 I have always loved the Christian life’s focus on newness. We are called to become a new creation through our Lord Jesus Christ. As the splendor of a new dawn presents the beginning of a new day, our spiritual day is also meant to start with the contemplation of Christ’s life present in us. We witness the splendor of His presence here among us and in us. Christ’s Word rings in our ears and minds and is meant to guide our thoughts and actions so that we may become little Christs in our small communities and among those who need to know Christ. We help others know Christ by being like Christ. At Mass, we pray that we may become what we eat. During Communion, we are changed. In that most intimate moment, we are made whole and new, no longer just us. For a few moments, we live our prayer that we may become one with Christ. As beautifully encompassing and fulfilling as the Mass is, how do we live this prayer beyond the Eucharistic banquet? To do this properly, Saint Peter Julian Eymard encourages us to offer God what he called the “Gift of Self” or the “Gift of our Personality.” We give up what we are, our desires, hang-ups, thoughts, and our very selves so that we may become one with Christ, that He may live in us, and that His Holy Will be done in us and through us.
The perfect selflessness of Christ was the gift of His own personality to our Father, the Most High. For most of us, it may be easy to see how to be selfless in situations we consider extreme, like during the Crucifixion, but how can we find it in ordinary, day-to-day life? There seems to be a misconception of what it means to be selfless. I believe it is seen as something that you turn on or off. Do you become selfless by denying your own needs? No. Do you become selfless by denying your dreams and motivations? No. So, being selfless as Christ is selfless is what exactly? It is turning our lives, needs and dreams, motivations, and charism, who we are, into a gift to others. It is to keep an open mind and a willing heart, to gift our fellow brothers and sisters with our very selves. When we are able to make that mental switch, committing our lives to be a gift to God and others, then we become genuinely selfless. This is part of the gift of self, the gift of personality. If we are willing and able to allow Christ to live in us and take over, then we will discover that Christ will say to us:
Many Saints have spoken about relinquishing desires, wants, and expectations so that we may become empty vessels, vessels that may be filled to the brim by the Grace of God. A saintly life means we are vessels, vessels of God’s Grace. Just as water is transported to combat thirst, we, vessels of grace, transport God’s gifts to those we interact with, fighting faithlessness, hopelessness, and the lack of love. Do we actively think about our role as vessels of God’s grace? Do we take our participation in the Eucharistic banquet as a call to distribute that which we receive from God’s goodness? Grace is God’s gift for us, but what do we do with our gifts? If we gift ourselves to God, then we are His instruments. We are called to be pliable in His hands so that we may allow Him to do His sacred work in the world through us. That is living a saintly life. This does not mean that we are all called to go out to the nations and preach and minister as the apostles. It does mean that we all have an essential part in God’s mission of Mercy and Love that is ours, and we must allow His Will to mold us and guide us to our daily mission in life through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be like Christ. Let us take every new day and choose to be a new creation in Him. Let us allow ourselves to be His hands in this world so that we may help our loved ones to know and love Christ through His Real Presence in our lives. May we be much less like us and much more like Christ. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, allow us to grow in humility and accept your will for us. Help to make of ourselves a gift to You, that You may reside in us, live presently in us, and minister to the world through us. May we always be Your new creation. Amen.
Dearest Eucharistic Family, Happy and blessed New Year 2023! We begin the year in our Catholic Church mourning the loss of our brother, friend, mentor, and most significant title, Father, Pope Benedict XVI. He has left a mark of faith in our hearts, in our souls, and in our Holy Mother Church. I was blessed to bring Holy Communion to the homebound after daily Mass this past week, to a dear sister in Christ. After praying and consuming the Sacred Host, she was weeping, mourning the loss of Pope Benedict XVI. I joined her in the tears and in the memories of our beloved Pope. Our conversation escalated into sharing all of the gifts of his life, the teachings, homilies, and encyclicals. More than mourning, we celebrated the blessing of a life well lived by reminiscing about our beloved Pope Benedict XVI. “God is LOVE,”… so he began his pontificate.
In this quote from Pope Benedict XVI, we find the Eucharistic wishes of Saint Peter Julian, a new horizon on our lives, a way to live in Heaven now through the grace of the Blessed Sacrament. My fondest thoughts of our great theologian, Pope Benedict XVI, stream forth from his gentle yet firm spirit. Pope Benedict’s great work in giving us our Catechism grants us a place to go for truth and blessings, security in God’s love. A way to find faith by stirring the truth of God’s love in hearts, a family treasure.
In the Eucharistic wish, in its blessings, we can live in the higher dimension of life now. Jesus is with us, born of Mary and in a stable, with a Father hovering over Him in love. Love is a divine action; it shines forth from expressions of gifts…presence of love…gifts of self.
The NEW YEAR, 2023, calls us to evaluate our lives, our love, our faith, and our offering to our Lord. Perhaps starting with the words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis will strengthen us to carry out our daily duties, assured that God is with us. God sees us and knows the value of our offering everything to him. In the depths of our existence, we are affixed to Jesus from the Altar and His Incarnate Life in us. We carry this presence of GOD’S LOVE into our world through Holy Communion. We are God’s tabernacle. God is LOVE, and we are his disciples. Baptized in His mission to watch over the ones in the stable, bless them, love them and carry them home. Pope Benedict’s smile will be with us forever. We will be nearest to him in the Eucharist. He will continue to speak to us there, teaching us the way of humility and how to bring Eucharistic wishes to others.
In his last words upon earth, let us cry out with our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, “GOD, I LOVE YOU!”
 I am often amused by the differences between the English and Spanish versions of certain phrases. This amusement often turns into deeper insight as hidden clues initially lost in translation, reveal themselves to me. One of these is New Year’s Eve. It is directly translated as Víspera de Año Nuevo, but growing up, it was always referred to as Año Viejo, meaning “Old Year.” The difference between these two titles is the focus of a moment in time. The same thing happens with Christmas Eve, which I still refer to as Nochebuena, which literally means “Good Night.” One focuses on what is ahead, while the other one focuses on what is being left behind. Yet they both reveal the impossibility of grasping a moment in time. “Auld Lang Syne” is a Scottish song often played on New Year’s Eve, right at the stroke of midnight, a moment that holds both the old year and the new between twelve bell strikes. The song begins with a rhetorical question:
For old long since… this is the literal translation of the phrase “auld lang syne,” but it can generally mean “times long past,” “times long ago,” or “old times.” It is precisely in a moment that seems to be outside of time that hearts wonder how to deal with this thing called time.
“All in God’s time.” This is a phrase I hear myself say as a call to surrender. It is a reminder that God has a plan, and it is often not in line with my schedule. Whether it is a spouse’s illness, a needy neighbor, or a crying baby in the middle of the night, Jesus shows up and interrupts our time.
Emmanuel means “God is with us,” not “God was with us” or “God will be with us.” He IS the great I AM. Always present, always being, always creating His life within us. In a letter to Mrs. Mathilde Giraud-Jordan on May 19, 1868, St. Peter Julian Eymard writes:
I have discovered through prayer that “God is with us” often means “God waits with us.” Sometimes, when Jesus brings to mind an area of my heart that needs healing, my response is that I’m not ready to deal with that yet. What does He do? He is patient and kind (Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:4). He doesn’t push me; He doesn’t shame me; He does not sigh and show impatience with me. Looking at me, He loves me (Cf. Mark 10:21). He remains with me. He gives me time. And it is precisely in that moment that He begins to heal me. It is in the gift of that space and time that I experience true freedom. I grow in trust as my fears lose their grip and the lies disappear. Knowing that God is willing to wait for me, to wait with me, that He will never leave me, I remember that He has always been with me. Whether it is at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, or just at a moment in time, hidden within every strike of the bell is a call to remember, to see within the veil… a call to enter into the mystery of God’s time.
God is with us… the time is now… let Him enter our hearts… let Him wait with us as we wait for each other, for we are all together, held in God’s time.
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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. 
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