By: Laura Worhacz

 
“ O Mary, my celestial Queen and my Divine Mother, I cannot accept the honor of becoming the happy servant of our Eucharistic Jesus, if thou dost not consent to form me for this service, to clothe me with thy virtues, thy merits; if thou dost not take me for thy child, O Queen, and Mother of the servants of Jesus, you who live only for Jesus , who love us only in Jesus and for Jesus. I entrust, then, to thy keeping, O good Mother, the grace and the development of my vocation.”  (St. Peter Julian Eymard, Eymard Library, Volume 7 page173)


Dearest Eucharistic Family,

This blog post comes to us in the middle of two glorious mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. This past Wednesday we honored the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and this upcoming Wednesday we remember the Queenship of Mary, her crowning. These glorious mysteries are an invitation for God’s life to dwell in us through the Eucharistic love we share in, the living Gospel. In the above excerpt St. Peter Julian entrusts to our good mother our vocations and the development of them. Living in the reality of our crosses being sanctified for heaven changes the way we embrace them. Mary was assumed into heaven for the “happy servant” she is. Her fiat from sin and death was our transformation to find virtue and love in this world. Her crowning was the gift for her fulfillment of God’s Incarnate life through her vocation, “the grace and the development of my vocation”. We look to Mary as a model of perfection in our maturation of our Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This is what awarded Mary her crown. We pray in thanksgiving for loving Jesus through Mary in the pure gift of her motherly nurturing, developing us into our vocations as adorers of God’s love. This development will assume an eternal life for us and a crown in the promise of our Father.
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The alacrity of our hope is to be found in the love of our Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
 
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament
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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

 
I was watching a special earlier about the life of Fred Rogers, the beloved Mr. Rogers of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and I was deeply moved by the life of this man. He was deep, caring, compassionate, intentional, and above all, he was kind. He was bullied as a child for being shy and overweight and was told by the grownups in his life to act like it didn’t bother him. Even as an eight-year-old, he knew that this was wrong. He was angry and sad that the bullies couldn’t see past his shortcomings to see him, and he was sad that his parents didn’t acknowledge his experience. After many years of sadness over this, his faith brought him to a decision. He decided he would always look for the essential in each person. Two of his most famous quotes, “I like you just the way you are” and, “The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self” describe how he loved his neighbor as himself. He cared, he listened, he connected. He brought Jesus Christ to the world, not by talking about Him necessarily, but by the way he lived, by the way he loved.

“Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” (Eph 4:32) I think we can easily forget the importance and the power of kindness. It is very difficult to be kind to someone who has hurt us or those we love. It is difficult to be compassionate to someone who just rubs us the wrong way. It is much easier to be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards someone we like.  And, although it is true that there are people whose nature attracts us less than others, it does not mean that the act of liking someone is outside of our control. When we experience feelings of antipathy or even disgust towards a person, we still get to choose how we respond.
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“Look for the essential in each person”. What a simple yet profound idea. How do we find the “essential” in the other? By entering into a relationship with them -- by being present to them and listening to their story. If a friend is rude to us, but we know they just lost a loved one, we are more inclined to give them a pass. When we understand the “why” behind the actions, when we see the pain motivating the undesired behavior, we do not take things personally and can see the situation as it really is. We can refrain from putting up our own walls and instead reach out to the other in front of us. When we look out and truly see, we won’t see a monster threatening our very existence, but our crucified Lord calling out for us. We will see Jesus thirsty, naked, imprisoned, lonely, mourning, or hungry. When we meet the human needs of others with kindness and compassion, we will find that the essential in them will shine more brightly.  When we find that reflection of God in the other, we can then join Fred and say, “I like you just the way you are. Won’t you be my neighbor?”

By: Laura Worhacz