ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
By: Ivonne J. Hernandez
Everyone needs compassion -- What a true statement! A couple of nights ago, it was the middle of the night, and I wasn't feeling well. I did not want to wake up my husband, who had to work the next morning. In the stillness of the night, I felt alone in my pain, and I started to grow weary. As I grabbed my rosary beads and began to pray, my husband woke up and asked me if I was ok. "No, I'm not.", I replied. "I am in pain, and I'm scared." He listened to me, held me, and reassured me that everything was going to be ok. He then went back to sleep, but I knew he was right there if I needed him again. "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." (Colossians 3:12) The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines compassion as a "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." God has placed this desire to alleviate suffering in our hearts. We experience it every day. We witness suffering all around us, and we are moved with pity, with compassion. But then comes the moment of decision. Is the movement of our hearts strong enough to move our bodies? The word compassion comes from the Latin com- + pati, which means to bear, suffer. This means that the way to alleviate the suffering of another is to bear their suffering with them. "When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick." (Matthew 14:14) Jesus shows us the way. His body follows His Heart. So we, as His Mystical Body, must follow His Sacred Heart. That Heart that remains open, full of love and compassion, showering humanity with His rays of mercy. It is that mercy we receive that we must pass on to others. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) The burden that felt so heavy in the middle of the night, when there was no one around to share it with, became bearable when I was reminded that I was not alone. My husband's compassion for me, at the cost of his own rest, made my burden lighter that night, light enough for me to go on. It felt as if he took some of my pain and placed it on his shoulders…because he did. When we accompany others in their suffering, we lighten their load, and we fulfill the law of Christ. "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)
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By Laura Worhacz Dearest Eucharistic Family,
We began the Elisheba website three years ago with a Consecration to Jesus through Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The renewal of the Consecration would normally begin on February 20th to conclude on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, March 25th. At the request of many, the consecration that began on this humble blog has become a book with an Imprimatur from Bishop Parkes, of the Diocese of Saint Petersburg. It is with great joy and through your participation that this grace has been given. I am happy to announce that the book will be available on March 25, 2019! This is a very significant date for me, as it marks the 20th anniversary of my first consecration to Jesus through Mary. In honor of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament's feast day, May 13th, we will renew this year (or consecrate for the first time), beginning on April 10th, to conclude on May 13th, 2019. The book is available for pre-order through Elisheba House' website: www.elishebahouse.com/consecration By: Laura Worhacz “At the Eucharistic court of Jesus, it is the interior reign of His love—and we are afraid of it, we flee from it, we wish to act. Jesus alone, does not suffice for us; we must have something besides Him! Mary, though, never lost the Eucharistic presence of Jesus. She acted only when He wished it, considering herself well occupied when at His feet, sufficiently recompensed in possessing Him.” - (Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, Eymard Library Volume 7, page 156) Dearest Eucharistic Family, The word reception came to me in my early morning quiet time this week. After praying on it, the gift of the Eucharist was strongly in my thoughts, the reception of Holy Communion. Saint Peter Julian, in the above excerpt, reminds us of the place where we find God’s love. It is an interior place that reigns, one that is formed, in the depths of the soul. This place needs to be kept sacred, holy, and guarded like a court of honor. This place is a reception, a gathering, like the cenacle of the upper room, where the Holy Spirit in its fullness filled the house with a fire that would blaze. Mary, the model of possessing Jesus perfectly, takes hold of our hand, guiding us to the reception of the entire celestial court. The great multitude is hence already there in the Divine reality of our eternal home. We possess this place in the Eucharist. It is the empowerment of what will inspire the beauty of God in our lives. The beauty that will lead others to dance in the court, finding a reception of the manifestation of what we have been created to be. On a personal note, I feel the grace of every prayer you are offering for my husband through his illness. So many are suffering in our world, experiencing unimaginable situations of life. Affixed to the reception of God’s love there is a place to dance and sing through the midst of such trials. God is in all things. The holy place we keep within nourished by the Eucharist, consoled by our relationship with Mary, keeps us dancing in the court while the outside world remains hungry. Jesus, in today’s Gospel, feeds the multitude of people. They are then sent to find hands to reach out to, hands of those who are hungry, starving for the RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION. Let us be on mission, sent, praying and searching for souls who are thirsting for the Love of God found in the Eucharist. Consecrated children of Mary share in her continued mission of the church to bring the lost to the sanctifying mercy of her Son, Jesus. Recalling your consecration promise offer the prayer to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament: 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. |
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AuthorsWe are Ivonne J. Hernandez, Rick Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, Lay Associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and brothers and sisters in Christ. |