Year of Saint Joseph | OLR 75th Anniversary Year | May 1-2, 2021: 5th Sunday of Easter
Meditate on God’s presence after Communion
Do you stop to realize that the God of the universe is inside you at communion?
Often the familiarity with attending Mass and receiving holy communion can make us indifferent to what is truly happening.
As Catholics, we believe that Jesus himself is present in the Eucharist in a unique way. His entire body, blood, soul and divinity is there in the consecrated host and when we receive communion, we are receiving the God of the universe into our hearts.
Do we ever stop to meditate on that profound truth?
Mother Mary Loyola in her book, Welcome! Holy Communion, provides a brief meditation on this reality that can help awaken in us an awe at what is happening at Mass. Sometimes we need a little “poke” to see the divine mysteries that occur and to understand who is coming inside us at communion.
How near I am now, nay, how closely united I am now, to the Source of all good. I cross my hands upon my breast and know that, folded there, is all good. And He is here to share with me, like a true lover, all that He has and is. Within my breast is: All His Omnipotence to protect me—”Thou shalt know that the Lord thy God is a strong and faithful God” (Deut. vii.).All His Wisdom to guide me—”Abide thou with Me, tear not” (i Kings xxii.).All His loving-kindness to help me—” I will not leave thee nor forsake thee” (Jos. i.).All His charity to warm me—” Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. xii.).All His zeal to enkindle mine, for “The charity of Christ presseth us” (2 Cor. v.).All His treasures to enrich me, for “He that spared not even His own Son…how hath He not also with Him given us all things!” (Rom. viii.).All His merits to plead for me—”Ever living to make intercession for us” (Heb. vii.).How near to me is all this in the supremely precious moments after Communion! Not at my door, not within my reach, but absolutely within my breast. Open, then, Thy hand to me, O Lord, and fill Thy needy creature with benediction by filling it with Thyself.
Philip Kosloski, Aleteia - published on 01/23/20
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Pope explains praying to the saints
We never pray alone, says Francis.
Pope Francis continued his catechesis series on prayer, on April 7 taking up the theme of praying to and with the saints. The heart of his reflection focused on how the saints accompany us, such that “we are immersed in a majestic river of invocations that precedes us and proceeds after us. A majestic river.”
There is no grief in the Church that is borne in solitude, there are no tears shed in oblivion, because everyone breathes and participates in one common grace.
The Holy Father noted how we are still connected with the saints in heaven, those recognized by the Church and those known to us personally.
He reflected how the ancient church had burial grounds around sacred buildings, “as if to say that, in some way, the hosts of those who have preceded us participate in every Eucharist.
Our parents and grandparents are there, our godfathers and godmothers are there, our catechists and other teachers are there […] There is a mysterious solidarity in Christ between those who have already passed to the other life and we pilgrims in this one: from Heaven, our beloved deceased continue to take care of us. They pray for us, and we pray for them and we pray with them.”
The pope said that we should call on these older brothers and sisters in heaven, and that this should be the “first way to face a time of anguish.”
And prayer should also be our answer in times of difficulty: “Even in conflictual moments, a way of dissolving the conflict, of softening it, is to pray for the person with whom I am in conflict.”
Kathleen N. Hattrup – Aleteia, 07/04/21