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: Laura Worhacz “Mary, His Mother and the Mother of adorers, made amends to Him for everything, and the love of Jesus found inexpressible satisfaction in receiving her prayers and her tears shed for the salvation of the world.” - Saint Peter Julian Eymard ( Eymard Library Vol. 7, page 130)
Dearest Eucharistic Family, We are living through an extraordinary time of grace. By keeping our senses aware of Divine Providence and the work of God in our lives, miraculous things will continue to happen for the love of Jesus. Through this time of pandemic, sorrow can so easily take over our existence. It is only through prayer that we can see through the life of the Eucharist and recognize that God is in control of our lives. Early one morning this week, I thanked God for my prayer routine. I thanked Him for giving me the grace to wake up early, to sit with Him in the silence, and then go for a prayer walk to pray the rosary and the chaplet of Divine Mercy. In preparation for Holy Mass, I pray the joyful mysteries in the morning. As I was praying this week, I stopped for a moment and looked at all of creation… the birds, the grass, the trees, and the animals in my neighborhood. I paused in my rosary offering and continued to walk. I was walking with Jesus and Mary in a special way, thinking. I imagined Mary on her way to the visitation. She walked over 70 miles in haste to the hill country. Our Mother was surely living the rosary; she was probably absorbing the beauty of creation. Her heart was surely excited to see her cousin, to behold her and the lives they were carrying. Mary’s espousal to the Holy Spirit enflamed her prayer with joy! Mary carried the Eucharist, the highest form of prayer. I thought as I went back to my beads, how many of us prepare for Holy Mass? Are we forming our hearts to be open to receive the grace from our prayers? God is with us. The battle is real; we see the evil of hatred, violence, and all sorts of destruction on top of the pandemic outbreak in recent days -- devastating and heartbreaking. We live in our prayer the reality of what is to come and the hope in our relationship with Jesus. Today we remember Saint Dominic. He knew the power of prayer; the Eucharist and Holy Rosary would change the forces of evil to a pathway to Heaven. Jesus finds inexpressible satisfaction in receiving our prayer; our return of love to Him forms us in the compassion of God. Prayer is the most important part of our day. Let us continue to see God in every facet of our Eucharistic lives and to the best of our ability, PRAY.
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By: Ivonne J. Hernandez “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). I close my eyes and picture Jesus addressing these words to me today and ask, “What does this mean?” The answer I hear in my heart: “It means it is not about you.” Light does not shine for its own sake, but for others. “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:16). …”that they may see…” How can this be? I can’t make anyone else see; I can’t even make myself see. Ah… it’s not about me.
I think this is the source of so many of our problems, of so much frustration…our refusal to give in to this one lesson. So, in what may seem like a contradiction, I must focus on my part, yet remain aware that everything I do is about others. Even my most intimate encounter with God is not about me…it is about God. And love of God always leads us to love of others. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Mt 22:37-10). Our world is in darkness. People are searching for hope, for light, for truth. Yet, “they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. ...But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Mt 13:13,16). I often wonder at the great gift of my faith, at the gift of having been born in a Catholic family and having been baptized as an infant. I didn’t do anything to deserve it; I didn’t do anything to earn it, but I must do everything to keep it. When a child is being baptized, a candle is lit from the Easter candle, and the celebrant says: “Receive the light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly, so that your children, enlightened by Christ, may walk always as children of the light and, persevering in the faith, may run to meet the Lord when he comes with all the Saints in the heavenly court.” So now, as an adult, whether my light was kept burning brightly, or was almost quenched, it is my responsibility to keep the flame of faith alive in my heart. "Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he becomes "light" himself. "(CCC 1216). But what about those days when my light is so dim it barely shines? What about when I feel I should just hide it and save it because it is barely enough for me? I must look out and remember…it’s not about me. The image that comes to mind is the twinkling lights of a Christmas tree. They are not all on at the same time; they take turns. When the lights are alternating, it looks like a beautiful dance. We do not see the darkness, just the light. But if you take one out, the whole section goes dark. Some days my light will shine before others, some days the light of others will shine before me. But if we keep the light of faith burning for each other, Christ’s light will shine for all to see. |
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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. |