The Promise of the Father |
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When I first started homeschooling about 16 years ago, I read all the books I could get on how to organize my day to accomplish everything I needed to do. I had a newborn baby, a Kindergartener and a 4th grader to teach while my husband travelled for work during the week. I knew it would be challenging, but I thought that once I found the perfect chore chart, school planner, meal planner and schedule, we would all jump into a perfect routine and eventually things would run smoothly. Spoiler alert… I was wrong. As soon as we found a routine that “worked” for us, life would throw a curve ball and we would need to adjust. Like the map app on my phone, I would need to “recalculate” our route every time there was an accident on the road. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” (Lk 10:41) We, like Martha, become worried and anxious about many things as we struggle to live a balanced life. It seems like we are constantly being pulled by conflicting needs. We struggle to balance the needs of our spirit and the needs of our body, the need for solitude and the need for community, the need to contemplate and the command to serve. All these are good things, but as we struggle to root out our vices with virtue, to battle selfishness with love for others, our attention moves away from Jesus and towards our failings and we grow anxious. Can you hear the sweet and tender voice of Jesus speaking to one He loves dearly? “Martha, Martha” … I imagine these words were enough to calm her heart and re-focus her attention on Him whom she served. When life throws a curve ball now and I find myself disoriented, I try to remember that God is in control. He has a plan for me and has already recalculated the best route for me. I close my eyes and listen to Jesus addressing these words to me, saying my name twice, and my anxieties and worries melt away. “Martha, Martha” …“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.” (Is 43:1)
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By Laura Worhacz “Mary honored the hidden life of Jesus by a retired and solitary life. She passed the greater part of her time in making reparation for ungrateful man. At the sight of the Eucharistic annihilation of Jesus, she wished to be annihilated also, changed into a sacramental species, without life of her own. She had, in fact, transformed her natural life into that of Jesus, as the bread is transformed into the substance of Jesus Christ.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard, Eymard Library Volume 7 page 128) Dearest Eucharistic Family: “… he withdrew from that place.” Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known.” (Mt 12:14-21) Today’s Gospel is in conformity to the insight St. Peter Julian Eymard recognizes in Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the hidden life. The Altar of the Lord, the Cenacle, is affixed to the open heart of the faithful where security in Our Father’s love rests. The soul cries out and finds its consolation in the Eucharist where the abiding presence of God finds “His beloved in whom He delights.” St. Peter Julian tells us Mary is “changed into a sacramental species”. It seems Mary is changed by her will to be changed into the handing over of herself to the will of God. Her natural life is transformed into Jesus by dying to self. We too witness the Eucharistic annihilation at every holy mass where the mystery of love is before us, heaven linked to earth through the hearts of the faithful. We need to withdraw, find our place of consolation by our zeal for Holy Communion, in this reception is our hope. In the hidden life, our personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ He is made known to our center, which is the depths of our hearts and souls. Healing begins upon the truths we bring in forgiveness through the Eucharistic heart of Jesus Christ. There is a sacredness to the followers of Jesus, those who carry their cross in the joy of hope. Jesus “warned them not to make him known.” Moreover, He will be made known in the sacramental species we become, many will follow us too, and we will cure them in the name of JESUS. Recite the words from the prophet Isaiah remembering your consecration promise. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope. By: Ivonne J. Hernandez
‘In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.” (Eph 1:11-12) Meditation: Most of us are not very good at waiting. We live in a time of instant gratification, in a society that values productivity and therefore tangible results. We feel good when our checklists are completed, when we can look back at our day and feel we accomplished things. We try to do multiple tasks at the same time because there is not enough time in the day to complete everything on our lists. Our lists keep growing because we don’t have time to sit back and look at the big picture. We just keep piling things on and juggling the best we can. We don’t have time to stop and ask God if this is what He wants us to be doing with our time. Why? Because if we ask, then we will have to wait for an answer -- and we do not like waiting. Waiting implies trust and requires relinquishing control. This is why many of us are terrible at delegating. “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” We probably all have all heard that idea or a form of it at one time or another, and those of us who have children probably have many stories proving the “wisdom” in those words. The question to ask though is: What do we mean by ‘well’? If we mean “how I want it” or “according to my plans”, then yes, the idiom would be correct. But if by ‘well’ we mean according to God’s plans and designs, then we run into a problem when we don’t stop long enough to ask God what His plans are. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” (Is 55:8) We must try to live our lives in a constant state of discernment. We need to be attentive to the still small voice within us. (1 Kings 19:12) When we take the time to see God’s hand in every aspect of our lives, our trust in Him grows. “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” (Jer 29:11) We need to be reminded of these truths all the time, because we forget. And Jesus knows us very well. He knows our weaknesses and He gives us the remedy, Himself in the Eucharist. “Do this in memory of me” (1 Cor 11:24). When we receive the Eucharist, we remember. We remember who we are, we remember who God is. We remember His love for us, and then we can wait, full of trust and hope, knowing in the depths of our soul that our help comes from the Lord. (Ps 121:2) By Laura Worhacz “If our life were not under Mary’s protection, we might have doubts as to our perseverance and our salvation. Our vocation, which, in a special manner, binds us to the service of the King of kings, makes it more pressing to have recourse to Mary.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard, Volume 7, Eymard Library page 10) Dearest Eucharistic Family, In consecrating our lives to Jesus through Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, we are enthroned in Mary’s protection. We, of course, need to participate in having recourse to Mary. In today’s Gospel Jesus offers the words to the disciples of John, ”Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them...” [USCCB Mt 9: 14-17] Mary who is the model of Eucharistic adorers sets an example for us in the way we fast, and it comes in the totality of our consecration promise. We like Mary offer our wills to the Will of God. We find a total communion of love in the offering of ourselves, the sacrifices demanded of us in our daily duties. Every breath of life offered to God becomes pleasing to Him as we recognize the merits of the offering greater through the purity of our intentions. We live in the old wineskins when we stop persevering in the service of our loved ones. The new wine poured out for us by the blood of the Lamb; Jesus Christ offers us the gift of living in the fast of our baptism where our lives become death to the world. We live in the hope of the eternal promise through the Eucharist we receive. Rejoice on this first Saturday, Mary’s day, and think of the many ways in which you fast by loving God through each person in your life. Our salvation comes through our vocations “which, in a special manner, binds us to the service of the King of kings,” O Mary Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Remember your consecration promise as you pray these words: “My vocation is beautiful; its duties are great and holy. I desire to spend my life in adoration at the foot of Incarnate Love. Before that Eucharistic throne, I will join the angels and saints in what they do and will eternally do in heaven: praising the infinite bounty of God and blessing the boundless mercy of God. With this gift-of-self, I devote my life to live the mystery of the Eucharist fully and make known the love of God in service to others.” (Taken from the consecration promise, Eymard Library, Vol.7 page 172 Revised by Father William Fickel, S.S.S. May 13th, 2018) |
AuthorsWe are Ivonne Hernandez, Rick Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, Lay Associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and brothers and sisters in Christ. 
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