’t been for the prayers others have offered on my behalf, especially the prayers from my parents and grandparents. It is good to remember that the saints in Heaven are always praying on our behalf, and that St. Paul right now is kneeling before Our Father, asking “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” It is because of this faith that I can offer prayers for my children, and for all ancestors and any future descendants on my family tree. I believe that the Blood of Christ that runs through my veins can flow through the branches of this tree, as long as we remain on the vine. I pray for each branch, each leaf, especially those that are not bearing fruit and are in danger of being cutoff. I pray that through my prayers, the sap of the vine can reach them and strengthen them, so that each branch can be open to the flow of grace and be full of life, of love. I pray that each one of them “rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” |
Left to right: Laura, Ivonne
AuthorsWe are Ivonne Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, lay associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, homeschooling mothers and sisters in Christ. 
$13.00
Ivonne J. Hernandez 5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm) Black & White on White paper 108 pages Elisheba House, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1732137707 ISBN-10: 1732137706 Plunge deeper than ever before into the mysteries of the Rosary by meditating on them from the point of view of the Eucharist. Using the teachings of St. Peter Julian Eymard, the author invites us to discover what is Eucharistic in each mystery of the Rosary and allow the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into our devotion. "Let the Most Holy Eucharist therefore be the starting point of our meditations on the mysteries, virtues, and truths of our religion. The Eucharist is the focal point; the truths of religion are the rays. Let us start from the focus to go to the rays." (St. Peter Julian Eymard) For each mystery of the Rosary you will find an excerpt from the teachings of St. Peter Julian Eymard and a personal reflection by the author. This book is a perfect companion to bring to Eucharistic Adoration or to keep next to your prayer journal.
$14.95
Laura Catherine Worhacz Through the pages of this book, Laura Worhacz takes us on a life-changing journey to discover Jesus Eucharistic through the heart of His Mother. Looking through the lens of St. Peter Julian Eymard’s Mariology, Laura weaves in practical guidance to lead us in a 33-day preparation to consecrate our whole lives to Jesus through Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. This guidance flows from her own life in the Eucharist as a consecrated daughter of Mary. Her reflections are deep, yet practical, and will be of benefit for everyone, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. For bulk orders, please email us at orders@elishebahouse.com Archives
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