“Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go behold the face of God? Send forth your light and fidelity; they shall lead me on and bring me to your holy mountain to your dwelling-place.

    Then will I go to the altar of God, the God of my gladness and joy; Then will I give you thanks upon the harp, O God, my God! Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why do you sigh within me? Hope in God! For I shall again be thanking him, in the presence of my savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:3, Psalm 43:3-5)

    Great is the Lord and wholly to be praised. For we are the City of God being built upon the foundation of the Apostles in Jesus Christ. My journey to the new heavens and the new earth renews my acceptance, awareness of God’s tremendous love for me.

    Each morning, I, O Israel, a brother in Christ of pure heart filled with the Spirit, and sinless hands, seek the face of the God of Jacob. I immediately meet, adore, receive, and interconnect with the Three Divine Living Persons, One God!  

    My ultimate treasure is to worship Almighty God by celebrating the Holy Eucharist. I glorify the Eternal Father through Christ's Passion, Redemptive Death, and Resurrection. The Paschal Mystery is the Universal Church's source all Sanctifying Grace comes from.  

    "You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the first-born enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood which speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. See that you do not reject the one who speaks." (Hebrews 12:22-25) Experience Almighty God at the Holy Mass!

    "Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, "Cry out!" I answer, "What shall I cry out?" Go upon a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Here is your God!" (Isaiah 40:5-6, 9)

    "O great and Divine Sacrament that veils my God!  Jesus, be with me each moment, and no fear will enter my heart" -St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament

    Trinity Apostles declare, ‘Jesus is the Promised Land. He awaits you in His holy dwelling.  Christ re-establishes Himself in you through the Most Blessed Sacrament. Oh, how glorious is the hidden life!’

    “If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen. God always speaks to you when you approach him plainly and simply.” -St. Catherine Laboure.

    Our Great Transformer performs supernatural works among His remnant faithful nation. They are the beating heart of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church one generation to the next. 

    The Most Holy Trinity delight in our compassion at the Lord's perfect Sacrifice. "Christ is on the Cross until the end of time." -Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Salvation correlates with our Spirit-driven response to Divine Revelation.

    Holy Communion with the Father, manifest in the Son, through the Spirit. The Banquet Feast of Heavenly Grace, shared by we who in faith answer His invitation. As God’s Divine Life, His code of honor, is transferred through the Sacraments, we perform the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy with agape love.            

    “This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus.” -St. Justin Martyr, A.D. 148-155

    We consistently need to come before the Lord sinful and sorrowful imploring Him to fill our lamp with oil. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35)

    Jesus' ongoing call is like a trumpet blast. Each day, we come to His Eternal Banquet as He bestows countless blessings. We who are emotionally dependent upon Him who otherwise are crippled, blind, and poor in all we do, unless we return to receive the infilling of His Holy Spirit through Communion with Him.                  

    We enter visually into the Transubstantiation when we surrender our will to God’s Will. We become one, whole in Christ, able to perform again without disability as the scales fall off our eyes and we become rich because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The Living Jesus who never sleeps gives us strength which encompasses as we respond back to God's love. 

    "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." (Luke 1:46-47, 49) As the Father spiritually awakens a peace-seeking humanity through the Most Holy Eucharist the Par Excellence gives His Life to the Living Body of Christ. The New and Everlasting Covenant is fulfilled in each reception. 

    "How much greater, dear brothers and sisters, must our joy be, knowing that every day on this altar, the sacrifice of Christ is offered; on this altar he continues to immolate himself, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, for our salvation and that of the whole world.

    In the Eucharistic mystery that is renewed on every altar, Jesus is really present. His is a dynamic presence, which seizes us in to make us his, to assimilate us to him; it draws us with the power of his love, bringing us out of ourselves to unite us with him making us one with him.

    Christ's real presence makes each of us his "house," and we all together form his Church, the spiritual edifice of which St. Peter speaks. "Come to him," the apostle writes, "a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5).

   The altar of sacrifice becomes in a certain way the point of encounter between heaven and earth; the center, we could say, of the one Church that is at the same time heavenly and in pilgrimage on earth, where, in the midst of the persecutions of the world and God's consolations, the Lord's disciples proclaim his passion and death until he returns in glory."

   Indeed, every Eucharistic celebration already anticipates the triumph of Christ over sin and the world, and shows in mystery the splendor of the Church, "immaculate bride of the immaculate Lamb, Bride that Christ loved and gave himself up for to make her holy." (cf. "Lumen Gentium," No. 6) -Pope Benedict XVI                    

   Our vocation is to be a 'Christopher' sharing in the Paschal Mystery. As we carry Jesus from the Altar our soul is transfigured glowing with sanctity, a living testament. Exalted in heaven, but constantly attacked, here on earth. Blessed, blessed, blessed are we who hear the Word of God and abide in Him! Blessed be Jesus Christ now and forever!

    Celebrating Daily Mass is our power, passion, purpose. We attend the Paschal Triduum; the greatest solemn event ever witnessed. With Holy Thursday we see Christ’s contemplation and prayer to the Father begging that He loved them as He had loved Jesus. Leading to Jesus Instituting the Holy Eucharist; at the Last Supper in the Upper Room upon Mount Zion on Holy Thursday through His Sacrifice of His body and blood; which culminated on Good Friday with His supreme giving of Himself and dying on the Cross; which brings all of mankind into His glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Then to Pentecost after the Lord’s Resurrection for the Spirit’s Great Commission! As the Roman Catholic Church humbly begins! This is love freely given! How precious you are in the eyes of God! The promise holding that the gates of hell shall never prevail against you.

    Sacred Scripture says: "I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me" (Galatians 1:20) He fills me with praise, worship, thanksgiving, and glorification to the All- powerful Father who through my Crucified and Risen Savior brings me into the full transubstantiation which is like a great holy sea filled with divine inspiration leading me to oneness with God. The Bread forever transubstantiated into Jesus' body.

    After the Consecration, I then receive the life-giving blood of Jesus that flows into my spirit. I have the living water of life everlasting within me to protect and preserve my mind in perfect union with the Real Presence of God. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation descends upon me, and each follower. God's anointing power is unleashed evermore into the loving presence of Jesus in the world.                                                                                                            

   The Holy Mass! The continued Easter! Divine union with the Triune of One! The Passover meal communally shared at each celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist!Miracle of miracles! Where heaven and earth merge! We kneel before Christ hanging on the Cross! And the Holy Sacrifice upon His Altar! As we adore Jesus, the Lamb of God!

    Venerable Charles de Foucauld wrote of the Blessed Sacrament, "St. Mary Magdalene was no closer to You (Lord Jesus) when she sat at Your feet at Bethany than I am here at the foot of this altar." 

    "I believe, I believe, I believe and profess to the last breath that this is the body and the blood of our Lord God and savior Jesus Christ, which He took from Our Lady, the holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.” -Ethiopic Divine Liturgy.

    "Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. Whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:57-58) Jesus said it, it is true. "God is not man, that he should speak falsely, nor human, that he should change his mind. Is he one to speak and not act, to decree and not fulfill?" (Numbers 23:19)   

   Holy, Eternal, Merciful Father, give us this day our daily portion of the Bread of Angels! Exactly what we need! God opens wide the door to the heavenly life in perfect union, residing within you, and all around you! “My Jesus, You are my life, my hope, my treasure, my soul’s only love.” –St. Alphonsus Liguori

    At the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass you are in the Presence of Abba Father; the Son of God, our elder brother; our Advocate, Sanctifier; Our Blessed Mother; St. Joseph; the celestial choir of angels among the Communion of Saints together with the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

    “Jesus whom I look at shrouded here below, I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so, someday to gaze on thee, face to face in light. And be blest forever with thy glory’s sight.” -Godhead Here In Hiding.    Your soul’s innermost yearning: be in fellowship with Almighty God.

    God is timeless! His actions transcend! Eternity enters time at the Holy Eucharist! When the Sanctus is proclaimed, we are spiritually lifted to Heaven, supported by the great host of angels and saints singing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” The Most Holy Trinity's Mystical Presence at the Mass upon the High Altar is our pinnacle of belief.

    Holy, Catholic, Christ-centered marriages have three distinct marriage-proof characteristics. Husband and wife regularly attend Mass together on Sunday with Daily Mass being a staple for many of the couples. They meticulously practice Natural Family Planning. Spouses carry out a mutual self emptying that entails sacrificial love.

    The divorce rate for married couples living the Sacrament of Marriage is less than one-one hundredth of one percent. Matrimony is a divine institution, a sacred bond, a lifelong commitment, ordered by the Creator. Christ-like loyalty in a Christian marriage is clearly reflected. Be prudent in discerning God’s selection of spouse. 

    Christ’s followers radiate joy hearts aflame with eternal gratitude. Although sadness floods our soul at the instant of Jesus’ Crucifixion His redeeming blood will continue to pour into the chalice at Holy Masses until the last soul has union with Him. 

    The Spirit of God adorns the gifts of bread and wine. The Father's Divine Will is to transform us into Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit!

    "And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father‘s only Son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) We venerate 'this holy residing of God Incarnate'. Jesus, our Emmanuel, God-is-with-us! The Triune God draws us into deeper communion with Himself and His Church.

    Almighty God passes before us in the shadows of the Sanctuary! Jesus Christ is always in our midst! “And the Word was made flesh!” Our Angelus response is to genuflect taking a moment of silence then openly declare, “And He dwells among us!” God exists! God exists! God exists! “From everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Ps 90:2)

    “One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple. For he will hide me in his abode in the day of trouble; He will conceal me in the shelter of his tent, he will set me high upon a rock. Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of gladness, I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.” (Ps 27:4-6)

    “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.” "Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near." (Philippians 4:4-5)                                                                                                                                                      

    Jesus molds Daily Eucharistic Apostles. These devout souls consistently put themselves at His feet. The Most Holy Trinity is the remedy! We seek Jesus then serve as His presence in the world! Just as Blessed Mother Teresa, the Saints, Martyrs have.

    An example for us all, the Missionaries of Charity attend Daily morning Mass plus 'Holy power Hours' following the Liturgy and in the afternoon. They recognize, honor, minister to Jesus in lepers, the poor, the marginalized, around the globe. Mother Teresa’s instituted rule is for the Sisters to pray the Rosary when not doing other things.

    Blessed Mother Teresa would run up, crying out, “Here I am Jesus! Here I am!” Souls generated by love who serve their least brothers, sisters, struggling in this valley of tears will reap rejoicing. Totus Tuus. So be it, Mother. So be it.                                                                 

    Glorify God perpetually present at the Mass; Eucharistic Adoration; inside the Tabernacle. You look at Jesus He looks at you. Our eternal hope is Christ. He rescues, returns believers to the road of glory.

    Jesus reaches down from the Cross to help you amid trials, tears! The Beggar of Love desires that you reciprocate. Recite the Fatima prayer before him. “Lord, I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love you.” Lord Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life.” Tell Almighty God in person each day, ‘I love you Lord. I need you.’

    The Father is Divine Love. He will bring good to the world through you. “Fear not little flock your Father desires to give you the kingdom.” –Pope Benedict XVI

    Whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’ name it will be given unto you. Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, let me see with your supernatural gaze the divine glory of the Lord in the temple through the eyes of Christ. Amen!

    Where you have One of the Divine Persons, you have All Three along with the Blessed Mother because the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus are one in the eyes of God. “It is our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.” Miracles are natural, because they are expressions of God's love.

    The ordained priest in Persona Christi elevates the Living Bread of Life directly above the Cup of Eternal Salvation and proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Behold him who takes away the sins of the world!” Given up, broken, and poured out for you!" “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” Our sacred response, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” We live out Jesus’ self-sacrifice.

    "You are my Son; this day I have begotten you! I will be a Father to him, and he shall be a Son to me! Let all the angels of God worship him!" You join in their unending hymn of praise to the Father as He beckons, “Come my little one offer yourself with Jesus to me."                                                                

    The Almighty Father bestows the Eternal Word and the Person of the Holy Spirit upon us. God communes heart to heart, because Jesus desires to be with the sons of men. And God inhabits the praises of his children. We become the begotten one! Salvation's song will echo through the world with every choice we make.      

   Ever-reliant trust in the Lord is achieved by: courageous faith; long suffering, eternal hope; pure, selfless love; persistence in prayer and atonement; tender compassion; full obedience, refusal to fear. The Most Holy Trinity cultivates blessedness, righteousness, and unceasing praise to Jesus.  

    Be forthright in your daily pilgrimage. Find the hand of God and grasp it. Jesus will never leave you. And at night Christ comforts the widow and the orphan. Live the Two Great Commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) As Jesus conquers minds, hearts; He loves our spirit into serving Him through obedience to God's Holy Will.

    "Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him." (James 1:12) Consider it all joy. Rejoice for eternity.

    God provides two miraculous gifts constituting the greater good. 1. The Consecration. The Eucharistic celebration is the re-presentation of Jesus' Ultimate Holy Sacrifice on the Cross offered to the Father for the salvation of mankind. Jesus makes His Death sacramentally present when He speaks the Words of Consecration through the priest’s lips, “Do this in memory of Me.”

    "The Whole Church simultaneously takes up the role of priest and victim along with Christ, offering the Sacrifice of the Mass and itself completely offered in it. Christ’s Victorious Sacrifice on the Cross is central to Holy Mass. His Death and Resurrection, our distinct role, the Body and Blood of Jesus being offered separately, denote His life accomplishment."  -St. Cyril of Alexandria

    “Christ is not altered, nor is his holy body changed, but the power of the Consecration and his life-giving grace are perpetual in it.” -St. Cyril of Alexandria to Calosyrius, Letter 83

    Prayer. "O Jesus, stretched out upon the cross, I implore You, give me the grace of doing faithfully the most holy will of Your Father, in all things, always and everywhere. And when this will of God will seem to me very harsh and difficult to fulfill, it is then I beg You, Jesus, may power and strength flow upon me from Your wounds, and may my lips keep repeating, "Your will be done, O Lord." O Savior of the world, Lover of man's salvation, who in such terrible torment and pain forget Yourself to think only of the salvation of souls, O most compassionate Jesus, grant me the grace to forget myself that I may live totally for souls, helping You in the work of salvation, according to the most holy will of Your Father".... -St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament                                                                  

    2. Holy Communion. St. Augustine tells those who are to receive the body and the blood of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist: “Be what you see, and receive what you are. If you receive Holy Communion worthily, you are what you have received.” (Sermon 272) "In Christ we are complete. In Him we move and have our being."

    Thus says the Lord: "Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice to be revealed. Happy is the man who does this, the son of man who holds to it; Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation, and his hand from any evildoing. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, Loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants -- All who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; Their holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56: 1-2, 6-7)  

    "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Happy they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise you. Happy the man whose strength you are! Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage. They go from strength to strength; they shall see the God of gods in Zion. For a sun and a shield is the Lord God; grace and glory he bestows; The Lord withholds no good thing from those who walk in sincerity. O Lord of hosts, happy the men who trust in you." (Psalm 84:2-6, 8, 12-13)

    “All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, For the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth. He brings people under us; nations under our feet. He chooses for us our inheritance, the glory of Jacob, whom he loves.

    God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy; the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise. For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne. The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. For God’s are the guardians of the earth; he is supreme.” (Psalm 47: 6-10)

    Jesus said to the eleven, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16: 15-18)

    “Let us pray that we, pilgrims upon the earth, always keep our hearts and eyes turned toward the final goal to which we all aspire, the house of the Father, heaven.” –Pope Benedict XVI

    The Divine Liturgy is the highest form of adoration. "The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross." – St. Thomas Aquinas Attend Daily Mass. Receive Jesus in Holy Communion as the day dawns. “The Lord bless you from Zion: may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.” (Psalm 128:5)  

    I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling place is with the human race.” He will dwell with them and they will be his people. God himself will always be with them (as their God).  He will wipe every tear from .their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away.’

    The one who sat on the throne said, “I make all things new. Then he said, “Write these things down for they are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me, “They are accomplished. I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:3-7)

    Prayer keeps you alive in Christ. “Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you.” –St, Ignatius of Loyola. Pray the Rosary with your parish family. Families, meditate on the life of Christ praying the Scriptural Rosary. Receive the graces needed to live as a loving, united, peace-filled, domestic church. 

    Fr. Patrick Peyton of the Family Rosary Crusades’ saying, “The family that prays (the Holy Rosary) together stays together.” is so relevant today. The devil continually assaults families. Allot a half hour each day for family prayer. As the Most Holy Trinity interrelates in love; the family strengthens their bond of mutual charity.  

    "Always stay close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, because it alone possesses Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who is the true prince of peace." -St. Padre Pio.

    “Every time that we celebrate the Eucharist we experience in faith the mystery that is accomplished on the altar, that is, we participate in the supreme act of love that Christ realized with his death and resurrection. The one center of the liturgy and of Christian life is the paschal mystery.” –Pope Benedict XVI

    “Stands the cross; still point of the turning world.” –Carthusian Motto. Where silence is praise in the Real Presence of the Living God!  

    May the grace, hope, love, peace, joy of our Lord Jesus Christ; holiness of God the Father; fellowship of the Holy Spirit, always be within you, every priest, seminarian, rector, deacon, religious sister, brother, pastoral associate, director of religious education, worship commission, RCIA director, principal, teacher, catechist, catechumen, diocese employee, theologian, Eucharistic Minister, sacristan, cantor, lector, missionary, Altar boy, and all who serve the Church. Amen.                

         You Are Near

As I arise today, may the strength of God pilot me, the power of God uphold me, the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me, the ear of God hear me, the Word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me, the way of God lie before me, the shield of God defend me, the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lay down, Christ when I sit, Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troublous life until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,

and the busy world is hushed, and the fervor of life is over, and our work is done.

Then, in Your mercy, grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest, Lord hold me in your arms and grant me peace at the very last.   Amen.
                            

                              CORPUS CHRISTI

       THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY

                 AND BLOOD OF JESUS THE CHRIST             

           Laud, O Zion Sequence, shorter form, by St. Thomas Aquinas                 

                                 Lo! the angel's food is given

                                     See the children's bread from heaven,

  "Because every knee shall bow and every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord!" All authority on heaven and earth has been given to Christ who said, "I am who am." The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.